Sports

The Broncos came away with a Week 1 victory over the Titans on Sunday, but it wasn't exactly easy.

Quarterback Bo Nix had an uneven performance, finishing the day 25-of-40 for 176 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He also lost a fumble.

“Well we won, that’s the first thing,” head coach Sean Payton said of Nix’s performance. “I thought he hung in there. He battled. Made some critical plays first in the second half, and so obviously he’ll be disappointed with the turnovers, but it was a gutsy performance. It is pretty usual Week 1, a lot of different looks maybe that you hadn’t seen normally or scouted normally for relative to their coverages.

“Overall, his job is to lead us to score. I thought he played really well in the second half, and we won the game.”

Nix told reporters that his attitude about his play is a little different now that he’s in his second season.

“I think I’m tougher on myself now because you know better. I’ve had some experience, and I’ve had what not to do,” Nix said. “Every year of my career, I’ve thrown a pick, probably. As much as I’m going to try in the future, I’m probably going to throw one every year. Just have to limit them, and hopefully I’ll stay at two for a while.”

We’ll see how Nix and the Broncos respond when they play the Colts on the road next week.

The Buccaneers didn't have time to ease rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka into the lineup and the first-round pick didn't need it.

Injuries to Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan meant that Egbuka was in the starting lineup alongside Mike Evans in his regular season debut and it proved to be a memorable one. Egbuka caught four passes for 67 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning score with 59 seconds left in Tampa's 23-20 win over the Falcons.

After the game, quarterback Baker Mayfield said that Egbuka had no trouble winning his trust.

"Extremely quickly," Mayfield said, via the team's website. "I just think the way he carries himself, I've told you guys, it wasn't a front. You saw it live today, in person. He's the real deal. True professional. Doesn't play like a rookie. Doesn't act like a rookie. His head is never spinning. He made some unbelievable catches and plays today for us. Obviously, going to continue to lean on him. Hopefully, we can draw some more coverage towards him, and Mike gets the ball again."

The Bucs hope to have Godwin and McMillan back in action later in the season, which will force them to do some juggling in the receiver room because Egbuka doesn't look like a player they're gonna want to take off the field all that often.