Bo Nix doesn’t have to be John Elway to win in Denver

Bo Nix threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns as the Broncos rallied from 11 down to beat Kansas City, and the midday show says the win showed what Broncos football looks like.

For most of the first half of the season, Bo Nix’s third year looked a lot like his first two. He wasn’t dominating, and for long stretches he wasn’t playing well. The Broncos kept winning anyway.

Sunday’s 28-24 win over the Kansas City Chiefs followed that pattern, with one difference: this time Nix played one of his better games of the season. He completed 20 of 32 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns, and the Broncos moved to 6-2. Denver took first place in the AFC West, evened the season series with Kansas City and now holds the AFC’s No. 1 seed.

Bo Nix didn’t win it alone. Denver trailed by 11 in the fourth quarter before the offense scored 15 unanswered points to take the lead. Then the defense finished it with a goal-line stand on Kansas City’s final drive, stopping Patrick Mahomes with the game on the line.

On a recent edition of “Dover and Cecil” on 104.3 The Fan, Cecil Lammey said that’s exactly how this team is built to win.

“It’s not one guy okay. Bo Nix is not that type of quarterback where he can just take over everything. There, haters, are you happy now?” Lammey said.

That answers a lot of what has been said about Nix this season. Joel Klatt said recently that Nix is more of a complementary piece than an independent contributor, meaning he plays best when the run game and play-action are working around him. Critics have used that as a knock on him. Lammey sees it as a description of how Denver wins.

“He’s not John Elway, but he’s a quarterback that you can win a lot of games,” Lammey said.

The comparison sets a realistic bar. Elway carried the Broncos for years with his arm and his legs and pulled off comebacks that are still part of franchise lore. Bo Nix doesn’t play that way. He doesn’t need to throw for 350 yards or put the offense on his back every week. He needs to make the plays that matter, and he did that on Sunday. When Denver needed 15 points in the fourth quarter against the team that embarrassed it in September, Bo Nix moved the ball and the offense scored.

Lammey then described the formula.

“You set him up, you run the ball, you play great defense. That’s Broncos football,” Lammey said.

All three showed up Sunday. Jonah Coleman led the backfield with 11 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown, plus 4 catches for 63 yards. The defense, which has carried Denver for much of the season, made the stop that decided the game. Nix stayed steady enough to let the other two phases do their part.

That’s a big change from a few weeks ago. After Nix threw for 107 yards against Seattle, the talk in Denver turned to whether he should be benched. Two games later, Nix has led a fourth-quarter comeback against Mahomes, and the Broncos are at the top of the division.

The offense still has work to do. The Broncos have trailed at some point in every game this season, and the slow starts haven’t gone away. If they want to stay on top of the AFC West, they’ll need more complete performances, and a running game that gives Nix more support would help.

Lammey’s point is that Nix doesn’t have to be the best quarterback in the league for Denver to win. He has to make the clutch plays, and the rest of the team has to do its job. On Sunday, that was enough to put the Broncos in first place.

Related

Sean Payton isn’t going to discuss ‘Internet gossip’ when it comes to possible Broncos tradesThe Broncos should be heavily considering adding Jonathan TaylorSean Payton mobbed by Broncos players, emotional after earning 200th winJonah Coleman looked like the Broncos’ RB1 in win over ChiefsBroncos show they’re now truly the boss of the AFC West in turning back Mahomes, ChiefsBrittany Mahomes blasts the refs that erased Chiefs’ game-winning TD against the Broncos