Jarrett Stidham, Bo Nix and Zach Wilson lead Broncos to 34-30 win over Colts

INDIANAPOLIS — After weeks of practicing situational football, the Broncos took advantage of a live opportunity.

In Sunday’s preseason opener against the Colts, the Broncos took over at their own 16-yard line with 1:24 to play in the first half and one timeout remaining. Locked in a 10-10 game, Denver held a chance to create separation.

With a pair of 16-yard completions from Bo Nix to Lucas Krull and a 29-yard pass interference call drawn by Devaughn Vele, Denver moved the ball inside the 10-yard line and kicked a short field goal to take the lead.

The field goal was just one moment of a stretch in which Denver scored points on five of seven possessions, and the drive stood out to veteran Courtland Sutton in a 34-30 win over Indianapolis.

“I think he handled it very well,” Sutton said of Nix. “[He] had a lot of poise, a lot of control. The moment wasn’t too big for him. The moments are only going to get bigger. The preseason games don’t count, but come Week 1, whoever they decide to put out there as our starter, they’re going to have to handle that situation the best they possibly can.”

Nix’s two-minute drive was part of an afternoon in which he completed 15-of-21 passes for 125 yards, a touchdown and a 102.3 rating. He also recorded three carries for 17 yards.

“It was a good day,” Nix said. “I thought we ran the ball efficiently, made some good plays in the pass game. Converted some third downs, got points when we needed to. It was a good job going into half with points and then coming out with points — [it] felt like that was a good point in the game. But overall, felt like we did a good job. Huge team win.”

Jarrett Stidham, who started the game and completed 4-of-7 passes for 37 yards, had his two drives foiled by penalties and an interception that bounced off the hands of running back Samaje Perine.

“Honestly, I thought we moved the ball really well,” Stidham said. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot — mainly those first two drives with penalties and that sort of thing. A lot of good, I thought. Obviously, we’ll take a look at the film and get better from it. Obviously, clean up the penalties. Like I said, that was probably the biggest thing. Thought we were pretty efficient there pretty early on. Obviously, just the penalties, we’ve got to figure that out.”

Tim Patrick, Courtland Sutton and Mike McGlinchey were all whistled for penalties during Stidham’s initial drive, which progressed to the Indianapolis 29-yard line before regressing backward.

“He gets a tough break where the ball bounces off of Perine,” Head Coach Sean Payton said. “We’re in scoring position before Tim’s penalty. We’re in scoring position, [and] the penalty brings us out of scoring position.”

After Stidham’s two series, Nix entered and led the Broncos to a field goal on his opening drive. His first two pass attempts fell incomplete before he scrambled to his left and fired a sideline pass to Sutton for a 22-yard gain.

“That was a big play,” Nix said. “Big third-down conversion there. … [Sutton] did a good job of being aware of the sideline. I looked up and he was open, and those are always the good ones, when you see an open guy.”

Nix and the Broncos’ offense scored 20 points across five possessions, with the lone missed opportunity coming via a Krull fumble on the penultimate drive before halftime.

On Nix’s second drive, he capped a 10-play, 56-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr.

“It was a nice play by Marv,” Nix said. “He did a good job of getting to the corner, and we executed it well. We’ve been practicing and repping that play quite a lot, and they bumped it off and had some space and we were able to get a touchdown. Overall, just felt like it was good to get out there and throw some completions, see a new defense and ultimately just get out there and compete.”

Nix also showed his ability to scramble, and all three quarterbacks demonstrated an ability to avoid sacks. In 41 combined dropbacks, none of the Broncos’ three quarterbacks were sacked.

“[The] ball is out,” Payton said. “I like the timing, the tempo of when we’re releasing it. That was a big issue for us a year ago with the minus plays. We were towards the back, back half of the league – I think fourth [lowest]. So, I was pleased with the timing of what we were doing throwing the ball. It’s important.”

Sunday’s game against the Colts represented the first time since 2022 that the Broncos posted a sack-free game in the preseason.

Wilson played the final five drives of the game, and he posted the highest quarterback rating of the three passers with a 103.7 rating. Wilson completed 10-of-13 passes for 117 yards, and he said Sunday represented a “new team, new start” for him.

“I thought we put some great drives together,” Wilson said. “Not a ton of negative plays. I thought we did a good job of staying ahead of the sticks.”

Stidham said he was “super proud” of the Broncos’ complete offensive effort, and the trio of quarterbacks combined to complete 29-of-41 passes for 279 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

“All three of them did a good job,” Payton said.