Vic Fangio sends a crystal-clear message regarding Garett Bolles

 

DENVER — Garett Holds.

That’s what Denver’s left tackle situation has turned into.

“I’ve built a reputation for myself in this league of holding,” Denver’s first-round tackle said after the game. “I disagree with it, to be honest. There are some calls I disagree with.”

Sunday afternoon took this reputation to a whole new level.

Against the Bears, in a near 90-degree day, the heat was on Garett Bolles all game long. And Khalil Mack, one of the games elite players, wasn’t even his biggest problem.

In the second quarter alone, Bolles didn’t have one or two holding penalties, he had a trifecta, a hat-trick, three. Three in one quarter.

After the second penalty in one drive, the crowd let him hear it as boos rained in from the 76,000-plus in attendance at Empower Field at Mile High. It was contagious, too. Not only were Ron Leary and Derek Wolfe each called for two holding penalties but so was the Bears No. 72.

At the half, Bolles had tallied three holding penalties. And he wasn’t done there as he tacked one more on in the third quarter. At that point, Garett Bolles had more holding penalties called on him than the Broncos had points. Sheesh.

According to the Fox Broadcast, Bolles’ four holding penalties were the most for an individual player in a single game since 2014.

“We have the best offensive line coach in the business here, and Garett’s going to learn from this game,” Vic Fangio stated minutes after the heartbreaking loss to the Bears. “They have some good players, and he’s going to learn from it, and he’ll move on… He needs to play without holding.”

But before Fangio moved on, he added one more unprompted tidbit: “He’s our left tackle, and he’s going to be our left tackle.”

So get used to it, Garett Bolles isn’t going anywhere.

With starting right tackle Ja’Wuan James out at least a couple of weeks, and Elijah Wilkinson taking his place, Denver’s only reserve offensive lineman are Austin Schlottmann and Jake Rodgers. But despite the constant penalties and calls from every which way for Bolles to be benched, Fangio’s sticking with the former first-round pick.

After the final called penalty on Bolles, when the Broncos’ offense returned to the sideline, the offensive lineman sat on the bench to review the series and talk with the coaches. Dalton Risner, Connor McGovern, Ron Leary and Elijah Wilkinson sat side-by-side tightly bunched together. Bolles sat a foot and a half away from Risner on the end of the bench.

While the visual certainly looked concerning for Bolles’ place in the offensive line room, Ron Leary made sure to make one thing very clear after the game.

“We behind him 100 percent,” Leary stated without hesitation, having his teammate’s back. “Y’all be trying to crucify him. That ain’t right. O-line, we behind him 100 percent. This team behind him 100 percent.”

Joe Flacco had the back of the man that is tasked with protecting his back, too.

“We are going to pick him up and support him,” the veteran leader said. “I think he fought hard that entire game. He went against some pretty good pass rushers and did a pretty good job. You got to think about it in that way. It’s your family—your son or your brother or your sister or your daughter, your wife, you—you make mistakes. You know? You help them, you don’t push them to the side and leave them out to dry. It’s all part of it.”

“My teammates all they gave me hugs. They all know what I’m going through. They all know this hurts bad. They know I hurt,” Bolles added after the game. “I put us in situations I shouldn’t put my team in. When you’re playing a good team, a team that was one play away from going to the NFC Championship game last year, you got to do everything you can to eliminate the dumb mistakes, and I just didn’t do that tonight. I just completely apologize. That’s on me.”

Averaging well over one holding penalty per game in his last four regular-season games, it’s back to the drawing board for Denver’s starting left tackle.

“I think I’ve done a phenomenal job this year from last year just being consistent. I think that’s the thing,” Bolles explained. “Last year, I would go one play, and there would be another flag the next play. But I just feel like bad plays are going to happen. It is what it is. It’s football, not every play can be perfect. I feel like if you just continue to move forward and continue to put your head first and know the next play is all that matters. One play is a bad play you can always get back to the next play and do the job that you know you’re supposed to do.”

The third-year player added he’s not going to change being a physical player, but admitted, “There are little things I can change like my hands and my feet that I know Coach Munchak can help me with.”

Whether or not No. 72 can reign in the holds remains to be seen. But one thing that’s certain is Garett Bolles will remain to be seen as Denver’s starting left tackle.