Broncos head coach Sean Payton speaks out on Bo Nix's biggest weakness

The Denver Broncos went into New Orleans and got a huge win on Thursday night against Sean Payton's former team, but the win was not without flaw.

Any team that is truly good will find ways to improve from even the most convincing of victories, which Thursday night's romp in New Orleans was. The Broncos have only had four wins with a bigger margin of victory in the last 15 years than their 33-10 win over the Saints, but more than just the result of the game, we care about the long-term prognosis of quarterback Bo Nix.

The biggest question facing the Broncos this year is not "Can you make the playoffs?" but, "Is Bo Nix going to be your franchise quarterback?"

Nix made some outstanding plays against the Saints and did some things really well. He didn't turn the ball over, he didn't take any sacks, and he managed to not only avoid pressure but make some big plays as a runner. With that said, he also missed a handful of layups as a passer and the common reason seems to be that he's not setting his feet properly on some throws.

The Amazon broadcast crew of Kirk Herbstreit and Al Michaels pointed out during the game that it was almost like Nix was dialed in on his accuracy for the throws with a tighter window and that he was erratic with his accuracy on the more wide-open throws. It's almost like missing a layup when you're all alone in the open court.

What does Broncos HC Sean Payton think about Bo Nix's footwork issue?

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton was recently asked about Nix's footwork as everyone has been talking about it lately, and someone brought it up at his Monday media availability.

Here's what Payton had to say:

“I think you have to be careful you’re not over-coaching. There are some things he does very well out of the pocket or climbing up in the pocket. I think we start with the focus on timing of the route, the depth of the route in the gun or under center, [is it a] three, five or seven [-step drop back]? We work on the rhythm of the play so that his feet marry up to the depth of the route. The times where he’s climbing the pocket or moving in the pocket, we’re pretty smart about how much we saw or how much we try to fix.”

- Broncos HC Sean Payton (via team PR)

So, from this, it does seem as though we have some type of admission from Payton that the footwork thing is something from Nix that does need to be corrected.

Here is just one example of Nix losing his base on a throw, even though on this one he might have just seen one guy wide open, got ready to fire it to him, and saw a second guy open right behind him at the last second and just sort of whiffed on it. Either way, it's not an acceptable miss in the NFL and if a throw like this is missed against teams like the Chiefs or Ravens, it could be the difference between making or missing the playoffs.

Nix is just a rookie quarterback, so issues like this are easily correctible. And as Payton notes, it's important not to over-coach in these types of situations. It's also important to make sure that the drop Nix is taking is "married up" with the route and depth of the route properly.

There have been a number of big plays left on the table with this sloppiness from Nix, if you want to call it that. Nix is out there trying to make a play, and what would be even worse is if he were throwing the wrong read or not seeing the field well. There's really no issue with that at this point, which is good news. The issue is stemming from mechanics, and unlike Tim Tebow (who some people have legitimately been comparing Nix to, which is outrageous), the mechanics fix for Nix is something that is not a complete overhaul of the way he plays the game.

Just like we saw from Nix going from Auburn to Oregon, there are small tweaks you make to your game over time that end up making a huge difference. Does that mean that Nix won't be able to be better at this until next year? No, that's not the case, either. This is something he can correct rather quickly. At least, hopefully.

If Nix is able to fix the accuracy on some of these downfield throws or scramble drill throws, the Broncos' offense is going to hit another level of efficiency as a whole. They are already among the league leaders in explosive passing plays:

And on top of it, they have now gone five straight games with over 100 rushing yards including 225 yards on the ground against the Saints on Thursday.

The Broncos have scored 26 or more points in three of their last five games. The offense isn't completely incompetent as some have made it seem, but if/when these mechanics issues are corrected by the rookie QB, things might start clicking on an even more consistent basis.