Thursday is a time for turkey, mashed potatoes, dysfunction and confessions.
During the holiday the previous eight years, the NFL season tested my ability to enjoy a conversation about the Broncos. No matter how admirable the effort, the topic turned to the quarterback, a character more terrifying than Michael Myers and Pennywise.
Emotions were raw. Everyone had their fangs dropped after an avalanche of disappointments. The previous 13 starters varied from underwhelming to awful. It created a buzz kill.
So who is ruining Thanksgiving now? The nonBolievers in Bo Nix.
I don’t get it. No matter how much life after Peyton Manning has put your guard up, how can you not embrace the rookie? Truth be told, I am over it.
This is not about keeping receipts. It is about facts, trying to understand why a faction in the media — national and local — and fans (or perhaps social media trolls) cannot see the truth.
All anyone wanted since Peyton was a serviceable leader, someone who could win games, and throw more passes to players in an orange jersey than the other team.
Over the past 10 games, Nix has delivered 20 touchdowns — 16 passing, three rushing, one receiving — with two turnovers. According to CBS Sports, the quarterbacks who have matched or bettered that stat line over the past 10 years are Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.
All first-ballot Hall of Famers.
Yet, we have those diminishing Nix for his perceived low ceiling, inconsistent footwork and lack of success against man coverage. Still, others insist with a straight face that they would rather have Russell Wilson.
What in the actual heck is going on here?
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Nix is putting up historically great numbers — the best by a rookie since Dak Prescott in 2016 — and a loud faction refuses to recognize it, creating straw arguments that go deeper into the weeds than bees and butterflies.
I am not saying you should wear your passion for Nix like a thorny crown. But is it too much to ask for an open mind and common sense? Those reluctant to admit Nix is succeeding are revealing their own ego, making their dislike personal, either for the kid or coach Sean Payton.
I believed Nix would work because of Payton’s confidence when he drafted him. Payton told us at the combine that he would be better at identifying a quarterback than most. This stuck with me because the coach’s Hall of Fame legacy hinged on getting this decision right. He had never worked with a rookie, but he had 15 years of offensive dominance in New Orleans that suggested he knew what he wanted his handpicked quarterback to look like.
Payton screwed it up the first few weeks, trying to make Nix drink out of a fire hose with endless dropbacks. But after the opening two losses, the two have met in the middle. An appreciation for his athleticism emerged — he runs better than scouts expected — along with his edge. When Nix yelled at Payton on the sideline on Oct. 6 — something the coach appreciated — he showed why he was the starter.
Everything since has shown why he is clearly the future. He has been the Broncos’ best player on the field since the end of October.
But, but, but, he can’t throw downfield. Really? That’s funny. He has 716 yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 126.9 rating on passes of 10-plus yards over the past five games, per Fox Sports.
This includes multiple darts between the numbers and over layered defenders to Courtland Sutton and Devaughn Vele. But those were off-script, right? Try again. Nix delivered these lasers from the pocket.
Listen, he is not perfect. He will have bad games. But do you remember what life looked like with Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco and Teddy Bridgewater? Worse, some of the same people who were Druthers for Drew Lock refuse to acknowledge Nix’s development.
Make it make sense.
Nix boasts four games with a 70% completion rate with at least two touchdown passes and no picks. You know how many Broncos quarterbacks have done that since Peyton? Zero. Lock did it once in 24 games. Wilson twice in 30 starts.
When Keenum was missing Demaryius Thomas sprinting open down the sideline, when Flacco looked like he had never seen a blitz, when Brandon Allen couldn’t throw the ball into the wind, when Paxton Lynch was showing up late and leaving early, Broncos Country had fever dreams about the type of stats Nix is compiling.
Still, I can’t go on my Twitter timeline or turn on the radio without hearing someone dissing Nix or advocating for Wilson.
Yes, Wilson was functional last year, and made terrific plays scribbling outside the lines. But the Broncos stunk in goal-to-goal situations and were awful in the red zone. By the time the Broncos beat the Chiefs last October, Payton had seen enough. He was over the veteran, viewing his style of play as unsustainable because of the lack of timing throws and endless sacks (45 in 15 games). Compare that to Nix, who is on pace for 27.
Payton chose to absorb a $53 million dead cap hit this season and $32 million next year to cut Wilson. It was uncommon, but not surprising if you know anything about how that relationship had deteriorated. Would you rather they stayed together for the kids, delaying the divorce until after this season when the quarterbacks available in the draft are Two Men (Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward) and Four Maybes (Jalen Milroe, Quinn Ewers, Garrett Nussmeier and Carson Beck)?
It is OK to take a deep breath, trust your eyes and the numbers and admit Nix is playing well. If you are still tearing him down, the problem is you, not him.
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