The Broncos Played Like Cowards And Joe Flacco Is Pissed

Jacoby Brissett once again proved himself to be a trustworthy starter on Sunday, leading his Colts to a 5-2 record with a 15-13 late comeback win against the Broncos. Adam Vinatieri got the points that notched the victory, but it was Brissett who made one of the weekend’s best plays anywhere on a football field this weekend, escaping a sack and finding T.Y. Hilton way down the field to begin the final drive in style.

But for every heroic quarterback in the NFL, there is an equal and opposite mopey QB, and in this case, it’s Joe Flacco. The first-year Denver starter’s sessions with the media typically have all the spontaneity and intrigue of clicking through a Q&A on Football Manager; but after the loss today, Flacco didn’t hold back on criticizing his coach and his offensive coordinator. He didn’t mention Vic Fangio or Rich Scangarello by name, but he certainly implied that they were fraidy cats for their late-game strategic decisions.

What Flacco’s specifically referring to is the pair of plays the Broncos ran after the two-minute warning, with a 13-12 lead on the Indianapolis 43. Despite being in a position to end the game, the Broncos conservatively ran the ball up the middle on third-and-5, forcing the Colts to use their last timeout, and then happily punted the ball away 32 yards to set up the spectacular winning drive. For a team that was then 2-5, it wasn’t exactly a swing at a KO punch.It’s not hard to see why Flacco—who’s only had one losing season in his career—is bothered by his position on such an irrelevant, seemingly unmotivated franchise. He’s not even the first prominent player this month to talk shit about the playcalling— Emmanuel Sanders did it last week after the 30-6 loss to the Chiefs, and promptly got traded to the Niners. Maybe Flacco’s mouthing off because he thinks it’ll get him to a better team, too.