Overreaction Monday: Sean Payton needs to swallow his pride with Bo Nix

If you had said that the Denver Broncos would find a way to win back-to-back road games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets after beginning their season 0-2, I and most other NFL fans would have strongly disagreed. Somehow, the Broncos found a way to pull that off.

They didn't just beat Tampa Bay, they destroyed them, taking that game 26-7. Rookie Bo Nix had his first solid game, completing 69 percent of his passes for 216 yards and not throwing a single interception. Nix taking the ball was a positive development as he had tossed four interceptions in his first two games. It felt as if he had turned a corner, but that couldn't have been more wrong.

The win against the Jets wasn't nearly as pretty. The Broncos' defense excelled once again, holding Aaron Rodgers and Co. to just nine points, but the offense was nonexistent. The Broncos scored 10 points and based on how Nix played, they're lucky to have scored that many.

Nix completed 12 of his 25 pass attempts for 60 yards. He did throw his first NFL touchdown pass, but that was the only real highlight. At the end of the first half, he had seven completions for negative seven passing yards. How that's possible is something I still cannot understand, but those were his actual statistics.

The Broncos being 2-2 in Nix's first four games is great, especially in a season in which expectations were low, but if we're being real, Nix hasn't played like a starting-caliber quarterback in three of his four games. He was at his worst on Sunday in their win at MetLife Stadium.

With his struggles in mind, benching Nix even after a win is an option that cannot be ignored.

Bo Nix and the Broncos would benefit from a stint on the bench

Let's repeat Nix's stat line from Sunday's game. He completed 12 of his 25 passing attempts. That's good for 48 percent. He threw for 60 yards in four quarters. That's good for an average of 15 yards per quarter. For reference, 10 yards are needed to convert a first down. Plus, repeating the fact that he had seven completions for negative seven yards at halftime has to be done.

The Broncos had a total of three passing first downs all day. They made a total of one trip to the red zone. They had a total of 13 drives, eight of which ended in Riley Dixon punts. Another one of them ended in a lost fumble.

Yes, the weather conditions were poor, but c'mon. That cannot be enough of an excuse to push that kind of performance by the wayside, especially when Nix has had an up-and-down start to his career at best.

In his first career game, he completed 61.9 percent of his passes for 138 yards and threw two interceptions. He followed that up by completing 57.1 percent of his passes in Week 2 for 246 yards and two interceptions. Sure, he threw for more yards in that second game, but was less efficient, threw another two picks, and his team scored a total of six points (on a day in which they allowed 13.)

The Broncos might be 2-2, but they rank 28th in points per game, 27th in passing yards per game, and 27th in total yards per game as of this writing. That's even with Nix having a pretty good game against the Bucs. Are these team statistics really good enough?

As if he hasn't played poorly enough, it's not as if the road gets much easier for Denver. Two of their next three games are against the Los Angeles Chargers and New Orleans Saints, two teams with really strong defenses.

At this point, it feels as if Nix would benefit from sitting on the bench a bit. What does he gain from this experience of struggling mightily? There's a reason that the New England Patriots are sitting Drake Maye, a quarterback taken higher than Nix in the draft - the situation on that team isn't ready for a rookie quarterback. The same can be said about this one in Denver.

Sean Payton loves Nix, and the Broncos just took him in the first round, so benching him, even if it's for a brief period, is tough, but it makes too much sense. Let Nix get more comfortable in practice and come back ready to play a bit better than he has. The Broncos might have a better chance to win with Jarrett Stidham starting, and Nix would be able to develop without the pressure of having to play when he is not ready.