EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- It has been almost eight months since Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix fractured his right ankle in the closing minutes of a playoff win over the Buffalo Bills, and Nix's teammates say they can see just how badly he wants to play in Monday night's regular-season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs."I'm a little nervous for everybody else ... he's a competitor now,'' Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton said after Wednesday's practice. "He's like that, like a mountain lion in the zoo, that's like pacing. I saw a mountain lion at the Colorado zoo, and he was just pacing back and forth. I was like, 'Y'all don't want that boy to get out, because that's not going to be good.' That's what Bo reminds me of ... you can tell he's like, 'I'm ready to go do this.'"Nix has said repeatedly that he has been counting the days to the start of the season. He said Wednesday that Sutton's choice of words was spot on."Out here [in Colorado], there's different animals you can encounter, [and] I hear a lot of times it's mountain lions and bears you don't want to come across, so I guess that's a good comparison,'' Nix said. "The thing about mountain lions is usually when you notice them it's because they noticed you a long time ago. I'm just excited to get out there; I feel like I'm pacing, feel like I've been in this practice schedule a long time.''Nix fractured his ankle on the game-winning drive of the Broncos' 33-30 overtime win over the Bills in the AFC's divisional round in January. He had two offseason surgeries to repair the ankle, one just days after the injury and one in April to "clean up'' bone spurs in the joint.He was held out of much of the offseason program, except for some limited throwing in the mandatory minicamp in June. Nix did participate fully in training camp practices, but he made just one appearance in a preseason game last month.He played 14 plays in the Broncos' Aug. 21 loss to the Green Bay Packers and finished 6-of-9 passing for 76 yards to go with a 21-yard touchdown pass to running back RJ Harvey. He did not play in the preseason finale against the Minnesota Vikings.The Broncos will have had 24 days between Nix playing those snaps against the Packers and the Monday night opener in Arrowhead Stadium."I can't wait,'' Nix said. "I know I've just got to do my part, do my role, we have a lot of guys where I don't have to do anything crazy or special, just let our guys do our thing. [But] I'm excited. Right now it's just being in the moment.''Last season Nix was the first quarterback since Peyton Manning in 2015 to start in a Broncos win in Arrowhead Stadium. The Broncos won 20-13 in December.
