QB Bo Nix takes blame for WR Troy Franklin's loss

Late in the third quarter of Sunday's game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix launched a deep pass to wide receiver Troy Franklin, his former Oregon teammate.

Franklin ran under the pass in the end zone but failed to catch it. After an eventual 34-18 victory, Nix took the blame for Franklin's drop.

“I wouldn’t put him through that,” Nix said in his postgame press conference. “That was probably a 60-yard ball that he had to track down and catch. The fact that he managed to do it when I crashed it was pretty impressive.

“These are the ones you watch on Sundays and sometimes you just miss. It was good for him to make his first catch on the over route. I thought he was about to break out. I think I can help him a lot more than I am. It was very close. So we’d like to have it back and I’ll probably put a yard less on it and he’ll catch it.”

Buddy…. pic.twitter.com/eMYNlQ75f4

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 6, 2024

Franklin finished the day with a catch for 20 yards. This was a very diplomatic response from Nix that demonstrated good leadership skills. Had he taken a yard away from the pass, Franklin wouldn't have had to stretch so much to try to catch it. Still, NFL teams expect receivers to catch the ball when it hits their hands.

There's plenty of room for improvement with Nix, Franklin and the entire offense, but the unit appears to be trending in the right direction.