Bo Nix took a moment to appreciate the Broncos’ all-Oregon touchdown in the fourth quarter Sunday against the Chargers.
A trio of college teammates handled the football’s chain of custody, with Alex Forsyth snapping it to Nix. who then threw it to Troy Franklin for Franklin’s first career touchdown.
But a different comment Nix made about the play after Denver’s 23-16 loss to Los Angeles is much more interesting and more indicative of the direction this offense needs to go in the coming weeks.
“He ran a great route. We actually had a conversion on that play,” Nix said, meaning Franklin’s route changed at the line of scrimmage based on either a call or the coverage the Chargers showed. “He ran the right route, had great field vision, saw the opening and got behind there on the baseline.
“We’ve been practicing that play this week, and he was there for me. He got open and he made the catch.”
It wasn’t the only time Franklin was there, either. He also gained 29 yards on a scramble drill throw earlier in the same drive. The other big plays on Denver’s 95-yard scoring march also came from rookies: an 11-yard rush by Audric Estime early in the drive and a 37-yard completion to Devaughn Vele.
Vele finished with a team-best 78 yards on four catches (six targets) in his first game active since Week 1.
There’s no doubt the Broncos need Courtland Sutton, Javonte Williams, Adam Trautman and other offensive veterans to perform better the rest of the season. Still, one of precious few promising offensive takeaways from Week 6 is that it’s time for the rookie trio to get as much work as it can handle and it appears they can handle more.
Nix had strong words of support for Franklin and Vele after the game.
“We’re excited about those two,” he said. “They’ve had great (training) camps. They’ve had great seasons. They practice hard. They’re very smart players. They showed up today and played big in an important moment. There’s no flinch in their faces, there’s no batting their eyes. They’re really competitive players, smart players. I’m excited to see their growth as they continue to move forward.
“With those two, we’re going to have to count on them and we need them moving forward. They’re completely capable and ready to accept the challenge and I’m excited to see it.”
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Their playing time reflected it Sunday. With Josh Reynolds on injured reserve after a fractured finger required surgery, Franklin (65%) and Vele (63%) played second- and third-most among Broncos receivers Sunday after Sutton (85%). Those are easily career-high percentages for both players.
“We have to see these guys. We are a young team. I want to see this runner as well. I want to see Estime,” head coach Sean Payton said Sunday. “… We’re not waiting to redshirt these guys. We’ll continue to see each week their involvement in the plan and how they fit. That’s how you get confidence and get experience.”
Franklin’s clearly starting to feel more comfortable at this level. Denver traded up in the fourth round to draft him in April, and Payton said the team had him graded as a second-rounder.
During the offseason, though, he had a lot to learn about pro football operations. Basics like hearing a play-call instead of getting it from a sideline card, breaking the huddle and getting lined up at the right tempo. To say nothing of Payton’s offensive verbiage, the route concepts, the adjusting on the fly and the speed of NFL defenders once the ball is snapped.
“I think it’s coming together for me, for sure,” Franklin said Sunday. “I’m just getting more reps out there, seeing things and just getting a feel for the game. It’s slowing down for me.”
Vele’s been the more polished of the pair from the start. He caught eight passes for 39 yards Week 1 but injured his rib and was out Week 2. Then he was a healthy scratch behind Reynolds and Lil’Jordan Humphrey for three games until Sunday.
Estime had a similar track, playing Week 1 but then going on injured reserve due to an ankle issue and only returning against the Chargers.
The 79 combined yards on that scoring march and Denver’s overall offensive limitations through two weeks point to the same conclusion: It’s time to see what the rookies can do.
One small thing I liked: Nix gets credit often for being difficult to sack. He certainly put his mobility on display Sunday in scrambling six times for 61 yards.
Another person who should get credit for helping keep Nix clean: Javonte Williams. The Broncos running back is a rock in pass protection. He regularly sniffs out linebackers and safeties and more often than not gets moving forward and wallops them in the hole. Not the kind of work you get social media highlights made for and it doesn’t do fantasy footballers any good, but it’s a guarantee that the staff and his teammates appreciate it.
One small thing I didn’t like: There was plenty to go around, but here’s one to watch going forward. The wheel route touchdown Justin Herbert threw to running back Kimani Vidal in the first half looked like a carbon copy of the play Seattle hit for a touchdown in Week 1.
Denver’s been sticky in man coverage this year. That was put to the test Sunday after Pat Surtain II went down with a concussion on the first play and will be until he returns. The Broncos were in man on this play, too, and inside linebacker Cody Barton wasn’t able to sift past corner Riley Moss and get an angle on Vidal out of the backfield. It led to a 38-yard TD. An area teams will try to exploit if the secondary continues to be tough to crack.
One trend to watch: Third-year outside linebacker Nik Bonitto sacked Herbert on Sunday, marking the fourth consecutive game in which he’s logged a sack. Technically he’s the first Broncos player to do it since Von Miller, who had a sack in his final game of 2019 before an injury and then in his first three games back in 2021. Bonitto’s the first Broncos player to log a sack in four straight games in one season since Bradley Chubb in 2020.
Miller, perhaps not surprisingly, is the only player in club history to have a streak longer than four games. He went six straight with a sack in 2018 and five straight in both 2017 and 2015.
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