John Elway is not too pleased with the way the NFL applied COVID-19 restrictions last season, saying he believes there was a double standard that ended up hurting the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos were hit hard by an infection that took out the entire quarterback room ahead of a key contest. While other teams had games postponed or re-scheduled during outbreaks, the league forced the Broncos to play with essentially no quarterback. Now, months later, Elway is speaking out about the situation.
Broncos Hit Hard
While many NFL teams were hit with COVID-19 outbreaks and saw players forced to miss one or several games, none were hit quite as hard as the Broncos heading into their Week 12 game against the New Orleans Saints.
Heading into that game, the starting quarterback and all three backups were wiped out when second-string Blake Bortles tested positive for COVID-19. The others had attended a meeting with him and were forced out as close contacts. Though the league had postponed or rescheduled other games when teams were hit with outbreaks, this game stayed on the schedule and the Broncos were forced to play practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton as quarterback.
Broncos Struggled
With Hinton behind center, the Broncos struggled to move the ball against the Saints. He completed just one of his nine passes, netting a total of 13 yards through the air for the game. The Saints were able to focus almost all of their attention on stopping the run, and in turn ran away with the contest, winning 31-3.
After the game, the league came under some fire for not attempting to re-schedule the game and forcing the Broncos to play without a true quarterback.
Elway Not Happy
As Sports Illustrated’s Fan Nation noted, Elway is still peeved about the game. Though the Broncos struggled throughout the season and never came close to playoff contention, the game was something an assured loss, and Elway believes it didn’t have to be. The report noted that Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was open to the idea of postponing the Sunday contest until either Monday or Tuesday, which would have allowed the Broncos to get at least some of their quarterbacks back.
Elway Angry With League
Speaking to Mike Silver of NFL.com, Elway said he believes the situation could have been handled differently. He recalled a testy exchange with NFL officials, saying he hung up on one executive when talking about the incident.
“I got a little mad about that,” Elway recalled. “Well, I hung up on the league office. I said, ‘Dawn, I’m sorry: I’ve had enough of this, and I’m hanging up.’ At least I did it respectfully.”
As others noted, the league made efforts to reschedule games for other teams, but the Broncos were forced to play — and lose — with all of their quarterbacks out.
