Breakout star is a 60-year-old dude
The breakout star and revelation of training camp isn’t new quarterback Joe Flacco or first-round draft choice Noah Fant.
It’s the 60-year-old rookie coach who admits he wears a sweatshirt in 90-degree heat to hide his gut.
I think you’re gonna like this Vic Fangio guy, Broncos Country.
Yes, all coaches are ultimately judged by W’s and L’s. And there might be games when Denver’s offense struggles to put 10 points on the scoreboard, let alone light enough sparks to fuel optimism for a 10-victory season. But I feel confident it’s not too early to declare: Fangio has turned the Broncos back into a professional football team.
“If we do what we are
supposed to do, I think we get back to going to the playoffs and we get back to winning Super Bowls,” Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe said. “It’s not like: ‘Hopefully we make the playoff this year or hopefully we win six games this year.’ No, we want to win 10 games, go to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl.”
Welcome to Camp Vic. Check your ego at the door. What has been startling during workouts is the quiet of these football players at work. There is no music blaring during practice.
There is no yelling for bluster’s sake by assistant coaches. There has been none of that snorting of silly fights between snaps.
There is no nonsense at Camp Vic.
And after all the losing nonsense that’s gone on around here for the past three years, isn’t that refreshing?
On the eve of camp, football operations chief John Elway said he didn’t want to frame his excitement for 2019 by pointing a finger of blame at former coach Vance Joseph. While the classy gesture was appreciated, the two worst periods in recent franchise history can be linked to two coaches who were such disasters they lost control of the situation within two years.
Laughing with players one minute only to scream profanities at them in his next breath, Josh Mcdaniels never figured out which coach he wanted to be until after the locker room tuned him out. By delegating so much authority to coordinators who proved to be untrustworthy, whether it was Mike Mccoy on offense or Joe Woods on defense, Joseph seemed perpetually perplexed by the bad schemes his team trotted onto the field.
While cornerback Bryce Callahan, who came to town with Fangio from the Chicago Bears, insists Denver’s new head coach has his own brand of swag, it is undoubtedly swag tailored from 100 percent gray cotton. And he wears it with an easy confidence that will serve Fangio well when everything is moving at 100 mph and happening at 100 decibels amid the madness of a football Sunday in Colorado.
Fangio did not only wait all his life to become a head coach, he seems to have been taking copious notes on every detail of how he thinks a team should operate for nearly 40 years.
There is no music during training camp drills, Fangio explained, because “I don’t want to have to drum out the noise to talk to my players. There’s no music in games, and when it gets to the point where we need to simulate crowd noise in practice, which we will do, it will be noise. It won’t be music.”
Coach Vic does it his way. So let’s begin to define the Fangio Way.
Denver’s assistant coaches have been instructed to correct players on the side, after the play has been botched during camp, because that’s the only to communicate with players in the din of an NFL stadium during the fourth quarter of a tight game.
When Courtland Sutton exhibited hands of stone during the first workout of a long preseason, Fangio insisted he liked it because of the opportunity to coach up his young receiver with gentle teasing in the meeting room.
Nobody’s bigger than the team. When Fangio recently desired to catch a Rockies game at Coors Field, he didn’t spring for a private suite, because all any guy really needs is a single ticket.
When I prodded a child of the 1960s to reveal his taste in music, Fangio doesn’t try to be hip and say Post Malone, but instead immediately shot back with this answer: “Earth, Wind & Fire.”
The Broncos are already being formed in the image of Fangio. Detail-oriented. Accountable. Looking to make each other better, because isn’t that the real definition of teamwork?
But here’s the thing: Callahan also insisted to me that when the time is right, Fangio will allow the Broncos to get up and dance. The music isn’t dead and gone from the Broncos’ training facility. Callahan predicted it will be back at practice, when the new coach gives a thumbsup.
Although he takes winning seriously, Coach Vic doesn’t believe you have to be as grumpy as Bill Belichick to win.
Well, when the music returns to practice, the first tune on the playlist should be a 1975 hit by Earth, Wind & Fire. Let’s dedicate it to the old-school coach helping the Broncos rediscover their winning groove.
And who among us wouldn’t like to see Fangio boogie down as the chorus of “Shining Star” blares over the loudspeakers?