Broncos coach Sean Payton’s advice to Bo Nix after missing deep shots: ‘Keep firing’

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — For Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, all it would have taken last Sunday was one deep completion.

It could have been to Marvin Mims Jr. off a flea-flicker. Or to Courtland Sutton downfield. Or to Mims when he flashed open down the seam in the end zone. In all three cases, the passes were just beyond the grasp of the intended receivers.

Yes, Nix did hit Sutton for a 52-yard touchdown on fourth-and-2 to get the Broncos on the board 38 seconds before halftime, when he took advantage of the chasm Sutton had from defenders via exquisite play design and lofted the pass to the veteran receiver, allowing him to easily catch it and saunter into the end zone for a score that nearly doubled the Broncos’ first-half yardage output in one shot.

But when Nix lamented the chances left squandered, it was passes like the aforementioned deep incompletions that stood out.

But don’t expect Sean Payton to pull back the throttle.

“You keep firing,” Payton said.

“If it was something different — a lot of times maybe crossing routes to the left, if they’re not mechanically opening up their hips, you can be behind the receiver — there’s certain things.

“… The only thing I would say is like Sutton’s is a little bit of a double move. It was a seam go. And so, guys sometimes aren’t at top speed, like your mind sees them.

“But, just keep firing. He’s gonna hit plenty of those.”

What quarterback wouldn’t adore that kind of support from his head coach?

“Well, I love it,” Nix said. “That’s the name of the game. You just keep making the next play, you keep throwing it. You don’t want to be afraid of failure, don’t want to be afraid of missing. You just go out there and shoot the shot and we’ll hit ’em.”

 

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BRONCOS MIGHT NEED THOSE DEEP SHOTS MONDAY

The Cincinnati Bengals won’t have quarterback Joe Burrow flinging passes downfield, but they will still have wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins at their disposal. Last December, they combined for 233 yards and three touchdowns on 20 receptions in the Bengals’ 30-24 overtime win.

While fill-in quarterback Jake Browning struggled last week, he piled up three 300-yard passing games in seven starts during the 2023 season while standing in for Burrow. Cincinnati went 4-3 during Browning’s starts as he helped keep the Bengals in that year’s wild-card race.

Thus, the notion of another shootout can’t be dismissed, especially given the recent struggles of the Broncos defense. Thus, the Broncos might need the kind of vertical passes they got from Nix during that thriller on the Ohio River last year, when he hit Mims for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes.

That’s another reason to “keep firing.” The Broncos’ success equation might be evolving to where they need to win games like that.

And like a gunslinger, Nix shrugged off the notion of any misfires.

“I’m going to miss several throws in the future and probably going to miss a few deep ones,” he said. “Just gotta keep going.”

And going and going and going … until that day when he doesn’t miss any.

“I’m in a great spot. I feel like I’m always going to leave plays out there, and that’s why I’m going to keep stepping back up to the podium, having an answer for ’em. But ultimately you want to go out there and hit every single one of ’em,” he said. ”

“I’ve yet to actually play a game where I have hit all of ’em. So, I’m working on that. But I feel confident that one day I can go out there and do it. And that may be crazy on my part, but I truly believe it.”

Belief isn’t everything, of course … but for the Broncos, Payton and Nix, they hope it’s the start of better results and maximized opportunities from the chances that slipped away over the last two weeks, and the dawn of a turnaround from a slow start just like the ones they had in the last two years.

Just don’t expect them to put down the cannon just because a few passes missed their targets.

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