The Denver Broncos started the season for the second time in a row with 0:2 and lost 13:6 against Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Bo Nix’s debut in front of a home crowd was another disappointment.

What did we learn from another underwhelming performance from the Broncos’ fledgling offense? Here are my three biggest takeaways from Week 2.

In short, the Broncos are facing extremely tight margins as they try to win a football game and get the 2024 season underway. Basically, the Broncos can’t score enough points, but we’ve seen that before.

Scoring just six points is a depressing story, and the Broncos have been unable to change that. One of the main problems is the subpar performance of the Broncos’ extremely highly paid offensive line.

Once again, the Broncos’ running game failed to make an impression. If Nix is ​​to have a real chance, especially against a good Steelers defense, he will need a complementary running attack.

Once again, penalties are hurting the Broncos’ offensive tackles. Nix isn’t hampered by what’s happening in front of him, and if the Broncos continue to play so ineffectively, the losses will pile up at an alarming rate.

That’s not to say Nix didn’t look like a rookie through and through. He did, multiple times. His long ball feel just isn’t where it needs to be, and opponents are fully aware of it. Opposing defensive coordinators also employ the basic strategy of getting to the receiver in Denver’s all-too-predictable short passing game, and it works.

Maintaining Nix’s confidence will be a difficult task if his receivers continue to look so passive. It was only later in Sunday’s game that the Broncos were able to gain some valuable yards after the catch. Sooner or later, the Broncos’ receiver team will have to play at full speed from the first possession.

How exactly Sean Payton addresses the growing list of issues will test his coaching prowess, and that may require simplifying some of the many personal sets he uses. The desire to play complementary football is lost, but Sunday showed that the Broncos need to start implementing the fundamentals before adding additional complexity to the offense.

Nix’s third-quarter interception was very routine, and Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles saw his overall game regress to the bad old days. Figuring out what works with Nix will take a lot of trial and error, but Payton hasn’t laid out a workable plan yet.

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As a rookie, Nix has always had his inevitable ups and downs, but Payton’s conservative approach at the start of games allows opposing teams to seize the initiative and lay their ears on the ground – with maximum effect.

In the Broncos’ first two losses, the short passing game has not found any coherent rhythm at all. The passing game only loosened up a bit in the chase, but on Sunday there were execution problems in the form of costly dropped passes. Tight end Greg Dulcich dropped two costly passes himself.

Payton can be forgiven for not being sloppy in developing his rookie quarterback, but by constantly trying to catch up, he’s throwing Nix off the game plan he and his coaches have worked so hard to develop.

The field will never expand when the Broncos’ No. 1 wide receiver Courtland Sutton catches just four passes in a game, as he did Sunday. During the week, Payton implored the Broncos to “help our guy” and address the situation near Nix, but the head coach’s pleas bore only sporadic fruit, and the team slipped to 0-2.

We all know his reputation and his huge contract, but PS2 really struggled against the Steelers. The -52 yards on Surtain’s three penalties hit the Broncos like a punch in the gut, and to make matters worse, he failed to get his side of the field away.

It could have been worse when Steelers star wideout George Pickens made an incredible catch deep down the field against Surtain, but it was fortunately nullified by a penalty against Pittsburgh. Whether Surtain gets too caught up in his one-on-one duties is debatable, but his busy hands still draw fouls from the referees.

It also went from the sublime to the ridiculous when Surtain showed up with the punt coverage unit and was penalized for a holding foul, but you could blame that on the coaching staff. In the fourth quarter, Surtain finally got better control of Pickens while the Broncos tightened up their defense, giving Nix and the offense more opportunities to get back in the game.

Surtain needs to start setting a much better tone, especially as the new team captain. For a high-profile player who just received a four-year, $96 million contract extension with $77.5 million guaranteed, the Broncos can’t afford to go two weeks without Surtain performing to match.

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