One narrative that many people enjoyed to toss around about the Denver Broncos in 2024 was that quarterback Bo Nix was carried by Sean Payton’s offensive scheme and threw a ton of check downs. As a result, people thought that the Broncos were a boring team to watch.
Yes, Nix did throw a decent amount of screens and check downs last year, but he also had a fair share of electrifying plays that he made with both his arm and his legs. He evaded sacks, threw some on-target moon balls to Marvin Mims Jr. and even surprised fans with a lateral 30 yards down the field that was called back for being an illegal forward pass (that may or may not have been the right call).
Physics are ruining football, IMO pic.twitter.com/CzNuzLefWh
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) January 5, 2025
While some people are still doubting Nix and company heading into the 2025 season, the Broncos have been gaining some respect from the NFL world. ESPN put out a ranking of all 32 NFL teams in terms of watchability, and the Broncos found themselves in the middle of the pack, despite people saying that Nix is a boring quarterback.
A team’s watchability was graded in four areas: big plays, close games, star players and cool stuff.
The orange and blue slotted in at No. 15 on the list, right in the middle of the league. ESPN’s Ben Solak pointed to the fact that the Broncos played in seven close games last season — even though they went 1-6 in them — along with how often Vance Joseph dialed up a blitz (37.3%) on the defensive side of the football to mess with opposing quarterbacks and play callers.
Solak said that the Broncos were a “sensation” and the defense was the team’s “main attraction.”
While the Broncos do some fun things on both sides of the ball, some of their success is boring, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Nix not launching the ball 50 yards down the field isn’t the most fun thing in the world, but it leads to winning football. Pat Surtain II using elite technique to prevent quarterbacks from throwing his way isn’t the most exciting thing in the world to the casual fan, but it leads to winning football. Watching Zach Allen eat up double teams inside isn’t the most fun thing to watch in the world, but it once again leads to winning.
Not every successful team is going to look like the 2019 Chiefs, and that’s okay. Some of those Patriots teams that dominated the early part of the century weren’t flashy, but they ended up just fine with six Super Bowls.
The Washington Commanders were No. 1 on the list. For the AFC West, the Raiders were No. 9, the Chargers No. 25 and the Chiefs wound up with an astonishing ranking at No. 30. They might not be the same squad they were six years ago, but they still have Patrick Mahomes.