The mood around the Denver locker room in the aftermath of the team’s 33-30 victory over the Buffalo Bills wasn’t the jubilant affair many assumed it would be. As head coach Sean Payton stepped to the microphone for his postgame availability, he began with “not good news”.
Three plays before kicker Wil Lutz sent a 23 yarder through the uprights to advance the team to the AFC Championship game, QB Bo Nix fractured his right ankle. An injury that will require surgery, and will keep him out of the remainder of the playoffs.
“[Nix] is a tough cookie,” Payton said. “I said, ‘Listen I believe you’re the second quarterback in his second year to take his team to the [conference] championship game and the first is Mahomes.’ … We’ll rise up for the next challenge.”
At the 6:04 mark of overtime, Nix was tackled for a loss on a designed run, and appeared to have a slight limp heading back to the huddle. A few plays later, fans observed a noticeable grimace from the 2nd year QB as he kneeled down to set up the game winning field goal.
X-Rays following the victory showed the fracture, with the team confirming that Nix will undergo a procedure on Tuesday in Birmingham, Alabama to correct the issue.
That also means that Denver will now be turning to Jarrett Stidham under centre for the AFC Championship, and possibly even the Super Bowl if they advance.
“Stiddy is ready to go,” Payton said. “… He’s ready, he’s ready. I feel like I’ve got a two who’s capable of starting for a number of teams, and I know he feels the same way. Watch out, just watch.”
Payton confirmed that the X-Rays only came back after several players had already left the locker room area, so some were only finding out about their franchise QB’s injury severity in real time. “They’ll be disappointed, will be a lot of emotions, but then the refocus takes place. We celebrate the season for him. Listen, Stiddy is ready, we’ll be ready for the next challenge. … [Stidham] is experienced. He’s played in games. They’re different types of players to some degree, and yet they’re very close friends. It’s a tight room.”
The 6’3″ right handed QB has appeared in parts of 4 games over the last 2 seasons since Nix came to Denver, none of which were starts. Over his 6 season NFL career Stidham is 1-3 as a starter, and has thrown for 1,422 yards, 8 TDs, and 8 INTs.
Originally drafted in the 4th round (133rd overall) out of Auburn, the 29 year old finished off his collegiate career with a Music City Bowl MVP trophy and is viewed by many as a capable NFL backup. The question remains however, how will he fare when the spotlights are dialled up to 11 for a Broncos team that has a championship calibre defence, but has seen their offence decimated by injuries lately.
In addition to Nix’s season ending injury, the team also lost wide receivers Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin in the victory as well. Bryant was forced out of the game in the 1st quarter with a concussion, while Franklin went down with a hamstring injury not long afterwards.
That left the team with just Courtland Sutton, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, and Marvin Mims Jr. as the only healthy wideouts in uniform. Both Bryant and Franklin will carry questionable tags for the week leading up to the AFC Championship game, and are both coin flips at this point as to whether they’ll be available.
That likely means that WR Elijah Moore, who was a practice squad call up, could see meaningful routes next weekend with Stidham under centre. Denver will now have 8 days to mentally reset and prepare to take on the winner of the Texans vs. Patriots game on the 18th.
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