Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix and wide receiver Courtland Sutton are both team captains, but only one of them has six years of experience in the NFL. Sutton is one of the longest-tenured players in Denver and a key team leader, and he has been encouraging Nix after a so-so NFL debut last week.
“I think each game that we get to go out there and play, there’s a lot of stuff you can learn from,” Sutton said. “A lot of stuff you can watch the film and say, ‘I really like this, and I didn’t like this. I want to work on this and go into the week and get better from.’ I think that Bo is a student of the game. I’m sure that he has his things that he took from the game that he wants back and things that he thought he did well that he wants to continue to progress on.
“I think he did a lot of things really well. I told him after the game that he composed himself and handled the flow of the game well. The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but in terms of the way he came in and handled his very first game in a hostile environment, there’s a lot of hope and promise moving forward.”
Denver offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi has praised Nix for how he has quickly identified areas of improvement.
“It was a great game of learning, a great growing game,” Nix said this week. “I think the film was positive. You get back and you see that there were opportunities and [you] just [have to] capitalize on a few more areas.”
Nix is a mature, smart rookie quarterback. But he’s still human, and Sutton knows it.
“Like I said, I had a conversation with Bo right after the game in Seattle in the locker room,” Sutton said. “I was able to talk to him and kind of give him some words of encouragement. Let him know and understand how this game goes. The momentum is such a real thing in the NFL. I don’t know if coach mentioned it or not, but it’s one of those things that when you get it on your side, you try to hold on to it as long as possible. When you don’t have it, you want to get it back as quick as you possible can. Explaining that, and then just explaining how long of a season there is ahead of us.
“Yes, it’s frustrating to lose, but the same way people say you have 24 hours to celebrate a win, you have 24 hours to get over a loss. You have to go in and watch the film, learn from your mistakes and put it to bed. Then go into the next week and get ready to go because [if] you sit there and dwell on it, then some things that may have beaten you the week prior are going to come back and rear their heads in the next week. That’s what you don’t want. Especially with a young team and a lot of young guys, you don’t want them to get discouraged on themselves and think that the world is crashing because they may have had one mistake, or they didn’t have the game they wanted to have. Let them know that there are more opportunities ahead of us, and we need all of us to be 100 percent mentally, physically and emotionally so that we can go out there and be successful week in and week out.”
Nix and Co. will get their first opportunity to bounce back when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
