INDIANAPOLIS — After weeks of practicing situational football, the Broncos took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself.

In Sunday’s season opener against the Colts, the Broncos took over at their own 16-yard line with 1:24 left in the first half and one timeout remaining. With the score tied 10-10, Denver had a chance to pull away.

With two 16-yard passes from Bo Nix to Lucas Krull and a 29-yard pass interference call from Devaughn Vele, Denver got the ball inside the 10-yard line and kicked a short field goal to take the lead.

The field goal was just one moment in a stretch in which Denver scored on five of seven possessions, and the drive caught the eye of veteran Courtland Sutton in a 34-30 win over Indianapolis.

“I think he handled it very well,” Sutton said of Nix. “(He) had a lot of poise, a lot of control. The moment wasn’t too big for him. The moments are only going to get bigger. The preseason games don’t count, but in Week 1, no matter who they put in as our starter, they’ve got to handle the situation the best they can.”

Nix’s two-minute drive was part of an afternoon in which he completed 15 of 21 passes for 125 yards, a touchdown and a 102.3 rating. He also recorded three carries for 17 yards.

“It was a good day,” Nix said. “I thought we ran the ball efficiently, made some good plays in the passing game. We converted some third tries and got points when we needed them. It was a good effort to go into halftime with points and then come out with points – (it) felt like that was a good point in the game. But overall I felt like we did a good job. A huge team win.”

Jarrett Stidham, who started the game and completed 4 of 7 passes for 37 yards, was thwarted on both of his drives by penalties and an interception that bounced off the hands of running back Samaje Perine.

“Honestly, I thought we moved the ball really well,” Stidham said. “We shot ourselves in the foot — especially on the first two drives with penalties and stuff. Lots of good stuff, I thought. Obviously, we’ll look at the tape and improve on that. Obviously, we’ve got to cut the penalties. Like I said, that was probably the biggest thing. I thought we were pretty efficient there early on. But obviously, we just have to cut the penalties.”

Tim Patrick, Courtland Sutton and Mike McGlinchey were assessed penalties during Stidham’s first drive, which went to Indianapolis’ 29-yard line and then rolled back.

“He’s unlucky when the ball bounces off Perine,” head coach Sean Payton said. “We’re in scoring position before Tim’s penalty comes. We’re in scoring position, (and) the penalty takes us out of scoring position.”

After Stidham’s two series, Nix entered the game and led the Broncos to a field goal on his first drive. His first two pass attempts were incomplete before he ran left and threw a sideline pass to Sutton for a 22-yard gain.

“That was a great play,” Nix said. “Great third-down conversion. … (Sutton) kept a good eye on the sideline. I looked up and he was free, and those are always the good things when you see a free man.”

Nix and the Broncos offense scored 20 points in five possessions, with the only missed opportunity coming on a Krull fumble on the second-to-last drive before halftime.

On Nix’s second drive, he capped a 10-play, 56-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr.

“That was a nice play by Marv,” Nix said. “He did a good job of getting into the corner and we executed it well. We practiced and repeated that play quite a bit and they blocked it and had some space and we were able to score a touchdown. Overall, it just felt good to go out there and throw some passes, see a new defense and ultimately just go out there and compete.”

Nix also showed his ability to fight through, and all three quarterbacks showed their ability to avoid sacks. In a total of 41 dropbacks, none of the Broncos’ three quarterbacks were sacked.

“(The) ball is out,” Payton said. “I like the timing, the speed with which we’re releasing it. That was a big problem for us a year ago with the down games. We were kind of back, in the bottom half of the league – I think fourth (down). So I was happy with the timing with which we threw the ball. That’s important.”

Sunday’s game against the Colts marked the first time since 2022 that the Broncos recorded a preseason game without a sack.

Wilson played the final five drives of the game and posted the best quarterback rating of the three passers at 103.7. Wilson completed 10 of 13 passes for 117 yards and said Sunday meant “a new team, a new start” for him.

“I thought we had some great drives,” Wilson said. “Not a lot of bad plays. I thought we did a good job of staying ahead.”

Stidham said he was “super proud” of the Broncos’ overall offensive performance. Together, the quarterback trio completed 29 of 41 passes for 279 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

“All three did a good job,” Payton said.