Was Bo Nix to blame for the Denver Broncos' struggles against the Seattle Seahawks?

The Receivers Didn’t Help Bo

On 3rd & 6, Bo Nix hit a gap in zone coverage and set Courtland Sutton up for a 15-yard gain.

But Sutton didn’t catch the pass.

(This clip could have been in the “missed protections” section, too. Powers has nobody to block. The defensive back has a free lane to the quarterbacks.)

The pass wasn’t perfect. It was behind Sutton. It might have been a little higher than you’d like, too. But Sutton needs to make the catch.

This third-down pass to Lil’Jordan Humphrey wasn’t caught either.

The drops weren’t the only way the receivers let Nix down. They also slipped at the top of their routes a couple of times. One pass to Josh Reynolds that looked incredibly dangerous on the TV broadcast was actually the result of the receiver slipping.

There were some more nuanced plays, too.

One example came on the second drive. I don’t know how this play is coached, but if Reynolds had slowed down a little he would have been wide open in the middle of the field for a decent chunk of yards. Nix peeked at him but decided to check the ball down instead.

That feels like the kind of play that Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have killed the Broncos with over and over.

Mix all of this with an NFL-worst 2.6 average yardage after the catch, and it’s easy to see that the receivers hurt their rookie quarterback far more than they helped.

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