Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix’s choppy debut no surprise, but nature of struggles worthy of concern

SEATTLE — Bo Nix’s Sunday in Seattle featured a dream start and a nightmare debut.

Life comes at you fast in the regular season.

On the second snap of his career, Nix walked to the line of scrimmage just 11 yards from the end zone thanks to an Alex Singleton interception and run-back and then a 9-yard rumble from Javonte Williams on first down.

By the last snap of the afternoon — ironically a 4-yard Nix touchdown run — Denver’s offense had not only squandered too many opportunities and struggled mightily in almost every critical department against the Seahawks in a 26-20 loss, but it felt anything but set up for quick success going forward.

“It was tough to get some explosive plays, and I think, when you have a hard time getting explosives, you’ve got to sustain drives,” Nix said afterward. “If they can get you in third-and-long and third-and — just tough situations.

“Overall, I think, as poorly as we did, I think we gave ourselves a chance to win there at the end.”

That they did. The Broncos came within a one-handed Tyler Lockett catch of getting the ball back with just less than two minutes to go and a chance to win the game.

Instead, Nix’s first outing finished at 26 of 42 for 138 yards, a pair of sacks, a pair of interceptions and 47.5 quarterback rating.

The list of concerns goes well beyond a rookie quarterback making his first regular-season start, but Nix’s outing stood out as problematic because of how he struggled.

During training camp and in the preseason, he made calm, quick decisions.

On Sunday, his play too often felt rushed.

During the summer, he threw the ball mostly accurately in the middle of the field and, when he missed, he did so by relatively narrow margins.

On Sunday, Nix sailed the ball over Courtland Sutton’s head early, threw behind too many receivers over the middle of the field and during one trip to the red zone might have only been spared an interception because he missed badly rather than narrowly.

During the weeks in which he won a three-man quarterback competition over Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson, Nix drew plaudits for his ability to consistently keep the Denver offense on the move and the manner in which he protected the football.

On Sunday, the Broncos offense went three-and-out seven times, saw two other drives end in Nix interceptions and was fortunate to not have the Seahawks come down with three or four other passes driven into harm’s way.

“I felt the whole time he was into it, competing,” Payton said of Nix, whom he repeatedly defended while speaking to reporters after the loss.

A day that began with the Denver defense and special teams setting up the offense with prime opportunities time after time eventually ended with Payton saying Nix played fine and stayed composed but everybody else needed to do more to help him out.

“Our protection was average at best,” Payton said. “And I believe this: At one point in the game, I came to the bench and talked to the receivers and said, ‘Look, let’s go,’ you know?

“I don’t know how many drops we had, but, man, let’s help this guy.”

That may well be true. Lil’Jordan Humphrey dropped a pass for a first down early on and Courtland Sutton — limited to four catches on a team-high 12 targets — maybe could have made an acrobatic catch on a high throw over the middle for a chunk gain. Broncos running backs churned away early but too often Denver’s skill players were stopped in their tracks in the open field by Seattle tacklers who played without fear of getting beat deep and thus rallied to the football aggressively.

But this much is also clear: Nix will have to play his current game much cleaner or add some arrows to his quiver in the coming weeks before the Broncos offense strikes any fear in opposing defenses.

That’s not all on the rookie quarterback. If Denver’s going to win as currently constructed, the offense can’t afford to generate 1 or fewer yards on 46% of its first-down snaps (12 of 26) like it did Sunday, according to The Post’s tracking.

The offense can’t face 18 third downs, let alone seven from 8 yards or farther — the Broncos converted two of those against Seattle but also had an interception and a fumble on third-and-longs.

NFL teams won’t win many games when they give up 144 yards and two touchdowns on the ground like the Broncos surrendered to Seattle in Week 1.

And yet, Nix’s outing will generate the most consternation because of what it was and what it wasn’t.

Nix averaged 2.5 air yards per completion Sunday, tied for second-fewest through the late afternoon games according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. All three rookies who made their debuts were in the bottom five, with Chicago’s Caleb Williams at 2.7 and Washington’s Jayden Daniels at 1.6.

Nix, according to The Associated Press, had the third-lowest average yards per completion (5.3) ever for a quarterback who completed at least 20 passes in a game.

On passes that traveled more than 10 yards in the air, Nix finished 2 of 12 for 42 yards and two interceptions.

The first was an underthrow for Sutton in the red zone.

“That was, I felt like, a bad decision,” Nix said. “We would have had points. They got the ball at the 1 and we got a safety after that, so our defense bailed us out.”

The next pick was later in the game when he tried to force a ball into triple coverage to Sutton.

Nix certainly is not the first rookie to struggle in his first game. He’s been widely lauded by Broncos coaches and teammates as a quick study.

One game doesn’t make a season, let alone a career.

The quicker the improvement the better, however, because next up is Pittsburgh and defensive guru Mike Tomlin and the schedule doesn’t relent after that.

“I don’t think we were far off,” Nix said. “There’s always going to be — even if we won that game, we’re going to go in (to the film room) and correct it the same way. So find ways to run plays as efficient as possible and stay out of third-and-longs. Overall, find ways to get a win in these tough games.”

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