As Bo Nix jogged past head coach Sean Payton on the sideline during the third quarter Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis, Payton tried to say something to him.
Nix carried on toward the bench before Payton turned him around by calling after him. The conversation that ensued was a lively one.
It followed a stalled drive, which began to go south when Nix and rookie running back RJ Harvey weren’t on the same page for a run play, leading to a broken scramble from Nix. Two plays later, Denver punted.
On Wednesday, both Nix and Payton downplayed the exchange, though they remembered it differently.
“It wasn’t what it appeared,” Payton said Wednesday. “It was an affirmation of, ‘This is what we’re wanting to do.’ I was looking at it and trying to think — I don’t recall — I think it was more about excitement. I saw it, and it was following, I think, a series where we ran it pretty well.
“I would know if there was ever one of those moments. I guess what I’m saying is I don’t think it was what it appeared. In fact, I know it wasn’t.”
After, among other things, a miscommunication where Bo Nix opened one way and RJ Harvey was going the other. pic.twitter.com/TDlEvbEdZ8
— Parker Gabriel (@ParkerJGabriel) September 14, 2025
The Broncos did, indeed, run the ball well on their first possession of the third quarter, but then ran three times for 6 yards on the drive that preceded the exchange, including the Nix scramble on the broken play.
Nix, for his part, said he had to repeat what happened on a play for the preceding series because of the noise in Lucas Oil Stadium.
“For whatever reason, we’re allowing conversations to become bigger than what they are,” Nix said Wednesday. “We oftentimes forget that it’s a big stadium and a lot of people are talking at the same time, so you’ve got to be a little louder and more vocal.
“That was just something as simple as, he asked me what happened on a play, I told him. I turned, and he couldn’t quite hear, so I turned back and told him again. There was no issue. Yeah, it was just a quick conversation with the head coach. Nothing pressing.”
Nix didn’t look to be pressing much at all Sunday.
He and the offense failed to score on three second-half drives that could have extended a lead in the Broncos’ eventual 29-28 last-second loss, but the second-year quarterback on the whole played much better in Week 2 than in Week 1.
“There’s plenty of good plays, but I’m focused on the ones that didn’t go our way, because that’s how you learn and get better and find ways to improve,” Nix said Wednesday.
Nix threw touchdown passes to Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin and Adam Trautman. For most of the first three quarters, he played with good rhythm despite a lack of production from top receiver Courtland Sutton (one catch for 6 yards) and Engram (one catch for 12).
“Sometimes if it’s a progression read, then it’s a progression, and who gets it sometimes maybe isn’t as easy to predict,” Payton said. “There’s other times where you can try to work for an isolation — a lot of it is scheme-dependent. But the new guys here, we talk about (receivers Trent Sherfield Sr. and Pat Bryant), those guys are getting acclimated and obviously they give you flexibility.”
Added Nix, “It’s great, but it points to all of them that they’re available and they’re out there getting open and making plays. We do a good job of having guys not always be the primary. There’s all sorts of guys that can get the ball. That’s a good part of our offense, is you can’t really hone in on one guy.
“Obviously, Courtland gets a lot of the attention because he’s been doing it for the longest. We’ve had a lot of success last year and early this year and that will probably continue, so other guys will have to continue to get open and catch the ball like they’ve done.”
Nix, of course, will be focused on the fourth-quarter interception he threw in scoring range and Denver’s inability to close out the Colts on the road despite leading every second of the second half.
“What’s frustrating is we never had that one drive,” Nix said. “We had several where we could have gone down and put the game away.”
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Originally Published: September 17, 2025 at 5:31 PM MDT