How could a return to action he had anticipated for so long go so poorly?<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty pitiful, actually,\u201d Nix said.<\/p>\n
Top Plays from Broncos @ Chiefs<\/p>\n
Perhaps the only solace for the Broncos after a season of sky-high expectations opened with a flop is those sorts of sad adjectives belonged to everyone. Misery had plenty of company. Nix, in his first game since he had two offseason ankle injuries, was sacked on the game\u2019s first play. He threw an interception on his first pass attempt. There were dropped passes and ill-timed penalties. The Broncos missed 28 tackles, according to Next Gen Stats. Not even their infamous 70-20 loss in Miami three years ago, three games into Vance Joseph\u2019s return to Denver as defensive coordinator, featured that many whiffs. The Broncos were pushed around and outclassed by a Kansas City team that sent a clear message: The Chiefs want their AFC West crown, the one the Broncos ripped away last season to snap a nine-year run by the red-and-gold, back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came in here and they whooped our butt,\u201d safety Talanoa Hufanga said.<\/p>\n
A Week 1 result can\u2019t sink a season. But it can increase pressure and scrutiny. That will be especially true for new offensive coordinator Davis Webb after the Broncos\u2019 offense sputtered in ways big and small Monday night.<\/p>\n
Webb, after receiving the play-calling baton from head coach Sean Payton in the spring, represented one of the only major changes for Denver this offseason, a bright young coach put into the role to help Nix and the offense reach another level. That could very well prove to be the case, but it wasn\u2019t in the opener. The Broncos went a combined 2 of 13 on third and fourth downs. Most of the team\u2019s seven penalties came on the offensive side of the ball, including a handful that wiped out scoring opportunities. Denver did not produce a single play of at least 20 yards and averaged only 4.7 yards per pass attempt. The Broncos\u2019 big offseason addition, wide receiver Jaylen Waddle? He had one catch for 2 yards.<\/p>\n
On a weekend in the NFL that featured record scoring numbers across the league, the Broncos mustered their lowest scoring output in a regular-season road game since at 41-10 loss to Baltimore in Week 9 of the 2024 season. The fourth-quarter magic painted across so many of Denver\u2019s victories last year never even threatened to show up at Arrowhead Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just felt like it was penalty after penalty after penalty,\u201d said Nix, who fumbled as many times Monday (three) as he did during his entire rookie season in 2024. \u201cNobody has good plays to call when you\u2019re in second-and-long and third-and-long. I mean, the play sheet is very small. We just didn\u2019t put anybody in a good spot today. We really didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n It was a disappointing debut for new Broncos offensive coordinator Davis Webb. (Aaron Ontiveroz \/ The Denver Post)<\/p>\n
The most curious aspect of Webb\u2019s first night in the play-calling seat was Denver\u2019s pass-run imbalance when the game was still to be decided. The Broncos were either tied or trailing by one touchdown throughout the first half. Yet, when the second quarter ended, the Broncos had dropped back to pass 19 times and handed the ball to their running backs only five times, including only three carries for starter J.K. Dobbins. It wasn\u2019t until Kenneth Walker\u2019s 60-yard run gave Kansas City a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter \u2014 on a fourth-and-1 play, no less \u2014 that the Broncos started consistently trying to run the football. Payton noted that some of the pass attempts were the result of Nix choosing to keep the ball on calls that had run-pass options, but the bottom line was that Denver couldn\u2019t match the Chiefs\u2019 physical tone on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey rushed the ball well and we didn\u2019t,\u201d Payton said. \u201cThat starts with me. That starts with our coaching staff. \u2026 Regardless of who is calling the plays, if you\u2019re the head coach, it\u2019s frustrating; it\u2019s disappointing. I don\u2019t know that the feeling is any different, whether you\u2019re calling them or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody on the offensive side of the ball for the Broncos sounded alarms after the game. They have too much experience and too many proven playmakers to believe games like the opener will be the norm. And they have too much confidence in Webb to believe a rocky night against the Chiefs and maestro defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was indicative of who he will be in that role going forward.<\/p>\n
Nix said Webb will respond to Monday\u2019s letdown \u201cexactly like he would have responded with a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would have said it wasn\u2019t good enough and that we\u2019ve got to find ways to get back and continue (to improve) the next week,\u201d the quarterback added. \u201cHe\u2019s going to move on really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Webb took over for a coach in Payton who would at times last season write \u201cRun The Ball!\u201d on his play sheet as a big-picture reminder of how the Broncos needed to play. His review of Monday\u2019s game will reveal opportunities that were missed early against the Chiefs. Another note that needs to be jotted down in the debrief: Denver can\u2019t have another game in which Waddle and Courtland Sutton combine for only three catches and 13 yards.<\/p>\n
The explosive plays and points need to be found quickly. The Broncos next host a Jaguars team that gave up only 10 points in its Week 1 opener against the Browns and gave Denver\u2019s offense fits when the two teams met last December. There is no let up after that, with games against the Rams, 49ers, Chargers and Seahawks rounding out a grueling six-game gantlet to begin the season.<\/p>\n
There is no panic. There is also little time to lose in what Payton calls \u201cthe race to improve\u201d early in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe culture that\u2019s been building here for four years, we come back from this stuff,\u201d tight end Adam Trautman said. \u201cWe always have and that\u2019s what I expect out of us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2014 Bo Nix pulled his back off the Arrowhead Stadium grass and stared into a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1001416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,6],"class_list":["post-1001415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-broncos","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denverbroncos","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117274773404167253","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1001416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1001415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}