Ryan Fitzpatrick on Broncos' Bo Nix: 'It's almost disrespectful to the quarterback position how he's playing football right now'

The Denver Broncos beat the Seattle Seahawks 17-14 in overtime Thursday night, but it was not the best of displays from quarterback Bo Nix.

It was a night where Nix recorded only 107 yards on 27 pass attempts and did not throw a touchdown pass while being sacked twice. As the Broncos held a second-half lead and were looking to extend the difference, the offense ended six consecutive drives with a punt. The defense gets most of the credit for the win after recovering two fumbles and intercepting Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold twice, including in overtime.

The play of Nix was the postgame story, so much so that former longtime NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, now part of the “NFL on Prime Video” crew, could not hold back his criticisms of the third-year signal-caller.

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"I'm glad they scored the two touchdowns in the first half, but they were in four-minute mode when the second half started," Fitzpatrick said. "It was really frustrating to watch. And part of it, for me, is Bo Nix is not playing competitively. It's almost disrespectful to the quarterback position how he's playing football right now.”

What is Fitzpatrick seeing from Nix?

"First of all, the guy doesn't want to throw the ball,” he said. “That's fine. He's throwing to the flats, he's throwing behind, but he has no trust from his coach. He calls a screen play on third-and-8. Just run up and let the clock keep going. What does he do? He throws it away. Seattle gets the ball, they have a timeout.”

Fitzpatrick’s frustration with Nix then went up a level.

"And then in overtime, he's got two chances to be competitive. The last one being a designed run for him to run, make somebody miss, and get a first down for your football team! Now, they're in the locker room right now. They're excited. They won. He's not playing competitive football right now."

When host Charissa Thompson brought up how frustrated Broncos players might feel, Fitzpatrick continued saying that he feels the Nix is “not competing right now” and while he wasn’t sure if the quarterback is still bothered by the ankle injury suffered last season, “it's not good enough. It's effort."

What frustrated Fitzpatrick the most about what he saw in Nix’s game?

“Well, there’s no fire and there’s no passion,” Fitzpatrick said. “And that doesn’t mean you’ve got to be yelling at guys on the sideline or inspiring in the huddle. You can do it with your play as well. And I just don’t see it. And I just think that he needs to be sat down and they need to tell him being a quarterback in the NFL is a very special thing. And right now he’s taking it for granted. He is. And there’s a lot of guys that have played this game that watch that game that think, ‘That right there is garbage. That effort is garbage. That is not a quarterback in the NFL. We deserve better.’”

The Broncos' offensive struggles have been noted and head coach Sean Payton has taken play-calling duties back from offensive coordinator Davis Webb. But it won’t matter who is calling out the plays if Nix’s decision-making with the ball continues to lead to inefficient offensive production.

The win improves the Broncos to 4-2. They will face the Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs and Carolina Panthers before going on their bye week in Week 10.