ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- After the Denver Broncos essentially ground their molars together for a little more than three hours on Nov. 6 to get a 10-7 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, coach Sean Payton declared the team's offensive plan that night as "awful."
But whether it's from bye week self-scouting, internal lightbulbs that popped on or simply a few more practice reps, Payton has unlocked more from quarterback Bo Nix and the Broncos' offense since that ugly Thursday night win in Week 10.
Nix is coming off arguably his best game in two pro seasons. He threw for 302 yards on 23-of-34 passing with four touchdowns -- all to different receivers -- in this past Sunday's 34-26 victory over the Green Bay Packers. And in the four games since the "awful" plan, Nix has been one of the NFL's most efficient and productive quarterbacks, a trend he hopes to continue this upcoming Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars (4:05 p.m. ET, Empower Field at Mile High, Fox).
"We are just working really well off each other," Nix said. "[Payton] trusts me, and I can tell by the way he is calling it. My job is to turn around and protect him and keep his call safe. We talk about playcalling intent a lot as a quarterback room. Take the intent, and what does he want on this play? At the end of the day, you have to protect it."
Over the past four games -- which have extended the 12-2 Broncos' winning streak to 11 games -- Nix is third among NFL starters in completion percentage (69.5%), third in completion percentage over expectation (6.3%, per NFL Next Gen Stats) and eighth in QBR (68.8). That's a significant jump from where he was following the Week 10 Raiders game, when he was 28th in both completion percentage (60.9%) and completion percentage over expectation (minus-4.0%), and 18th in QBR (54.7).
To put it another way, over the past four games Nix and Payton have found a groove that is easy for everyone associated with the Broncos to see.
"See how Bo threw the ball?" Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton said after the win over the Packers. "I was enjoying the show from where I was sitting."
"He's a great player," added Broncos wide receiver Lil'Jordan Humphrey, who caught one of Nix's four touchdown passes. "He knows how to make plays with his feet. He can sling it. You just see it come to fruition. Everybody is saying it now. That's what we've been saying for a year."
Nix's improvement has been about adjustments, as the two games in which Payton played Nix under center the most this season have come during this four-game stretch (Week 13 against Washington and the Week 14 rematch against Las Vegas). The Broncos have also been flexible with their game planning, hopping from a short, measured approach in Week 14 to a push-the-ball-downfield approach against the Packers.
The Green Bay game was likely Nix's signature NFL outing given the opponent, playoff-seeding stakes and quality of the Packers' defense. It also might have been his best game in terms of pocket footwork, as Payton has been willing to tinker with some of his long-held standards in his playbook.
A review of the game film showed the Broncos attacked the Packers with more receivers to the short side of field more often than they have previously this season. It was part of how they were able to shake Courtland Sutton loose for his second 100-yard game of the season (seven catches, 113 yards, one TD).
That was part of a concerted effort to increase Sutton's activity. Denver's No. 1 receiver had four games with eight or more targets over the Broncos' first 10 games, including just four in Week 10. But Sutton has had three games with at least eight targets since, including his first back-to-back weeks with at least 10 targets since Weeks 8 and 9 last season. Sunday's 10 targets included a 26-yard catch on a fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter that led to the Broncos' final touchdown.
"We're finding our identity," Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz said. "Finding our flow."
That flow contributed to a better performance against zone coverage against the Packers. Nix entered the game near the bottom of the league in creating positive plays against zone defenses (28th) but had his best day against Green Bay's array of zone looks. On Sunday, 57.6% of dropbacks against zone resulted in positive plays according to NFL Next Gen Stats, or just over 14% higher than his season total. The Packers, who came into the game with the 10th-best pass rush win rate in the league, did not sack Nix and hit him only three times.
"The O-line played as good as they've played since I've been here -- they kept me completely clean," Nix said. "... We were able to get open, find some completions."
There's been a growing comfort level between Payton and Nix in their second season together. Payton often talks about how he had the same quarterback (Drew Brees) for the majority of his 15 seasons with the New Orleans Saints. He talked about it again Sunday, referencing the adjustment he has had to make in dealing with Nix.
"[It's] adapting and learning," Payton said. "Remember, for 15 years I had one personality [in Brees], and they couldn't be more different just from a personality standpoint. ... It's learning [Nix] and [adjusting to] him smiling even when we're down. I mean, there's just a competitive nature about him that's refreshing."
Some of Nix's teammates point to when he had completions to 11 different players in the Week 14 game against the Raiders, or when he threw completions to 10 players in the Week 11 win over the Chiefs, as more evidence Nix has embraced Payton's whatever-the-game-plan-calls-for approach. That showed again Sunday, as his touchdown passes went to Sutton, Humphrey, Troy Franklin and Michael Bandy.
"Every game has a different story, every play has another one," Nix said. "I was able to learn in college that you are not going to win the game on one play, you are not going to win the game in one quarter. You have to piece it all together.
"It may look ugly at times, but it really doesn't matter. ... There is always a way at the end to win a game, there's always a way at the beginning. So you have to figure that out."