Bo Nix turned toward the sideline, saw head coach Sean Payton looking on and gave him a celebratory pat on his way past.
Down in the end zone, veteran wide receiver Tim Patrick relished in a long-time-coming touchdown catch — Who cares if it’s just the preseason when you’ve lost two years to injury? — and gave the Empower Field crowd a Mile High Salute.
After a 27-2 victory over a listless, back-ups-only version of the Green Bay Packers, Nix might not get anything more than a nod and a wave in next weekend’s preseason finale.
If this is the last Broncos fans see of the rookie this preseason, he went out with a bang.
Nix did nothing Sunday night in his home preseason debut to change the notion that he’ll win the starting job and lead Sean Payton’s team Week 1 at Seattle.
In fact, he did plenty to reinforce his strong standing in work against the Packers’ reserves.
Nix started in front of the home crowd, led two drives, put 10 points on the board with the starting offense and capped his evening with the touchdown toss to Patrick.
The quarterback’s final line: 8-of-9 passing for 80 yards and the score plus 12 rushing yards on three carries and a 14-yard touchdown pass to Javonte Williams that was negated because he narrowly crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball.
If Payton makes it official in the coming days and names Nix his starter, he may well not play in the preseason finale Aug. 25 against Arizona at Empower Field.
Payton wasn’t rushing to make the call Sunday night, though. In fact he bristled at too many questions about Nix.
“Well listen, he’s played well. I’m not announcing any starting quarterback tonight,” Payton said. Later he put “a cap” on Nix questions when asked about a comment he made last week about the band still having a couple songs left to play.
“The band sounds pretty good. I’m not dancing,” Payton said curtly.
All the same, Nix has been grooving in his two preseason appearances. There’s a simple way to describe the former Oregon and Auburn star’s work in two exhibition games this month: When Nix played, the Broncos moved the ball and scored points.
The 24-year-old led seven drives — five against Indianapolis and two Sunday night. On one of them, tight end Lucas Krull hauled in a short pass and fumbled on the first play.
The other six drives went at least seven plays, produced multiple first downs and ended in points.
In order, they went like this:
• 11 plays, three first downs, three points
• 10 plays, five first downs, seven points
• 1 play, no first downs, no points
• 7 plays, four first downs three points
• 10 plays, four first downs, seven points
• 9 plays, two first downs, three points
• 11 plays, six first downs, seven points
The final of those doubled as the prettiest. Nix helped jumpstart the drive with a 14-yard screen to Javonte Williams. Then he calmly delivered a 14-yard dart over the middle to Patrick, with whom he’s had a budding connection this summer, on third-and-9. Nix scrambled for 10 to help Denver overcome a holding penalty and drove a 23-yard in-breaker to Courtland Sutton to set up first-and-goal.
Two plays later, he rolled right and hit Patrick again for a 2-yard touchdown.
“Felt really good. I thought we started off really well,” Nix said. “Defense got a huge stop and flipped the field for us and we were able to walk away with points. You’d like to get a touchdown in that situation but then we were able to turn back around, go down and get a touchdown.”
Nix’s two-game tally: 23-of-30, 205 yards and a pair of touchdown passes and six carries for 30 yards.
For what itap worth, Nix narrowly kept his sack-free preseason going, too, when he stepped up in the pocket his only time under real pressure and managed to gain half a yard.
More than the exact numbers, though, Sunday night and the past two weeks have provided clarity. Nobody knows how ready a new quarterback is for real, regular-season NFL work. But Nix is ready enough that there’s no reason to wait to find out.
Stidham followed Nix and plowed in for a nine-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to go along with a second tipped-ball interception in as many preseason games. Wilson entered with 5 minutes, 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter and played the rest of the way for the Broncos. That included a sack for a safety — Green Bay’s lone points of the night — and a 7-yard touchdown pass to reserve running back Tyler Badie.
The Broncos defense pitched a shutout and got their starting unit a couple series’ of work. It will likely be the only preseason snaps for defensive linemen Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers and corner Pat Surtain II.
