Bo Nix has become too easy to game plan against according to Josh Dover

Opponents have figured out that if they blitz Bo Nix, he’ll flush right and throw the ball away, and the midday show says that predictability is stalling the Broncos offense.

Bo Nix’s biggest problem right now isn’t arm strength or decision-making. Defenses know what he’s going to do before he does it.

Five games into the season, the Broncos are 3-2, but the offense still hasn’t found an identity. Nix has struggled to push the ball downfield, including a 1-of-9 day on throws of 10 or more air yards in the loss to San Francisco. He’s also been leaving the pocket before plays have time to develop. Opposing defensive coordinators have noticed.

On a recent edition of “Dover and Cecil” on 104.3 The Fan, Josh Dover explained the problem.

“He is so predictable. You know what I mean? Like Bo Nix, it is so easy to get Bo to do what you wanna do,” Dover said.

He compared it to something most athletes have seen.

“And I think all of us have played sports, and there’s a hothead on the other side, and Bo’s not this, but you go, ‘Oh, if I talk a little junk, I’m gonna take this guy out of his game immediately,'” Dover said.

Dover was careful to say Nix isn’t a hothead. The point is that defenses know which button to push. With most players, that button is emotional. With Nix, it’s pressure.

Dover then laid out the blueprint he thinks defenses are using.

“Bo is so predictable and so easy to prepare for. Blitz him. He’s gonna flush out to the right. If something’s not a given 100% success rate, he’s gonna throw it out of bounds, and they’re gonna try it again on the next play,” Dover said.

That pattern explains a lot about Denver’s offense this season. When a defense sends extra rushers and keeps solid coverage behind them, Nix tends to drift out of the pocket to his right. Once he’s there, if nobody is clearly open, he throws the ball away. Avoiding sacks and interceptions isn’t a bad instinct. Bo Nix has been among the league’s better quarterbacks at avoiding sacks throughout his career. But a throwaway on first down leads to second-and-10, and another one leads to third-and-long. Defenses can run the same call again because they know the answer won’t change.

That’s how drives die. The Broncos can’t sustain possessions when the quarterback gives up on plays before the routes finish, especially when the call may have someone getting open a beat later.

It isn’t all on Bo Nix. After the Chargers game, Brandon Stokley said the Broncos “don’t pick up blitzes at all,” and that breakdown makes it harder for any quarterback to trust the pocket. Still, the offensive line has had good stretches this season. When the protection holds, Nix needs to stay in the pocket and get through his reads.

The fix is the same one Cecil Lammey and Mark Schlereth have been pushing for weeks: calm feet, eyes downfield and trust in the protection. If Nix can stand in against a blitz and hit the receiver who’s open because of it, defenses will have to think twice before sending extra rushers. Once they hesitate, the offense has more room to work.

The Seahawks are next to close out Denver’s six-game opening stretch, and they’ve surely watched the same film. If Bo Nix still flushes right and throws it away, they’ll keep blitzing until he shows them a different answer.

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