The Lead
Early in the second quarter of Sunday’s game against the Colts, Bo Nix spun out of the pocket, rolled to his left and unleashed a pass that traveled nearly 50 yards through the air.
The throw was impressive. And the catch may have been even better.
Second-year receiver Troy Franklin tracked the ball over his shoulder and extended his arms to make the downfield grab.
The 42-yard catch marked the second-longest reception of Franklin’s career — only his 43-yard touchdown grab in Buffalo was longer — and jump-started a Broncos touchdown drive.
Franklin quickly added another two catches on the possession, including a 3-yard touchdown reception.
“He’s elusive,” Head Coach Sean Payton said after the game. “He does a good job when the quarterback is on the move, too. I think all of [the receivers] collectively, when Bo scrambles, fight back to the ball to the sideline. But he’s had a good camp and made some big plays for us.”
Franklin finished with the most catches and receiving yards of any player in the game as he set career highs in targets (9), receptions (8) and yards (89).
“He played well,” said Nix, who played with Franklin at Oregon. “He was everywhere. Played with great effort. And I think it goes to show just from his practice, man, he practices really hard. He shows up every day. He gets his timing down. He runs, and he shows up, and he just practices really hard. So, it’s good to see him have a day like that. I mean, we’ve seen that – I’ve seen that from him for as long as I’ve known him. And he’s starting to do really well for this organization, and he’s started to look like his college self again. I’m happy for him, and he always does work.
“He’s working really hard, he’s practicing really hard and [he] showed up in the game.”