Vic Fangio did not hold back on Sunday when talking about his team’s quarterback situation.
The Broncos did not have any of their four quarterbacks available for their 31-3 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Quarterback Jeff Driskel tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, and the NFL ruled the other three quarterbacks ineligible to play because they were deemed high-risk contacts.
The Broncos had to use practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton, who played quarterback in college, at quarterback for the game. Hinton was put into a terrible situation on short notice and did his best, but the team predictably struggled. Hinton went 1/9 for 13 yards and two interceptions. The offense did rush for 100 yards.
After the game, Fangio said he was “disappointed” in the team’s quarterbacks.
“I was disappointed on several levels, that our QBs put us in that position, that our QBs put the league in that position. We count on them to be the leaders of our team, the leaders of our offense, and those guys made a mistake,” Fangio said, via Lindsay Jones.
Fangio also blamed himself for not emphasizing the importance of following protocols when players are on their own. Fangio believes the close contact happened when the players came in on their own to watch some film.
Fangio said his understanding is the QB exposure came when the four QBs came in on their own on Tuesday, the player off day, to watch film together. It was during that session that they were lax with masks/distancing, Fangio said.
— Lindsay Jones (@bylindsayhjones) November 30, 2020
This should be a big reminder to teams to make sure they are following the league’s rules. Teams should also consider signing an extra quarterback who mostly remains apart from the rest of the team in order to avoid this type of situation in the future.
