3 Broncos Storylines I'm Watching Most vs. Jaguars in Week 2

Week 1 was a brutal wake-up call, but the Denver Broncos are on to Jacksonville.

The Broncos are back home, putting in the work to prepare for the Jacksonville Jaguars, an opponent that beat them handily in Week 16 of last season. The Broncos only lost three games in 2025, and they get to rematch one of them in Week 2.

There are several key storylines in Broncos-Jaguars, but here are the three most meaningful I'll be watching closest.

Davis Webb: Can Denver's New Play-Caller Bounce Back?

The question could apply collectively to the whole team after the stinker performance the Broncos turned in at Arrowhead Stadium last week, but I'm a bit more worried about Webb. Vance Joseph's defense is extremely unlikely — almost zero chance — to repeat its historically bad Week 1 tackling woes.

But if Bo Nix is going to bounce back from one of the ugliest performances of his career, he can't do it without Webb also showing some resilience in the face of adversity. Webb's game plan for the Kansas City Chiefs last week was shockingly oblivious to Steve Spagnuolo's tendencies as a defensive coordinator.

Spagnuolo loves to blitz from the nickel and dime sub-packages, and the Broncos played directly into that by rarely putting Nix under center and running 11 personnel — three wide receivers — sets from the shotgun. It allowed Spagnuolo to attack from a position of strength and experience, while putting Nix and the offense constantly on the back foot.

Beyond that, Webb's game plan was shockingly inbalanced. The Broncos only called six designed runs in the first half, with their running backs totaling just 10 carries.

Meanwhile, from the spread-them-out shotgun sets, the Broncos called 32 passes, four of which resulted in Nix sacks. The third-year quarterback finished 17-of-28 for just 131 yards and a touchdown, with an interception and three fumbles (only one of which was lost).

It was very uncharacteristic of Nix to put the ball in harm's way that often. To put it in perspective, he entered last week's game with seven career fumbles in 34 regular-season starts. He nearly achieved half of his career total in one game.

Webb's run/pass balance was off, and his feel for situational football — outside of the Broncos' one touchdown-scoring drive — was, I'll say it again, oblivious. On a crucial 3rd-and-1 halfway through the second quarter, Webb put Nix in an empty shotgun formation, which only telegraphed to the Chiefs that — barring a quarterback draw — it was extremely likely to be a pass.

Kansas City played it like a pass, with little threat of it being a run in a short-yardage situation, pinned its ears back, and blew up Webb's play design. Incomplete. Punt.

On Sunday against the Jaguars, I'll be watching Webb to see if he falls back on the philosophies he showed in training camp and the preseason. I hope to see him again using plenty of heavy personnel, where the Broncos establish the run with multiple tight ends on the field — and from there, use the play-action game to pick up chunk yardage with Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, Pat Bryant, and Evan Engram.

The Broncos' offense sorely lacked anything remotely approaching an identity against the Chiefs, despite establishing one in the preseason. If the Broncos want to control the clock, stay on the field, and keep Trevor Lawrence on the sideline, Webb will have to show a much clearer awareness and presence of mind, to say nothing of an in-game gut feeling for how to exploit the opponent and how to adjust and counterpunch.

Let's hope that Webb had such an epiphany coming out of his first-ever game as a play-caller.

Getting Bo Nix Back On the Horse

It's hard to fault Nix too much for his lackluster showing last week when his play-caller set him up to fail, his offensive line didn't pass protect well, and his receivers dropped balls — not to mention the untimely penalties in critical situations.

It's no wonder that Nix didn't play well. That's not to absolve him of blame, but he was put in about as close to a no-win situation as I've seen.

It was also Nix's first game back since fracturing his ankle, compounded by it also being the first game of the season on the heels of a preseason in which he only saw two drives' worth of action. Suffice it to say, the rust fell off in chunks.

Nix wasn't his usually poised self and he seemed rattled from the get-go, as evidenced by the interception he threw on the Broncos' third offensive snap of the game. It was a humid night in Kansas City, but his three fumbles also illustrate just how rusty he was to live-bullet NFL speed.

The Broncos' young franchise quarterback won't have it easy in Week 2. The Jaguars have a very good defense, complemented by an efficient, productive offense.

If the Broncos are going to win this game and get back to .500, though, Nix has to get back on the horse at home in front of the Mile High Faithful. He'll need an inspired game from his coordinator and his teammates to be locked in, but if he plays well, they guys around him will, too.

Sean Payton's Revenge

Leading up to the Broncos' Week 16 matchup with the Jaguars last season, perhaps in a compliment to young head coach Liam Coen for the excellent job he'd done up to that point, Payton mentioned that Jacksonville is a "small-market" team, implying that they deserve more credit and attention nationally.

Payton had a lot of experience with that as the former head coach of the New Orleans Saints for the better part of two decades. After the game, though, Coen opted to twist the knife by throwing Payton's small-market comment back in his face from the podium.

"Just thankful that a small-market team like us can come into a place like Mile High and get it done," Coen said after beating the Broncos.

Payton seemed to take it all in stride in a 'to the victors go the spoils' kind of way, but at the NFL owners meetings this past spring, he let Coen know that he heard it and that he's coming for him this season.

"I talked to Sean at the owners meetings, and he gave me a little love for it, but he said, 'I'm coming for you this year,'" Coen said on Wednesday with a smile. "But it's great. It's all in competition, and I've learned so much football from Sean Payton. He's allowed me in his building in New Orleans and I got to talk to him a ton."

Coen clearly has a lot of respect and admiration for Payton, but that didn't stop him from talking a little smack last season. It will be interesting to see what Payton has queued up for Coen and the Jaguars this time around.

At the very least, Payton is out to balance the scales head-to-head against Coen, but there could be a bit more motivating the Broncos' head coach.

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