Broncos scuffling at QB, cornerback but McManus coming back

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Kicker Brandon McManus is due back this week from the COVID-19 reserve list, and while that won’t settle the Denver Broncos’ cornerback conundrum or quarterback quandary, it will at least provide some normalcy in a wacky season waylaid by injuries and coronavirus concerns.

“Brandon is still going through the protocols. If he keeps progressing the way he has been, we’ll have him back this week,” coach Vic Fangio said Monday.

Fangio added that Taylor Russilino, the 31-year-old rookie who had a dismal NFL debut while subbing for McManus in Denver’s 48-19 loss to Buffalo on Saturday, will revert to the team’s practice squad.

Russolino missed three of four kicks, a 51-yard field goal and two extra points, and his short second-half kickoff helped turn a tight game into a trouncing.

The Broncos (5-9) felt good about their chances against the Bills (11-3) when they came out of the tunnel trailing by just one score. But Russolino’s kickoff only made it to the Buffalo 4 and Andre Roberts returned it 53 yards into Denver territory, setting up Josh Allen’s second touchdown run.

Just 17 seconds later, Drew Lock was strip-sacked for the second consecutive week and defensive end Jerry Hughes’ scoop-and-score made it 35-13.

Game over.

And dashed were any hopes of winning out to avoid a fourth consecutive losing season.

The salt-in-the-wound moment came later in the third quarter when rookie cornerback Michael Ojemudia was ejected for throwing a punch at Bills rookie receiver Gabriel Davis. That further depleted a cornerback corps that was already down five players, including starters A.J. Bouye (suspension) and Bryce Callahan (foot).

Ojemudia had been holding his own while De’Vante Bausby was getting schooled by Allen and Stefon Diggs all game. Ojemudia was replaced by Nate Hairston, who the Broncos plucked off the Ravens’ practice squad earlier this month.

“He definitely deserved what he got,” Fangio said of Ojemudia's ejection after watching the coaches tape. “Him and the wideout were just jostling there and he did throw a punch, and that’s an automatic ejection and that’s disappointing. I think it reflects poorly on Michael and that was a poor decision at that time. Hopefully, it’s one that he’ll learn from and will never commit again.”

Fangio said he’ll stick with Ojemudia, Bausby and safety-by-trade Will Parks, who has played two games since being claimed off waivers from Philadelphia. Parnell Motley, claimed off the 49ers’ practice squad, is also in the mix as the Broncos prepare to face Chargers QB Justin Herbert on the road Sunday.

Lock hasn’t thrown an interception in two weeks but he’s lost fumbles in each of those games, giving him 16 turnovers in 2020. He's now started 16 games, a full season's worth, and is 8-8 with 21 TD throws, 16 interceptions and a 59.7% completion rate.

Asked if Lock has shown enough to remain the incumbent heading into 2021, Fangio demurred.

“I just want to see winning football ... from everybody,” Fangio said.

Pressed, Fangio added, “We’re all being evaluated: players, coaches, everybody.”

WHAT’S WORKING

For all their flaws, the Broncos are 7 for 7 in the red zone the last three weeks.

“It’s definitely something to build off,” Fangio said. “I think that indicates growth.”

WHAT NEEDS HELP

Denver’s defense hasn’t had a takeaway in three weeks.

“There is no magic wand or magic potion or we would have gotten it already,” Fangio said. “We’ve just got to keep pounding away at it and do better.”

STOCK UP

McManus. See above.

STOCK DOWN

Ojemudia. See above.

INJURED

OLB Bradley Chubb (ankle) is expected to practice this week, but Fangio said he’s not sure if that will be on Wednesday.

OLB Von Miller (ankle) still hasn’t been medically cleared to return to practice. “Right now I’m not optimistic that he’ll be out there" this season, Fangio said. Miller was injured in September and had optimistically targeted mid-December for his return.

KEY NUMBERS

5 — receptions by wide receivers of Lock’s 20 completions, including one each by rookies K.J. Hamler and Jerry Jeudy.

8 — career high number of catches for TE Noah Fant, including one for a TD on Saturday.

NEXT STEPS

Out of the playoff race, it would behoove the Broncos to go ahead and lose to the Chargers and Raiders, too, to round out 2020. If they win their last two like they did last year, they'll finish 7-9 again and draft in the teens rather than the top 10.

Kendall Hinton's QB moment marked in Canton, across the NFL

DENVER (AP) — Wide receiver Kendall Hinton’s start at quarterback for Denver may have been forgettable, but it's memorialized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and on practice fields across the NFL.

A half dozen teams sport a quarantined quarterback this month after the Broncos were forced to play the Saints on Nov. 29 without any of their four QBs.

The Broncos’ QB quandary began when No. 3 passer Jeff Driskel tested positive for the coronavirus on Thanksgiving Day. Two days later, the NFL disqualified starter Drew Lock, backup Brett Rypien and practice squad veteran Blake Bortles because all four had failed to wear their masks around each other earlier that week.

Hinton, who played quarterback at Wake Forest before switching to wide receiver, was activated from the practice squad and became the first non-QB to start at the position since running back Tom Matte did so for the Baltimore Colts in 1965.

Hinton completed just 1 of 9 passes for 13 yards with two interceptions in Denver’s 31-3 loss, but he earned accolades far and wide, including from Matte, who wrote Hinton a heartfelt letter.

“Fifty-five years ago, I was in your shoes,” Matte wrote. “I was the Baltimore Colts’ ‘instant quarterback’ and believe me, it was an experience I’ll never forget! Late in the 1965 season, our quarterbacks — John Unitas and Gary Cuozzo — were injured. My usual position with the Colts was halfback but, having played quarterback in college, I was technically the team’s third-string QB. So when Unitas and Cuozzo went down, my initial reaction was simply, ‘Oh, my god. Don’t tell me I have to play quarterback.‘”

Matte felt a kinship with Hinton.

“As the only two ‘Instant Quarterbacks’ in NFL history, we have a strong connection, thanks to our shared experience,” Matte wrote. “I’m proud of how you stepped up for your teammates, particularly in what was an impossible situation in difficult circumstances. Decades from now, I hope you’ll look back with pride on your experience — you’ll have quite a story to tell your grandchildren!”

Hinton’s play-calling wristband was sent to the Hall of Fame this month and is on display in Canton along with Matte’s wristband from 1965.

Hinton went back to being a practice squad receiver when the Broncos’ three sequestered quarterbacks came off the COVID-19 reserve list. For a while, the team kept Bortles away from Lock and Rypien at practice as a precaution, but all four are now back at practice together.

The league’s other 31 teams all reviewed their own QB situations after the debacle in Denver, and six teams have an emergency quarterback isolated from the rest of their teammates heading into the final two weeks of the season.

They are: the Chargers (Easton Stick); Seahawks (Danny Etling); Titans (DeShone Kizer), Bills (Jake Fromm), Bengals (Kyle Shurmur) and Washington (Tyler Heinicke).

The league has made a couple of decisions that make a repeat of Denver’s quarterback quandary unlikely.

They enhanced COVID-19 protocols, mandating all team meetings be conducted virtually the rest of the season, and they tweaked a rule that now allows teams to grab a QB off another team’s practice squad and immediately add them to the roster rather than having to wait out a weeks’ worth of negative coronavirus tests.

Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said the league’s enhanced protocols essentially isolate all quarterbacks anyway.

“We are all separated. We’re doing all of the meetings at home. We’re spread out at practice," Gailey said. "Meetings from home are kind of handling the separation there.”

San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan figures a quarantined quarterback wouldn’t do much better than Hinton did.

“I know people think you should just quarantine a quarterback and just have him sitting there in a room, just on ice, ready to come out when time’s needed. If it gets to that point, I feel bad for that guy, too,” Shanahan said.

“You can’t just go into an NFL game after being locked in a room for weeks until you’re needed and think you’re going to go out there and perform much better than a practice squad receiver would at quarterback. That sounds nice, but if it gets to that point, no answer is very good. So, you just deal with it.”

Some teams like the Patriots and Rams have players on their rosters who were quarterbacks in college who would serve as their team's emergency QB.

Rams coach Sean McVay noted that he has several ex-quarterbacks on his roster, including 300-pound O-lineman David Edwards, wide receiver Cooper Kupp and punter Johnny Kekker, a high school passer who has shown off his arm on fake punts and kicks.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that I think would probably say they should be first in line,” McVay said.

The Titans kept their third QB, Trevor Siemian, away from the team after their own COVID-19 outbreak in September into October. After the Saints signed Siemian when Drew Brees got hurt, the Titans added Kizer to their practice squad and isolated him.

Texans interim coach Romeo Crennel isn’t cocooning a quarterback and when asked what he’d do if he found himself in a situation like Denver did, he said, “Well, we’re not going to let it get to that. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re not going to let it get to that. We’re practicing social distancing, wearing masks, washing hands, staying apart.”

Patriots coach Bill Belichick isn't a fan of quarantining a quarterback.

“Obviously, if we didn’t do anything at all, we’d be safe, but I don’t think you can really practice and play very well doing it that way,” Belichick said. “So, at some point, you’ve got to meet, prepare and play.

“I’m sure if we all just sat around in a bubble, then maybe nobody would get anything, but I can’t imagine we’d be a very good football team.”