It was just last season that Sean Payton came along in Denver and shattered everything that had come before, calling Nathaniel Hackett's tenure in charge of the Broncos one of “The worst coaching jobs” in NFL history. It would be nice to know where you think their first two games this season rank in the standings.
The Broncos have started the season with an 0-2 record. Going back a little further in time, Denver has won just two of its last eight games, and both victories were against a team led by Easton Stick at quarterback. Through two weeks this season, the Broncos' offense has made mistakes in four of eight quarters. Payton, once at the forefront of offensive football, looks like someone out of ideas, or at least out of time. His offense is stagnant in 2013 and is led by a rookie quarterback, Bo Nix, who appears to be in over his head. advanced metrics This season, Denver's offense has ranked ahead of only the dreadful Carolina Panthers, a team that benched its quarterback this week in part because it's concerned he'll have trouble seeing beyond the line of scrimmage.
Related: Listen to a former player: The NFL is brutal, violent and very difficult to leave | RK Russell
Payton seems as baffled as anyone by Denver’s ineptitude. “We have to start really looking at who we’re asking to do what,” he said Sunday. “What scheme fits our players? What scheme fits our quarterback?”
You'd expect a coach to have the answers to those questions before leaving an underdeveloped rookie out to face two of the league's best defenses.
On the surface, hiring Payton made sense. He was a decorated coach who would bring instant credibility to an organization that had become a laughing stock. The Broncos had a new ownership group and were happy to shell out $18 million a year and a couple of draft picks to land a coach with Super Bowl pedigree. But there are starting to be signs that Phil Jackson with the New York Knicks On the Payton era: A legendary leader who is out of his time. Someone who has amassed all the power in the organization without the patience to carry out a true rebuild.
Payton has chased sugar throughout his time in Denver. But his biggest decision came this offseason when he fired Russell Wilson, plunged the franchise even deeper into salary cap hell, and chose Nix as his replacement. Denver selected Nix 12th overall, much higher than most draft prognosticators (and other team executives) had him scheduled to go. Payton's reasoning for Falling in love with Nix was confusing At best, but he seemed to have a genuine belief that the young quarterback could, in time, become something resembling a facsimile of Drew Brees, who turned Payton's offensive ideas into something resembling art with the New Orleans Saints.
But the early results have been dismal. Denver lacks talent at the skill positions, its offensive line has been crushed and Nix seems lost playing in one of the league's most complicated offenses.
You've probably already seen the video of Nix from Denver's 13-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. The rookie joined the huddle to recite a play. Confusion ensued. Denver couldn't get the ball out in time and was forced to burn a timeout.
If you missed that one, you probably saw the other times the Broncos struggled to line up, with the team's receivers staring toward the sideline, eyes wide and arms in the air as they wondered what was going on.
Every rookie quarterback experiences growing pains; things haven't been rosy for Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears, either. NFL defenses are faster and often more sophisticated than those in college. NFL offenses are more expansive, putting a greater burden on quarterbacks who have played in watered-down college schemes.
As the abyss between What is expected of quarterbacks at the professional and college levels? The gap has widened, though, but teams have become wiser about how they can help young quarterbacks develop. Coaches will twist the language of their playbook or mimic plays a rookie had success with in college to ease their transition into the league. The Bengals imported Joe Burrow’s LSU playbook when they drafted him No. 1 overall in 2020, and added college teammate Ja’Marr Chase to help the process. Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs allowed Patrick Mahomes to sit during his rookie season. Once Mahomes was handed the starting job, Reid twisted the language and design of his offense to fit what had worked for his quarterback in college, slowly adding new elements. The same was true in Green Bay for Jordan Love, who was given three seasons to sit and learn behind Aaron Rodgers.
Nix has been thrown into the deep end, into an offense with no training wheels. The video of Nix’s struggles in the pregame huddle is indicative of a broader problem with the Broncos: the Sean Payton problem. The coach is famous for his wordy playcalling. Rookie or not, he drops the goldmine on a quarterback and expects them to catch on quickly. Wilson, an experienced quarterback, struggled with plays of unprecedented length last season, but for a rookie like Nix he has reached shudder-inducing territory.
Nix spent five years in college using a system that relied on a couple of words or a picture projected from the sideline to call plays. In Denver, he lines up on the huddle for the first time and is asked to recite the pro football equivalent of The Stand before the offense can execute a play.
Here's an example. At Auburn, Nix's first college stop, Nix ran a play that's a staple at every level of football: a simple trick pass. Its name: GAS NAKED. When he transferred to Oregon, the coaching staff in Eugene adopted the same language. They already ran the same play, but were happy to adapt to Nix's language. In Denver, Payton is asking Nix to say things the coach's way. Suddenly, the same play morphs from “Gas Naked” into a Tolkien-esque “KING SNUG RT ON 52 SMASH Z JERK KILL Q-8 Z SPEED SMASH (ALERT PIPE).”
It's no wonder the rookie seems disoriented. There are good reasons why NFL coaches prefer long plays: One is that there are more plays to learn than in college, and they want to make sure everyone knows their exact role. But not offering play-calling help to a struggling rookie is counterproductive.
When the Broncos have been able to get the ball out in time, the results have been disastrous. Nothing is more telling than Nix’s numbers throwing the ball down the field. Payton has made a career out of designing the NFL’s best deep passing game. Nix isn’t blessed with the strongest arm (but neither was Brees late in his career) and Payton’s offense is designed to design big plays for quarterbacks who lack the flamethrower of Josh Allen. Even pushing the ball past the sticks has been a challenge so far this season. On throws of 10 yards or more, Nix has thrown twice as many turnover-worthy and interception-worthy passes as completions, according to ProFootballFocus. He’s played against two outstanding defenses in the Steelers and Seahawks, but those numbers are illustrative of a player who can’t keep up with what’s asked of him and who throws with hope rather than expectation.
It's significant that Nix, like Wilson before him, has been at his best when he's improvising or playing in the two-minute drill, when the playbook is simplified and he's free to escape the limitations of the offense. Payton has grown tired of Wilson's improvisations, but it's the one place where Nix has shown signs of promise.
Payton’s offense was once the league’s wonder. It was at the cutting edge. In Brees, it had a ruthless and efficient director. But those heady days of Saints football are increasingly behind us. In Denver, he has stocked his staff with friends from his days in New Orleans: Eight Broncos coaches worked for Payton in New Orleans. And it shows. They have continued to bring up the great successes of the past, but they seem to have forgotten that the leader, Brees, was crucial to bringing it all together.
If a coach's job is to put players in the best position to succeed, Payton has failed so far. He's left his rookie stranded, bogged down Nix in an offense that's beyond his capabilities, playing on a roster that lacks the talent to cover up for his shortcomings. If he's not willing to adapt, Payton should allow Nix a period on the sidelines before he irrevocably loses confidence.
