Bo Nix had just played the final game of his rookie regular season when head coach Sean Payton found him on the sidelines.
They shared a few words, then a fist bump.
There was no big celebration, no extended embrace.
The meaning came through loud and clear.
Sunday task: completed.
First real step for the Broncos duo: In the books.
Satisfied that they simply exceeded expectations in their first year together? No chance.
The Broncos’ eight-season playoff drought is thankfully over. They only needed to win one of their final three games of the season to cement their place in the AFC playoff field and did so on their last chance Sunday by putting up a score of 38 -0 on a Kansas City team playing without three future Hall of Famers. and 13 regulars in all.
Denver treated the 76,489 people in attendance at Empower Field to a celebration that was both cathartic and raucous, and in doing so, ushered in a series of firsts.
First playoff appearance for the Walton-Penner ownership group, who received game balls from Payton in the postgame locker room.
It’s also the first time for the team’s elder statesmen, left tackle Garett Bolles and wide receiver Courtland Sutton.
Perhaps most compelling: a first time in the big dance for the Broncos’ coach and quarterback duo, who believe they’ll be doing it regularly for the foreseeable future.
“Our goal wasn’t just to make the playoffs,” Nix said Sunday. “It hasn’t been done in a while, but it’s for so much more than that. We are excited about this opportunity. It’s going to be hard.
“But we have a game to play.”
If the 24-year-old rookie felt pressure before Sunday’s must-win, he didn’t show it.
Nix put on a clinic against a large number of Chiefs backups and role players. He and the Broncos offense ran down the field from the start.
“The quarterback really got going,” Payton said.
Nix completed his first 18 passes, a franchise record, to start the game, and only saw the ball hit the ground on the final offensive play of the first half when he missed a wide-open Javonte Williams for which would have been a touchdown.
“I’ll be upset for a while that I missed number 19 (completed) to Javonte for a touchdown,” Nix said.
The quarterback, however, finished his day 26 of 29 for a career-high 321 yards and four touchdowns. The Broncos converted 10 of 14 on third down, picked up two more conversions on fourth down and scored on six of Nix’s seven possessions.
More than a gaudy stat line, Nix delivered what he has throughout his first NFL season: a belief, confidence and swagger that much more experienced players gravitate toward.
“It’s just about playing hard, playing well and playing with confidence,” Nix said. “So when guys need a pitch or something, all I can do is provide it for them. They don’t really care about the words I use or all those cool speeches I might give. They just want to see me go out there and compete, play hard and win games.
This team was supposed to be in rebuild mode. Las Vegas set Denver’s win total at 5.5. Many took the plunge.
Nix never bought any of this.
Largely because of the rookie quarterback — although Payton and general manager George Paton have done a tremendous job of building the roster with non-headline moves like defensive linemen John Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach, safety Brandon Jones and a quality rookie class — everyone else in the locker room thought they could surprise people, too.
“I never hesitated,” receiver Courtland Sutton said. “It was so funny to hear all the talk about, ‘The Broncos are going to win four games.’ Three games. Two games. This, this and this. I have a rookie quarterback, blah, blah, blah. I was like, “Man, they have no idea what we have in this locker room. The type of player Bo is. Bo is not your average recruit.
Added left tackle Garett Bolles: “(Nix) talks and walks at the same time. That’s all you can ask for, man.
Payton was confident from the start that he and Paton would find a quarterback after taking on a record $85 million dead salary cap charge to jettison Russell Wilson this spring. The coach bragged about the team’s ability to evaluate the position well before making Nix the sixth and final quarterback chosen in the first round of April’s draft.
He basically took victory laps regarding their foresight regarding Nix before the quarterback had actually played a regular season game.
Nix didn’t throw his first touchdown pass until Week 4, but then he started rolling, as did Denver’s offense. By the time he bumped Payton to the sideline Sunday afternoon and started thinking about next weekend’s Wild Card game in Buffalo, he had totaled 3,775 yards (66.3 percent completion) and 29 touchdowns, the second most by a rookie in the league. history behind only Justin Herbert’s 31 in 2020. He had rushed for 440 and four more touchdowns and even caught one too.
Nix has already proven to be exactly what the Broncos needed. In fact, in many ways he is already the Broncos. It’s ready sooner than expected. He’s more dynamic than people give him credit for. And he’s been planning to do this for a long time.
“You don’t have to be what people say you’re going to be,” Nix said, simultaneously describing his franchise and himself.
What Nix and the Broncos are now is a playoff team. They say this is just the starting point.
“It’s a fun roller coaster to ride,” Sutton said. “(Nix) has so much more. This is just the beginning. This isn’t a goodbye to Bo’s rookie season, man. He’s got a lot more in the tank.
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Originally published:
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