Denver Broncos (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
The Denver Broncos played without a quarterback Sunday and Vic Fangio let people know he was furious.
Who’s to say if healthy, the Denver Broncos wouldn’t have been bested by New Orleans at home on Sunday. Maybe Drew Lock would have broken out for his “prove-it” game this season? There’s a chance that he could have stunk it up, thrown four interceptions and the the 31-3 finish could have been worse.
None of that matters though. It won’t matter since Lock, along with the two other quarterbacks behind him on the depth chart were all inactive after being ruled “high-risk Covid-19 close contacts“.
Let’s just say that Broncos head coach Vic Fangio wasn’t happy afterwards on the situation is pocket-passers put him in mere hours before they were expected to kickoff against the Bayou team without a quarterback Sunday afternoon.
Who is to blame for the Broncos struggles?
Without a qualified quarterback, the team relied on practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton taking snaps under center. It went as well as one would think for pretty much a name off of the street. Hilton finished 1-of-9 passing for 13 yards and two interceptions.
Prior to the game, Lock tweeted out his sincere apologies for the situation his team was forced into due to the negligence of him and his fellow pocket-passers.
The Broncos have the foreground to build a team of tomorrow, but it starts under center. Lock’s actions might be one that not only cost the team a victory, but also his job moving forward. As for Blake Bortles and Brett Rypien, there’s no telling if they will ever see starting snaps in the NFL again after the situation that unfolded in the Mile High.
Ultimately, it falls on Fangio’s shoulders for not harping on his players. This could be a sour moment in the history of the franchise, but it’s definitely a learning one for all in the NFL.