Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Fangio Addresses Allen's Performance & Broncos' Plan at QB Next Week
Vic Fangio dutifully stood at the podium following the Denver Broncos 20-3 drubbing at the hands of the Buffalo Bills and answered the questions of the assembled media. Keen on the minds of those journalists in the room, similarly to fans back in Broncos Country, was the quarterback issue; namely, what will happen with Drew Lock?
"I haven't even thought about it yet," Fangio said.
While I doubt Fangio has yet to consider it, I do believe that he's yet to make a decision on which quarterback will start for the Broncos next week vs. the Division-rival L.A. Chargers. Fangio still has to meet with GM John Elway and find out what the edict is from on high.
After all, Lock isn't even on the Broncos' 53-man roster. He's on injured reserve. The Broncos will have some paperwork to submit to the NFL before Lock can suit up as the backup or start next Sunday.
What we can say with certainty is that current starter Brandon Allen hasn't played well over the last two weeks. Or perhaps more accurately, over the last six quarters.
Allen has over the last six quarters butted up against his ceiling with a massive 'thunk!'. He's now gone two consecutive games as the starter without completing at least 50% of his passes. Fangio weighed in on the performance of his embattled starting QB.
"Well, obviously we had a tough day on offense and as the quarterback, it's going to look tough for you too," Fangio said. "He was under some duress. I think the wind affected the throwing a little bit and it wasn’t good enough."
Fangio tossed two qualifiers in there in defense of Allen — the offensive line and the wind — before getting to the simple matter of the truth. It wasn't good enough.
Allen would be the first to agree.
"Yeah, in warmups we knew it was going to be difficult throwing the ball through the air and all that with the wind," Allen said post-game. "But, it’s just no excuse really, when you’re out there playing, you don’t think about the wind. It’s not an excuse for how we performed today offensively."
Allen knew that the only way he could forestall the Lock issue was by winning one of the Broncos' back-to-back road games against playoff-caliber opponents. He's now 1-2 as a starter with two straight losses and is coming off a game in which he posted a QB rating of — wait for it — 32.4.
"Obviously I want to play," Allen said. "I want to be part of the solution. That [decision] is not up to me, so I’m going to work like I’m going to play next week."
Tip your cap to Allen because even though he's struggled mightily these last six quarters, it's fair to say that the Broncos offense has looked at least modestly improved with him under center instead of Joe Flacco. Allen exceeded expectations, at least initially.
But his three-game tenure as the starter is very much a tale of two six-quarter stretches. Most NFL teams receive a little spark when a QB change is made, which explains Allen's first six quarters. The last six can only be explained by the reality that Allen is a very limited QB best suited for the role he has served this year — as a backup QB a team can turn to in a pinch short-term.
Fangio will have to provide an answer when he holds court on Monday from the familiar environs of Dove Valley on whether Week 13 will unfold any differently at the quarterback position. Allen was so bad in Week 12 that it might actually set the wheels of change in motion.
Will the Broncos finally start the clock on the Lock era? Sound off in the comment section below.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
