Fangio Hopeful Bryce Callahan & A.J. Bouye Will Return to Practice for Week 10
With half the season in the books, the Denver Broncos have often resembled a patched fighter who is barely keeping himself in the contest. Sunday’s trip to face the Atlanta Falcons presented the opportunity for the Broncos to ride out another storm and get back to a very unlikely .500 mark.
As it played out, the wheels came off the wagon spectacularly as Falcons' QB Matt Ryan’s experience and pinpoint accuracy undid all of Vic Fangio’s previous good work to keep his defense in every contest. The Broncos fell to the Falcons 34-27.
The energy was sucked out of the Broncos' cornerback room pre-game when standout Bryce Callahan was a late injury scratch due to an ankle issue. Fangio laid out the specifics of Callahan's injury and subsequent critical absence from the line-up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday.
“He came in on Monday after the last game and had some swelling in his ankle that he didn’t realize had happened in the game,” Fangio revealed. “It never did quite respond to treatment—he tried to practice with it for a couple of days, like you said, but he was hobbling around out there. We worked him out before the game today and he didn’t nor did we feel he was ready to play.”
Adding insult to injury, the Broncos' top cornerback A.J. Bouye was unable to make it out of concussion protocol, leaving the rookies and young players in the room facing a mammoth uphill task. Fangio took his share of the blame for Denver's struggles against Ryan while acknowledging that there was no obvious solution to replacing both Callahan and Bouye on short notice.
“It was a struggle, obviously I never did find the right combination there in the first half in particular,” Fangio said. “We had some good pressures, but weren’t pressuring and rushing with four to try and help the secondary our pass rush wasn’t good enough. And at times when we pressured the coverage wasn’t good enough. They’re a good offense with a great QB and a good group of receivers. Our pass defense, which the pass rush is part of, we struggled today.”
On Monday, Fangio said he's optimistic that he'll get his top two corners back for Week 10's tilt at the Las Vegas Raiders.
"We’re hopeful on Callahan and Bouye to be ready to return and hopefully practice,” Fangio said.
Callahan's ankle injury, with the added context Fangio provided post-game in Atlanta, will be something to monitor. Considering how a nagging foot injury cost him all of 2019, now nursing an ankle brings up all the old feelings for fans on Callahan.
However, he's been excellent for Denver when on the field this year, playing multiple positions for Fangio in the secondary. Callahan remains one of the highest-graded cornerbacks in the NFL this season per Pro Football Focus.
If the injury bug throws Denver another curveball at cornerback, the team's decision to cut bait with De'Vante Bausby a couple of weeks back, which led to the Arizona Cardinals swooping him up, could really come back to haunt Fangio.
Bausby would have helped out the undermanned secondary on Sunday in Atlanta, as Davontae Harris and Michael Ojemudia were exposed by the veteran savvy of Ryan and Julio Jones.
UPDATE: And just like that, the clouds parted.
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