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The Denver Broncos put up a good fight in their 2024 season-opener, but it ultimately wasn't enough to prevent them from suffering a 26-20 loss at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks. It was an uneven performance from the Broncos, including their rookie quarterback Bo Nix, who was making his NFL debut, but if you ask Sean Payton, that wasn't the issue for Denver in this game.
Nix didn't have the best day for the Broncos (26/42, 138 YDS, 2 INT), but he was their leading rusher on the ground (5 CAR, 35 YDS, 1 TD), which was a bit interesting. That's because Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin, and Audric Estime struggled mightily on the ground as a group, which led to Payton saying their collective poor day at the office was a big reason why the team lost.
Via Andrew Mason:
“Sean Payton: ‘There's a number of things that we'll get cleaned up and corrected (at QB)…but one of the key things was winning the run game battle and we struggled…Too many 2 to 3 yard gains when you look at Javonte and Jaleel's numbers. We have to be more effective there…From an assignment standpoint, our landmarks, some of those things, they've gotta get cleaned up. And I'd tell you, there's a couple of runs we've gotta see better vision-wise — Audric has one, Javonte has one. We've gotta improve in that area.'”
Sean Payton, Broncos looking to make Bo Nix's life easier under center
While Estime only had two carries for 14 yards, Williams (8 CAR, 23 YDS) and McLaughlin (10 CAR, 27 YDS) struggled to get much of anything going on the ground, which certainly didn't help Nix out in the first game of his career. Denver's struggles on the ground certainly weren't the only reason they lost, though, which is why Payton implored the rest of the team, himself included, to be better moving forward.
Via Chris Tomasson:
“Broncos coach Sean Payton said: ‘We need to be better around (Bo Nix) and we will be.'”
The good news for the Broncos is that this is only the first game of the season, so there is still a lot of time for them to improve moving forward. It was clear that there would be some rough patches in Nix's rookie campaign, but Payton did not like the lack of support he got against the Seahawks. If they can improve in this area in Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, though, they could find themselves with an opportunity to pick up their first win of the year.
