Bo Knicks turned to the sideline, saw head coach Sean Payton watching, and gave him a celebration as he passed.
In the end zone, veteran wide receiver Tim Patrick enjoyed a long touchdown catch — when you’ve lost two years to injury, who cares if it’s just the season? — and gave the Empower Field crowd a mile-high salute.
After a 27-2 victory over an undrafted, back-ups-only version of the Green Bay Packers, the Knicks can get nothing but a nod and waves in next weekend’s postseason finale.
As Broncos fans watched the rookie this preseason, he hit the ground running.
The Knicks did nothing in his home preseason debut Sunday night, changing the perception that he will win the starting job and lead Sean Payton’s Team 1 in Seattle.
In fact, he did a lot to reinforce his strong position against the Packers reserves.
Knicks started in front of the home crowd, leading two drives, putting 10 points on the board with the starting offense and capping his evening with a touchdown toss to Patrick.
The quarterback’s final line: 8-of-9 passing for 80 yards and a score on three carries plus 12 rushing yards and a 14-yard touchdown pass to Javonte Williams that was ruled out as he narrowly crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball.
If Payton makes it official in the coming days and names Knicks his starter, he may not play in the Aug. 25 preseason finale against Arizona at Empower Field.
Payton was in no rush to make the call Sunday night. In fact he asked a lot of questions about Knicks.
“Okay listen, he played well. “I’m not announcing any starting quarterback tonight,” Payton said. Later, Nicks “put a cap” on the questions when asked about her comment last week that the band still had some songs to play.
“The band is really good. I’m not dancing,” Payton summed up.
As well, Knicks has been grooving in his two preseason appearances. There’s one simple way to describe the former Oregon and Auburn star’s work in two exhibition games this month: When the Knicks played, the Broncos moved the ball and scored points.
The 24-year-old led seven drives — five against Indianapolis and two Sunday night. In one of them, tight end Lucas Krul hauled in a short pass and fumbled on the first play.
Six other drives went at least seven plays, produced multiple first downs and ended in points.
In order, they went like this:
• 11 plays, three first downs, three scores
• 10 plays, five first downs, seven scores
• 1 game, no first downs, no points
• 7 plays, four down and three points
• 10 plays, four first downs, seven points
• 9 plays, two first downs, three scores
• 11 plays, six first downs, seven scores
The end game of them is pretty much doubled. The Knicks helped jumpstart the drive with a 14-yard screen to Javonte Williams. Then he calmly delivered a 14-yard dart up the middle to Patrick, with whom he had a growing connection this summer, on third-and-9. The Knicks rallied to the 10 to overcome a Denver holding penalty and allowed a 23-yard in-breaker to Courtland Sutton to set up first-and-goal.
Two plays later, he rolled right and hit Patrick again for a 2-yard touchdown.
“Felt really good. I thought we started out well,” Nix said. “The defense got a big stop and flipped the field for us and we were able to come away with points. In that situation you want to get a touchdown, but we were able to go back, go down and get a touchdown.
Knicks’ two-game numbers: 23-of-30 for 205 yards and a pair of touchdown passes and six carries for 30 yards.
For what it’s worth, Knicks kept his sack-less preseason short, his only time under real pressure climbing into the pocket and managing to gain half a yard.
Rather than exact numbers, Sunday night and the past two weeks have provided clarity. No one knows how ready a new quarterback is for real, regular-season NFL work. But the Knicks are ready enough that there’s no reason to wait to find out.
Stidham followed the Knicks, plowing through a nine-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and going for his second tip-ball interception in as many preseason games. Wilson entered with 5 minutes, 27 seconds left in the third quarter and played the rest of the way for the Broncos. That included a sack on a safety — Green Bay’s lone points of the night — and a 7-yard touchdown pass to reserve Tyler Paddy.
The Broncos defense pitched a shutout and got two consecutive carries for their starting unit. It was likely the only season snap for defensive ends Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers and corner Pat Surtain II.
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