Former NFL quarterback critiques Broncos' Bo Nix after narrow win over Seahawks

Former NFL quarterback and Prime Video analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick criticized Broncos quarterback Bo Nix’s performance in Thursday night’s 17-14 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Fitzpatrick, who spent more than a minute discussing the game, said Nix threw for 107 yards on 17 completions with a 71.1 passer rating and appeared reluctant to throw the ball downfield.

"Part of it for me is Bo Nix is not playing competitively. It’s almost disrespectful to the quarterback position how he’s playing football right now," Fitzpatrick said.

"First of all, the guy doesn’t want to throw the ball, that’s fine, he’s throwing to the flats, he’s throwing behind, but he has no trust from his coach. He calls a screen play on third-and-8, just run up and let the clock keep going. What does he do, he throws it away, Seattle gets the ball, they have a timeout. Then, in overtime, he’s got two chances to be competitive, the last one being a designed run for him to run, make somebody miss, and get a first down for your football team."

Fitzpatrick added that Nix seemed to lack urgency and suggested the quarterback might be taking his starting role for granted. He also expressed uncertainty about whether Nix was dealing with an injury.

After the game, Nix said the Broncos’ offense was struggling to generate big plays and emphasized that securing the win was the primary goal. He noted that early in the contest the team had opportunities to be aggressive, but later relied heavily on short-yardage situations and defensive coverages that limited vertical passing.

"I thought I saw the field really well, especially early when we were given opportunities to sort of be aggressive. Then as the game went on, it felt a little bit like just third downs were the key. Then every once in a while, we had an opportunity to throw it deep again. So it’s just… I don’t understand why we can’t really push the ball vertically right now. Defenses are just sitting back there hanging out. We’re just going to keep running the football. Hopefully you have to find ways to get more out of it," Nix said.