DENVER — The best performance of Bo Nix’s young NFL career included a fiery interaction with coach Sean Payton during the Broncos’ 34-18 victory against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
In the third quarter, after a deep pass from Nix to rookie wide receiver Troy Franklin fell incomplete in the end zone, cameras caught Nix and Payton in an animated discussion on the sideline.
“He turned and looked at me and said, ‘I love you,’” Nix said with a grin after the Broncos snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Raiders with their third straight victory. “I turned and said, ‘I love you back.’”
Payton said afterward that Nix “flipped” the play that resulted in a third-down incompletion, which came with the Broncos leading 20-10. But the coach added it “was all good” and “part of the deal.”
Broncos HC Sean Payton and rookie QB Bo Nix had this exchange on the sideline after Denver punted in their last drive.
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“It’s just there’s still a little Ferris Bueller in this player we’ve got to get rid of, talking about Bo,” Payton said. “And I love him to death. So sometimes it’s my love language.”
Asked to expound on the reference to Matthew Broderick’s character in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Payton said, “he’s got a little of that in him.”
Mischievous?
“Not that. Maybe. A little bit. Kinda. Subtly,” Payton said.
Told about the reference, Nix said that he had seen “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” but only a handful of times “because it’s kinda old.”
The Broncos clearly weren’t sweating the interaction after the team scored 34 unanswered points in the victory. That included two passing touchdowns and another rushing from Nix, who completed 19 of 27 passes for 206 yards and didn’t throw an interception for the third straight game.
“We can have those types of conversations and move right back along and score,” Nix said.
Nix said the play in question, which appeared to be a drop in the end zone by Franklin, was actually on the quarterback.
“It was a simple play; we had it flipped,” Nix said. “(Payton) wanted it to the boundary, and we just got kind of confused there in the huddle. I tried to get it right and we had a chance. I overthrew it, but that’s part of the game sometimes with the huddle operation. Sometimes you just have to make the most of it.”
Nix said the fact Franklin “got to the ball when I overthrew it was pretty impressive.”
Franklin did have a 20-yard catch at the end of the second quarter that set up the field goal that gave Denver a 13-10 lead.
“He’s very close to breaking out and I think I can help him a lot more than what I am,” Nix said.
(Photo: Tyler Schank / Getty Images)
