Bo Nix is Playing Better Football for Denver Broncos Lately
Bo Nix is playing much better lately. If you haven't been paying close attention, you might think he's still struggling like he did to start the season.
Bo Nix is playing better football the last three weeks.
That's the cut and dry of the matter. We'll get into just how much better he's playing in a minute.
But the same takes trying to make fun of Nix by national analysts are old and played out right now.
Bo Nix is Playing Better Football
Hey national analysts, wake up.
Bo Nix isn't playing like he did to start the season.
Call it the "Bo-ller coaster" if you will, I have for three years now. He's inconsistent, not just during games but over the course of a season as well.
And we've seen that again this year.
For a third straight season, Nix started slowly. Honestly, he was worse this year than his first two by far.
Through six games he posted an 80.7 passer rating. He was among the worst starters in the league. Nix was seeing ghosts out there ala Sam Darnold with the Jets (and Darnold this year, too).
Nix played scared and lacked confidence. It was likely because of his broken ankle sustained in the Divisional win over the Buffalo Bills, a thrilling victory for the history books.
That's led to some pretty lazy takes by national analysts.
When you see this you know Bo Nix was up to no good
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell.com) 2026-11-08T18:13:47.932Z
Bill, respectfully, watching the dots of a play isn't a good way to know what happened. There was a free rusher and the fact that he didn't get sacked on the play was great.
As I often say, Bo Nix plays QB the way I play Madden while high.
— Mike Tanier (@miketanier.bsky.social) 2026-11-08T18:12:08.446Z
OK, this is kind of funny. It's about that same play. But Mike should watch more of the Broncos because Nix played well vs. the Panthers.
The face you make when your defense is about to win another game for you:
— Scott Spratt (@scottspratt.bsky.social) 2026-10-16T03:31:26.723Z
Scott reposted this on Sunday, and he was right about that OT win over the Seahawks. Nix was awful that game, but again has bounced back.
The criticism of Nix was warranted earlier in the year.
But if you’re not paying attention, the takes look lazy at this point.
Nix's resurgence
The play that woke him up was when he broke off a 62-yard run to the house against the Arizona Cardinals a month ago.
That run jump-started his confidence.
In the rest of that game we saw him attack downfield more aggressively. He layered a ball in perfectly to Marvin Mims on the sideline, over one defender and before the next. And he hit Jaylen Waddle on a 27-yard pass up the seam vs. Arizona too.
That aggressive passing continued in the comeback win over the Chiefs.
He hit Courtland Sutton on a 23-yard pass outside on the left in the first quarter, then found Waddle on another seam route for 35 yards in the second.
But the best throw of the day was the one where he stepped up as the pocket collapsed and fired a rocket into Adam Trautman between three defenders for a crucial first down.
This is just an absolute seed as Cam Ward would say. It was a next-level throw by Nix.
He's been able to continue that for three straight games now, as we saw him ball out against the Carolina Panthers, too.
Sean Payton seemed to make a point when he called two straight deep balls to start the game in Carolina. The first was nearly caught by Sutton on the sideline, the second was called correctly for pass interference.
On the next drive Nix found Sutton for the touchdown in between multiple defenders. And to finish the win, he recognized Pat Bryant wide open for the 26-yard score.
But this was arguably his most impressive pass of the day. Finding waddle on the deep dig, a pass he was reluctant to throw earlier in the season.
His confidence is back and he's playing football at a high level the last three games.
Nix's Numbers are Trending Up
He's a winner. That's what the "Bolievers" will always tell you. He has that "clutch" gene.
Sure, yes. We'll take it. He isn't a four-quarter QB, he's a fourth-quarter QB. Just like the Broncos are a Second Half Team™️.
But one area Nix hasn't impressed is in the advanced analytics. EPA/Play has been a bugaboo of his.
However, Nix was 7th in EPA/Play last week in the win over the Panthers as this chart from RBSDM.com shows.
Not just that, but Nix's passer rating has been much-improved as of late.
To wit, in his first six games his rating was 80.7. That was by far the worst of his career. In the last three games it's been 94.8. Much improved.
A few more stats from Nix for you.
In his first six weeks Bo Nix had:
- 6 passing touchdowns
- 3 interceptions
- 5.6 air yards per pass
- 39.6% success rate
- 80.7 passer rating
- 37 rushing yards
In his last three weeks:
- 5 passing touchdowns
- 1 interception
- 6.5 air yards per pass
- 42.0% success rate
- 94.8 passer rating
- 79 rushing yards, 1 touchdown
Simply, he's playing better ball.
Nix is playing with more confidence, he's letting the ball rip into tight windows, and he's connecting with his teammates on those incredibly difficult throws.
Plus, he's using his legs more, which is a bit of cheat code when it works.
The way he was playing to start the year wasn't good enough, period.
The last month he's been playing at a top-15 level, which is enough to compete for the Super Bowl with this dynamic defense.
And there's hope he's going to continue to trend up even further as the season goes along.
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Rich Kurtzman was born and raised in Denver Colorado and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins in the aughts. He's been a professional writer since 2011, covering Colorado State football and men's basketball, as well as the Denver Broncos, for many outlets. Current Denver Broncos work can be found on Mile High Sports. Previous credits include CBS Denver and The USA TODAY Sports Media Group.
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