Nix “lot to grow from,” still positive after ugly Week 1 win

You would rather learn things from a win than a loss, and that’s basically the approach Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix had on Sunday after his team’s season-opening 20-12 win against the Tennessee Titans.

The Broncos basically had six turnovers, if you count getting stopped on fourth down twice. Denver’s offense gave the Titans the ball and ample opportunity to steal a win in the Mile High City, but the Broncos made the bigger plays when it mattered most and started the season with a victory.

“It was awesome to see different players making big plays,” Nix said after the game.

Nix’s sophomore season debut wasn’t his best, throwing two interceptions and fumbling away the ball another time. He tied his career worst mark with three turnovers. Nix still added a touchdown, hitting on 25 of his 40 passes for 176 yards and adding another 18 on the ground.

The rushing attack was better overall with the additions of RJ Harvey and JK Dobbins. The rookie broke the franchise’s longest run at 50 yards since 2022, while the vet was a workhorse, getting 16 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown.

“JK and RJ, explosive running. RJ had one, and then JK just kind of carried the ball there at the end a couple of times, got an explosive on the touchdown. Great run, broke some tackles, and ten, just ate away the clock there at the end of the game. Thought it was really good,” Nix said. ” Everybody in the stadium knew we would run it there at the end. And we just did a good job of getting a hat on hat, making some guys miss, and moving the ball and taking some clock.”

The Broncos did nearly salt the game away, but went for it on an odd fourth and eighth when they could’ve gone up two scores on a field goal. Sean Payton’s decison may have been the right one with a wide-open Courtland Sutton, but Nix threw it the opposite way, giving the Titans one last gasp. Tennessee, in total, went backward in the second half, so the Broncos easily salted the game away on defense after their backs took some clock off. But had the fourth down play worked, the Broncos’ pass catchers might be getting more credit for Sunday, like Nix wants to give them.

“I thought our receivers did a really good job today,” Nix said. “They were in and off the field, did what they were supposed to do. We’re in the right spot. Won in man. That’s what you want to see. Especially, we got a few younger guys, but guys that have played a lot of ball, so it’s good to see them with the confidence and capability of executing two-minute drives and converting some third downs. I thought it was really important. We were solid third-down-wise today.”

Nix’s sour start to the year will be the talk of the town this week, and he knows that too. He stayed mostly positive postgame but admitted he needed to do some growing.

“I’ve got a lot to learn from this, got a lot to grow from, which is good, first game of the season, you’re going to have some hiccups,” Nix said. “But it just starts with me, I’ve got to do a much better job. Play better. Feel like I’m always going to say that, and then, they’ll follow, they’ll continue to play well. And then our defense is going to do that all year. So I’m excited.”

The Broncos’ defense lived up to its offseason hype in Week 1; now it’ll be on Nix next week to be the show-stopper many folks believe him to be.

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