Broncos stock report: Bo Nix’s accuracy back on track, but where’s Evan Engram?

Well, rest assured, no Broncos fan ever wants to hear the word leverage again in their collective lifetimes. After a wacky fourth quarter, Denver suffered its first loss of the 2025 season to the Indianapolis Colts, in a game the Broncos quite literally had won. No getting it back now. Here’s a stock report from a weird Week 2. Stock up Bo Nix, on the move: After he fired two picks off-platform in Week 1, the Broncos got Good Bo again in Week 2. Save for one fourth-quarter interception that may have been tipped (and was certainly altered by an arm in his face), Nix was precise and on-tempo Sunday, and that extended outside the pocket. Lost in a 29-28 loss to the Colts was a ridiculous bomb from Nix to Troy Franklin in which the quarterback spun back to his left and fired a 42-yard ball off his right foot that Franklin didn’t even have to break stride for. Silly stuff. The ball placement was much better when his footwork was off-kilter. Jonah Elliss: Beyond first-step quickness, the 22-year-old Elliss’ closing speed could make him a star in this league soon enough. It’s not the get-off here; it’s the ability to win and then finish reps through these first two weeks. In Week 1, Elliss had a 16-yard sack of Cam Ward in which he just chased a highly mobile rookie backwards until Ward gave up. In Week 2, he beat speedy Colts quarterback Daniel Jones to the edge and wrapped him up for a 5-yard loss. Even in a loaded OLB room, Elliss may force the Broncos’ hand to give him a greater share of the snap pie if he keeps this up. Jeremy Crawshaw: Well, it turns out the preseason alarm bells may have been just a routine fire drill. The rookie sixth-round punter was excellent in Week 1 and followed it up well in Week 2. Every single one of his six NFL punts has dropped inside the 20-yard line. Credit special-teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, who hasn’t earned a lot of credit through two weeks thus far, for sticking with and developing the Aussie. Sean Payton’s mirror: Turns out old dogs can learn old tricks. Payton affirmed multiple times this week that he needed to do a better job as a play-caller after a rough Week 1 offensive showing. As the entirety of the world screamed at him to just “run the damn ball,” Payton actually … listened? Or, more likely, he just watched tape and figured it’d be best to take some pressure off Bo Nix. The Broncos ran three straight running plays to open the game, and J.K. Dobbins was both an opener and a closer in a solid 14-carry, 76-yard performance. The execution just felt a lot cleaner. Stock down Pat Surtain II’s repeat DPOY campaign: It’s a hard life when an 11-tackle game is below your standard. But 11 tackles also spoke to the fact that Surtain was almost around the ball too much on Sunday. The Colts neutralized the reigning defensive player of the year’s effectiveness by running him to death over the middle and pinning him on the backside of 6-foot-5 rookie tight end Tyler Warren on a couple of plays. Surtain had a decent game overall, but it was still stunning to see Daniel Jones go right after him without fear. He did suffer an ankle injury mid-game, which might explain some of this. Defending Jokers: It’s still a problem, folks. For as much as Payton loves to talk about having Jokers, his teams in Denver are still struggling to defend them. This would’ve been a perfect game to have inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw. Instead, Greenlaw sat for a second straight game, and the Broncos’ linebackers got run to death on alignments by Warren and rail routes by Jonathan Taylor. Taylor finished with 210 yards, and Warren shook starting linebackers Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad on the same play. This is officially an Achilles heel of a terrific Denver defense, and won’t be entirely solved even when Greenlaw does return. Evan Engram: The signs were there when Engram played just one snap on the first drive of Denver’s season in Week 1, but the free-agent tight end was even less involved against the Colts than the Titans last week. He did have one chain-moving catch in the second half, but was a ghost before the break. Through two games now, Engram has just four catches. Related Articles Dre Greenlaw’s conspicuous absence and a disturbing trend for Vance Joseph’s defense. Parker Gabriel’s 7 thoughts after the Broncos’ Week 2 loss to Colts How Broncos WR Troy Franklin started ‘stopping like a Tesla’ en route to Week 2 breakout Renck: Blaming refs for Broncos’ loss to Colts is just plain dumb. This one’s on Denver Broncos analysis: ‘Leverage’ serves as final dagger, but Sean Payton’s team set itself up for failure several times Broncos report card: Sean Payton’s play-calling shines, but Vance Joseph’s defense struggles in loss to Colts Nix emphasized Engram’s the Broncos’ No. 1 option on a variety of plays, but the tight end just doesn’t have the snap count at the moment to make a massive impact when defenses are taking him away. Darren Rizzi: Take note of outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman’s words here, after the leverage flag that cost the Broncos a win in Week 2. “Honestly,” Tillman said, “coaches called a play and we got a flag on it.” Tillman, of course, took responsibility, but his words were telling. If, indeed, his job was to try and vault and block Colts kicker Spencer Shrader’s 60-yard game-winning attempt, that falls squarely on Rizzi for not better communicating the dangers of such a leverage penalty. Kicker Wil Lutz’s missed 42-yard field goal certainly isn’t Rizzi’s fault, but Denver’s had a wealth of special teams issues at the start of this season. Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.