Rookie QB Bo Nix has rough outing in loss to Seahawks but Sean Payton says Broncos must 'be better around him'

SEATTLE – There was no Bo bashing on the Broncos on Sunday.

Bo Nix had a brutal game statistically in his NFL debut, but the Broncos are standing by their rookie quarterback. It did help that at least Nix scored on a 4-yard run late in the game to make the score look better in a 26-20 loss to Seattle at Lumen Field.

Through the air, Nix completed 26 of 42 passes for 138 yards with two interceptions. He didn’t reach 100 yards passing until the midpoint of the fourth quarter.

Nix because just the 10th quarterback in NFL history to throw for less than 140 yards in a game with at least 40 attempts. According to Pro Football Reference, of the 4,335 NFL games in which a quarterback has attempted 40 passes, Nix had the seventh-worst average yards per attempt at 3.29.

Denver coach Sean Payton, though, preferred to look elsewhere when discussing why his team struggled so much on offense in the season opener.

“I thought (Nix) seemed calm, poised,’’ Payton said. “I thought that part of it, I felt like he was very comfortable and ready. … I don't know how many balls we dropped. … For any quarterback playing, we've got to be more effective running the football. … We just got to be better around him and that's my impressions from just watching it without looking at the tape.”

Take out the five carries Nix had for 35 yards, including a 23-yard jaunt, and Broncos running backs had just 64 yards on 20 carries. The backs also had two fumbles, one after a reception by Jaleel McLaughlin that was lost and one after a run by rookie Audric Estime that was recovered by Denver.

But Nix had two turnovers. He had another pass that was dropped by a Seattle defender and several others that could have picked off. Nix said he mostly wasn’t bothered by the raucous crowd of 68,714 but did say the game was faster than he had seen in the preseason.

“It was tough to get some explosive plays, and I think, when you have a hard time getting explosives and you've got to sustain drives, they can get you in third and long and third and just tough situations,’’ said Nix, who became just the second Denver rookie quarterback to start an opener, the first being John Elway in 1983 at Pittsburgh. “Overall, I think, as poorly as we did, I think we gave ourselves a chance to win there at the end. … It was a challenge. It was a tough day. They didn't make it easy on us, that's for sure. … (But) we competed.”

Several of Nix’s teammates said afterward they must do a better job.

“We just need to be able to run the ball better, block better,’’ said tackle Mike McGlinchey. “I think (Nix) handled himself with poise. I think he commanded the huddle well. I think he’s competitive as heck. He lays his body out there for us. I’m really pleased with where he’s going.”

Against a strong Seattle pass rush, Nix was sacked twice and had passes intercepted by Riq Woolen and Julian Love. He didn’t throw downfield much.

“It’s tough, man,’’ said Broncos receiver Josh Reynolds. “You always want to come out with a rookie quarterback and get that first win and get his confidence up and we weren’t able to do that (Sunday). But we’ll come back and clean it up.”

Nix said he “felt confident going into the game” and at least Denver’s defense did help him out in the early going. In fact, the Broncos led 13-10 at the half thanks to an interception on the first series by linebacker Alex Singleton that led to the first of three Wil Lutz field goals and getting two safeties in a game for the first time since the 1982 season finale against Seattle.

The Broncos took a 5-3 lead early in the second quarter on a safety when Seahawks guard Anthony Bradford was called for holding in the end zone. The Broncos went up 10-9 when Zach Allen and Jonathon Cooper tackled running back Zach Charbonnet later in the quarter for a safety.

“Not enough came of it,’’ Payton said of the Broncos not getting points in either of their two possessions after the safeties. “We’ve got to be better, and I got to be better.”

One of Seattle’s few bright spots on offense in the first half was quarterback Geno Smith scoring on a 34-yard run midway through the second quarter for an 9-8 lead. But in the second half, the Seahawks finally got going.

Seattle scored 17 straight points on a Kenneth Walker 23-yard touchdown run and a Jason Myers 28-yard field goal in the third quarter and then got a 30-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Charbonnet on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 26-13 lead.

Walker led the Seahawks with 103 yards rushing on 20 carries. Smith completed 18 of 25 passes for 171 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

“We’ve just got to do a better job making those adjustments,’’ Allen said. “We kind of let it leak into two (touchdown) drives (in the second half). In a game like that, you just can’t let that happen. We’re going to get it right.”

The Broncos did mount a 54-yard drive in which Nix scored on a 4-yard run to close the deficit to 26-20 with 2:09 left in the game. That allowed them to avoid their first opener since 1990 against the Los Angeles Raiders of not scoring a touchdown.

“We’ve got a team that's not going to quit,’’ Nix said. “And we're going to put everything on the line. No matter if it's an ugly start, we're going to continue to find ways to finish.”

At least Nix’s debut was better than the one Elway had in 1983, when he completed just 1 of 8 passes for 14 yards with an interception and was sacked four times before being benched in the second half. Then again, the Broncos did win that game 14-10.