Bo Nix didn’t like the call. Eight New York Jets showed pressure against just five available Broncos blockers, with the rest of Nix’s arsenal split out wide as Denver looked for a spark deep in its own territory. So Nix killed the play, checked into a run, and chaos ensued.
Tight end Evan Engram, in the slot, pointed around in confusion before nodding at Marvin Mims Jr. Mims went to go block Engram’s man before realizing he had it taken care of, and then started sprinting downfield as if the play would pop. Rookie Pat Bryant, split out wide, had his hands outstretched in confusion for six full seconds before the ball was actually snapped.
This all added up, ultimately, to a third-and-10 handoff for fullback Adam Prentice.
The #Broncos‘ 3rd-and-10 FB handoff vs. NY is still odd when you break it down.
Bo Nix checks out of play + into run b/c Jets show pressure. Pat Bryant has his hands up in confusion for about six seconds. Evan Engram + Marvin Mims go to block the same guy. Chaos pic.twitter.com/rob41k1lKU
— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) October 16, 2025
“It’s not like we were planning on handing the ball off,” head coach Sean Payton said Wednesday.
Clearly not. But the sequence was indicative of the Broncos’ general offensive approach under Payton after the first quarter in London. For four drives through the third quarter and the start of the fourth, Denver put together three three-and-outs and a safety. And Nix was treated like a replacement quarterback rather than the league’s No. 12 pick in 2024.
“When you see your defense playing as well as our defense was on Sunday, you can get, sometimes, maybe a little conservative, because you know that the other team’s probably not going to score a lot of points,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said Thursday. “Maybe we got a little conservative. But the important thing is we won the game.
“So, wasn’t pretty. I don’t think we felt like we played real well. But, again, when your defense is just balling out like that, it’s easy to run-run, and trying to play field position, and had a couple bad breaks with the safety, and a couple other things.”
The Broncos did win, 13-11. But it left little confidence in their ability to establish any kind of offensive rhythm, and showed little confidence in Nix’s ability to dice up a defense without making a mistake. This is becoming a season-long trend, with a large enough sample size in six games: quarters of offensive flow sandwiched between or around quarters of offensive ineptitude. Sometimes the machine purrs. Sometimes it grumbles.
Nix, who ranks in the bottom half of eligible NFL quarterbacks in completion percentage (64.6%) and yards per attempt (6.2), didn’t level any blame at Payton or elsewhere on Wednesday. But he also didn’t exactly point the finger at himself when asked how he handled frustration around a slow offensive stretch after a hot start.
“There for a while, it was just — executing the plays that were called,” Nix said. “And, wasn’t necessarily getting a whole lot of action. But then, (it) just took one play.”
That play was a 12-yard strike to Engram that keyed a fourth-quarter field-goal drive — a moment Nix called a “relief.” It was another example of falling in and out of rhythm, too. Engram had four targets with 12:41 left in the second quarter. Nix was 12 of 14 for 100 yards and a touchdown at that point.
“That’s what happens when you try to get him the ball, he makes big plays,” Nix said of Engram after the win in London. “That’s why we acquired him. That’s why we felt confident he would bring that to our team.”
None of the Broncos’ offensive ranks — 19th in yards per play, 15th in yards per game, 21st in points per game — are particularly heartening. But public comments by Nix and others paint a picture of the rhythm that Payton’s offense could have: A consistent run game in early downs, a consistent emphasis on spraying the ball around to playmakers, and a consistent emphasis on tempo.
The Giants have “four werewolves” up front, as Lombardi put it: rookie Abdul Carter, star edge rusher Brian Burns, OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux and interior defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence. Tempo could help wear them out, as the Giants have pressured the quarterback on nearly 46% of their defensive snaps when Carter, Burns and Thibodeaux are on the field at the same time, according to Next Gen Stats.
“Especially for this week,” receiver Troy Franklin told The Denver Post on Wednesday, “it’s probably something that we really want to do.”
Lombardi said offensive staff didn’t want to “overthink” last Sunday, given the defense’s ability to win the game. But the Broncos can hardly afford to underthink against New York.
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