Broncos Call for More from Bo Nix After Shaky Week 1 Debut
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix morphed into the player who struggled early during his rookie season in Week 1.
The second-year passer threw two interceptions and lost a fumble during Sunday's 20-12 home win over the Tennessee Titans. Had it not been for an outstanding performance from Denver's defense — which held Tennessee to 133 yards — the Broncos could've lost the game.
Sean Payton defends Bo Nix after rough outing
Broncos head coach Sean Payton discussed Nix's sloppy performance in his postgame news conference.
"Well, we won, that's the first thing," Payton told the media. "I thought [Nix] hung in there. He battled. Made some critical plays first in the second half, and so obviously he'll be disappointed with the turnovers, but it was a gutsy performance."
Nix — who finished 25-of-40 passing for 176 yards and one touchdown — was much more self-critical.
"You don't ever want to throw interceptions. As tough as it is, you've just got to move on and respond with positive plays after that," the QB said postgame. "Both times I thought I had decent vision ... [but] probably shouldn't have thrown both of them. You live and you learn, sometimes you can be a little too aggressive, and I was too aggressive. Ultimately, I've got to be smarter."
The Broncos need Nix to start playing mistake-free, or else he could have another slow start. Last season, the 12th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft didn't throw a TD pass until a Week 4 road game against the New York Jets. He still finished with 29 TD passes in 17 games, the second most by a rookie in NFL history, via Stats Perform.
Even more concerning for the Broncos, they'll soon be facing much better teams than the Titans, who had the NFL's worst record (3-14) in 2024.
In Weeks 3-5, Denver plays the Los Angeles Chargers (away), Cincinnati Bengals (home) and Philadelphia Eagles (away). The Eagles, of course, are the defending Super Bowl champions. Chargers QB Justin Herbert and Bengals QB Joe Burrow — potential MVP candidates — present challenging matchups for the Broncos defense.
Payton has said the 2025 Broncos can win a Super Bowl. To do that, they need Nix to take another step after finishing third in 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year voting. In Week 1, he didn't look ready to do that.
Packers’ Colby Wooden Fires Back at Critics After Dominant Run Defense Performance
Micah Parsons, a contrarian opinion had taken hold, too–the Packers defense would get chewed up in the running game.Three days before the Packers were to play the Detroit Lions in their 2025 opener, defensive lineman Colby Wooden got a phone call. It was his father. While much attention had been foisted on the Packers in recent days after the stunning trade for pass-rusher
The Packers had to trade away stalwart defensive lineman Kenny Clark to acquire Parsons, and the feeling was, that would be costly in the team’s efforts to handle the run. Detroit, after all, rushed for 2,488 yards last season, sixth in the NFL. Without Clark, surely the Packers would be in trouble.
Wooden, who is helping replace Clark in the middle, took the call from his dad, who said, “Do me a favor, shut ‘em up.”
And he, along with the entire Packers defensive front, did just that, holding the Lions to 46 yards on 22 carries, their lowest rushing output since Week 6 in 2023. Wooden, Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks held the line admirably in the middle all day for the Packers.
Colby Wooden: ‘I Took That Personal’
Wooden, for one, was insulted by the questions about the team’s inability to hold against the run.
“I for sure took that personal …” Wooden said. “So I just, did my job, went out there, stopped the run. I took it personal. Honestly, I felt like it was kinda disrespectful, like, ‘Oh, they gonna run the ball.’ So I made it my mission—we, excuse me—we made it our mission to shut them down.”
That’s not easy to do against the combo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles.
“We know what they want to do,” Wooden said. “Last year, they wanted to run. They call them Sonic and Knuckles, or whatever. They want to run them 30 times. So we know they want to run that ball. We’ve got to do our job to stop the run so they can get back and let (Parsons) go get them.”
Packers Filling Roles With Micah Parsons on Board
Wooden said the effect of having Parsons on the field was obvious, and it works both ways. When offenses focus on corralling Parsons, the other Packers must step up.
“Everybody’s got a job to do, everybody got a role,” Wooden said. “Everybody’s got to buy into their role. We know what attention and what he comes with. And we know we got to stop that run, go help him out, if he is getting is getting chipped, doubled or whatever, now it’s somebody else’s turn to win their one-on-one.”
Packers Have Commanders Next
And despite the obviously encouraging results, Wooden is not getting ahead of himself. The Commanders will be next on the docket, with fearsome young quarterback Jayden Daniels on hand.
“It’s just one week,” Wooden said. “It’s Week 1. It’s great to start off with a win, dominate. But we’ve got to keep it going. We got a good team coming here on Thursday, we know we got to be ready to stop that run and contain that quarterback. So we just gotta keep going, keep getting better, keep jelling.”
