Drew Brees shares on Prime Video Thursday Night Football The broadcast of him opening a pickleball facility might have turned many viewers' eyes upward and said, “Hm, that's interesting.”

The Denver Broncos' 33-10 victory over the New Orleans Saints became a background game long before Brees sat in the locker room next to Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit during the third quarter of a hard-to-watch game at the Superdome. Instead of hearing humorous lines from Michael Scott, you can never go wrong while playing The office in the background – those who left the TV on may have heard a few stories from Sean Payton's first season in New Orleans and many calls from Michaels about Bo Nix running for another first down.

There weren't many moments to look forward to in Payton's return to New Orleans, where he was head coach for 15 seasons. The Broncos (4-3) won comfortably and Nix had perhaps the best game of his rookie season. But it wasn't exactly the kind of performance that told Payton's former team that he's doing much better now. Well, in some ways Payton is better because the Saints (2-5) are a mess. They have lost five straight games and have been outscored 60-3 over a span of nearly six quarters, starting with last week's 51-27 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But on the night that many remembered Payton's first season with the Saints, when they won the NFC South and finished 10-6 in the 2006 season, it seems like a good time to assess where the Broncos will be in the second year of the Payton experience.

The Broncos are far from a finished product and Payton doesn't have Brees as the starting quarterback to speed up the rebuilding process. This is by no means a shot at Nix, the No. 12 pick in this year's draft. But Nix, who went 16 of 26 for 164 yards and no touchdowns against the Saints, still has a long way to go as a passer, and it showed during Thursday night's sluggish game. There were many missed throws, including a pass that went between two open receivers. And Nix caught a break when Tyrann Mathieu threw off an interception.

Nix could certainly improve his accuracy with better footwork. He was an accurate quarterback in college – he completed 77.4% of his passes last season at Oregon. But he struggles with the speed of the game and facing NFL pass rushers. On the other hand, Nix thrives as a running threat and recorded 75 rushing yards on 10 carries against the Saints.

There's plenty of room for growth for Nix, but there are also limitations for the sixth quarterback selected in the NFL Draft. He doesn't have the physical skills of Caleb Williams and Drake Maye and isn't as athletic or accurate as Jayden Daniels. But then again, he's a player and has found a way to lead the Broncos to a 4-3 record when many expected them to compete for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft. For sports bettors, the Broncos' win total for the season has been set at 5.5 at most sportsbooks.

So after a disastrous two years with Russell Wilson, the Broncos are on the right track. They have an outstanding defense that is well-coached with Vance Joseph, a strong sign for a unit that doesn't have much star power outside of Patrick Surtain II. They also show plenty of fight on both sides of the line of scrimmage – the Broncos rushed for 225 rushing yards against the Saints.

But it's hard to say what Nix the Broncos have. Maybe it's something similar to Will Levis, who shined as a mobile rookie quarterback but struggled to improve as a passer in his second season with the Tennessee Titans. Or maybe Nix is ​​the next Baker Mayfield, whose confidence and playmaking ability made him the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft. Mayfield never was called Ferris Bueller by his head coachbut he made many mistakes early in his career with the Cleveland Browns before finding his breakthrough with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Or maybe this game should have been ignored because there's nothing substantial to learn from it. It will take time for Payton to turn the Broncos into the 2006 Saints, and they may never become anything close to the 2009 Super Bowl-winning Saints. But they are definitely way ahead of the current Saints.