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I still think he has a first class defensive mind, but Vic's attitude qand behavior border on adolescent.
He grudges and gets grumpy all the time ... great article, says lotsa what I've been thinking:
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Fangio's Pride is the Only Thing That's Preventing Drew Lock's Return to the Starting Lineup
Originally posted on FanNation Mile High Huddle
By Chad Jensen | Last updated 11/20/21
The Teddy Bridgewater experiment has failed. Enough already.
The Denver Broncos sit at 5-5 after the Bye Week, still having every chance to turn the ship around and vie for a playoff spot down the stretch. However, if this team continues to do what it's always done, it'll continue to get what it's always gotten — with Bridgewater, with special teams coordinator Tom McMahon, with... well, you catch my drift.
Let's not pretend that head coach Vic Fangio is without potential solutions to the problems currently vexing the Broncos. At the quarterback position, particularly, Drew Lock waits in the wings and could be exactly the spark this team needs to win 4-to-5 of its remaining seven games, five of which are AFC West battles.
It's not as if empirical data is lacking on the subject. In his first year as head coach, Fangio sat on the decision to play lock for more than a quarter of the season, stubbornly holding to his 'plan A', which was Joe Flacco.
Even though Lock had healed up from his sprained thumb by about Week 5, Fangio clung to Flacco as the Broncos' season was torpedoed. Even after Flacco was placed on injured reserve (with sudden, mysterious neck injury) — a roster move that came only after the veteran signal-caller called out the coaching staff following an ugly road loss to the Indianapolis Colts — Fangio kept Lock on ice, rolling with a completely unproven stop-gap QB in Brandon Allen from Week 9 through Week 12.
Allen managed to win just one of those games (Week 9 at home vs. Cleveland) while presiding over one of the Broncos' most notorious collapses in recent memory which saw the Minnesota Vikings overcome a 0-20 half-time deficit to win. That Week 12 loss to the Vikings was the straw that finally broke the back of Fangio's reticence with Lock.
Sitting with a 3-8 record entering Week 13, Fangio finally pulled the trigger as Lock went from injured reserve to the starting lineup in the matter of a 24-hour period. What ensued from there?
Lock defeated the Chargers, blew out the eventual AFC South-champion Houston Texans in Week 14, lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in a blizzardous road game, and finished off the season by handling the Detroit Lions and the then-Oakland Raiders. Along the way, Lock looked very much like a rookie quarterback with enormous upside, displaying flashes of brilliance — becoming the first QB ever to pass for 300-plus yards and three touchdowns in his first road start — and face-palming inconsistencies.
All told, playing Lock — while it came too late in the year to save Denver's season — absolutely staved off what was sure to be a frighteningly poor Year 1 for Fangio, giving him a semi-respectable 7-9 record. It also allowed the Broncos to enter the 2020 offseason with a sense of optimism and momentum.
Alas, perhaps due in large part to the firing of 2019 offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello — whom, for whatever he lacked as a tactical play-caller, he more than made up for as a teacher and QB developer — the Broncos were unable to capitalize on the momentum Lock provided in 2020. Obviously, the pandemic and how it affected the NFL, played the most pivotal role in what became yet another wasted season in Year 2 of the Fangio regime.
Lock's second year wasn't terrible but it certainly wasn't the type of sure-fire season that gave the Broncos the perfect confidence they had 'The Guy' long term. Then, John Elway relinquished his duties as GM and the Broncos hired George Paton to take over.
One of the first things Paton did upon arriving in the Mile High City was pay lip service to Lock, talking about how he had "all the tools you look for" before promptly executing a trade on the doorstep of the NFL draft that brought Bridgewater to Denver. From there, inexplicably, the trope emanating from Dove Valley was that Teddy and Lock would compete in a "50/50" battle for the starting quarterback job.
( Much more at link... )
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LINK
BRONCOS-RAVENS - Fangio's angry remarks are the epitome of hypocrisy
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Originally posted on FanNation Mile High Huddle
By Chad Jensen | Last updated 11/20/21
The Teddy Bridgewater experiment has failed. Enough already.
The Denver Broncos sit at 5-5 after the Bye Week, still having every chance to turn the ship around and vie for a playoff spot down the stretch. However, if this team continues to do what it's always done, it'll continue to get what it's always gotten — with Bridgewater, with special teams coordinator Tom McMahon, with... well, you catch my drift.
Let's not pretend that head coach Vic Fangio is without potential solutions to the problems currently vexing the Broncos. At the quarterback position, particularly, Drew Lock waits in the wings and could be exactly the spark this team needs to win 4-to-5 of its remaining seven games, five of which are AFC West battles.
It's not as if empirical data is lacking on the subject. In his first year as head coach, Fangio sat on the decision to play lock for more than a quarter of the season, stubbornly holding to his 'plan A', which was Joe Flacco.
Even though Lock had healed up from his sprained thumb by about Week 5, Fangio clung to Flacco as the Broncos' season was torpedoed. Even after Flacco was placed on injured reserve (with sudden, mysterious neck injury) — a roster move that came only after the veteran signal-caller called out the coaching staff following an ugly road loss to the Indianapolis Colts — Fangio kept Lock on ice, rolling with a completely unproven stop-gap QB in Brandon Allen from Week 9 through Week 12.
Allen managed to win just one of those games (Week 9 at home vs. Cleveland) while presiding over one of the Broncos' most notorious collapses in recent memory which saw the Minnesota Vikings overcome a 0-20 half-time deficit to win. That Week 12 loss to the Vikings was the straw that finally broke the back of Fangio's reticence with Lock.
Sitting with a 3-8 record entering Week 13, Fangio finally pulled the trigger as Lock went from injured reserve to the starting lineup in the matter of a 24-hour period. What ensued from there?
Lock defeated the Chargers, blew out the eventual AFC South-champion Houston Texans in Week 14, lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in a blizzardous road game, and finished off the season by handling the Detroit Lions and the then-Oakland Raiders. Along the way, Lock looked very much like a rookie quarterback with enormous upside, displaying flashes of brilliance — becoming the first QB ever to pass for 300-plus yards and three touchdowns in his first road start — and face-palming inconsistencies.
All told, playing Lock — while it came too late in the year to save Denver's season — absolutely staved off what was sure to be a frighteningly poor Year 1 for Fangio, giving him a semi-respectable 7-9 record. It also allowed the Broncos to enter the 2020 offseason with a sense of optimism and momentum.
Alas, perhaps due in large part to the firing of 2019 offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello — whom, for whatever he lacked as a tactical play-caller, he more than made up for as a teacher and QB developer — the Broncos were unable to capitalize on the momentum Lock provided in 2020. Obviously, the pandemic and how it affected the NFL, played the most pivotal role in what became yet another wasted season in Year 2 of the Fangio regime.
Lock's second year wasn't terrible but it certainly wasn't the type of sure-fire season that gave the Broncos the perfect confidence they had 'The Guy' long term. Then, John Elway relinquished his duties as GM and the Broncos hired George Paton to take over.
One of the first things Paton did upon arriving in the Mile High City was pay lip service to Lock, talking about how he had "all the tools you look for" before promptly executing a trade on the doorstep of the NFL draft that brought Bridgewater to Denver. From there, inexplicably, the trope emanating from Dove Valley was that Teddy and Lock would compete in a "50/50" battle for the starting quarterback job.
( Much more at link... )
.
LINK
BRONCOS-RAVENS - Fangio's angry remarks are the epitome of hypocrisy
.
.
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