Fangio Defends Questionable Play-Call that Led to Drew Lock's Fumble vs. Bengals

The Broncos have been heavily criticized for this play.

When Teddy Bridgewater went down on Sunday vs. the Cincinnati Bengals, there was a risk that the Denver Broncos offense wouldn't be able to regain focus. Drew Lock entered the game, provided a spark, and helped lead the Broncos to the first touchdown of the game. 

Lock followed that up by leading another long drive to get Denver to the opponent's nine-yard line — when disaster struck. The call was a run/pass option (RPO), and Lock's job is to read the defensive end. 

When the defensive end stayed home, the read should have been to give the ball to the running back, who had a small lane. Lock made the wrong read, and then fumbled, but the play call was also an issue. 

It was only 2nd-&-Goal for the Broncos, and when four of their last five plays were runs that picked up 28 total yards, it would have been the right call to trust the running back. However, the issue with calling an RPO goes deeper than that.

When Vic Fangio went to bat for offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur on Monday, it made the call even stranger. 

"That's a play that Drew has been good at since he's been here," Fangio said. That's one of the reasons we ran it." 

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Fangio had to defend the call, but the issue is, Lock has struggled with it every time we've seen it called. It's also the second time it resulted in a turnover. 

When Lock came in to relieve an injured Bridgewater against the Los Angeles Chargers, Denver called a few RPOs and didn't see success. The Broncos have run an RPO with Lock as the quarterback three times this season, and two of them resulted in turnovers. 

All three RPOs were the wrong read as well. 

Lock's first play against the Chargers resulted in a seven-yard pass to Noah Fant off an RPO. The results were good, but they had an advantage to the left, where Javonte Williams would have taken the ball, and the backside defender stayed home. That backside defender staying home dictates that Lock hands it off. 

Later in the game, Denver had four blockers on the offensive left side against fewer defenders, and Joey Bosa is the backside defender and stayed home. Lock again keeps it and tries to force a pass which ends up getting picked off. That interception was turned into a touchdown by the Chargers. 

Then there's the fumble vs. Cincy where the ball was just taken away from Lock, and he once again made the wrong read. Again, the backside defender stayed home, and Lock still kept it; only this time, he tries to keep it and run only to see the ball punched out. Another RPO and another wrong read. 

“Yeah. He probably should have [given] it," Fangio said of Lock. 

For Fangio to defend the play call as something Lock has done well is mind-boggling because the tape shows otherwise. This also continues an alarming trend from Fangio and shows why he isn't fit to be a head coach. His coaching staff never seems to do any wrong in his eyes. 

Lock made a bad play on a call that should have never happened. It is as simple as that. 

Shurmur and Lock deserve blame for the result of the play but the genesis of it is unacceptable. Fangio deserves criticism for not holding his coaches accountable while essentially throwing the player under the bus and that only reinforces that he's in over his head as a head coach. 

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