ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Emmanuel Sanders didn’t come up with "we’re living in a world of suck," just because he’s a creative, Generation Y millennial, although he is that.
Turns out, the Broncos’ star receiver got the idea for his clever comment from his head coach in the minutes following their team’s 27-16 loss Sunday to the Green Bay Packers.
"He was just repeating what I had said in the locker room following the game," said Vic Fangio, the Broncos’ first-year head coach who is still looking for his first NFL win heading into Game 4 this Sunday against Jacksonville. "I told them, ‘We’re going to have to deal with everybody thinking we suck.’
"And all of us. Not just players. Coaches, everybody in the whole organization. And we need to deal with that. So he was basically repeating what I had said."
Fangio is 61 years old and has been a coach all his life. He’s been through 0-3-type struggles before.
"Any time you’ve been in this league 30-some years it’s not all a bed of roses," he said. "You just fight through it. The easiest thing to do is to make wholesale changes whether it be personnel, scheme, this that or the other.
"There’s an old saying, ‘Keep doing the same thing and expect different results,’ that’s not very smart.
But there’s also a saying, too, ‘Change for change sake,’ is not very smart, either."
Other topics Fangio addressed Monday at his day-after-game press conference:
*Starting defensive end Derek Wolfe (ankle) and inside linebacker Josey Jewell (hamstring) were undergoing MRIs on Monday. 9News has reported Wolfe has a severe high ankle sprain that will sideline him multiple weeks. Jewell's playing time could also be affected by his hamstring injury.
"The MRI is the magic wand these days," Fangio said. "You’ve got to wait for that."
*Do the Broncos have the players to win, or is the team in a rebuilding phase?
"No, we’ve got the players here to win,’" Fangio said. "I believe in these players. I enjoy being around them every day. They’re a bunch of good guys, they’re trying their butts off. We just have to play a little bit better. And along with that we have to coach better. We’re breaking down fundamentally in certain areas at critical times. That’s an indictment on us as coaches, too, not just the players."
*How left tackle Garett Bolles responded against Packers following his four-holding-penalty game the previous week against Khalil Mack and the Bears.
"Good. He didn’t have any holding calls, which I know you were all waiting for. … He played a cleaner game to his credit."
*Denver’s defense with Fangio was expected to be very good quickly but it hasn’t been. He was asked why it’s hard to get immediate results from a new scheme and coaching staff.
"It doesn’t have to be hard," Fangio said. "In this case it has been. I don’t think we’ve played terrible, but we haven’t played good enough to win. I know some of our stats may be OK when you look at them. But we’ve got to get more stops. Obviously, the takeaways are a big thing we’re not getting. Which would help our offense. … We expect more."
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