Sean Payton Explains Truth Behind so Many Tipped Bo Nix Passes

It's not Nix's throwing motion, although I do wonder how much his eye discipline is playing into the tipped passes. Nix is a very tough sack, so teams might not be as focused on getting home to the quarterback, and instead, are keying in on batting down the ball at the line of scrimmage.

It's a pickle the Broncos have to figure out. On the season, Nix is completing 62.5% of his passes, down nearly four points from his rookie campaign.

Nix's 2025 Campaign

Nix has passed for 1,556 yards and 11 touchdowns, with four interceptions. That's a very healthy touchdown-to-interception ratio, but the yardage ranks 11th in the NFL. Not bad at all, but not in the top "four or five" that Payton himself predicted is in Nix's future.

Nix's touchdowns tie him for the seventh-most among NFL quarterbacks thus far. He's in the neighborhood of the upper-echelon quarterbacks in some statistical categories, but the efficiency metrics of the Broncos' offense are holding him back. And yet, he's the guy who touches the ball on every possession.

The Broncos rank 23rd in third-down conversion rate (35.8%), a figure that absolutely has to improve if this team is going to be a plausible playoff threat. Nix has been excellent in the red zone, as the Broncos rank sixth, scoring touchdowns on 68.2% of all drives that go inside the opponent's 20-yard line.

Dropped passes and tipped balls. If the Broncos can cut down on these over the next few games, it should translate to better third-down efficiency, longer drives, and more points.

5-2 & Still In Chrysalis

At the end of the day, though, the Broncos are 5-2, despite not having played their best football yet. That's kind of scary.

The penalties, the drops, the miscues, and lapses add up. But they are correctable. If the Broncos can clean them up, they could be scary good.

"We’ve looked in the mirror and seen all the different ways that we’ve hurt ourselves. We know we have a penalty problem. We know we have an execution problem at times," Nix said on Wednesday. "I wouldn’t even say at all times because then it’s hard to score 33 points without executing in a quarter. So it’s there, we just have to find the way to do it at all times and not lose our mental and physical focus."

Against a top-ranked Cowboys offense, the Broncos will be focused on starting faster this week.

"It’s just important that we start faster, and we just have to find a way to do it. It’s easier said than done," Nix said. "We just have to literally go out there and take the game at the beginning and not have to win it in the end.”