Sunday’s game was one of firsts for Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. The former Pinson Valley High School and Auburn standout threw his first NFL touchdown pass, kneeled out an NFL victory for the first time and met Aaron Rodgers for the first time.
Nix got to finish the game in the victory formation after New York Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein missed a 50-yard field-goal attempt with 47 seconds to play to seal a 10-9 victory on a rainy day in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
New York had taken possession at its 40-yard line with 1:27 to play, setting the stage for Rodgers to deliver a victory. But the 40-year-old quarterback limped off for the field-goal attempt after moving the Jets 28 yards in five snaps.
After two kneel-downs, Nix stopped to have his picture made with former Auburn teammate Jamien Sherwood, a New York linebacker, before shaking hands with Rodgers.
“It was awesome meeting him,” Nix said. “Obviously, I got the most respect for him. Grew up watching him several times. Was never on the sidelines for it, but I watched a lot of TV comebacks where he’s marching on the last drive. Honestly, you got to put your hope in the defense. It’s a scary sight with him with the ball at the end. But our defense came out today and won the game.”
The Broncos won even though Nix finished the game with 60 passing yards. At halftime, he had minus-7.
“When it rains like that for that long period of time, it’s hard to kind of, I guess, get dry footballs out there,” Nix said. “But that’s how it’s going to be. They were having to do the same thing. Usually, these weather games turn into run-the-football games, and that’s what we did in the second half, so it worked in our favor. …
“It’s not going to be a picture-perfect game when the weather’s like that and they have a good defense. You’re going to go out there and it’s going to be a tough game. You’re going to have to have some grit and some discipline and some toughness at the end to pull those out. And that’s what we did.”
The Broncos finished with 186 yards, and they moved 92 yards for the game’s only touchdown.
Nix completed two passes on the drive – a 29-yard toss to wide receiver Cortland Sutton on third-and-11 at the Denver 24-yard line and an 8-yard throw to Sutton for a touchdown as the Broncos went ahead 7-6 with 3:08 to play in the third quarter.
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“That was almost flipping the field,” Nix said of the third-and-11 completion, “and then we continued to go back to running the ball and it capped off with a touchdown to Cort, so it was huge and that was one of the contributing plays in the game.”
After New York regained the lead on a field goal on the fourth play of the fourth quarter, Denver responded with seven consecutive rushing attempts on its next possession to move Wil Lutz in position for a 47-yard field goal with 8:55 to play.
New York’s remaining three possessions ended in a punt, a fourth-down sack and a missed field-goal attempt.
Nix completed 12-of-25 passes for 60 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran five times for 3 yards.
Nix was not sacked while Denver sacked Rodgers five times.
After starting the season with two losses, the Broncos defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-7 on Sept. 22 before beating the Jets on Sunday. Between the two road wins, Denver practiced at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
“To go on the road, get two tough wins against two really good football teams, two tough defenses, two tough offenses,” Nix said. “You can’t say enough about our defense on this winning stretch. They’re going to continue to give us the ball back. Now we got to find ways to score more than just a few points. But that’s part of it. You find a way to win in this league, and that’s a big day.”
The Broncos play the Las Vegas Raiders at 3:05 p.m. CDT Oct. 6 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
