Late in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix launched a deep pass to wide receiver Troy Franklin, his former Oregon teammate.
Franklin ran under the pass in the end zone but failed to haul it in. After an eventual 34-18 win, Nix took the blame for Franklin’s drop.
“I wouldn’t put that as a drop on him,” Nix said in his postgame press conference. “That was probably a 60-yard ball that he had to track down and catch. The fact that he got to it when I overthrew it was pretty impressive.
“Those are ones that you watch on Sundays, and sometimes you just miss. It was good for him to get his first catch on the over [route]. I thought he’s very close to breaking out. I think that I can help him a lot more than what I am. It was very close. So we’d love to have it back, and I’ll put probably a yard less on it, and he’ll catch it.”
buddy…. pic.twitter.com/eMYNlQ75f4
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 6, 2024
Franklin ended the day with one catch for 20 yards. That was a very diplomatic response from Nix that demonstrated good leadership. Had he taken a yard off the pass, Franklin would not have needed to stretch as much to attempt to catch it. Still, NFL teams expect receivers to catch the ball when it hits them in the hands.
There’s plenty of room for improvement for Nix, Franklin and the entire offense, but the unit does appear to be trending in the right direction.
