ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Hours before the Broncos blew a 20-0 lead in Minnesota on Sunday, a report surfaced from Jason La Canfora stating that Vic Fangio is struggling to connect with his players and coaches, among many other damning accusations about the first-time head coach.
Since, La Canfora’s tripled down on his report, appearing on national podcasts and Denver radio. In fact, on Wednesday, he told 104.3 The Fan, “The situation is getting worse, not better” with Fangio.
In the 72 hours since, multiple players have come to their head coach’s defense, unequivocally calling the report untrue.
“I haven’t seen none of that,” Phillip Lindsay told the media on Wednesday, with disgust lingering in his voice. “So I don’t know where you guys got that source from.”
Lindsay’s frustration with the report quickly boiled over, calling out the media as a whole for the single report. Then, Lindsay’s defense of his coach took on a larger vision.
“I mean you guys are sitting there in the locker room a lot of times. You guys probably sit there spying, pick up little things. But you guys don’t know the whole truth,” Lindsay said, attempting to uncover how this report came to surface. “So, I mean, whoever wrote that is somebody being bored and looking for something to write about. And you guys are just feeding into it right now.”
La Canfora, labeled as a CBS Sports Insider, is a national reporter who has not been in the Broncos’ locker room this year—Fangio’s only year in Denver.
“Even with you guys, you guys all got to stay true to what you guys hear from us,” Lindsay said, continuing his defense. “That’s it. If you don’t hear it from us, don’t say nothing.”
It’s important to note since the report surfaced on Sunday morning, there haven’t been additional reports, specifically from the Denver media, that echoed and backed the initial report.
“Right now, we’ve got to win games, that’s what it’s about. Not about dividing people,” Lindsay said, explaining his mindset.
Fangio responded to a portion of the report on Monday, saying he didn’t feel a need to gather his coaches together to make sure everyone was on the same page, despite the report saying there was a divide.
John Elway, Vic’s boss, also came to his defense in a similar fashion as Lindsay. Tuesday, on KOA, Elway stated he didn’t like unnamed sources, in fact, calling the use of unnamed sources in the report “B.S.”
“I’m really happy with what Vic’s done, the way he is,” Elway added. “I couldn’t be happier with what Vic’s doing and what he’s done this year.”
Inside Denver’s locker room and organization, there’s been one united message as the players and Elway have strongly backed their head coach.
