Sean Payton says quiet part out loud about Broncos' performance around Bo Nix

Sean Payton sounded off after the Denver Broncos' 20-26 loss against the Seattle Seahawks about how the team didn’t help rookie quarterback Bo Nix nearly enough to squeeze out a win. 

Denver’s lack of talent continues to be evident as the team does not have the same explosiveness as their opponents. The leader in receptions versus the Seahawks was 7th-round pick Devaughn Vele with eight. That’s from a wide receiver room with the likes of Courtland Sutton, Josh Reynolds, and Marvin Mims Jr. It doesn’t make much sense.

To make matters worse, Nix was the leading rusher during the game while still attempting to throw the ball 42 times. The running back room couldn’t get anything going either. Both Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin struggled to get anything stung together consistently.

Nix isn’t completely out of the blame game though. He missed some passes early on and ultimately tried to do too much when it mattered. Throwing two interceptions seemed out of the ordinary for a guy who has proven to take care of the ball. Though, he’s a rookie and mistakes early on are to be expected. However, if the Broncos are going to improve on last year’s 8 wins, they will need Nix to play much better than he did on Sunday. 

Touching on the receivers a bit more, there were some drops today as well that can’t happen as often as they did. No team is ever going to play perfectly and I don’t want to sound like I’m teeing off on the mistakes. But overall cleaning up the offense will prove to be way more beneficial down the road. 

The offensive line had its woes as well. Seattle’s defensive front is no walk in the park, but left tackle Garett Bolles going down with an ankle injury combined with the consistent lack of time in the pocket didn’t help matters with Nix either. Payton did say after the game that he thought Bolles's ankle injury was just a bruise and isn’t expected to be a long-term issue.

Overall, the Broncos didn’t get off to the start that they wanted to. The offense felt sluggish and out of touch. Nix and his receivers seemed to be on different pages while the running backs looked like they were trampling through mud. Payton acknowledged that not only does the team need to be better but he needs to as well. The schedule is only getting tougher from here on out so the Broncos will need to turn the page quickly and put this game behind them. The Steelers' defense is much worse to hold back than the Seahawks. Time to wipe this game from their minds and prepare to face Russell Wilson and TJ Watt next Sunday.