Bill Belichick evaluates rookie QB struggles — like Bo Nix, Broncos: Need 'balanced attack'

Bill Belichick’s history against the Broncos spans the gamut in terms of play-calling.

In 2013 at New England, the Broncos gave the ball to running back Knowshon Moreno for 37 carries on his own. In the 2015 AFC title game at Denver, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady passed 56 times.

Both times, offensive imbalance lost the game.

Belichick, the former New England coach, evaluated rookie quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Denver’s Bo Nix Monday during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

Nix has thrown 77 passes over his first two games. Only two quarterbacks have thrown more: Detroit’s Jared Goff (83) and Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson (79). The Broncos are 0-2.

“I think the one thing that would help these quarterbacks more than anything is just a good, balanced attack,” Belichick said. “Daniels (29 passes, 35 rushes) had more of that than anybody else. (The Commanders) were able to run the ball against the Giants pretty consistently.”

The Broncos had 35 passing plays and 19 rushing plays in a 13-6 loss to the Steelers Sunday. They averaged only 3.4 yards per carry.

“The tough thing for the quarterbacks (is) when you’ve got to throw on every down and throw on third down and throw against a big pass rush and they know you’re going to throw,” Belichick said. “Denver’s played from behind the first two weeks. Chicago, even though they’ve won, they haven’t really been in control. The running game really helped Daniels at Washington.”

Denver plays at Tampa Bay (2-0) at 11 a.m. Sunday.

“We’ll see how it goes in Denver,” Belichick said. "Obviously going up against Pittsburgh that’s a problem for every team.”