Whatever happens, the rest of this season, remember Sunday afternoon at 4:25 p.m. That was the moment that Bo Nix became the Broncos quarterback.

Until then, save for the first drive in Tampa Bay and two throws against the Jets, he held the job in title only. But with a memorable five-minute sideline interaction, Nix came of age.

He kicked off the training wheels and argued with coach Sean Payton.

Nix stood his ground, and it no longer feels like this franchise is sitting in quicksand.

“He turned and looked at me and said, ‘I love you,’” Nix joked, “and I said I love you back.”

This was the Hallmark Channel version of what played out in the Broncos’ convincing 34-18 victory over the Raiders, their first against their rival since 2019. The director’s cut featured more colorful language and involved rookie receiver Troy Franklin, Courtland Sutton, quarterback coach Davis Webb and Nix.

It stemmed from a third-quarter incompletion. Nix fired a deep ball to the end zone to a wide-open Franklin. He extended his body and dropped it. Payton did not want this play, admitting Nix flipped it. When Nix returned to the sideline, he flipped his lid. It led Payton to compare Nix to a famous 1986 movie character.

“There is still a little bit of Ferris Bueller in him we are trying to get rid of,” Payton said. “I love him to death. And sometimes (what you saw) is my love language.”

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Nix did not take the day off. He never does. He is prepared and diligent. That is why this dustup was so important, showing a quarterback cognizant of his role.

This is the real Nix. He runs hot. He did it at Auburn. He did it at Oregon. He did it when his father, Patrick, coached him in high school in Alabama.

In the film, Bueller skipped school to help his friend Cameron earn self-respect. Sunday, Nix earned his teammates’ respect.

“Yeah, I have watched the movie. Literally, I think it explains the situation,” said Nix, who finished 19 of 27 for 206 yards and two touchdowns. “We were out there with intensity and fire.”

The Full Nix Experience provides the path to a winning record, maybe even a playoff berth as mind-altering as that sounds. Bueller is a character who’s fun, loyal, sometimes reckless – like Nix on third down, apparently – and convicted.

Nix believed he was correct when switching the play to Franklin. And even though the Broncos did not score — Nix blamed himself for throwing it too far — it doesn’t mean he was wrong. When Payton began to spew lava, Mount BoNixuvius was prepared. This illuminated a player who believes in himself.

The discussion was intense, animated and about (bleeping) time.

Watching Nix defend his choice, it screamed that the C on his jersey was no longer decorative. This is exactly what the Broncos need. And precisely what his teammates crave.

“Those are two competitors right there. Coach Payton is the ultimate competitor. Same with Bo,” fullback Mike Burton said. “You want to see that kind of fire out of your quarterback, a guy ready to take command. I played with Sean and Drew Brees. They had these types of confrontations, and it was coming from a place that they both wanted what was best for the team.”

The juxtaposition between the Payton-Nix tiff and Payton-Russell Wilson meltdown remains striking. Payton went nuclear on Wilson on the sideline in Detroit after Wilson went off-script in the red zone on a pass to Sutton against the wrong coverage.

Payton is not a fan of streetball, seeing it as unsustainable. And he is really not a fan of calling plays the team has not practiced. Wilson stood there in shock as his coach unloaded on him, stunned by the outburst and perhaps knowing any response would lead to his benching. He started one more game, a loss to the Patriots, before that inevitable conclusion.

Sunday, Nix held firm. This demonstrates the respect that exists between the coach and quarterback which was not present at any time last season. Wilson never clicked with Payton, could not find a happy medium. There are possibilities with Nix that seem tantalizing and ambitious based on his response against the Raiders.

After the dust-up, Nix guided the offense to a pair of touchdowns. He eluded a sack and scrambled for 11 yards. He jumped over the pile for a 1-yard score. He found Josh Reynolds with a dime crossing the back of the end zone.

Nix, without saying another word, had arrived.

Playing quarterback for the Broncos in this city with this pressure is not for the meek or the polite. It requires an edge and ego to ride the seatbelt-required, emotional roller coaster.

All of the Broncos’ recent quarterbacks have been either ineffective, injured or one-dimensional. Nix is realizing that “life goes by fast” in the NFL. Given a chance to speak his mind, he didn’t miss it.

And that is why the Broncos’ season — at 3-2 with three straight wins — remains on target.

Get on the Ferris Wheel, Broncos Country. This is about to become one heck of a ride.

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Pat Surtain II saw the ball in the air and his eyes got big.

“No way this is happening,” he thought to himself as he left Jakobi Meyers’ hip pocket and made his move.

A 10th straight accurate throw from Las Vegas quarterback Gardner Minshew on Sunday afternoon at Empower Field and maybe none of the ensuing festivities come to pass.

Maybe the Raiders find themselves dancing once again in the legacy blue, 1977-replica painted end zone and in full control yet again in this rivalry.

Instead the ball sailed, Surtain pounced and the Broncos did the celebrating.

The Broncos’ best player made the biggest play of the season to date, picking off Minshew at the goal line and racing 100 yards the other way for a touchdown to kickstart an eventual 34-18 victory.

Instead of maybe trailing 17-3, Denver found itself tied midway through the second quarter thanks to the All-Pro cornerback.

“I caught the ball and I saw a full (field) of green grass,” Surtain said. “This is a touchdown.”

It wasn’t just that.

It turned the game on a dime.

It started a landslide that buried the Broncos’ embarrassing eight-game losing streak against the Raiders underneath a pile of points.

It rescued an alumni-packed, throwback celebration of a weekend in Broncos Country that looked to be teetering toward disaster.

A ninth straight loss to the Raiders? Not on this day.

The Broncos reeled off 34 straight points beginning with Surtain to turn dud to domination.

It’s their first win in this rivalry since the Raiders have called Las Vegas home, their third straight this season and the latest in a string powered by Vance Joseph’s dynamic, playmaking defense.

“Pat’s got my vote for defensive player of the year,” defensive lineman Zach Allen, himself in the process of playing the best football of his career, said after Surtain’s second career two-interception day.

“Certainly it was a huge play,” head coach Sean Payton said. “At least a 10-point play.”

Consider the setup to this day. The Broncos went all out in debuting their retro uniforms. They celebrated the 1977 Orange Crush defense. They welcomed Steve Foley and Riley Odoms into the team’s Ring of Fame and honored Randy Gradishar’s enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They put as many era-specific details in play as they could find, from the side wall decorations to the end zone paint to the graphics on the scoreboard to the soundtrack.

They picked the right opponent, too, but for that one little problem: The Raiders had won an unfathomable eight straight in this series.

Team president Damani Leech followed play-by-play man Dave Logan’s energetic lead before the game at the Ring of Fame ceremony, throwing down the gauntlet.

“I’m glad Dave’s already made this a PG-13 event, so I’ll just go ahead and admit we’re trying to kick the Raiders’ ass today,” Leech said to a roar from the watching crowd.

Except for the first quarter-plus, Minshew and the Raiders delivered the beating.

He threw a 57-yard touchdown to rookie tight end Brock Bowers just 2 minutes, 3 seconds into the game. Then Las Vegas went 68 yards for a field goal. Then 64 more in setting up a first-and-goal from the 5-yard line midway through the second quarter.

At that moment, before Surtain’s pick-six, Minshew was 9 of 9 for 115 yards, the touchdown and a pair of bedeviling first-down runs. The Raiders overall had rushed 12 times for 87 yards.

They’d run 21 offensive plays for 202 yards.

After the pick-six: Minshew went 3 of 8 for 22 yards, was picked again by cornerback Riley Moss and was sacked twice. He went from perfect passer rating early to benched down the stretch in favor of Aidan O’Connell. Surtain picked off O’Connell, too, tipping a fourth-quarter pass to himself.

The Raiders mustered just 128 yards on their final 44 offensive snaps and 72 of those came on a late drive when the Broncos already led by 24. They had 10 first downs on the first three possessions and just three outside of the late touchdown drive the rest of the way.

“They did a good job of of picking up stuff (early),” Allen said of the Raiders. “They kept seven in protection — basically they had one more than us on those first couple of third downs — but after that it was, ‘OK, we figured it out and made the adjustments.’ That was the cool thing about today. As a whole defense, we made some really good adjustments, pass game and run game, that ended up paying off.”

The defense and special teams combined to set the offense up at midfield or better on four of the Broncos’ final six possessions which helped that group, eventually, kicked into gear, too.

Rookie quarterback Bo Nix accounted for three second-half touchdowns — scoring passes to Jaleel McLaughlin and Josh Reynolds plus a 1-yard sneak — and threw for 206 yards overall.

The 34 points constitutes Denver’s most since 2021 and just the second time in the past four seasons they’ve hit that mark or better.

More important, though: This week and this game over the past eight years more often than not has ended in letdown. It looked headed that way again Sunday on a postcard of an afternoon.

Instead, something different.

“It was a special day today, seeing a bunch of legendary guys on the field cheering us on,” said Surtain, who swapped jerseys afterward with Hall of Famer Champ Bailey.

“I knew we was poised for success.”

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UCF kicker Colton Boomer has announced he intends to take advantage of the NCAA’s redshirt rule and enter the transfer portal.

Boomer became the sixth player in the past week to opt out of the season and transfer. He announced his decision on social media after Sunday night.

“To the UCF Fans – I love you guys so much. Kicking Bombs together has been on of the greatest privileges of my life. I always tried to make you proud and I gave you my all. From my first game at FAU, to Boise, to Norman, and to that last extra point at TCU, I will always be a Knight at heart. The Bounce House Boom will always be a blessing,” Boomer stated.

pic.twitter.com/Mz61fm0Bcs

— Colton Boomer (@BoomerColton) October 6, 2024

The former Lake Mary High product appeared in 29 games at UCF, connecting on 71.4% (30 of 42) of his field goal attempts and 96.5% (109 of 113) extra points. This season, Boomer was 3 for 6 on field goal attempts but missed his final three kicks — two of which were blocked during the Knights’ 35-34 win at TCU on Sept. 15.

Boomer had a stellar freshman season, connecting on 93.3% (14 of 15) field goal attempts and 97.7% (42 of 43) extra point kicks.

However, he struggled with an injury during his sophomore season, which saw his numbers dip. He connected on 62% (13 of 21) of his field goal attempts and 96% (48 of 50) of his extra points. Those struggles led to Boomer seeing a sports psychologist to build his confidence.

He didn’t travel to Gainesville for Saturday’s showdown with Florida, opening the door for redshirt freshman Grant Reddick to assume placekicking duties. Reddick connected on a pair of field goals in the 24-13 loss.

Coach Gus Malzahn said Boomer was dealing with an ankle injury and hoped to have his starting placekicker back this season.

“He’s been fighting through and just got to the point where he couldn’t do it, so Grant got in there,” Malzahn said Saturday night. “We’ll see if we can get Colton back. I know he’ll he’ll try his best.”

Boomer becomes the latest UCF player to utilize the redshirt rule, which permits a player to keep a year of eligibility if he doesn’t play more than four games in a season. Receiver Xavier Townsend, offensive tackle Wes Dorsey, edge rusher Kaven Call and safeties William Wells and Bryon Threats also chose to opt out.

Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com

Sparks were flying on the Broncos’ sideline on Sunday. But this time, Sean Payton wasn’t the one doing the yelling.

In the third quarter of Denver’s 34-18 win over the Raiders, rookie quarterback Bo Nix was seen arguing with the Broncos head coach after his potential touchdown pass slipped through the hands of wide receiver Troy Franklin.

Following the win, Payton shed light on his exchange with Nix, saying “It’s part of the deal. … Sometimes it’s my love language.”

Nix jokingly downplayed the discussion between him and Payton.

“He turned and looked at me and said ‘I love you,’ and I said ‘I love you back,'” Nix said.

The exchange stemmed from Nix’s decision to flip Payton’s play call. Nix said Payton originally wanted him to throw the ball in the boundary, the short side of the field. However, there was confusion in the huddle, leading Nix to switch the play and throwing an incompletion to Franklin on third-and-3 with under two minutes to go in the quarter.

“There’s still a little bit of Ferris Bueller in this player that we got to get rid of,” Payton said, comparing Nix to the main character of the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. “Ferris (was) kind of quirky, doing his own thing once in a while.”

This story will be updated.

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