ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Broncos quarterback Bo Nix on Wednesday said the ankle injury he suffered at the end of a divisional round playoff win against the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 17 was “a simple bone break” and that he’ll have “absolutely no issues” once he returns to training in four to six weeks.
The injury occurred on the final drive of Denver’s 33-30 overtime win against the Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs. It happened as he ran left on a designed quarterback rush and was tackled for a loss by Buffalo safety Cole Bishop. On the next play, Nix threw a deep ball for wide receiver Marvin Mims, who drew a pass-interference penalty that set the Broncos up for Wil Lutz’s game-winning field goal.
Nix said he did not initially believe he had suffered a serious injury, so the X-ray results that showed he had suffered a fracture were “devastating.”
“I was just going about business as usual,” Nix said. “I wasn’t in shock, but just very happy and very thrilled about how we finished that game. How the game ended, how it went down with (Ja’Quan McMillian’s) interception, with our last drive there to put the game away, with Wil’s last kick. You don’t get these opportunities. … I got checked out and, unfortunately, found out the news, and it’s just a bummer. It’s crushing. It’s defeating. You play that many games and have that good of a season, and then it just comes to an end abruptly like that. It stinks.”
Nix said there was “nothing that was predisposed” with his injury, clarifying a claim made Tuesday by Sean Payton, which was based on the head coach’s interpretation of the report following the quarterback’s surgery last week.
“Nothing that was predisposed, nothing that was there originally,” Nix said during his first public comments since suffering the injury that kept him out of Denver’s AFC Championship Game loss to the New England Patriots. “That might have gotten confused. It was just a simple step with my foot up in the air. My body weight came down on it, and it sort of got twisted up. … It could have been a worse landing, but all that force went into the only place it could. It was just one of those missteps.”
The good news, Nix said, is that there was nothing complicated about the surgery he had last week in Birmingham, Ala., or the rehab schedule to come, much of which will fall during what was already planned to be a restful period for the quarterback who just finished his second NFL season.
“It is a very quick procedure, a very easy operation,” Nix said. “Just a simple bone break. We got that fixed up with a great surgeon, great care. I was just right back on my road to recovery with a typical bone break. (In) four to six weeks, I’ll be back training, ready to roll. You hear a lot of different (timelines) and speculation out there when something like this happens, and, unfortunately, you don’t get to hear it from me for a while. There will be absolutely no issues this offseason. I’ll actually be able to start training back at the same time I was going to start training, so I don’t miss any time there.”
Broncos co-owner Greg Penner said he has “zero concern” about the injury having a long-term impact on Nix.
“His surgery was a straightforward surgery that went very well, absolutely no issues there or concerns going forward,” Penner said. “I thought he had, as a second-year quarterback, a fantastic season. He won 15 games for us. He showed his mettle in the fourth quarter a lot of times, bringing us back. He would say the same thing; it’s only his second year in the league, and he has room to grow. Fortunately, Bo has a terrific approach to studying and working. He loves the game.”
Nix expressed gratitude Wednesday for an expansive support system — family, teammates, coaches, team staff members, medical personnel and fans — that he has leaned on in the days since the injury. He was back in the team facility earlier this week, thanking some of those people and expressing his eagerness to begin building toward next season.
“I just like being around, and I like showing my face,” Nix said. “It’s hard to see it come to an end, but you’re in such a routine of still being around, still saying hi and still making your usual circles and being around the building. It’s always that bittersweet feeling at the end of the season. Only one team gets to win it all, and the other teams, man, you’ve got to get ready for next year.”
Nix suggested the hardest part of the injury was being a spectator as his replacement, Jarrett Stidham, guided the Broncos during a painful, 10-7 loss in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.
“It was terrible,” Nix said. “I was very helpless. There wasn’t much I could do about it. … Man, it’s tough to see, when you go down, the show just keeps right on going. That’s the toughest part. You feel like you’ve got a little FOMO (fear of missing out). You just miss being out there.”
Since being selected by the Broncos in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, Nix has started 24 wins for the Broncos, tied for the most victories in league history for a quarterback during his first two seasons. Nix led the Broncos on eight game-winning drives this season, including the playoff win against the Bills — the most in the NFL.
“He balled out all year,” linebacker Alex Singleton said.
“I just think you evaluate a quarterback by how much he wins, and there has been no quarterback in his first two years who has won more than Bo,” Broncos general manager George Paton said this week. “… It got to the point where we were behind, and Bo had the ball, and we’re like, ‘OK, we’re going to win this.’ You can look at all the traits for quarterbacks, their arm strength, their accuracy and all that, but I don’t think you can — he has that ‘it’ factor. I don’t think you can teach that.”
Nix said the injury has only increased his eagerness to begin training for next season.
“It reminds you not to take things for granted,” he said. “… We’re on the road back to get to OTAs, get the season, and we can go forward again.”