Playing for Sean Payton is not easy.

Ask any player and they’ll usually have plenty of positive things to say, but it often comes with a knowing reaction. A sigh or a grin or an outright acknowledgement.

“That’s a deep question,” the longest-tenured Payton acolyte on Denver’s roster, kicker Wil Lutz, said earlier this season when asked to describe what it takes.

That’s true of any position, but it is especially so for quarterbacks.

There is no more demanding position in sports and there are few more demanding coaches than Payton.

Since the day the Broncos drafted Bo Nix in April 2024, Payton has expressed unwavering public support of and confidence in Nix and also pushed him hard behind closed doors. The coach piled responsibility on his quarterback’s plate, asked him to handle it all right out of the gate and paid no mind to all the challenges facing Nix heading into Year 2 or whether he was adding to them when he said repeatedly he thought the 25-year-old could be one of the game’s elite quarterbacks within two years.

On Sunday against Green Bay, Nix turned in arguably his best game as a professional. He completed 23 of 34 passes for 302 yards and touchdowns to four different players. He played on time. He played with command. He pushed the ball down the field when opportunities popped up, extended plays with his legs when required and didn’t take a sack.

He stood in against one of the NFL’s fastest, most disruptive defenses and shredded it from start to finish.

“He really made some plays with his feet and he made some plays up in the pocket,” Payton said.

It was a terrific performance on its own for Nix. Even, perhaps, something of a true coming-out party.

Perhaps more important for the Broncos’ fortunes over the coming weeks first, and longer-term outlook beyond: Nix and Payton for the first time look like they’re fully speaking the same language.

The past two games put the next level of their connection on full display.

Against Las Vegas, Nix dinked and dunked. He took exactly what the Raiders’ defense gave him. The Broncos didn’t have a passing play longer than 15 yards but Nix completed 31 of 38 and led three road-grading touchdown drives.

Then against the Packers, he put on a laser show. He pushed the ball down the middle of the field. He hit Courtland Sutton on a 42-yard double-move up the sideline. He put darts on Sutton and Troy Franklin in the end zone for touchdowns.

It was the exact opposite of the week before.

It was exactly what Payton wanted.

The longtime coach likes to say there’s a path to victory in every game, but it’s different in every game.

Experience will help Nix sniff out coverage disguises and teach him where to go against certain looks. It will further familiarize him with certain coordinators and opponents. It should soak in continually, raising the water table’s level slowly and steadily over time.

Experience with Payton, though, is just as critical because it will continue to help Nix understand exactly what the coach wants each week and how he can maximize that particular plan.

“Every game has a different story, every play has another one,” Nix said. “I was able to learn in college that you’re not going to win the game on one play. You’re not going to win the game in one quarter. You have to piece it all together. It may look ugly at times, but it really doesn’t matter. There is always a way to win the game. There is always a way at the end to win a game; there’s always a way at the beginning. So you have to figure that out.”

Nix said the quarterbacks and position coach Davis Webb often talk about “play-caller intent.”

That’s specific to routes and concepts, of course. But play-calling is also Payton’s language. It’s how he expresses intent on not just converting a key third down but the way he sees a game unfolding.

“We’re just working really well off each other,” Nix said. “He trusts me, and I can tell by the way he is calling it. My job is to turn around and protect him and keep his call safe. We talk about play-calling intent a lot as a quarterback room. Take the intent, and what does he want on this play? At the end of the day, you have to protect it. It’s only Year 2, but I think the more and more reps I’m able to get with him in my ear during games — we’ve been able to grow. We’ve been able to develop with each other.

Any good relationship is a two-way street, of course, and Payton said Sunday that he’s continually learning Nix, too.

“He’s early in the process and improving,” Payton said, using a half-marathon reference and suggesting Nix as at Mile 4 out of 13.1. “The thing about him is he loves playing. It’s contagious and that’s a really good trait for a player in his position and his teammates feel that.”

Payton’s adjusted to Nix, too. He’s put the second-year quarterback under center more in the past four weeks and the results have followed.

In back-to-back games against Houston and Las Vegas — the latter of which Payton later said he and his staff devised a “terrible” offensive plan — Nix completed 52.3% of his passes for 323 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Denver scored two offensive touchdowns.

In the four games since then, he’s completed 69.5% of his passes for 1,130 yards and five touchdowns against one interception.

“We’re playing different,” Payton said in the lead-up to the Green Bay game.

Nix is playing different and he’s playing efficient. He’s playing with confidence in and care for Payton’s plan each week.

“It’s not easy for him after so long with one consistent quarterback who was absolutely dominant in this league, to take a younger guy and trust him,” Nix said of Payton and his long history in New Orleans with Drew Brees. “It’s hard. I really appreciate that. I appreciate the opportunity that he’s given me, and I think together we have something going right now. At the same time, he’s extremely competitive himself. I always wanted that, just a coach that was going to compete for me, compete with me, and go out there and let me play.

“That’s what he does. I think it’s working and we’re going to find ways to make it work even more.”