Bo Nix looks to be figuring it out after win over Carolina

Bo Nix threw for 237 yards and two touchdowns in the 26-21 win over the Panthers, and his touchdown to Pat Bryant showed the patience the morning show has been asking for since September.

Bo Nix has started all three of his NFL seasons slowly, and this one looked like the roughest of the three. He fumbled three times in the opener at Kansas City. He passed up open receivers in San Francisco. He threw for 107 yards against Seattle, and that game led to a week of talk about whether he should be benched.

Since then, the trend has gone the other way. Bo Nix led the fourth-quarter comeback against the Chiefs, and on Sunday he had one of his best passing games of the season in a 26-21 win over the Carolina Panthers. He completed 67.6% of his passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns. The Broncos are 7-2 going into their bye week.

On a recent edition of “Stokley and Evans, with Mark Schlereth” on 104.3 The Fan, Mike Evans summed up what he’s seeing.

“Bo Nix is figuring it out,” Evans said.

He then got more specific.

“Bo Nix is showing more patience, he’s seeing the field better, he’s not panicking, and after the first read is open taking off and running,” Evans said.

Those are the same problems the morning show has pointed to all season. Nix had been leaving clean pockets early, drifting to his right, missing open first reads and checking the ball down before plays had time to develop. Against Carolina, Bo Nix looked like a quarterback who had heard all of it.

The best example was his 26-yard touchdown to Pat Bryant. Brandon Stokley broke down the play on the show. The design appeared to go to Courtland Sutton, but Sutton was covered tightly. Earlier this season, that might have been the moment Nix bailed out of the pocket or threw the ball away. This time he stayed put, moved to his next read and found Bryant open for the score.

Bo Nix’s 2nd TD pass of the game goes to Pat Bryant!

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Evans said Stokley’s breakdown reminded him of the criticism from earlier in the season.

“Your description of the Bryant touchdown warms my heart. It warms my heart because, you know, this is what you guys were talking about going back to that San Francisco game. That there were plays to be made if he just, you know, stayed patient, and just hung in there a little longer, there were plays to be made,” Evans said.

The San Francisco loss was Nix’s low point. He completed just 1 of 9 throws of 10 or more air yards, and Mark Schlereth put the loss “100%” on him after counting five or six open chunk plays in the first half that Nix didn’t throw. The scheme was getting receivers open, and Nix wasn’t trusting it. The Bryant touchdown was the opposite. The first option was taken away, Nix stayed calm, and the next option was there.

“But the fact that he moved off the first option and went to the second option, and the second option was wide open for a TD. I mean, that just shows the growth in Bo and this offense,” Evans said.

It was also a good sign for Bryant, who was the star of training camp, but has yet to become a bigger part of the passing game as the season has gone on.

The offense isn’t fixed. The Broncos still need cleaner execution through all four quarters, a steadier run game, and more consistent results from week to week. But for most of the first half of the season, the defense carried this team while the offense held it back. The last two games suggest that may be changing.

The bye week comes at a good time. Nix gets a week off after his two best games of the season, and the Broncos get time to build on what’s working. For the third straight year, Nix started slowly. Based on the last two weeks, Evans thinks he’s turning it around again.

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