A spat and a sprint: How two moments showed the Broncos are on the right track

DENVER — Yeah, it’s different for the Denver Broncos.

It’s been building to this for some time, of course. Through a 5-game winning streak last year that crashed to an end in Houston, to Sean Payton dressing down Russell Wilson after a failed goal-to-go series in Detroit, through a re-shuffling of the roster that left just 11 of the 45 players who played in a Jan. 8, 2023 game to give then-interim coach Jerry Rosburg his only win, through navigating a $53 million crater in the team’s 2024 salary cap, to drafting Bo Nix and installing him as the starter, move after move was made that involved Payton putting his imprint on the team.

The results are happening. The Broncos are 10-7 in their last season’s worth of games. They overcame a shaky start to the season, with a Week 3 rout of Tampa Bay nipping the notion of another disastrous start to the campaign in the bud. They finally stopped a 9-game losing streak to the Silver and Black with the decisive 34-18 win, beating for the Raiders for the first time since they added “Las Vegas” to their name. They scored 30 points for the first time in just over a calendar year.

And all of that pales in significance to the two moments that revealed much about perhaps their most important roster pillars: Nix and cornerback Pat Surtain II. The Broncos invested their hopes and their first Round 1 draft pick in in three years in the former; they sunk the largest non-quarterback contract in club history into the latter.

Both showed why, but only one did it in the way you might expect.

WHEN PS2 WENT TO THE HOUSE

Start with the conventional — but still notable — accomplishment of Pat Surtain II galloping 100 yards with a wayward Gardner Minshew pass that helped hasten his benching in the second quarter Sunday. Yes, Minshew’s throw as he rolled into the left flat was atrocious, calling to mind the types of poor decisions with which the Broncos have become too familiar from their quarterbacks during the seven-year run of losing seasons.

The Broncos were at the brink of falling behind 17-3. Then, Surtain happened.

Thirty-four points later, the Broncos were on the happy end of a laugher.

“That momentum that we desperately needed,” edge rusher Jonathon Cooper said. “Things didn’t go the way that we wanted in the beginning. They kind of had that momentum, that energy. A game-changing play like that brings back life into the team, brings back life into all of us for real to go back out there and make it a game again.”

It wasn’t the same for the defense after that. Its next seven series went thusly:

• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Interception
• Punt
• Interception

Las Vegas mustered a mere two first downs on those seven series. It had 10 on its first three drives.

It changed the game.

WHEN BO NIX CHIRPED BACK AT SEAN PAYTON

A defining moment of last year’s falling-out between Sean Payton and Russell Wilson was when Payton ripped into Wilson on the sideline in Detroit following a failed goal-to-go series and Wilson barely emoted. “Stay neutral” is one of Wilson’s mantras to avoid highs and lows.

But the thing is, Payton is fueled by fire. Even when it comes back at him. It goes back to the Bill Parcells in him. And 19 years after Payton last worked with the Hall of Fame coach, that fire — and the expectation that there will be some flames lobbed back at him — is embraced. It’s a sign of passion and competitiveness that matches the coach.

Just as Parcells and then-quarterback Phil Simms would mix it up verbally on the New York Giants sideline nearly three-and-a-half decades ago, so too would Payton and Drew Brees occasionally joust.

So, it’s hardly a bad thing when Nix comes to the sideline after a near-miss on a deep ball to Troy Franklin finds himself in a heated exchange caught by the Fox cameras.

Nix wasn’t going to reveal what was said — that’s left to the lip-readers.

“He turned and looked at me and said, ‘I love you,’ and I turned to him and said, ‘I love you back.’”

And Nix had some fire in the direction of his wide receivers, too.

“My guy’s going to speak his mind,” Franklin said. “If he has anything to say, he’s gonna let us know what he’s seeing, keep us motivated, and yeah, you guys saw it out there, and you saw the results.”

The next two series went thusly:

• Touchdown
• Touchdown

Sure, Payton spoke of Nix having “a bit of Ferris Bueller” in him.

But that being said …

“I love him to death,” Payton said.

The time to fret is when you don’t see such prominent manifestations of passion. If anything, it’s the sort of moment that might cause Payton to smile to himself. Because he has a quarterback who will push back. Who’ll push his teammates, but also stand up for them.

Russell Wilson looked shell-shocked when Sean Payton came at him last year. Bo Nix replied with competitive fire when Payton came his way Sunday.

FOR THE BRONCOS, THE MOMENTS REVEAL LARGER TRUTHS

Surtain is playing like the player who deserved a $96 million extension

Nix had his best game and is showing the backbone to be the type of quarterback who can handle the pointed, blast-furnace coaching of Payton that gets results for quarterbacks — assuming they can come through the fire unscathed.

The win was notable, but these moments might be more crucial in the development of the team — a team that has shed its slipshod status and is an upwardly mobile unit that has advanced firmly into the NFL’s middle class — and now heads into a rigorous 6-game stretch looking to keep ascending.

And unlike past bursts of effectiveness, this one appears substantial — and not a mirage.

Russell Wilson looked shell-shocked when Sean Payton came at him last year. Bo Nix replied with competitive fire when Payton came his way Sunday.

That moment plus PS2’s game-turning pick-6 equals the sort of formula that makes a playoff team.

It’s different this year.

Russell Wilson looked shell-shocked when Sean Payton came at him last year. Bo Nix replied with competitive fire when Payton came his way Sunday.

That moment plus PS2’s game-turning pick-6 equals the sort of formula that makes a playoff team.

It’s different this year.

My take: pic.twitter.com/5aUxuUzDMK

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) October 7, 2024

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