BALTIMORE, Md. — In a matchup against the Broncos’ toughest opponent to date, Bo Nix showed glimpses of the franchise quarterback Denver hopes it drafted, but not near enough to keep up with Lamar Jackson and the high-flying Ravens.
Denver’s rookie QB made plays with his arm, caught Baltimore’s defense slipping at times with his legs and even had a leaping touchdown grab. But Nix’s performance on Sunday was littered with a handful of missed throws and poor execution on fourth down — all of which contributed to Denver being on the losing end of a 41-10 game at M&T Bank Stadium.
“A lot of what-ifs, but the fact of the matter is we got our butts kicked,” Nix said after completing 19 for 33 passes for 223 yards and an interception.
Against a team like the Ravens, the Broncos had to play a near-perfect game to have a shot. They did not.
On their first drive, Nix rolled to the right before throwing a pass to Lil’Jordan Humphrey that bounced off the veteran wideout’s hands and into those of Ravens defensive back Ar’Darius Washington. Humphrey took the blame for the turnover but Nix’s attempt was also off target.
Employing an aggressive game plan, Broncos coach Sean Payton went for it on fourth down five times but his team only converted once. In the second quarter, Denver faced a fourth-and-4 at Baltimore’s 33-yard line when Payton decided to go for it instead of kicking the field goal. The play was drawn up well, but Nix overthrew a potential touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Troy Franklin, who had Ravens defensive back Brandon Stephens beat.
Baltimore took advantage of the field position by marching to Denver’s 15-yard line before settling for a 33-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead with 12 minutes to go in the first half.
“We came away with no points on several of those fourth downs. If we hit those, I guess things could change,” Nix said.
Late in the game, Denver had two opportunities to score on fourth down but failed. Nix overthrew wide receiver Courtland Sutton in the back of the end zone on one. And on the Broncos’ final possession of a brutal afternoon, Nix’s 9-yard pass to Sutton was short of the goal line.
Denver only ran six offensive plays on two possessions in the third quarter. On the first drive, Nix was sacked for a 9-yard loss on third down. When the Broncos got the ball again, Nix’s pass to running back Jaleel McLaughlin resulted in a 1-yard loss before he recorded two straight incompletions, forcing Denver to punt again.
As a whole, the Broncos shot themselves in the foot throughout the afternoon. Denver had nine penalties, including a holding call on left tackle Garett Bolles that negated a 9-yard rushing touchdown from Nix in the second quarter. A couple of plays later, Denver settled for a field goal before watching Jackson complete a 53-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Zay Flowers to take a 24-10 lead at halftime.
“That penalty on a touchdown is deflating,” Nix said. “It’s one of those points in the game where it doesn’t go in your favor. As an offense, we have to stop the bleeding.”
The end result will end up overshadowing some of the good Nix did against one of the league’s best teams. Outside of the interception and incompletion to Franklin, Nix was efficient in the first half. He completed 12 of 20 passes for 160 yards and had two completions for 30-plus yards, including his third-down pass to running back Javonte Williams that resulted in a 34-yard gain in the first quarter.
Nix, who also finished with six carries for 36 yards, engineered back-to-back scoring drives in the second quarter. On the first, he completed a 19-yard pass to Franklin before scrambling up the middle for a 15-yard gain. Then came Denver’s lone fourth-down conversion of the game: A Philly Special throw from Sutton to Nix for a leaping 2-yard grab at the goal line.
That made Nix the third quarterback in league history to record at least one rushing, passing and receiving touchdown in their rookie year.
Sutton’s pass had a 21.9% completion probability, making it the most improbable completion targeting a quarterback over the last seven seasons, according to Next Gen Stats. It had the lowest completion probability of any pass the Broncos have completed this year.
“We got the right look (but) I wouldn’t have called it if I knew it would have been that close,” Payton said. “Courtland made a good throw.”
Nix and Sutton’s connection has shown signs of improvement over the last two weeks. The veteran wideout recorded 122 yards on seven catches, marking the first time in his career he had at least 100 yards in back-to-back games.
Despite all the good that Nix had done, he couldn’t go toe-to-toe with Jackson, who showed him what a franchise quarterback looks like, going 16 of 19 for 280 passing yards and three touchdowns.
“You never want to lose games like this,” Nix said. “It’s miserable but we have to face it. We have to look internally, starting with me.”
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