Vic Fangio Unwilling to Concede Season to Injury Bug: 'A Good Carpenter Doesn't Blame his Tools'
At a certain point, when a team loses so many of its best players, the personnel hits are going to come out in the wash. In the wake of the Denver Broncos' 34-27 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the news broke that talented rookie tight end Albert Okwuegbunam suffered a torn ACL in Week 9 and will miss the rest of the season.
Many fans have wondered if the Broncos have reached the tipping point with one season-ending injury after another stacking up week-by-week. On Monday, after the team returned home to Denver from Georgia, head coach Vic Fangio addressed the injury issue, confirming Okwuegbunam's injury and prognosis.
Suffice to say, the veteran coach isn't about to throw in the towel and chalk up 2020 to a mountain of injuries too tall to climb.
"You just have to deal with it," Fangio said. "A good carpenter doesn't blame his tools. He's just got to find a way to get the job done and that's my mindset."
It's a noble mindset and one that has clearly informed Fangio's coaching throughout this fraught season. But in Sunday's game, it was evident how the injury bug affected the Broncos' ability to field a competitive product on the field.
Defensively, Denver was without its top-two cornerbacks in A.J. Bouye and Bryce Callahan, which resulted in Falcons' QB Matt Ryan feasting on the Broncos' inexperienced and depleted secondary, especially in the first half. Offensively, the loss of starting right guard Graham Glasgow, who missed his second straight game due to COVID-19, as well as top right tackle Demar Dotson going down with a groin injury, seriously hampered the Broncos' ability to run the ball and give embattled QB Drew Lock time to throw.
The answer is, yes, injuries have seriously impacted the Broncos' ability to compete in 2020. There's no getting around it. But as Fangio opined, this team is officially at the midway point of the season and sitting at 3-5, there's too much football left to be played for the coaches to start waving the white flag of surrender.
Every Pro Bowler the Broncos had on the roster entering the 2020 season has missed at least one game. Three of them — LB Von Miller, WR Courtland Sutton, and DL Jurrell Casey — were lost for the season within the first two weeks. RB Phillip Lindsay has missed four full games' worth of time with a turf-toe injury and concussion, while his counterpart, Melvin Gordon (also a Pro Bowler), missed Week 6 with strep throat.
Bouye has only played one full game this season. The only player left unscathed this season who entered 2020 with any all-star accolade on his resume is safety Justin Simmons. Knock on wood.
Even second-year QB Drew Lock, who might not have a Pro Bowl on his resume but is the starter, was tagged by the injury bug in Week 2, suffering a shoulder injury that cost him most of that game as well as the next two.
The Broncos have $45 million worth of their 2020 salary cap now on injured reserve, and that doesn't count the guys who are banged up, or have missed time in the last two weeks. Anyone who thinks that personnel losses of that magnitude won't affect the product on the field is delusional.
However, despite having a convenient excuse, Fangio isn't looking for the hole in the boat. He's not looking for the exit or a way out. Fangio's focus is to make hay, and make no mistake, though the thunderheads still threaten the Broncos, the sun is still shining.
"With the players that we have—and I love all our players that are out there busting their ass each and every week, in preparation and during the game—they're giving us great effort," Fangio said. "It's my job to find a way to get the solutions that will get us to a win."
For the Broncos right now, the only way out is through. And despite all the injuries, sitting at 3-5, Fangio's squad still has the chance down the stretch to force its way into the AFC playoff picture.
Hopefully, the Broncos will get back Glasgow, Bouye, and Callahan for Week 10's battle with the Las Vegas Raiders. Football Gods willing, the injuries to the aforementioned Dotson and No. 1 tight end Noah Fant won't prevent them from playing on Sunday in Vegas.
One can question whether Fangio is indeed a "good carpenter" but winning three of the last five games amid the devastation of the injury bug speaks to his quality as a coach. If Fangio can help offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur figure out how to start faster in games, and extract the level of play that Lock and company have displayed in the fourth quarter of the last two games into a full 60 minutes, this is still a team that can compete every week.
Time will tell.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
