Fangio Doubles Down on Bullish 2020 Outlook for Broncos in Wake of Injury Epidemic
Denver Broncos' head coach Vic Fangio must be feeling snake-bitten as he attempts to solve new problems on a daily basis. After a fruitless road trip to Pittsburgh resulting in a 26-21 loss to the Steelers, the Broncos limped home winless with even more key injuries to contend with.
That injury list now includes No. 1 wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who's been lost for the rest of the year due to an ACL tear, as well as quarterback Drew Lock. On Monday, Fangio acknowledged the stark reality of his team’s current injury predicament that has left him short on key players to face Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week.
"Well, I'm disappointed for the players that have gotten injured," Fangio said on Monday. "It's never good to get injured on an individual and personal basis. Yeah it does have a negative effect in the team. I'm not going to insult anybody's intelligence that losing the type of players and the (number) of players that we've lost doesn't have some sort of effect."
Moving forward, the Broncos will have to rely on the locker room leaders to help Fangio ride out the storm. Denver's attempts to compensate for the loss of a Pro Bowl wide receiver like Sutton will now rest with the highly-touted, but untested, rookies Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler.
Fangio received a small measure of good news on Monday when the results of Lock's MRI showed no additional damage to his throwing shoulder. It means the second-year QB has a timetable to return to action somewhere between two weeks and early November.
News also broke on defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones on Monday, who could be sidelined for over a month which leaves Fangio and the Broncos delving deeper into the reaches of the roster in only Week 3. Fangio is having to think on his feet while also trying to keep morale up within his own ranks.
"We have good players in this building still," the coach said bullishly. "They're going to come in and rally and look at it as an opportunity for them to go out and play good and show what they've got. We're going to get them ready as a coaching staff to go out and compete and try and find a way to win these close games."
Fangio is personally coming under significant heat and pressure to turn things around, especially after his misuse of timeouts that cost the Broncos a late-game chance to beat the Tennessee Titans in the season-opener. Matters have only been made worse by the current epidemic of injuries that has bitten the Broncos harder than most teams.
Fangio's continued responsibilities to call the defensive game-plan on Sundays only increases the importance of offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, whose experience is hopefully going to influence backup QB Jeff Driskel as he takes over as the starting duties in Lock's stead.
Coach Fangio admitted to potentially making some tweaks on offense to accommodate Driskel's own skill-set, but claimed it wouldn’t be major.
"I don't think it will change significantly," Fangio explained. "We just may lean on some other stuff in our package that we haven't been calling as much with Drew in there. I don't think it's a wholesale change within the offense. It might just look different to others, but its stuff we've been practicing and have had in, that maybe we'll lean on a little bit more with Jeff in there."
Unless Fangio is bluffing ahead of facing Tampa Bay, don't expect the Broncos to over-complicate the offense for their new QB. For now, finding enough fit and healthy bodies to suit up is taking priority for the Broncos' coaching staff.
Follow Keith on Twitter @KeithC_NFL and @MileHighHuddle.
