The Denver Broncos had a Week 1 matchup to forget Monday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix and the rest of the offense only mustered 10 points in their season-opening loss to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The Broncos tallied just 176 total yards from scrimmage, which Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker exceeded by himself. Walker tallied 191 yards from scrimmage, with 173 of them coming on the ground.
The Week 1 clash was also the debut of 31-year-old offensive coordinator Davis Webb, whom the team chose to replace Joe Lombardi in February. With the spotlight on Webb over the lackluster performance, Nix came to his defense.
“Absolutely,” said Nix when asked if the Broncos’ players let Webb down.
“I think players didn’t make it easy on him. Pretty pitiful actually. But he was to me in the headset, he treated it like he was a pro with it. … We called exactly what we prepared and what we wanted to get and we just didn’t execute and then we were behind. I don’t think we did a whole lot of good consistently to win the game.”
Broncos head coach Sean Payton entrusted Webb to call the team’s offensive plays for the first time since Payton took the top job in Denver three seasons ago. He has been a rising star among coaching circles over the past year.
The former NFL QB was a hot commodity in the coaching job market earlier this year, with a few teams considering Webb for their head coaching vacancy.
The Nix-Webb combination was far from effective on Monday, with the third-year QB going 17/28 for 131 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The Broncos’ highly touted wide receiver duo of Courtland Sutton and Jaylen Waddle combined for a measly 3 catches for 13 yards.
The Broncos’ defense did Webb no favors, either. Denver had 28 missed tackles, resulting in 247 yards after missed tackles — the most surrendered by any defense since at least 2018.
