Bo Nix Hasn't Thrown an Interception in Three Weeks, and Denver Suddenly Owns the AFC West

The Broncos are 6-2 and alone in first place in the AFC West, and they got there by beating Kansas City 28-24 at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday — a game the market closed at Chiefs -1.5 with a 41.5 total, and a game Denver won with the kind of offense that doesn't show up in a highlight reel but does show up in the standings.

Bo Nix's last three games: zero interceptions, 88.8 passer rating, 6.3 yards per attempt. His season line is 149-of-250 for 1,493 yards, nine touchdowns and three picks, and the fumbles remain the one leak — seven of them in eight games. But the thing that got Denver beat 31-10 in Week 1 at Arrowhead was exactly what didn't happen Sunday. Nix protected the ball, and the Broncos' defense made the afternoon uncomfortable.

The scores tell you what kind of game it was. Nix hit Jaylen Waddle from a yard out in the second quarter. He found Nate Adkins from two yards in the fourth. Jonah Coleman punched in a five-yarder with two minutes left. Three touchdowns, eight combined yards of real estate. That is Sean Payton's team in a nutshell: shorten the field, lean on the defense, and let a careful quarterback win the possession battle.

The Pass Rush Is Real

Denver has 23 sacks, among the top five in the league, and generates 3.0 per game — a number that got tested against a Kansas City line allowing only 1.2. The Broncos also got Patrick Surtain back at full participation on the ankle, which matters for a secondary that spent the week with Talanoa Hufanga ruled out (ankle) and Brandon Jones and Reese Taylor both questionable. Hufanga's absence is the one that lingers.

And that is where the concern lives. Denver is winning at 21.5 points per game on 279.2 yards per game — the offense ranks near the bottom of the league in total yardage. The run game is 92.6 yards per game with J.K. Dobbins at 3.3 yards a carry, and RJ Harvey was out with a knee. Jonah Coleman has been the more efficient option (134 yards, two scores on 30 carries) and caught nine balls for 97 yards, but asking a rotational back to be the engine every week is a thin plan.

Waddle, who was questionable with a chest injury after aggravating it in Week 7, gutted out the game and caught the opening score. He leads the team with 29 catches for 315 yards. If that chest becomes a weekly question, Nix's margin for error shrinks with it.

What the Win Actually Buys

Denver is 4-0 at home, scoring 23.8 and allowing 19.3 there, and the schedule softens immediately: a trip to Carolina (3-4, allowing 27.6 points per game) in Week 9, then the bye, then Las Vegas at home. There's a real path to 8-2 before Thanksgiving.

But the underlying profile is not that of a team that can coast. The Broncos have been outgained by 95.2 yards per game over their last ten, their turnover margin has drifted negative in that window, and they're 2-1 in the division with a minus-3.7 point differential in those games. Our own power ranking has them 15th — down five spots from last week — with the injury adjustment (Harvey, Waddle, Zachary Allen) doing real damage to the number.

None of that erases Sunday. Beating Kansas City is the result this franchise has been building toward through two offseasons of defensive investment, and doing it while gaining fewer than 300 yards is either a blueprint or a warning, depending on how the next month goes. Denver doesn't need Nix to throw for 300. It needs him to keep throwing zero.