Sean Payton Gets Real About Why Bo Nix is Such a Tough Sack

Bo Nix has been a consistent winner and producer since entering the NFL last year, but he's also been one of the toughest quarterbacks to sack. Sean Payton explained why that is.

Dec 2, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) drops back to pass the ball in the first quarter against the Cleveland Browns at Empower Field at Mile High. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

When a quarterback of any generation pulls alongside the legendary Hall-of-Famer Dan Marino in the record books, it's a good indication of bona fide chops.

Denver Broncos starting quarterback Bo Nix recently joined Marino as the only other signal-caller to register at least 20 wins, 7,000 passing yards, and 50 passing touchdowns over his first two seasons in the NFL. 

Regardless of what Nix's deep cohort of naysayers likes to spout, the Broncos' field general has aspects of his game that place him comfortably next to the imperious Marino. Primarily, Nix is the kind of tough sack that his head coach was always looking for after the Russell Wilson debacle, even if Marino's legendary lightning-quick release will never be matched. 

Avoiding negative plays is a muscle memory Nix developed on his first day under his coach father's wing. Even so, the fairly uncoachable trait of having an intuitive internal clock is something Sean Payton continues to emphasize amid the Broncos' 11-game winning streak. 

“I think on offense, over the years, I’ve learned more and more it’s a quarterback stat than maybe an offensive line stat. They go hand in hand," Payton said last week. "Defensively, you have to draft to it, sign it. We can all say the sack… It’s one part of, ‘What quarterback is playing with three Mississippi, and what quarterback is playing with two-and-a-half Mississippi?’ When we were kids, it was a, ‘One Mississippi, two Mississippi.’ The clock in their heads is important.” 

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The Russ Antithesis

Dec 14, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton talks with quarterback Bo Nix (10) during the second quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Empower Field at Mile High. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Almost everything about Nix is a direct antithesis of what Wilson was during his ill-fated time spent hemorrhaging defeats in Denver. Turning the page on Wilson was a difficult financial pill to swallow, but hitting on Nix in the draft has been a liberating and cathartic process that has led to 22 wins already. 

Payton reacts these days as if stacking wins under Nix's leadership is nothing to be surprised about. 

“I haven’t kept track of that," Payton commented on Nix's record shared with Marino. "I get it. I’m sure he [Nix] probably hasn’t either. Yes, I mean, let’s keep winning.” 

How Payton and Nix work so well together is powered by a desire and thirst to win; an insatiable appetite that hasn't even come close to being satisfied by the 11-game winning streak the Broncos are still riding.

Nix has a team-first attitude and mindset, which allows him to turn the page on wins and focus fully on what's coming next. 

“I think it's an honor. The great thing about wins is it's a team award, so I think a win is the ultimate sign of how your team's doing. I guess for me, I got a sign that we have a really good team that I'm on, and so I wouldn't have been able to do it without the guys in the locker room," Nix said on Wednesday. "It sounds cliché, but seriously, I don't play defense. I don't play special teams. I don't block, I don't catch the ball. So guys around me have to do their job, and they've been able to do it for two years, and we've made the most of it."

The Broncos have made far less of a fuss about the winning streak than perhaps you'd expect. The team's focus has been on what these wins will provide, and their significance relative to the division crown and conference playoff race. 

The Jacksonville Jaguars are next up on the schedule, a 10-win opponent vying for Conference playoff seeding as well.

“When I say, from an experience standpoint, again, this is a big game. It’s an important game. There’ll be bigger," Payton said about facing the Jaguars. "Same approach [as] last week."