Vic Fangio told Broncos to leave field, skip postgame handshakes after beating Jets
.jpg "Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio talks to officials during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)")
The Broncos picked up their first victory of the 2020 season on Thursday night, beating the Jets 37-28 at MetLife Stadium.
But Denver coach Vic Fangio wasn’t in a great mood when the game ended, pulling his team off the field rather than take part in postgame handshakes.
As Pro Football Talk noted, the Jets had six personal fouls, and the Broncos accepted 11 penalties and picked up 118 yards.
So Fangio told his team to “head to the (expletive) locker room” as this video shows (WARNING: the cursing is clear):
“There was just a couple of personal fouls there at the end and our sideline was getting pissed off about it and I just wanted to avoid having any confrontation at the end of the game and having it get ugly there,” Fangio told reporters, per NFL.com. “So, I tried to get our guys to leave quickly just to avoid anything happening there. I thought it was the prudent thing to do.”
The NFL.com story noted Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams grabbed Broncos quarterback Brett Rypien’s facemask at one point, while Jets nose tackle Steve McLendon “teed off on Rypien, who was throwing the ball away on fourth-and-13.”
“I saw those guys start going off and I heard Vic yelling at his guys saying ‘Get in the locker room,’ so I saw what was going on,” Jets coach Adam Gase said, per Yahoo Sports. “I think he was just trying to make sure we didn’t have any kind of melee. It was getting heated.”
After the game, former Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith unloaded on Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the Excelsior Springs native:
