KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bo Nix did everything in his power to help the Denver Broncos end the Kansas City Chiefs' perfect start to the season.
Maybe he should have been blocking on their fateful field goal try, too.
The rookie quarterback bounced back from a poor performance in an embarrassingly lopsided loss to Baltimore by shredding what had been one of the NFL's best defenses on Sunday. Nix completed 22 of 30 passes for 215 yards and two scores without an interception, and he was unflappable in driving the Broncos down the field for the potential winning kick.
Only problem: The Chiefs blocked it, spoiling his otherwise memorable day and dealing Denver a 16-14 loss.
“It doesn't hurt you if you don't care,” Nix said. "It doesn't hurt if it doesn't mean anything to you. Everybody in that locker room is hurt because we do all the stuff. We put in the energy and the effort. Eventually it's going to go in our favor.
“The easy thing to do is stop,” Nix added, “but I feel our locker room is going to respond better.”
The only real flaws in Nix's performance against the Chiefs, who entered the game with the NFL's fifth-best defense and fourth-best scoring defense, came when he was under pressure. On multiple occasions, the 12th overall pick in April's draft backpedaled while getting sacked, resulting in huge losses that forced the Broncos to punt.
Dealing with pressure has become a bit of a problem; Nix also was sacked four times in that 41-10 loss to the Ravens.
But there also were plenty of superb plays amid the raucous din of Arrowhead Stadium to give the Broncos (5-5) hope that they at last have another quarterback who can help them compete with Mahomes and the Chiefs (9-0) in the AFC West.
There was the easy third-down flick to Devaughn Vele in the second quarter to give Denver a 7-0 lead. And the much tougher third-down throw to Courtland Sutton, who hauled in the 32-yard pass to extend the lead to 14-3 later in the first half.
“I thought he played well,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of his quarterback. “Gutsy.”
Things didn't go quite as well in the second half, when Kansas City started to figure out the Broncos' scheme. Denver's first drive was derailed by a holding penalty on Ben Powers, the next when Nick Bolton sacked Nix for a 17-yard loss, and its third chance with the ball was a three-and-out made worse by a false start penalty on the punt.
“I think (Nix) did a good job of playing within the system," Bolton said. “He made a couple of tough throws.”
Still, Nix and the rest of the Denver offense were left to watch their defense try to preserve a 14-13 advantage.
The Chiefs took possession with 10:40 left, and Mahomes converted on third-and-13 with a 31-yard pass to DeAndre Hopkins down the sideline. Three players later, the two-time NFL MVP hit Travis Kelce to convert on third down again. But when Mahomes missed Kelce open in the end zone on another third down, Kansas City had to settle for Harrison Butker's field goal.
Nix trotted back onto the field with just under six minutes left knowing a field goal would be enough.
He threw a strike to Marvin Mims and another to Sutton to convert a third down. Nix hit Sutton again later in the drive, and Audric Estime kept it going with a 6-yard run on third-and-1. Three players later, Nix found Sutton again for 13 yards, giving the Broncos a first down at the Chiefs 17 and the opportunity to run the clock all the way down to nothing.
Everything went according to plan until the Chiefs got their hands on Wil Lutz's would-be winner.
“I feel like every team practices their four-minute offense. I thought as far as that drive taking five or six minutes off the clock, that is what everybody wants to do,” Nix said. “They just made one extra play. When we thought it was in our hands, it wasn't.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Dave Skretta, The Associated Press
