Former Oregon Ducks quarterback Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos improved to 8-2 on the season with a 10-7 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday night football. Despite the win, it was not a good performance from Nix.
What went wrong for Nix and the Denver offense?
Bo Nix went 16/28 passing for 150 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions against the Raiders. It was not the game for the fan of offense, as neither the Broncos or Raiders could get anything going. This made for one of those Thursday Night Football games that have the entire country asking ‘Why are they playing on such short rest?’
The game was tied at 7-7 heading into the third quarter. The only points scored in the entire second half were a Broncos chip shot fled goal in the third following a blocked punt. Other than that, there were interceptions, missed field goals, and countless punts. Both punters; the Raiders’ AJ Cole and Broncos’ Jeremy Crawshaw had seven punts each.
The Broncos have racked up six of their eight wins after trailing in the fourth quarter this season behind Nix’s late-game heroics. Thursday night’s game felt like one they should have been able to cruise in. The Raiders are 2-7 this season and had given up 30 or more points in each of their last two games.
The defensive side of the ball for Denver is as good as any unit in the NFL, but if the Broncos want to be taken seriously as a true Super Bowl contender, their offense is going to have to be more consistent. That starts with Nix.
Former NFL scout and current host of the 3 & Out podcast, John Middlekauff was critical of Nix in his live postgame reaction posted on YouTube. He has serious doubts about Nix’s ability to be the quarterback for the Broncos if they want to make a Super Bowl run.
“Bo Nix the majority of this season has been atrocious. Tonight it was like ‘Same thing. Starting slow, he’s going to have a big ending’ and it never really happened,” Middlekauff said. “The Broncos for me now, officially have a problem…You have no chance to win a Super Bowl with Bo Nix playing like he is right now.”
Something that concerns Middlekauff is he feels Nix has lost confidence and that has directly impacted his accuracy.
“I think his confidence is shot,” Middlekauff said. “He’s never been the most accurate guy. When you do a deep dive of him at Auburn, he was an inaccurate player. Obviously at Oregon he was exceptional, but we’ve broken down a lot of those are quick screen type plays and behind the line of scrimmage type throws.”
Middlekauff also eluded to himself having a Super Bowl future on the Broncos and with Nix playing the way he did against the Raiders, he doesn’t feel like that has a shot.
“If he plays like he did tonight against the Chiefs they lose 100 percent of the time,” Middlekauff said. “I’m saying this out of passion because I have a ticket on them to make the Super Bowl. I watched tonight and I go ‘John, you got no shot.’”
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Bo Nix was selected No. 12 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft by the Broncos after his best season on college at Oregon. Nix finished third in Heisman trophy voting and helped lead the Ducks to a 12-2 season capped off by a Fiesta Bowl victory over the Liberty Flames.
Nix threw for 4,508 yards and 45 touchdowns passes on an FBS high 77.4 percent completion percentage.
Something underrated when it came to Nix coming out of college was his running ability. In his five collegiate seasons with both Auburn and Oregon, he rushed for 1,613 yards and 38 touchdowns.
