Is Broncos QB Bo Nix Trying Too Hard to Be Sean Payton's Next Drew Brees?

Bo Nix has admitted that it hasn’t been easy to get quality sleep this month. In October, the Denver Broncos traveled from Philadelphia to London and back to Denver. Different time zones, different hotels, different beds. No consistency. But maybe something else is haunting the second-year quarterback. It is spooky season after all. I wonder if he’s worrying about the ghost of Drew Brees. Nix is running coach Sean Payton’s offense, and no one has ever run it better than Brees. But Nix can’t be Brees. Nor should he waste his time trying. And perhaps that’s what has bogged down this Denver offense to start the season. Nix hasn’t always played to his own strengths, and it’s almost as if he is doing a Brees impression that’s coming up short. Now, to be clear, it’s far, far, far from catastrophic. In fact, on the surface, everything looks good for the Broncos. They won four straight games in October. They’re 6-2. But they’ve had to overcome Nix's erratic play from game to game and even quarter to quarter. There was a three-game run from Week 5 to Week 7 when he couldn’t get things going until the fourth quarter, which was why they won those games by one-score margins. "I just told the guys to start doing some of that fourth-quarter stuff a little earlier," Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said last week. "When you look at it, we started slow [against the Giants], and [there are] a lot of reasons for that. We … felt like they were playing faster than us a little bit." That was the game in which the Broncos scored 33 points in the final quarter, the most in NFL history by a team that was shut out for the first three quarters, to win 33-32. Last week, Nix looked great in Denver's win over the Cowboys — particularly after the opening drive when the quarterback threw an interception where he either seemed to be attempting a no-look throw or simply had his eyes in the wrong place. He finished the game with 247 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and the one interception. "His feet got away from him a little bit. He bounced right back. He was magnificent. He was outstanding," Payton said of Nix. Before the season, Nix met with Brees to seek advice. Brees was a great quarterback, and he should have no shortage of wisdom to impart to Nix. Brees was a great pocket passer. Nix might someday be a great pocket passer. It’s only natural that Nix puts Brees on the horizon as a developmental north star, especially because Brees and Payton did special things and had a rare chemistry. "It got to the point where I knew what he was going to call before he called it," Brees said in a recent interview with Rich Eisen. The Giants game — from Week 7 — was when Nix and the Broncos had a breakthrough. He and Payton made major use of the key difference between Nix and Brees: mobility. Nix is a dangerous runner, and it makes the offense better. "It’s really just math," Payton said Monday when asked about running the ball with Nix. "When he’s the quarterback, you’re playing 10 versus 11 in the run game, and when he becomes a running back, you get that number back." Against the Giants, Nix scored four touchdowns in the fourth quarter — two passing and two rushing. No one had ever done that in the history of the NFL. He didn’t run against the Cowboys, because he didn’t need to. Dallas has one of the worst defenses in the league, particularly when defending the pass. The Cowboys allow the second-most passing yards per game (258.6) in the league. But Nix’s mobility will be his bailout solution for blitzes and man-coverage. There will be opportunities for him to generate splash plays with his legs. And that’s something Brees could never really do. But that was back when he was one of the best in-structure passers in NFL history, along with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. We’re now in the era of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. It's the time of the dual-threat QB. Nix might not be an on-the-run thrower, but he can change a game by taking off downfield. Against the Texans on Sunday (1 p.m. ET on FOX), Nix will need his legs to beat Houston's defense, which is allowing the fourth-fewest passing yards per game (178.4). Houston’s offense is hot, too. In Week 8, quarterback C.J. Stroud had one of his best games since his rookie season, a dominant outing against the San Francisco 49ers. So Nix and the Broncos will have to keep pace. That'll only happen if Nix plays like himself. Trusts his skill set. And operates the offense in his own authentic way. Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.