ENGLEWOOD — For at least a week, Bo Nix has quieted some critics with his arm and with his legs.
Heading into last Sunday’s game at Arizona, there was ample criticism of the quarterback even though his Broncos had won two straight games. Prime Video studio analyst and former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick went so far as to call his performance “garbage” after he completed 17-of-27 passes for just 107 yards in a 17-14 overtime win over Seattle on Oct. 15.
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Nix, who had been shaky overall in the first six games of the season, acknowledged last week he needed to “play better.” Then, in a 30-16 win over the Cardinals, he completed 15 of 29 passes for a much more robust 222 yards and a touchdown and ran seven times for 73 yards, including an electrifying 62-yard touchdown jaunt.
“I’ll never play a game where I’ll tell you I played good or didn’t have a need to change,” Nix, not about to have any sort of victory lap, said after Wednesday’s practice at Broncos Park. “For me, it all goes back to, ‘What can I watch? What can I take from? How can I be different? How can I change?’ I always feel like there’s something I can improve upon.”
Nix ran 175 times for 786 yards in his first two Denver seasons but entered the Arizona game with just 22 carries this season for 37 yards. With that in mind, there was plenty of talk about whether the broken ankle he suffered last January in the playoffs that required two surgeries was still hampering him.
After seeing Nix’s long scoring run, Broncos coach Sean Payton said after the win over the Cardinals, “I think it answers our question, ‘Can he still run?’” But Nix said Wednesday the run sent no message, and he doesn’t “really care what it sends out to people.”
Broncos wide receiver Troy Franklin, though, told The Denver Gazette on Wednesday that the long run “could definitely put some quiet for sure” on talk about Nix’s ankle.
Franklin is Nix’s longest-tenured teammate, having played with him at Oregon from 2022-23 and now in his third season with him on the Broncos. He sure was happy to see how Nix played against the Cardinals to raise Denver’s record to 5-2. Next up is Sunday’s battle for first place in the AFC West against 5-1 Kansas City at Empower Field.
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix stays warm on the sideline during a pause in play in the first half of a game against the Seattle Seahawks in Denver, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
“In the first (six) weeks, we obviously played some top (teams), and every game is not going to be one of those where he’s just going to go off or whatever the case is,” Franklin said about Denver’s early-season schedule, which included games against top foes Kansas City, Jacksonville, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco in addition to Seattle. “He’s going to have those games where it’s going to be a little difficult, and we got to keep fighting through that and we did that. … Bo knows what he has to do to keep leading this team, and he’s going to block out the noise like he did and just keep bouncing back.”
Nix now seeks to bounce back against the Chiefs. In the opener, the Broncos were walloped 31-10, with Nix completing 17 of 28 passes for 131 yards with a touchdown and an interception and rushing three times for 2 yards. He fumbled three times, losing one.
“I think point-blank, it’s important to our team,” Nix said of Sunday’s rematch. “It’s important to us as players. … I’ve watched (the opener) several times. I watched it after immediately and then watched it again this week to prepare. It definitely doesn’t leave me excited with how that game ended. There are a lot of things we can focus on and correct.”
The Broncos in that game had no plays of 20 or more yards. At Arizona, they had three of 40 or more yards after having just one in the first six games. In addition to his long run, Nix threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to running back RJ Harvey and had a 47-yard toss to Marvin Mims Jr.
“Explosive plays start, in my opinion, with explosive players and if you get your guys the football and if you get them the ball in space, if you know what you’re doing and you execute the play that’s called, then you’re going to turn these plays into explosives,” Nix said.
In the second quarter against the Cardinals, with the score tied 6-6, Nix turned himself into an explosive player. He dropped back to pass and saw a big lane open. He then ran alone down the left sideline and dived into the end zone when some Arizona players finally arrived.
“It was very open,” Nix said, having watched the play on film. “I didn’t realize how open it was at the time. When you’re in that moment, you kind of feel like you’re about to get killed in many different directions. When you watch it on TV, there’s just a lot of space and a lot of room to run. Great job by our guys of allowing the play to develop.”
Franklin played a key role at the end of the play, throwing blocks at two Arizona players inside the 5. He said Nix’s run reminded him of an 80-yard touchdown jaunt he had Oct. 1, 2022, against Stanford.
“It was cool to see it again,” Franklin said. “It was almost exactly the same thing (as the run in college).”
Payton on Wednesday remained impressed with Nix’s run.
“He did a good job of just sensing a cavity,” Payton said. “There’s a clip where almost every defender except one … was on the right side of the field.”
So questions have indeed stopped for now about “Can he still run?” Stay tuned this season to see what other questions might still surface about Nix.