With a home matchup Thursday night against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks and their “Dark Side” defense looming, Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix made an admission: “I just have to remind myself not to play hero ball.”
“We want to be aggressive, and then you see stats and see, well, this team is causing the most turnovers in the league,” Nix said. “And then it’s like, well, OK, I can’t put my team in a position where I’m turning the football over and putting our defense in a bad spot and giving them a short field.”
“Just play the play and if the play’s there, hit it,” Nix continued. “And if it’s not there, check it down, throw it away, punt.”
It’s an approach the Seahawks (3-2) might want to adapt as well, especially after Sunday’s 32-29 loss to visiting San Francisco in which they committed four turnovers. Three of them led to 49ers touchdowns in the first half, with the longest drive being 18 yards.
“There needs to be a sense of urgency to get better and have ball security,” said Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, who was 18-for-29 for 195 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. “For me personally, I’m going to try to be as decisive as I can be and go through my reads and trust what I see, trust my feet, all those things. But (we) can’t have turnovers, got to protect the football in this league. And if you don’t, you’ll pay.”
In the Seahawks’ other defeat this season, 33-31 on Sept. 27 at Washington, they committed three turnovers that led to 21 Commanders points.
“It’s not like we are getting blown out …” said Brian Fleury, the Seahawks’ first-year offensive coordinator. “They made some plays when we didn’t and we’re just going to keep focusing on our process, make sure that we’re getting better each week and let the outcomes take care of themselves.”
The Broncos (3-2) defeated the host Los Angeles Chargers 23-17 on Sunday in Inglewood, Calif. J.K. Dobbins rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown against his former team.
Nix was 16-of-27 passing for 123 yards and a score. He threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton. Wil Lutz kicked a pair of field goals as the Broncos rallied from a 17-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to win despite amassing just 224 yards of total offense.
“I heard long ago, I don’t know where it came from, it may have been from my parents, but if you stop enjoying the wins, you need to just go on and do something else because it’s not going to be fun for you anymore,” Nix said. “In a way, I’ve felt that a little bit.
“We’re sitting here at 3-2 and we’re having a good start to our season. There’s things we want to clean up. There’s things we want to fix. We’re leaving some things out there on the field, but we’re finding ways to win like we did last year. I feel strongly that we’re going to continue to do that, so the most important thing is winning, obviously.”
Broncos coach Sean Payton said there will be chances to “find plays that are clean” for Nix against the Seahawks, who rank first in the league in total defense (251.2 yards per game), passing defense (150.8 yards per game) and takeaways (11).
Both teams are relatively healthy. The Broncos had just safety Talanoa Hufanga (ankle) and cornerback Pat Surtain II (ankle) listed as not participating in practice on Tuesday, which was an estimation as the team held a walk-through. For the Seahawks, linebackers Drake Thomas (ankle) and Chazz Surratt (calf) did not participate, per the estimation. Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (ankle) was listed as limited for a second consecutive day. Guard Beau Stephens (shoulder) was upgraded from limited to a full participant.