Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix finally spoke out about the devastating broken ankle he suffered against the Buffalo Bills at the end of the Broncos’ 33-30 OT win, and it turns out Nix and coach Sean Payton aren’t quite on the same page after all.
“Nothing that was predisposed, nothing that was there originally,” Nix said in a piece written by Nick Kosmider of The Athletic. “That might have gotten confused. Just a simple bone break.”
Payton didn’t seem confused about any of this when he spoke out about it earlier in the week.
"What was found was a condition that was predisposed -- they always find a little more when they go in," Payton said in a previous article written here. "It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when.”
There are all sorts of juicy possibilities in play here, but it’s silly to speculate on any of them until we see how Nix’s recover goes. He says there will be no issues this offseason, nor is there anything that will disrupt his training.
In other words, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
This whole situation got so confusing that Broncos owner Greg Penner felt the need to speak out on it.
“His surgery was a straightforward surgery that went very well, absolutely no issues there or concerns going forward,” Penner said.
In other words, I’m not the man behind the curtain here.
That leaves Payton, who will hopefully have another round of media availability this week, although it wouldn’t be at all surprising if that didn’t happen this week given how messy this has gotten. Payton’s been a busy guy this week, denying mistakes, firing and scapegoating coaches, and throwing his quarterback under the injury bus.
This is at least slightly aberrant behavior for a coach whose words and actions are usually thoughtful and measured. Instead Payton has come off as impulsive and petulant, at least from a distance, but it’s really hard to tell if that’s true with two different versions of the same story circulating.
As for Nix, look for him to disappear into rehab land for at least a couple of weeks, and he could spend the rest of the winter hibernating from the media as he deals with his injury. The initial reports had him unable to put any weight at all on his ankle for the next four weeks, so he’ll need to be in a specialized environment where he can meet that demand, if it’s actually true, while being unable to meet the demands of media and fans who’d like to know more about the reality of his unfortunate injury.