Bo Nix has taken plenty of heat since his last game. However, a former Denver Broncos cornerback is stepping in to shield him.

Aqib Talib hit back at Ryan Fitzpatrick for calling Nix’s play “almost disrespectful to the quarterback position” after Denver’s 17-14 OT win over the Seattle Seahawks on Oct. 15.

His reply was pointed: “You value stats because you don’t win.” Nix went 17-of-27 for 107 yards that night, and Fitzpatrick minced no words on Prime Video’s postgame show: “He’s not competing right now, and that’s something that he’s hung his hat on the last two years. I don’t know if he’s still injured or what’s going on, but it’s not good enough.”

Aqib Talib Urges Ryan Fitzpatrick to Leave ‘Disrespectful’ Criticisms to NFL Legends

Talib made his case in a video from the “Gridiron” podcast by saying: “If anybody’s going to say that this guy’s play is disrespectful to that position, be a GOAT. Leave that to Tom, Peyton, and Patrick Mahomes. And I don’t even think they would say that because they value wins too much. They care about winning. He ain’t got good numbers, but he did this in the fourth quarter, and they won that game.”

The former Broncos CB then ran through Denver’s recent finishes: “So they’re not going to say that he’s not being competitive when he just stormed the Rams in the fourth quarter, when he scored off the turnovers against the Chargers. Like, yeah, how is he not being competitive when he just won another game against the champs?”

Against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2, Denver trailed 13-6 going into the fourth quarter. Nix’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Nate Adkins tied it, and Jonah Coleman’s 3-yard run put the Broncos ahead for a 20-13 win. Nix went 22-of-31 for 288 yards that day.

A week later, the Broncos trailed the Los Angeles Rams 16-0 at halftime. Nix threw third-quarter touchdown passes to Pat Bryant and Nate Adkins. His 1-yard touchdown run with 47 seconds left also lifted Denver to a 30-26 win.

In Week 5, Nix went 16-of-27 for 123 yards, and his 5-yard touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton tied the Los Angeles Chargers at 17 with 8:53 left. Denver scored on the drive after each of its three takeaways in that 23-17 win, and Brandon Jones had two of them.

Earlier, Talib also took a swipe at Fitzpatrick’s own résumé: “We’re talking about a guy who played for nine different teams in 17 years. And his record as a starter in Buffalo was 19-35. A guy who played 17 years, 147 starts, and never sniffed a playoff game.”

He wasn’t done: “How can a quarterback of his caliber talk about what is disrespectful to the quarterback position? I know Amazon is begging for you to be more entertaining, and you’ve just got to just blabber out some [expletive]. Nobody’s worried about what Fitzpatrick said.”

Pro Football Network’s NFL QB Impact Grade currently puts Nix at 66.6, 29th of 34 graded quarterbacks through Week 6.

Through Week 6, Nix is 114-of-189 for 1,049 yards, with six touchdowns and three interceptions. His 79.4 passer rating ranks 26th of 31 qualified quarterbacks.

The Broncos are 4-2 and second in the AFC West. They visit the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday, Oct. 25, then host the currently unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 1.