For Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, improving as a pocket passer was one of his biggest priorities going into this season. One of the knocks on Nix was that he took off too frequently and missed out on a lot of downfield throws as a result.
Not anymore. Nix still has room to grow when it comes to his pocket presence and consistency, but he may be zigging when his opponents expect him to zag in postseason play.
“Sometimes you have more opportunities than others, and you definitely don’t want to go looking for the rush lanes, because then you get your eyes down and you miss the big ones,” Nix said to Nick Kosmider of The Athletic after his runs helped lift the Broncos over the Texans back in November. “It’s a happy balance of hitting it when it’s open and going maybe one, two, three in the read and then getting it down.”
But those running lanes are opening up more now, and Nix will need to take advantage of them for the Broncos to have postseason success. Kosmider cited a couple of plays in Denver’s Christmas night win over the Chiefs where Kansas City played a soft zone to prevent big plays and there were running lanes available.
“There’s two plays where he’s finding a throw off-schedule,” Payton noted when Kosmider brought up those particular plays, “and I said, ‘You got running room here.'”
Those zone looks will be more prevalent in the playoffs, too, but this won't be new for the Broncos. According to TruMedia and Pro Football Focus, the Broncos have faced zone defense almost 80 percent of the time, and there will be an emphasis on forcing Nix to sustain long drives.
Much of the emphasis going forward will be on finding what the Broncos call “hidden yardage,” according to receiver and returner Marvin Mims.
“Especially with me being on special teams, we always talk about hidden yardage,” said Mims. “The biggest thing for us right now is that we’re seeing a lot of zone, so whenever he scrambles, it breaks down coverages. Guys can hit that second element (of their routes) and get open. You saw that a lot with the Chiefs the past couple of years when they made their big run. It’s a huge thing for our offense, Bo getting out and making extra plays out of it.”
Nix hasn’t rushed nearly as much in his second year, so his yardage is down from 430 yards at 4.7 yards a carry last year to 307 yards for 4.1 per carry this season. But that could change considerably in the coming weeks, especially with the Denver running game experiencing the same kind of inconsistency that has plagued Nix at times.