During Denver Broncos training camp, we heard from head coach Sean Payton and a few players that new offensive coordinator Davis Webb had tweaked the verbiage.
Payton spoke publicly about Webb's verbiage tweaks this past summer. Payton made the changes sound like no big deal — a few simple tweaks to streamline the play-calling and help Bo Nix get to the line of scrimmage faster.
Alas, Webb's run as the play-caller was much shorter-lived than expected, as Payton took back the responsibilities after the Broncos' Week 4's loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Payton acknowledged the terminology changes as a factor he had to get accustomed to now that he was calling the plays again.
Payton Makes Another Change
Fast forward to Week 6, and the Broncos are 4-2. Denver won both games in which Payton has called the plays, but Nix has not looked any better than he did with Webb making the calls. On Sunday, FOX Sports' Jay Glazer reported that Webb's terminology changes were far more extensive than the Broncos let on, and that Payton has also gone back to using his own terminology.
That's a big shift. These on-the-hoof changes to the offense have only consumed more of Nix's mental bandwidth amid his ongoing slump.
"I asked a bunch of people at the Broncos about that [Nix's struggles], and I didn't know this until this past week is that when Davis Webb took over, he completely changed the terminology on the offensive side of the ball for Bo Nix," Glazer said on FOX NFL Sunday. "Now that Sean Payton has taken it back over, it's like going back to a whole different language that you used to know."
Curious Timing
What Glazer reported may be true, but I question the timing of it. Nix has been under fire, with open calls to bench him coming from both the local and national media. Even many Broncos fans have pounded the table for the bench since the team's 17-14 overtime win over the Seattle Seahawks.
Nix only passed for 107 yards against Seattle, and although he didn't turn the ball over, he and the Broncos' offense were a non-factor in the second half.
This feels a bit like a PR move to ease some of the pressure on Nix and quiet the noise, at least somewhat. That doesn't mean it's not true, though.
I guess what I'm saying is that Payton, who keeps his cards extremely close to his chest, especially during the season, opted to tell this to Glazer at this time for a reason.
However, Payton also believes this reversion to his offensive terminology will help Nix return to his 2025 form.
"So I think at this point, man, his head is just spinning," Glazer said of Nix. "You guys know, an offensive terminology, it's like learning a whole different language out there. But Sean Payton is like, 'I have confidence that he's going to get back to the Bo Nix that we saw the last couple of years.'"
The Takeaway
If Webb's terminology changes really were wholesale, I question Payton's wisdom in changing it in-season, let alone co-signing on doing it at all. But if it's true, and Nix is now having to dump all this Webb information on the fly and replace it with past verbiage, that can only slow down his processing.
NFL On Prime's James Palmer reported that Webb changed "about 30% of the terminology." That could be more than enough to throw a wrench in things for Nix, from a processing perspective.
Given that it's information Nix has mastered before, it shouldn't take him long to relearn it. For that reason and more, I can buy into Payton's confidence in Nix returning to form.
However, Nix has looked off this whole season, not just since Payton took back the play-calling, so there's obviously much more going on than just the changes in terminology. Hopefully, Payton can get to the bottom of that stuff, too.
The Broncos continue to win games, but it's been with minimal help from the offense, while weapons like Jaylen Waddle, Courtland Sutton, and Evan Engram are squandered. Nix is on pace to pass for under 3,000 yards this season and 17 touchdowns, both of which would obviously be career-low numbers and far, far from the big Year-3 leap Broncos Country expected to see.
Still, I don't believe the Nix who passed for 7,500-plus yards and 50-plus touchdowns, while winning 24 games, over his first two seasons has just disappeared, never to be seen again. That quarterback is still in there somewhere, so at the very least, fans can only hope Payton reaches him soon.
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