Vic Fangio treating Broncos reunion ‘like any other game’

A revenge game for Vic Fangio?

If the former Broncos head coach has any special feelings about facing the club for which he served as head coach for three seasons, he isn’t showing them.

“[You don’t] get worked up in that stuff. You just get twisted,” Fangio, now the Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator, said at his weekly press conference in South Florida on Thursday. “You just treat it like any other game, do the things you think you have to do to win schematically, and you go at it.

“Those storylines are juicy, but they’re not as effective as you think they are.”

If you listen to Vic Fangio, him going up against his former team is overstated. pic.twitter.com/8XpPvzPiBe

— Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) September 21, 2023

Revenge is a dish best served cold. But the mercury will likely soar to around 90 degrees in South Florida on Sunday, with the accompanying humidity making it seem warmer. So, for Fangio, it is neither the time nor the place to think about that regarding the team that sacked him after three consecutive losing seasons.

“I really don’t,” Fangio replied when asked whether he has any notions of revenge. “Every game we play in this league is equally important.”

And he still has fondness for the players he cached who remain there.

”There’s still about 15 or 16 players still there and I wish them the best — except this week,” he said.

VIC FANGIO COULD HAVE BEEN BACK IN DENVER

For a while last January, there were rumblings of Vic Fangio returning to the Broncos to serve as defensive coordinator under Payton.

Payton later confirmed the interest.

“Vic was supposed to be part of the plan, then you guys scared him away,” Payton joked to media at the NFL Scouting Combine last winter.

“Do I think he would’ve been a great asset for us? Yes. We were planning in this year away if the right scenario came up that we’d work together,” Payton added then. “I think this one was just a little unique because it wasn’t too long ago he was here.

“But certainly I tried, talked to him, tried to twist his arm and I’m excited for his opportunity in Miami.”

The early returns are mixed for Vic Fangio in Miami.

Fangio’s unit ranks 24th in total defense, 11th in yardage per play allowed and 23rd in percentage of drives that end in a score. It is also next-to-last in red-zone defense, with 85.7 percent of the red-zone forays against Miami ending in a touchdown.

So, Fangio appears to have some work ahead of him.