One thing I learned a long time ago, when I was a wee tyke just learning a few things about football, is that you don’t need to bother listening to coaches tell you how they feel about their quarterbacks. If you want to know how coaches feel about their quarterbacks, simply watch how their quarterbacks are deployed in crucial situations.
The Broncos were afraid to deploy the wicked-good arm of Joe Flacco in their 15-13 loss to the Colts, or at least, that’s how Flacco saw it (via Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic).
Flacco was upset about a series of play calls that led to Adam Vinatieri, Indianapolis’ ageless kicker, booting a 51-yard field goal to win the game with 22 seconds left in regulation. Denver had held the lead throughout the game that point. Flacco was specifically unhappy that the ball wasn’t going more to receiver Courtland Sutton, who caught three passes on six targets for 72 yards, and also caused several penalties by rookie Colts cornerback Rock Ya-Sin.
“I felt like at some point we just got to start going up to [Sutton] and taking some shots,” Flacco concluded. “I kind of mentioned it at halftime. He’s a really good wide receiver. You can’t not take some shots with him, even if you don’t hit them … good things happen.”
Yeah, well … here’s the thing about all of that. As I said before, coaches will tell you how they feel about their quarterbacks when they’re deployed. And it’s quite possible that offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello was thinking of this play near the end of the first half — or many other plays like it, where Flacco’s deliberate (a nice way of saying slooooowwwwwww) processing abilities put him in harmful situations. As to the increased use of Sutton in the passing game, as long as Sutton is on the field, it’s generally more on the quarterback than the offensive coordinator when it comes to who gets the ball. Flacco, who completed 20 of 32 passes for 174 yards and no touchdowns, should probably keep that in mind.
Oh, and there were the sacks. Three of them, and they were very telling.
There was also this second-and-10 play as time was running out. We suppose Flacco was referring to stuff like this when he exhorted his coaches to not be afraid of giving the ball back.
If Flacco wants to throw his coaching staff under the bus like this, he’s going to find his own play under review. Throughout the 2019 season, that’s not going to be a pretty prospect for him.
Touchdown Wire editor Doug Farrar previously covered football for Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, the Washington Post and Football Outsiders. His first book, “The Genius of Desperation,” a schematic history of professional football, was published by Triumph Books in 2018.
