DENVER — For a moment, Bo Nix thought he'd gotten away with it.
On the first drive of his first start at Empower Field at Mile High, the Broncos' rookie quarterback completed his first four passes for 26 yards and led Denver to the Green Bay 14-yard line. On third-and-3, Nix rolled to his right and appeared to be headed for the first-down marker. At the last moment, though, he pulled up and fired a pass to an open Javonte Williams.
The home crowd erupted in celebration for Nix's first touchdown pass, but the celebration was short-lived. After a replay review, Nix was deemed to be over the line of scrimmage and the touchdown came off the board.
"When I looked to the side, I kind of had a feeling, but they didn't throw a penalty so I thought I got by," Nix said after the Broncos' 27-2 win. "The instant replay gets us all."
The instant replay was about all that got Nix and the Broncos' offense in the first half of Sunday's win, as the rookie completed 8-of-9 passes for 80 yards, one touchdown and a 140.7 quarterback rating. Nix followed his opening drive by leading the Broncos on an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that included a 23-yard strike to Courtland Sutton and a 2-yard touchdown pass to Tim Patrick.
"Well, listen, he's played well," Head Coach Sean Payton said. "I'm not announcing any starting quarterback tonight. I'll let you guys know when the time comes. But I thought he played well. He had one penalty, which was, man, right on the line. It was tough. It was a pretty heads-up play. He did a good job at the line of scrimmage with some checks. You feel his comfort level as he continues to get used to the calls coming in. You kind of feel the poise when he's playing, and the other two [quarterbacks are] the same way.
"Look, I said this last week, I like the room. Their job is to lead their offense down the field and score points, and they all had touchdown drives. I thought he was sharp. Obviously, I think he was 8-for-9, and he does a good job of distributing the football, understanding the zone [and] man-to-man coverage concepts we're getting. Overall, I was pleased."
Nix has led scoring drives of six of his seven preseason drives for a total of 30 points, and he showed the ability to overcome a first-and-20 on his second drive of the game.
"We were sitting there at first-and-[20], I believe, and Mike McGlinchey said something great," Nix said. "He said, 'Just one play at a time.' That kind of [resets] us all and gets us kind of in a one-play focus. Once again, we were able to get back to second-and-10 and then get a first down. Took us two plays to overcome that penalty. ... It's just good to see our offense do that. Sometimes you're going to be faced with a setback, and you want to overcome those, because it's not always going to be pretty. To be able to do that was really good for us."
Wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick both spoke highly of Nix's play following the performance, and Patrick said his consistency has stood out since the start of OTAs.
"He was just being Bo Nix," Patrick said of Sunday's performance. "He doesn't try to be somebody he's not. He always sticks to [being] himself, and it worked out for him today."
The Broncos' scoring continued after Nix left following his two series of work, with Jarrett Stidham plowing his way into the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown with 37 seconds to play in the first half.
"Everybody kept calling me Lamar Jackson on the sideline," Stidham joked. "I've got a long way to go for that."
Stidham completed 7-of-11 passes for 65 yards, but he also had a pass intercepted in the third quarter after the throw was batted at the line of scrimmage. Following the game, Stidham said he wasn't focused on the outcome of the quarterback competition and will instead work toward improving.
"Look, I can control what I can control, and that's how well prepared I am every day, my effort and attitude every day and going out there and executing," Stidham said. "That's all I can do. I've always said competition's super healthy. I think it's really good. I'm not going to get caught up in what's what or what it is or what it isn't. I'm focusing on every single day what I can do to be the guy."
Zach Wilson, who rebounded from being sacked for a safety to lead a late touchdown drive, said he needed to "find a way to start better" when he receives reps.
"I think just getting a completion sometimes helps," Wilson said of finding a rhythm. "I thought I missed some easy ones. Just kind of felt out of rhythm a bit, and sometimes just getting a drive going always helps. You felt that before when you go three-and-out, penalty, negative play, take a sack — those things don't help. Just kind of getting a drive started and going in the right direction's going to help."
As a group, the Broncos' quarterbacks managed to lead Denver to 27 points — and Payton said the focus is on helping all three players find success.
"Look, we're trying to develop and teach and coach," Payton said. "We're trying to give these guys stuff they do well. I think part of our job is to understand their strengths and then try to build upon them."
