Two timely completions from Pro Ducks Bo Nix to Troy Franklin Denver helped Denver win their seventh straight game Thursday night, but it wasn't easy.
Playing last-place Las Vegas in Mile High Stadium the offense creaked and rattled like a 2010 Ford Fusion with two bad pistons, going three and out four times before JK Dobbins scooted around the right side for 13 yards and a first down with six minutes to go in the first half.
Nix hit a deep pass to Pat Bryant for 43 yards down to the Raider 5. A run by RJ Harvey lost two, then one play later the former Duck zipped a pass to Troy Franklin over the middle for seven yards and a touchdown to tie it at 7-7.
The team went three and out eight times in the game and only made ten first downs. It got so bad that by the fourth quarter home fans were booing Nix and the struggling offense, which had to remind him of his Auburn days. “I've been booed before and I'll be booed again," Nix said.
The Bo Nix to Troy Franklin connection strikes again. #ProDucks 🦆pic.twitter.com/N1iaxRJNur
— Eric Hovland (@EricJHovland) November 7, 2025
Defense and special teams saved it. The new edition of the Orange Crush held the visitors to 188 yards and one score. Late in the third quarter J. L. Simmons blocked a punt off his facemask that set Denver up at the Raider 12.
Nix ran for a two-yard loss, then threw an incomplete pass. A third-down pass to Franklin went for no gain. With five seconds to play in the third period Will Lutz converted a 32-yard field goal to make it 10-7.
They held Geno Smith and the Raiders to two punts and a missed 48-yard field goal in the fourth, getting the ball back with 4:26 left. Finally the offense put together a 10-play, 47-yard drive to ice the game, Nix and Franklin hooking up on an 18-yard pass on 3rd and 1 for the key first down to the Raider 35.
The win got the team to 8-2, the best record in the NFL and a game-and-a-half ahead of Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers. So far they've been able to rely on that defense and Nix's fourth quarter heroics, but for the stretch drive head coach Sean Payton, a Super Bowl winner with a well-deserved reputation as an offensive guru, will have to find more consistency.