Fangio 'Very Disappointed' In Rookie Michael Ojemudia for Week 15 Ejection
Michael Ojemudia might have bought himself a one-way ticket back to Vic Fangio's doghouse.
The Denver Broncos rookie cornerback was ejected in the second half of Saturday's loss to the Buffalo Bills for punching wide receiver Gabriel Davis, putting a secondary down five CBs at an even bigger disadvantage.
It was the type of death-by-inches mistake that Fangio despises, and he let him know — quite publicly — after the game.
"I’m very disappointed in Michael there, losing his cool. I didn’t see it, but the officials say he threw a punch and that’s an automatic ejection. So that’s disappointing," he said.
To be fair, Davis provoked Ojemudia by shoving his fingers into his face mask while the two were hand-fighting. But similar to a cop pulling someone over for speeding, it was the latter who got caught in that exact moment, prompting a flag and his disqualification.
The Bills amassed 534 total yards, including 359 air yards from MVP contender Josh Allen, en route to their 48-18 demolishing of Denver.
Ojemudia, a third-round pick out of Iowa, has turned in a rollercoaster first year. He's shown plus coverage ability, but his tackling woes and multiple dropped interceptions drew the ire of Fangio, who limited Ojemudia to special-teams work in Weeks 10 and 11, sans a single defensive snap.
He's since seen his CB reps steadily increase, from 25 in Week 12 to 64 in Week 13 and 67 in last week's win over Carolina. Perhaps it was by default with AJ Bouye (suspended), Bryce Callahan (injured reserve), Essang Bassey (IR), Duke Dawson (IR) and Kevin Toliver (IR) all sidelined. Ojemudia nonetheless seemed to regain entry into Fangio's good graces, however.
"I do think the couple of weeks where he didn't play or played sparingly kind of helped him a little bit potentially," Fangio said on Dec. 11. "Again, he's another one of the young players I'd like to see really come alive and play good and keep improving in this last month of the season.”
It'll be interesting whether Fangio again moth-balls Ojemudia as a form of tough-love punishment or looks past his indiscretion for the sake of player development. Justin Herbert and the Chargers await the answer.
Follow Zack on Twitter @KelbermanNFL and @MileHighHuddle
