ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said the mistakes were clear to see from Monday night's loss in Kansas City, but "we're not freaking out'' as the team prepares for Sunday's home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Broncos had an across-the-board, 31-10 meltdown against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday in which the defense surrendered 200 yards rushing and missed 19 tackles while Nix and the offense gained 176 net yards. Nix fumbled three times (losing one), was sacked a career-high four times and threw an interception on his first pass attempt.
"We just didn't help ourselves by any means,'' Nix said after Thursday's practice. " ... [But] overall we're not pressing the panic button, we're not freaking out, we're not starting from scratch or anything. ... We didn't play great by any means, just got to play better.''
It was a rocky regular-season debut for offensive coordinator Davis Webb as the team's playcaller. And it continued a tough trend for Nix in the season's opening week. In three Week 1 games as the Broncos' starter over his three seasons, the Broncos are 0-3 as Nix has thrown five interceptions in those games and been sacked eight times.
Monday was also the first time in Nix's career he had fumbled three times in a game and it was only the second time he had been sacked four times in a game. But Broncos coach Sean Payton said there was plenty of blame to go around, well beyond Webb and Nix.
"I said in the meeting [Thursday] morning there was dirt on a ton of people's hands, including me,'' Payton said " ... There were so many guys watching the tape ... that felt the same as [Nix] did.''
The rub is the Broncos have had a short week to repair the rather robust list of things that didn't go the way they wanted Monday night to face the only team -- the Jaguars -- that beat them at home in the regular season in 2025. Jacksonville, which defeated the Cleveland Browns 34-10 on Sunday, was second in the league with 31 takeaways last season and had two takeaways in the win over the Browns in Week 1.
"They're an eyes-to-the-quarterback defense,'' Payton said. "They play [some] man, but they do a great job in their zones keeping the ball in front of them. ... It's well thought out, and you don't finish second in takeaways without that being purposeful.''
Nix had a career-best 352 yards passing in the loss to the Jaguars last December as he finished 28-of-47 passing with a touchdown and an interception. After Monday's loss he said no player on offense had made it easy on Webb to call plays in the game given the Broncos were just 2-of-12 on third down and faced too many long yardage situations on those plays -- the Broncos didn't convert a third down in the second half.
Nix was asked Thursday what the offense needed to do to make it easier on Webb this week. He paused briefly and got right to the point: "Get first downs, score points.''