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.

The Denver quarterback sustained three transverse process fractures in his back during Denver’s Nov. 24 win at Las Vegas, he said Monday after the Broncos’ season ended. Nix said he got “twisted up” during the game against Las Vegas and sustained the fractures.

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.