Nix hung tough, though, and the Broncos emerged victorious in Vegas and the next week in a barn-burning affair vs. the Cleveland Browns in Denver. Then that blessed Week 14 bye came and he was able to rest the injury away.

Nix, fresh off the team’s 31-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs on Sunday, said that he sustained a series of transverse process fractures in his back. That injury went away in time for the playoffs, but he picked up a pair of key wins while fighting through it.