Bo Nix did not hide behind coachspeak after Denver got run out of Arrowhead. He used the word “pitiful,” and he was talking about his own side of the ball.
The Broncos managed 10 points and 176 total yards in a 31-10 Week 1 loss to the Chiefs on Monday night. Kansas City running back Kenneth Walker III had 191 yards from scrimmage by himself, which means one player out-produced Denver’s entire offense.
The night doubled as the debut of 31-year-old offensive coordinator Davis Webb, who replaced Joe Lombardi in February. When asked whether the players let Webb down, Nix did not dodge.
“Absolutely,” Nix said. “I think players didn’t make it easy on him. Pretty pitiful actually. But he was to me in the headset, he treated it like he was a pro with it. We called exactly what we prepared and what we wanted to get and we just didn’t execute and then we were behind. I don’t think we did a whole lot of good consistently to win the game.”
Nix Is Right to Protect Webb, But the Numbers Are the Numbers
Credit Nix for taking the bullet. A young quarterback pointing at a first-time play-caller after a blowout would have been the easy move, and he went the other direction.
Still, Webb is going to wear this for a few weeks regardless. Sean Payton handed over play-calling duties for the first time since taking the Denver job three seasons ago, which is a significant delegation for a coach who built his reputation on offensive design. The first result was 176 yards.
Webb was a hot name in the coaching market earlier this year, with multiple teams considering him for head coaching vacancies. He will get more chances. The question is how long Payton’s patience lasts if Week 2 looks anything like this.
The Skill Positions Vanished
Nix went 17-of-28 for 131 yards with a touchdown and an interception. That is 4.7 yards per attempt, which is dreadful for a third-year starter who is supposed to have taken a step.
Worse, the receiver room did nothing. Courtland Sutton and Jaylen Waddle, a duo Denver expected to be one of the better pairings in the AFC, combined for three catches and 13 yards. Thirteen. Between two starting wideouts.
The Defense Was Somehow Worse
Denver missed 28 tackles and gave up 247 yards after missed tackles, the most surrendered by any defense since at least 2018 according to Next Gen Stats. That is a stunning number for a unit that has been the identity of this team.
You can survive a bad offensive night in Week 1. You cannot survive a defense that forgets how to tackle, because that is not a scheme fix. That is a fundamentals problem, and fundamentals problems in September tend to linger.
Denver has a short week to sort out an offense that could not move and a defense that could not stop anyone. Nix called it pitiful. He was being generous.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.