Mile High Report
While the game tonight against the San Francisco 49ers will mean little in the grand scheme of things. Just a way for the Denver Broncos to get warmed up for Week 1. When the two team’s faced off in joint practices on Thursday, quarterback Bo Nix used his ability to improvise to extend plays and keep those drives going.
Head Coach Sean Payton was asked about how well Nix and wide receiver Courtland Sutton work together to extend those plays, he noted that it is common between quarterback and wide receivers.
“When you get used to that, and we’ve seen this with other quarterbacks,” Payton said. “Aaron Rodgers in the red zone was one of the best. A play doesn’t develop, and he moves, and in concert, the play moves with him. It’s practiced, and then when you begin to see, it happened probably four times today. There are certain scramble rules that we discuss: far receiver, near receiver and backside receiver in regards to getting in phase with the quarterback. There are a lot of plays to be had.”
The key point here is that sometimes a play that is called in a game doesn’t developed as planned and it is on the quarterback to create an opportunity instead. It’s also a trait that can’t be forced. Either the quarterback has it or they don’t.
“I think that it’s something you can’t force that,” Payton said of spontaneous plays from Nix. “We can design plays to get him out of the pocket, but I’m talking about when a part of your protection breaks down, maybe the initial route’s covered. He tends to function comfortably in that position.”
As Broncos fans, many of us grew up with the greatest at making something out of nothing with John Elway. He was a magician on the field at times and usually with the game on the line. Nix has a bit of that in him too, but I see a lot of controlled precision at times too — like, you know, Peyton Manning. He’s not either of those quarterbacks just yet. I just like what I see a year into his career.
Nix was also asked about those drive-extending plays when things break down and he seemed to feel like its just something that comes naturally.
“It’s something that happens naturally, but it’s definitely something you have to work at, take time working at it,” Nix said. “It can be a strength if you allow it to be. Those plays are always… Can be good, can be bad, and I just want to go out there and make the best play and that time whether it’s running, whether it’s finding a person to throw it to. So we’ve been practicing that, really this offseason, this training camp. It’s hard to kind of really do them because they’re so abrupt, they’re out of nowhere and so you just go out there and try to make a play and don’t make something bad, worse.”...
