ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Vic Fangio didn’t hand out individual game balls after Sunday’s improbable 31-30 comeback win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Immediately after the game I just said it was a team game ball,” Fangio explained on Monday. “There were a lot of big plays that had to be made for that comeback to happen all the way to where it did. You know a lot of big plays.”
The first “big play” the Broncos’ head coach immediately pointed to after that comment was Bryce Callahan’s interception in the end zone with 1:36 left in the third quarter.
“Bryce Callahan’s interception in the end zone—huge,” Fangio stated. “That was after we threw an interception ourselves. They get three points out of that again, we might be having a different discussion today.”
At the time, Denver was trailing 24-10 late in the third quarter. If Callahan would have just knocked the ball away from Mike Williams, the Chargers would have settled for a 36-yard field goal and taken a three-possession lead.
Instead, Callahan’s jump-ball interception kept the game within two possessions, which proved to be just enough for Denver to win on a walk-off touchdown pass from Drew Lock to K.J. Hamler.
“I told him last night and today again, I think that interception was probably the best play of his career. And I’ve seen every play in his career,” Fangio said, without missing a beat. “I’m not surprised by it. I was with him his entire career.”
Fangio has seen all 2,481 defensive snaps of Callahan’s NFL career in person. And the 5-foot-9 cornerback’s end-zone interception against the 6-foot-4 Williams on Sunday ranked No. 1 of all 2,481 snaps.
“His quality play right now has been really, really good,” Fangio stated with pride on Monday afternoon. “And we move him around, you know. When Bouye got hurt, we took him out of the nickel position and left him at corner. He had to move from right corner to left corner. Obviously plays the nickel for us when we can. He’s back there catching punts for us.”
On Sunday, Callahan’s exceptional season was on full display as he had as many catches from Justin Herbert as he allowed.
But Callahan’s tremendous play isn’t a surprise to Denver’s head coach and defensive play-caller.
As the Chicago Bears’ defensive coordinator, Fangio signed the undrafted cornerback out of Rice in 2015 and brought him over to Denver when he was hired to be the head coach in 2019.
Unfortunately, Fangio wasn’t able to show off the only player he brought over from Chicago with him in 2019 immediately.
“He was injured last year. He had a bent screw in his foot that kept him out. I’ve never had a screw in my foot, but if it’s bent I don’t think it’s very comfortable,” Fangio said, defending Callahan’s injury that required surgery to replace the broken screw. “I know everybody was disappointed that we brought him in last year and he couldn’t play, but he was injured. But I knew how he could play if he could stay healthy and he’s proven that.”
Often, cornerback’s names only get called if they give up plays or make big-time plays. Since Callahan hasn’t been giving up any plays through the Broncos’ first seven games of the season, he hasn’t received the recognition that his high-level play has earned.
After a game-saving, and potential season-saving, interception on Sunday, Vic Fangio wasn’t going to let him fly under the radar any longer. Not only was Callahan’s interception one of the “big plays” of the game, but it was also the play of his career.
