Getty Vic Fangio
The Denver Broncos brought a little Minnesota to the Mile High City.
On Tuesday, before the Broncos conducted their final open training camp practice, head coach Vic Fangio joined star linebackers Von Miller and Bradley Chubb — and thousands of fans — in a clap-chant.
Check it out:
The chant has become popularized around the NFL, but its origins can be traced back to the Vikings — the football Vikings — who regularly are hand-serenaded by fans during home (and some away) games.
Fangio had zero qualms about leading the choreography.
“I just said, ‘Hey, let’s go do it,” he said.
And it was completely unprompted, a rare shoot-from-the-hip-moment for Fangio, who needed no encouragement.
“No, he actually asked me because I was actually going to go play catch with my coach and he was like, ‘Bradley come on, come do it with us’ and we just did it together. It was pretty cool,” Chubb said.
Fangio Ends Rookie Hazing
As far as pressing matters, the Broncos’ first-year head man made somewhat of a surprising announcement following Tuesday’s practice, revealing that he’s discontinued rookie haircuts, an annual tradition (and form of hazing) in which young players are subjected to comically horrible ‘dos by their superior counterparts.
“I just don’t think it’s right. I just don’t believe in hazing,” Fangio said. “There are traditions that stay put. Guys are getting up in front of the team and doing a little skit every night. Maybe a rookie’s carrying somebody’s pads off the field and so on or bringing in the donuts or the breakfast, but nothing physical.”
That isn’t to say Fangio’s decision has been universally well-received. Star wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders admitted he’s “upset” about the sudden zero-tolerance to ” touching the rookies.”
“There was one rookie and I was going to tell him good job. I was like, ‘I can’t touch you, but good job.’ But yeah that was fun,” Sanders told reportrs. “But at the same time, I respect Vic. I love that guy. Just how he comes in the meetings and breaks down situational football. And how much he cares about his players, how he goes about coaching and everything. It’s awesome to see. So, if that’s how he wants it to go, that’s how it is. But at the end of the day it’s not about that. It’s about wins. And so that’s what we are trying to do around here.”
Fangio Displeased With Special Teams
It wasn’t all fun and games as the Broncos readied for their third exhibition contest, a Monday Night Football home meeting with the San Francisco 49ers. Fangio is seeking significant improvement from the third side of the ball — special teams — because, frankly, Tom McMahon’s unit “didn’t play good the other night against Seattle.”
“They took it to us pretty good,” Fangio said. “Our return game is up in the air as we’ve talked about here before so we need to, by the time we play Oakland, have some clarity there. We do not have any yet. I like the way [K Brandon] McManus is kicking the ball. We had an off-night punting the ball the other night. Although the stats didn’t bare it out, he had a good roll one time and they had a bunch of penalties in their return game which statistically skewed the production of the punter. Hopefully that was just a one-game thing.”
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