- An excellent Week 8 performance: The second-year signal-caller earned a season-high 87.2 overall PFF grade for his performance, the second-best among quarterbacks in Week 8 and the third-highest single-game mark of his career.
- Commanding the line of scrimmage: Watching a quarterback operate at the line of scrimmage pre-snap — identifying the defensive look and then dissecting it — sometimes seems like a lost art. So when Nix did exactly that and created easy throws for himself, it was something to admire.
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Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos dominated offensively in Week 8, beating the Dallas Cowboys 44-24 to secure Denver's fifth consecutive win. Nix was surgical in dissecting the Cowboys defense, continuing his surge in form after a slow start to the season.
The second-year signal-caller earned a season-high 87.2 overall PFF grade for his performance, the second-best among quarterbacks in Week 8 and the third-highest single-game mark of his career.
It’s been a steady climb for Nix after a rocky start to his sophomore campaign, but the turnaround has been undeniable. Through the first three weeks of the season, Nix posted the lowest overall PFF grade of any quarterback. Since then, he’s been one of the league’s most efficient passers — his 84.7 overall grade ranks fifth over that span, driven by a league-best 0.9% turnover-worthy play rate.
Let’s dive into the film and break down how Nix and the Broncos methodically picked apart the Cowboys defense.
Watching a quarterback operate at the line of scrimmage pre-snap — identifying the defensive look and then dissecting it — sometimes seems like a lost art. So when a young quarterback did exactly that and created easy throws for himself, it was something to admire.
Good quarterbacking from Bo Nix. Points out LB blitz, gets protection slid that way, hits the sit route in mesh pic.twitter.com/uYmImZ2jTP
— Nick Akridge (@PFF_NickAkridge) October 27, 2025
The Cowboys rushed only three defenders on the play above, but they did so in a way designed to confuse Nix and the Broncos’ offensive line. By aligning three players on the line of scrimmage to the offense’s left side, Dallas aimed to sell the look of a blitz from that direction. The goal was to force the Broncos to slide their protection left, creating either a free lane or a one-on-one matchup for the linebacker off the backside.
But Nix recognized the intent and, instead of sliding the protection left, adjusted the call and shifted it to the right.
From that point forward, Nix calmly worked through the entire mesh concept and found his final read — the sit route — for a huge gain on third-and-short. The throw itself wasn’t spectacular, but the pre-snap process that set it up was a clinic in quarterbacking.
Connecting on the deep ball had been an issue for Nix and the Broncos’ offense early in the season, but that changed in Week 8. On throws of 20 or more yards, Nix went 3-of-5 for 88 yards, two touchdowns and three big-time throws, earning a 93.6 PFF passing grade — the highest of any quarterback that week.
Nix dime in the back corner of the endzone pic.twitter.com/f3yIbyrYBW
— Nick Akridge (@PFF_NickAkridge) October 27, 2025
After the motion, Nix went to work pre-snap, changing the play. He recognized the Cowboys were likely in zone coverage based on the motion, so he either audibled to a new call or adjusted the receiver routes. Whatever the change was, it worked to perfection.
After confirming post-snap that it was indeed zone, Nix turned his attention to the near-side concept: a simple post-fade combination. Once he saw the safety keying on the post, he knew he’d have a chance to hit the fade. The cornerback actually played it well, carrying the route vertically, but with no safety help and a perfectly placed throw to the back corner of the end zone, there was no defending it.
Nix was in complete control throughout the game. His raw completion percentage of 65.5% didn’t fully capture the precision of his performance, but his 85.2% adjusted completion percentage did. If not for four drops by his receivers, the box score would have told a far more accurate story of just how sharp he was.
Great anticipation from Bo to rip the post. Shame it's dropped pic.twitter.com/lQDuXb5zpF
— Nick Akridge (@PFF_NickAkridge) October 27, 2025
This unfortunate drop served as a perfect example of why PFF’s grading can highlight plays that might otherwise be forgotten but still speak volumes about a player’s performance.
More pre-snap motion from the Broncos offense gave Nix an early read that the Cowboys were in zone coverage. After some miscommunication between the safeties, Nix recognized that the post route would come open. Neither safety held the middle of the field, and the safety aligned to the post side was too shallow, giving Nix all the confirmation he needed. He began his throw before the receiver was even out of his break, showcasing impressive anticipation and ball placement — hitting his target squarely in stride. The drop erased the result but not the quality of the throw.
The early-season struggles felt like a distant memory for Nix and the Broncos offense. They had scored 30 or more points in back-to-back games and looked to be in complete rhythm. With Nix performing at this level, Denver wasn’t just a threat to the Chiefs in the AFC West — they were a legitimate contender across the entire conference.
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