The Las Vegas Raiders are riding high after their upset victory over the Baltimore Ravens. They enter what will likely be their most winnable against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Things are looking good in the desert.
In the Rockies, AFC West rival Denver is struggling early on in the 2024 campaign. They are 0-2. Unlike the Raiders, the Broncos won't be able to say this week is a "gimme."
They travel to Raymond James Stadium to take on a hot Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that is fresh off a win against the Detroit Lions, one of the best teams in the league. The prospect of a 0-3 start is very real for the Broncos.
A lot of it has to do with rookie quarterback Bo Nix and Coach Sean Payton.
In a Week 2 "studs and duds" report by Broncos on SI writer Mike Evans, Nix and Payton were both listed as "duds." Not a good sign, even if it is a rookie quarterback or Week 2.
"We must talk about Nix," Evans wrote. "A stat line of 20 completions on 35 attempts for 246 yards sounds serviceable until you realize it came with two interceptions, zero touchdowns, and a quarterback rating of 55.2. Nix threw for 12.3 yards per completion but somehow turned those gains into zero touchdowns. It's hard to be optimistic when your quarterback looks like he's playing "hot potato" with the football. For all those yards, the scoreboard never noticed."
Nix was the second-worst quarterback in Week 2 according to Pro Football Focus. He received a passer grade 41.6 grade. Only the newly-benched Carolina Panthers' Bryce Young was worse.
A rough outing in his debut received criticism from his head coach. Payton pointed fingers toward Nix and everything else besides what many can consider to be inept coaching.
And about Payton -- he was included on the "duds" list.
"Payton was brought in to turn the Broncos around," Evans wrote. "He's supposed to be the offensive guru to finally fix the Broncos' longstanding woes. The Broncos offense looks stuck in a pre-Payton time warp. Six points. That's all the offensive masterminds could muster in his team's home debut."
In all fairness, if Payton couldn't turn around the Broncos offense with a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Russell Wilson, was it realistic to think he could do it with a rookie quarterback that some thought was "undraftable"?
