What Bo Nix Must Do for the Broncos to Continue Winning Games

Sean Payton is back to calling plays in Denver, and Rich has a simple position on it.

"If I'm the owner of the Denver Broncos, with all due respect, I want this guy calling my plays," Rich said on the show. "It's that simple."

He then reminded everyone that he is not, in fact, the owner of the Denver Broncos. "I barely even shop at Walmart sometimes."

The difference showed up immediately. With Payton back in the chair, the Broncos committed to JK Dobbins, to the point where RJ Harvey wasn't as significant in the run game. Rich saw a lot of number 27, and that was the way through. Dobbins, he noted, had a 1,000-yard rushing season last year. The snap counts read on the show backed it up: Dobbins at 52 percent, Harvey at 37.

"They were committed to that run game, and then it opened things up," Rich said. "This is just game one."

Rich also gave Payton credit for the way he handled the handoff in the first place. If a coach says he'll be better without play-calling responsibility, you listen. The first four games just didn't work out to his liking, and now he's back.

The defense did the rest. Rich said Denver had Justin Herbert running for his life, the turnovers started coming, "and that was the end of it." The Broncos are 3-2.

But the quarterback is the piece Rich keeps coming back to. "Bo Nix has to play better," he said. "It just doesn't look in rhythm."

Payton seems to know it too. After the game, he described his message to Nix with a pop culture reference. "Like I've said to him, 'Man, you're the guy we wanted here. Let's go,'" Payton said. "You know, in that old TV series, The Bear, where they just said, you know, let her rip. I want him to make sure that, hey, let her rip."

That sent the studio into a debate over which character from The Bear says "let her rip," and whether anyone could remember it at all. Rich's take: he loves Payton's pop culture references. "As long as he's not throwing a fork at anybody."

The message underneath the bit is real, though. Payton is in Nix's ear now, and the point is to free him up. "Let her rip, kid," Rich said. "This is why we brought you here."

It doesn't get easier. Denver heads to Seattle for Thursday Night Football against a Seahawks team coming off a home loss to the 49ers. "They are going to be a salty bunch," Rich said. After that, a sneaky-good stretch with a trip to Carolina on the horizon.

Rich laid out the path plainly. If Nix can start getting in rhythm, and Jaylen Waddle can start getting in rhythm with him, the run game feeds everything else.

"That's kind of what I saw yesterday, and it didn't look in rhythm, but it doesn't matter," Rich said. "They came out with a win."