Broncos will ‘evaluate’ why QB Bo Nix is getting passes batted down

Bo Nix has had the ultimate up-and-down season in his third year with the Denver Broncos . His 59.6 percent completion percentage ranks 27th in the league and his 49.0 QBR ranks 23rd. However, he is among the best quarterbacks when it matters most, playing nearly perfectly in the fourth quarter to help his team to many wins that looked like sure losses. But one thing that can definitely get better is the number of passes he has had knocked down at the line of scrimmage, something that happened multiple times last Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. In fact, his 12 batted passes this season are the most in the NFL through eight weeks. This is something opposing defenses are clearly putting into their game plan when facing the Broncos and defenders are timing things nicely, swatting Nix's pass attempts right back at him, which is a complete waste of a down for the offense. Broncos will look at eliminating number of batted passes Nix is going to have to be more wary of this as the season goes on. The team will need to work on where he's releasing the ball from and creating new throwing lanes. Nix seems to do his best work when outside the pocket, and these knockdowns occur while he is still in the pocket, standing in front of the defensive line. Defensive linemen are taught to put their arms up if they aren't going to reach the quarterback for a sack and try to knock down the pass. It's a savvy technique that you are seeing become more and more effective across the league. When he was with the Broncos, Shelby Harris was quite good at it. Following the win over the Chiefs last week, head coach Sean Payton was asked about the number of passes batted down at the line of scrimmage. “We’ll evaluate them", said Payton. "Sometimes it’s a good play by the defensive line. Some defensive lines are coached very well. Other times it’s protection issues. I would say both happened yesterday (Sunday). There were some protection issues, technique issues that put a guy right in his face that we have to clean up.” The Broncos will look to improve on this particular aspect of their offense starting this Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.