Bo Nix Performance Evaluation: Denver Broncos vs. Seattle Seahawks
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Let’s try and be objective and honest here, for three and a half quarters, the offense was ugly and they quite frankly didn’t do enough to win a football game. The Defense played the first half like the 2015 Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos, but had some lapses in the second half that most likely put the game out of reach. Special teams was perfect, no notes, do that every week and we have a very good chance to steal possessions and win some games.
I don’t think it is unfair to say that Bo Nix did not look like he had what it takes today, there were some bright spots, but the off-season hype, as of right now, seems to be just that. Growth is still very much required… that might be a little harsh, but unofficially, I think he took eight shots that were deeper than 10-yards… of those shots, he had a 17-yard completion (Courtland) and a 25-yard completion (Reynolds), I counted three drops on those deeper passes, and then three other that were intercepted or near interceptions.
It was clear immediately that the Broncos were planning to dink and dunk down the field all day today with 3-4 yard outs, curls, drags, screens and swing routes. It was clear that they wanted to establish the running game, but that we weren’t able to. I thought in the beginning of the game Javonte looked like he was in lead back mode, looked fast, strong downhill, and if not for a slip at the goal line, might have had a touchdown in the first quarter. It remains a mystery why he didn’t get many carries after the first half. I do wonder if the game plan to throw so many under routes was a result of the very talented defensive backfield and was an attempt to neutralize Riq Woolen, Coby Bryant, Devin Witherspoon, and Julien Love.
Bo Nix looked like he was very capable of throwing timing routes and any underneath route, the problem is, I’m not certain that we saw a single one of those receivers catch the ball and then break a tackle to make a yards-after-catch play. Seemingly every single reception was met with sound tackling and immediately brought to the ground for a 3-4 yard gain. It is a common saying in football that you want to get the ball into the hands of your playmakers, and Nix was able to complete 26 passes, but they were only caught for 138-yards, or 3.3 yards per attempt or 5.3 yards per completion.
A bit of a shocker, Devaughn Vele lead our team in receptions and was second in yards. He ended with eight receptions on eight targets, showing his reliable hands and earning some trust from Nix. For some context here, Courtland Sutton had 12 targets, and only four catches. I think he was responsible for two of the dropped passes and was the target on both Nix interceptions, neither of which he could have prevented, I don’t think.
I tweeted early in the game, that it was the first time that I had watched Courtland Sutton play football for the Denver Broncos and thought to myself that he looked disinterested… I felt like he was going through the motions and did not seem to be engaged or passionate. In other wide receiver news, Marvin Mims Jr. did not have a single reception, and only garnered a single target. He looked electric in the return game, but is not a factor on the offense as of right now.
Garret Bolles left the game in the 3rd quarter with an apparent ankle injury, really hoping that it isn’t anything he will miss a long period of time for. One of the bright spots for this offense, I thought, was that the offensive line looked solid considering the competition. The Seahawks defensive line consists of Leonard Williams, Jonathan Hankins, Byron Murphy, and they have a strong front seven and pass rush. The few times that Bo Nix did take a deep drop with long ball intentions, I felt like he had a decent amount of time to survey the field and take his shots. Nix was hit quite a bit, with nine hits, but he was only sacked twice.
In the same vein, the offensive line looked decent in the passing game, but the running game couldn’t seem to get going. Not sure if the aforementioned defensive lineman were causing issues and smashing holes closed, but the Broncos seemingly refused to try and run up the middle, only throwing toss plays and outside zone/stretch plays in the second half. I don’t think that you have 15% of our salary cap (more next year) tied up in Bolles, Meinerz, Powers and McGlinchy to just opt to not run up the middle.
Now, I want to bring this back to Bo Nix, because all things considered, the offensive line played solid in the passing game, you would have liked the running game to be more consistent or at least a threat, but Nix had chances. I think in most rookie quarterbacks starts, you frequently here analysts and broadcasters talk about how an offensive coordinators only job that week is to make the QB uncomfortable and show them things that they haven’t seen before.
They want to have pressure in their laps constantly, from all over the field. They try and play with the quarterbacks eyes. They try to show more drop coverages, more bracket coverages, more split man and zone coverages. Anything they can to make them uncomfortable. It was pretty clear that Bo Nix was uncomfortable on passes deeper than 10-yards, but anything underneath, he couldn’t be more confident.
So the growth here, and the “flash” of a possible franchise quarterback, is that the last drive for the Broncos, down two scores, Nix was able to lead them 54-yards on seven plays, and run in a touchdown. That score put the Broncos down six points. with two timeouts and the two minute warning still remaining. In football terms, that is still plenty of time for defense to get a three-and-out and the offense to have one very legitimate opportunity to drive the field and score a game winning touchdown.
Defense, though they were remarkable most of the day, wasn’t able to hold, they stopped them on 3rd and 11, but Baron Browning jumped the snap and was called for offsides, so the Seahawks had another opportunity to pick up a 3rd and six, where they had a 9-yard completion to Tyler Lockett to ice the game. I honestly would have LOVED to see how Nix operated under “score or you lose the game” pressure, and give him another chance immediately to build on his previous touchdown drive, but that isn’t how it works. Defense has to earn the right for the team to get another chance, and they weren’t able to get it done.
To summarize the offense today, they scored on four out of their 15 drives, which simply isn’t good enough. The defense was able to contribute two safeties for four points, and an interception on the second play of the game to setup a red-zone offensive possession as Bo Nix first ever possession. They were also able to cover a muffed punt on special teams setting up another red-zone possession. I would attribute 10 of the points scored today to defense and special teams. Which then means that offense was then responsible for eight punts, two interceptions, and a fumble to go with the other 10 points that were scored.
They had a solid drive before halftime where they moved the ball into field goal range with little time left on the clock. And the last offensive drive they had, they were able to showcase the ability to put together a long drive and score a touchdown. Too many punts. Too many turnovers. offense was too predictable and had very little thread of anything that wasn’t an underneath route.
Defensively, I want to call out that I think Jonathan Cooper had a monster game with multiple sacks and multiple pressures/quarterback hits. I think that besides the first two possessions of the second half, our defense looked like they were going to win us a bunch of games this year. The inability to stop the run reared its ugly head for two long possessions, but they seemed to get it back under control as the game went on.
I think as many expected, Riley Moss was the target for the opposing offense today. It is common knowledge that a first time NFL starter should be targeted dramatically more than a first team All-Pro. As a result, he ended up leading the team in tackles. I can honestly say that I don’t think he had a bad game though, he never was glaringly out of position and always was able to secure the tackle. I think Pat Surtain II did a good job of limiting the catches and the number of plays that DK Metcalf was able to make today, but I’m pretty sure he also got called for three defensive pass interferences, which a few were a little ticky-tack.
The team stats for this game, the Broncos won the possession time battle, holding the ball for 31:14 compared to Seattle’s 28:14. The Broncos eight penalties for 60-yards aren’t good enough to go on the road against a hopeful playoff team and steal a win. We had a 25% red-zone success rate this game, which I pray isn’t the story again this year. Finally, Denver was 5/18 on third downs, which isn’t great, especially considering that I didn’t think we had a ton of third and longs. They were mostly manageable third down and distance, but every pass was underneath and they couldn’t get the yardage for the first down marker.
I believe some of the news topics this week are going to be why was Javonte seemingly benched? Why is Marvin Mims Jr not included in the offense? Why couldn’t the offense scheme up anything deeper than 5-yard outs successfully? And what is Garret Bolles health status heading into next week.
Next up, Russell Wilson coming back to Denver to play his first game as a Steeler, expect Empower Field at Mile High to be VERY loud, and to let him hear how much he is disliked in Denver.
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