Broncos HC Vic Fangio (11.3.19)
On QB Brandon Allen’s performance today
“He did well. I thought he ran the offense well, showed a little mobility, made some good throws, missed a few too. We’re not ready to put him in Canton yet, but overall pleased with the way he played.”
On how critical the red zone defense was today
“Very critical. You can do the math, three instead of seven. One time zero instead of three or seven. That’s a difference in the game. We’ve been playing pretty good down there for the most part. We spend a lot of time on it and the guys did their jobs.”
On what he liked about the game Offensive Coordinator Rich Scangarello called today
“Obviously 24 points is an area we haven’t been to too many times so that’s good. I thought we called a good game and made some adjustments in the way we called the game, and they paid off.”
On if today’s win can be attributed to the mobility at quarterback and what the key was to closing out the game
“I think there was a little bit of all that stuff you’re alluding too, but we’ve been in games like this before. Obviously, you guys have seen them. We’re now 1-4 in these games or 1-3. Just another play here and there in those other ones we would have gotten it done too. The third-and-one stuff, their last drive where we through them for a minus three or minus four, that was a critical play which sets up fourth-and-4 and we stop them there and great credit to the guys.”
On what went into the decision to call the direct snap play for RB Phillip Lindsay
“It was a play we liked. We worked on it. We just thought it had a good chance to work there.”
On if WR Courtland Sutton exceeded his expectations on his touchdown catch after Allen said that was his worst throw
“I expect that out of Courtland. When a big guy, a big receiver like that, you have to put it up there and give him a chance to win those 50-50 balls and Courtland did. That’s a guy making a play. I thought his throw to the slant in the red zone was a worse throw than that.”
On what TE Noah Fant brought to the game
“He made a big play. Obviously, it’s a medium pass that turns into a 75-yard touchdown and those are big plays. It’s hard to, in [former NFL Head Coach] Hank Stram’s words, to matriculate down the field all the time. You need some big plays. Noah’s a guy that’s been up and down, but he’s a young guy with talent. It’s our job as coaches to develop talent and we’re going to keep trying to do that with all of them and nice to see him have a good day today.”
On what his message is to the team with bye week coming up
“My message is, hey, we’re enjoying the win. We just celebrated the win. It’s good to see them be rewarded. This is our fourth game like this. You guys know how the other three turned out and to get one hopefully that starts to believe we can get the next one when we’re in like this.”
On the offensive play calling
“I thought we just mixed the play passing a little bit more one the early downs, went for some shots like you saw the one to Courtland and some other ones. It’s not a major overall just a little tweak here and there.”
On if Allen got the game ball
“He did. I gave it out to him.”
On what his words were to Allen and what Allen’s words were after he accepted
“I don’t remember. [I] just congratulated him on playing such a winning performance and gave him the game ball.”
On if running the pistol with Allen caused problems for the defense
“It’s not that difficult really. It’s just instead of being in the gun offset where sometimes your run game can be a little bit limited, now if you want to be not under center, being in the pistol the back can go either way, but it’s nothing major.”
On if hitting big plays can make the play calling and the quarterback look better
“You have an eye for the obvious, yeah. You can’t win in this league without big plays. You can’t play good defense if you’re giving up big plays. Big plays are really important.”
On if there was a conscious decision to be more aggressive on defense
“No, we didn’t change anything on defense.”
On blitzing S Justin Simmons on third down
“That was a critical time, short yards, that’s a call we have up every week. It’s the first time we’ve called it this year. I just felt that was the time to do it and I did it.”
###