In the movie “Animal House,’’ John Belushi’s character John Blutarsky is said to have a 0.0 college grade-point average. That also was Bo Nix’s passer rating at halftime Sunday.
In a 23-16 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at Empower Field, the Broncos rookie quarterback got off to a disastrous start, completing 3 of 10 passes in the first half for 22 yards with an interception for the 0.0 rating. It wasn’t much better in the third quarter and Nix headed into the fourth having completed 4 of 14 passes for 27 yards with a 9.8 rating.
In the fourth quarter, after Denver had trailed 23-0, Nix threw for a whopping 189 yards and finished 19 of 33 for 216 yards with two touchdowns and an 84.9 rating. But it turned out to be too late.
“It's not easy looking at the scoreboard and seeing the deficit,’’ Nix said. “I thought on the sideline our guys continued to battle. … (The loss is) tough, but I think that's our team. … Sometimes you get knocked down early (and) you've got to find a way to gut it out at the end. The fact that we gave ourselves a chance there at the end to have another opportunity says a lot about our team.”
While Nix misfired often, including having his first pass picked off by Elijah Molden when he threw high to Marvin Mims Jr., he was not helped much by the running game. And Denver converted just 2 of 8 third downs in the first three quarters.
“We didn’t run enough plays consecutively to get into a rhythm,’’ Nix said. “It was a few plays, and you were off the field. In a game like that where you know they’re going to control the ball; you have to find ways to stay on the field.”
At least the Broncos rallied in the fourth quarter. Nix threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Troy Franklin with 10:06 left to cut the deficit to 23-7 on the rookie’s first career score. Nix and Franklin played together at Oregon for two seasons, connecting on 23 touchdown passes.
“I thought it was unique we had an Oregon player snap it (in center Alex Forsyth), an Oregon player throw it, and an Oregon player catch it,’ Nix said. “I don’t know if that’s ever happened in the NFL.”
Nix threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to a diving Courtland Sutton with 5:22 left but a two-point conversion failed, leaving Denver trailing 23-13. Sutton made all sorts of spectacular catches last season, but Sunday's effort was just as good as some of those.
“We needed a spark,’’ Sutton said. “We needed something to go well for us, to get the juice back going on our sideline."
The Broncos got a 40-yard field goal by Wil Lutz with 59 seconds left to cut the deficit to 23-16. But a Lutz onside kick then went out of bounds.
“Let’s be honest, (the offense) picked up when we started going up tempo and you are behind,’’ said Broncos coach Sean Payton. “You are getting a different coverage look. We played with some tempo. …We fought to get back in it.”
Might the Broncos, who have been getting off to slow starts with regularity this season, decide to go up-tempo earlier when they next play Thursday night at New Orleans? Stay tuned.
“If we could practice (Sunday night), we would,’’ Nix said. “We’d go back out there. We have a bad taste in our mouths. We just didn’t perform how we wanted (Sunday).”
Uwazurike makes season debut
Broncos defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike, who was suspended for the 2023 season due to violating NFL rules on sports gambling, played in his first regular-season game since Jan. 8, 2023, against the Chargers, the last game of the 2022 campaign.
“I was excited,’’ Uwazurike said of when found out he was active after being inactive the first five games.
Uwazurike played 20 snaps from scrimmage and five snaps on the field-goal block team.
“I felt good,’’ he said. “It’s something I’ve been doing all my life. I don’t think there was any rustiness.”
Still, Uwazurike said he must continue to stay in the groove.
“I’ve got to freshen up and stay in football conditioning,’’ he said. “But that was everything I went through coming back. I was able to just wait my time and get back and help my team.”
Harbaugh returns after illness
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh missed part of the first quarter when he went to the locker room due to an irregular heartbeat.
“Everything turned out to be OK,’’ he said. “I deal with this, it’s minor, it’s called atrial flutter, and I got into an episode today with it, and then doctors checked me out, and it got back into sinus rhythm, normal rhythm so I came back.”
Harbaugh has had several episodes before, including one in 1999 and one in 2012.
Forsyth, Peart start on O-line
With center Luke Wattenberg placed on injured reserve Saturday with an ankle injury, second-year man Forsyth got his first career start. And with right tackle Alex Palczewski out with an ankle injury, first-year Denver player Matt Peart got his first Broncos start.
How did they do?
“I don’t think we did good enough to win this game,’’ said guard Quinn Meinerz. “I’m going to keep saying the games are won and lost based on our performance (on the offensive line). … I’m extremely proud of how Forsyth was able to play, and it was a pleasure to play with Matt.”
Briefly
Tight end Greg Dulcich was a healthy scratch for the first time in his three-year NFL career Oct. 6 against Las Vegas and he again was inactive in favor of Lucas Krull. Also inactive were Palczewski, running back Blake Watson, defensive backs Keidron Smith, JL Skinner and Kris Abrams-Draine and quarterback Zach Wilson. … Rookie running back Audric Estime, activated off injured reserve Saturday after missing four games with an ankle injury, had two carries for 13 yards, including an 11-yard run. … The Chargers had a 20-play drive in the second quarter that went 76 yards, but at least Denver held them to a 33-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker.
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