Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton could not help himself. A clip of FOX analyst Geoff Schwartz criticizing quarterback Bo Nix crossed his feed, where Schwartz built his argument on the idea that Nix does not throw downfield, and Payton knew it was wrong.
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“That was crazy, wasn’t it? I can’t help myself, though. When I see something like that, I’m sorry. I have a pause, and then it’s like, what are you watching?” Payton told reporters Saturday.
What set Payton off was how factually groundless the criticism was. Nix is the only quarterback since the start of his rookie season with the most touchdown passes of 20+ yards at 19. Yet Schwartz explained that Nix hasn’t changed from his days at Oregon.
“I do think he just is what he is at this point. He looks like the same quarterback he was in college… He’s consistent. He’s not gonna make mistakes. But he’s not gonna push the ball down the field all that often,” Schwartz said on First Things First.
To which the head coach fired back with a witty reply.
“Always easy to tell who works at it and who doesn’t,” Payton wrote on X.
The head coach based his argument on how he has seen Nix work and grind to become the elite quarterback that he is today. Nix is the first rookie quarterback to have multiple games with at least 300 passing yards, four passing scores, and a passer rating of 140.0 or higher. Last season, he led the league in passing attempts at 612, completing 63.4% of his passes with a league-high seven game-winning drives.
In his two years in Denver, Nix has led the team to consecutive postseason runs and could have reached the Super Bowl last year if not for an injury in the divisional round. So for Payton and company, those facts matter more than what the critics are discussing on the internet.
“So to see someone live and to actually watch them…now you have so many variations, you know, you got the basement podcast, with a beer logo, and just couldn’t help myself with that one. It was silly. He’s playing too; he’s doing like everything was the opposite of what he was saying,” Payton added in the presser.
Schwartz played for six years in the NFL. He was a tackle-guard drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round in 2008. Schwartz hung up his cleats in 2017 after injuries limited him to just 13 games in the last two years of his pro career. Before joining the league, Schwartz played at Oregon in 2007, the same program where Nix played his senior years (2022 and 2023). But Payton decided to take a pointed jab at that.
“The worst part was he played at Oregon. I don’t even know the player,” Payton added.
That being said, Nix has recovered well from his fractured right ankle. Although he has played in just one preseason game, Nix said he felt “great” and “it was just like riding a bike; nothing really changed.” The quarterback completed 6 of 9 passes for 76 yards and a touchdown in a 33-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Looking ahead, Nix and company will travel to Arrowhead to face quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in their first regular-season game.