Following an ugly but effective 23-17 win over the Chargers on Sunday, quarterback Bo Nix was the first to admit it wasn’t “his best.”
“The game, the feeling and the results of the drives told me it wasn’t necessarily pretty, but we just found a way to win,” Nix said, adding the offense as a whole was OK. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to get more points, and that’s something we’ll keep working on.”
The problem, as Nix sees it, is consistency.
“Right now, there’s just a little subtle piece of overall offensive execution that we’re still working on, because sometimes, it’s there and we’re really good at it,” he said. “Sometimes, for whatever reason, the drive stops.”
“I don’t think we would have won the game without those turnovers,” Nix said, noting that the offense should have scored touchdowns instead of field goals from short fields. So we have to clean that up.”
— Bo NIX
If it weren’t for the defense, which almost gave up 13 points to the offense, the day would have been much more messy and not a win.
“I don’t think we would have won the game without those turnovers,” Nix said, noting that the offense should have scored touchdowns from those short fields instead of settling for field goals. “So we have to clean that up.”
Head coach Sean Payton thinks a big part of the answer is better protection up front.
“I think it’s important from a protection standpoint, that early in games we give a clean pocket so the clock doesn’t get juiced up a little bit,” Payton added.
Of course, Nix’s footwork is also responsible for the offense’s struggles. Payton thinks the QB “cleaned up a little bit,” but the coach repeated his complaint from last week that the entire team, especially the offense, needs to be good at details.
“I think after four weeks there are some things that come together — and you know, it starts with me — where it’s like, okay, let’s focus on these details,” Payton said. “And I think the byproduct helps with [quarterback].”
Regardless of Nix’s struggles this season, Payton let him know he’s the guy the coach wants to control.
“I told him ‘man, we want you here. Let’s go. You’ve done a ton of things well.’ But I think a lot of people get into that,” Payton noted. “I want him to make sure we can let it go.”
For Nix that means trusting what he sees.
“You have to earn it right,” Nix added. “When you do the preparation, you have the right to react so you let it rip.”
The main problem with this is that Nix and the offense “get it right” one series and then lose it the next.
“I repeat, you are always looking for small steps [of improvement.]
— Sean Payton
“There were times when I felt like I was really good when the play was there,” Nix said. “There are other times I feel like there are still things I could have seen or processed better. …It’s the layers and layers of being a quarterback and processing. Nothing is going to be easy,”
Payton reiterated that he coaches for small steps of improvement — and as a coach, he’s responsible for that, too — especially when it comes to calling protections so the offense can convert a few more (or any!) third downs.
“I’ll say it again, you’re always looking for small steps,” Payton added. “That front strength, the edges can be a problem, and then they do a good job with some zone pressures.”
Nix joked that it would be nice if the defense lined up exactly the way they wanted because “you’re probably going to have a lot of touchdowns and a lot of points.”
But that won’t happen.
“What’s important is that we’re sitting here talking about a win,” Nix added. “That’s really, really important.”