Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix: ‘It’s a great first win’

Denver won the opening coin toss for its NFL game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, and Broncos coach Sean Payton took the ball rather than defer to the second half, as he normally does.

Bo Nix made the strategy pay off as he completed all four of his passes for 70 yards and ran twice for 5 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown, as the rookie quarterback accounted for every inch of Denver’s opening touchdown drive.

The TD drive opened the way to a 26-7 victory over the Buccaneers that was Nix’s first as an NFL starting quarterback.

“He wanted to be aggressive,” Nix said. “… We came out and did exactly what we wanted – went down and got a touchdown. And I think that set the tempo, set the tone for the game.”

On the game’s first snap, Nix had a 22-yard completion to wide receiver Courtland Sutton, and two snaps later, Nix connected with wide receiver Josh Reynolds for a 31-yard gain.

“When you start the game with an explosive pass play, get Court involved early, you win a one-on-one, you flip the field in one play, it opens it up for a coordinator, and coach Payton did a good job of going right back to it,” Nix said. “We hit Josh on the other side, and we get points. We get a touchdown on that first drive. That’s really important to start explosive.”

Nix completed 25-of-36 passes for 216 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions and ran nine times for 47 yards and one touchdown on Sunday.

“We played motivated today,” Nix said. “We went out there and executed at a high level. I think that’s what it’s supposed to feel like. You get back in the locker room and everybody’s really excited. You put so much into the week, you put so much effort, time, energy, and those are what those moments are about. That’s what you want to get to. You want to get to those postgame celebrations.”

Nix had thrown four interceptions in the season’s first two games as the Broncos lost to the Seattle Seahawks 26-20 on Sept. 8 and Pittsburgh Steelers 13-6 on Sept. 15.

“It’s our job to paint a perfect picture for this player,” Payton said. “… When we do that, this guy’s going to be something.”

After the game, Payton was asked if his rookie quarterback had played more confidently on Sunday.

“No, no, no, no. Stop, stop,” Payton said. “It’s fitting your narrative. It’s not. The kid’s been confident. This kid’s been through Auburn, he’s transferred, he’s won and won and won and won. And, honestly, I haven’t seen him flinch. We all get a little bit more confident with a win, but … he hasn’t flinched. And I think that we had a good plan, players did a good job and certainly he had more fun than he had in prior weeks.”

At Pinson Valley High School, Nix led the Indians to consecutive AHSAA Class 6A championships. Nix set AHSAA career records for yards of total offense and touchdown responsibility and was an All-State selection in 2017 and 2018. In his senior season, he also was selected as Alabama’s Mr. Football and the Class 6A Back of the Year by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.

In his second season at Oregon after three seasons at Auburn, Nix finished third in the voting for the 2023 Heisman Trophy before joining the Broncos as the 12th pick in the NFL Draft on April 25.

Denver got its first victory of the season on the road against a team that had not lost. The Buccaneers had beaten the Washington Commanders 37-20 on Sept. 8 and the Detroit Lions 20-16 on Sept. 15 before becoming the first team on Nix’s list of NFL victories.

“You only get this moment one time, and it’s not easy winning games in this league,” Nix said. “But our guys deserve this. Our guys have earned this. We have a great team that really battled in there. We were one possession away in both the first two games, and so just to do what we were able to do today against a really good football team, it gives us a little bit of confidence moving forward. It’s a long season, but you got to enjoy these wins when they’re here. And it’s a great first win.”