Broncos head coach Vic Fangio faced a big decision late in Sunday’s game.
His team had a third-and-five from the Indianapolis 43-yard-line with a 13-12 lead and two minutes left to play. Fangio opted to hand the ball to Phillip Lindsay and then punted the ball when Lindsay was stopped for no gain. The Colts would drive the ball for a game-winning field goal that leaves the Broncos at 2-6 on the season.
After the game, Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco wondered why the team took such a cautious approach at that moment in the game. Flacco said he thought the team played like it is “afraid to go for it in a two-minute drill” and asked what the team had to lose by being more aggressive.
“We’re a 2-6 football team and it just feels like we’re kind of afraid to lose the game,” Flacco said, via Ryan Koenigsberg of THEDNVR.com. “It’s third-and-five at the end of the game. Who cares if they have a timeout there at the end or not? Getting in field goal range isn’t that tough. You’re just putting your defense in these bad situations and I just felt like, ‘What do we have to lose, why can’t we be aggressive be aggressive in some of these situations?’ That’s kind of how I feel about a lot of the game today.”
The Broncos have lost three games to teams that hit field goals on the final play of the game so far this season, which makes it more than fair to wonder if Flacco’s right that they play like they’re afraid to lose rather than doing all they can to win.
