ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Bo Nix, not thinking?
That isn’t EXACTLY what it sounds like. But when you’re an NFL quarterback, you don’t want to have too much cluttering your mind when you step forward and await the snap. The more that you can do out of habit, repetition and muscle memory, the more space exists in your mind to focus on other matters necessary to picking apart an opponent and making your offense go.
For Bo Nix as a rookie, part of the lumps came from having to think about the basics. Steps in the drop. Footwork as he set to throw. Fundamental things essential to success at the highest level — but areas in which he had to work on his craft, to refine his game and unlearn some habits that were acceptable at lower levels but wouldn’t fly in the NFL.
“It’s a lot better and a lot more enjoyable not thinking right now as opposed to what I was doing last year,” Nix said after Thursday’s organized team activity.
“It’s fun, it’s fun to be in the know and it’s fun to have a little more of an understanding of what’s going on so I can be a little more beneficial to others and help them out along the way. I feel good. We’re in a good spot.”
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BO NIX CAN TARGET HIS MENTAL ENERGIES ON HIS FOE
And it’s certainly “fun” to be able to focus on dissecting a defense — which is where he can target all of his energies now that he doesn’t have to use brain space thinking about the steps in his drop or having to repeat the play call in the huddle.
Such rookie moments were part and parcel of life for Nix — especially in the first several weeks of the season.
From last year to now, it’s a different world for Bo Nix.
“We don’t use that term ‘pick up where we left off,'” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “But just the processing, understanding of what we’re doing in and out of the huddle, these three days …
“As you’re watching each decision there where you want the ball to go, yeah, I think it’s entirely different.”
Specifically, where the ball goes against the coverage offered. And that’s where “not thinking” manifests pre-snap; instead of pondering his fundamentals or the play call, he’s scanning the defense.
“Well, it helps a lot because I’m not thinking about what the offense is doing, and usually that’s the case,” Nix explained.
“When you go up to the line of scrimmage, you want to be only thinking about the defense, only processing and reacting to the defense, not maybe the footwork or the motion or the timing or whatever that I’m doing.
“So, I feel like that process is eliminated, and now I can focus on a lot more of the defense.”
One doesn’t want to put too much on a single offseason practice, but in Thursday’s work, Bo Nix was unruffled by pressure and displayed pinpoint accuracy for much of the day.
He looked composed and in complete command — every bit the field general that the Broncos hoped he could be when they selected him in the first round last year.
It’s not that Bo Nix is not thinking.
It’s that he’s put in the work to refine his fundamentals and know the offense so well that he can free his mind to focus on picking the locks of the defenses he’ll stare down — a skill which separates top-shelf quarterbacks from the run-of-the-mill ones.
Bo Nix isn’t there yet. But he’s got the mental part down pat.
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