At his press conference on Monday, Vic Fangio announced that Joe Flacco will be out with a neck injury for this coming week’s game against the Cleveland Browns.
Announced by #Broncos head coach Vic Fangio Monday. Joe Flacco's neck injury will keep him out Sunday against the #Browns.
Brandon Allen will start.
— Mile High Sports (@MileHighSports) October 28, 2019
As the announcement came following Flacco’s comments towards the offensive staff after Sunday’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts, there was some suspicion as to whether that had anything to do with the move.
Neck seemed fine when Flacco was mouthing off about DEN's pathetic lack of aggression. https://t.co/rQIDZIwEgL
— Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) October 28, 2019
However, during the game, Flacco was seen on the sideline getting his neck worked on heavily by a trainer, but he stayed in the game. That would be the second this season a key Bronco stayed on the field to finish the game despite suffering a serious injury. The other being Bradley Chubb’s torn ACL suffered against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
According to Ian Rappoport, the injury is serious enough that the Broncos may be without Flacco for an extended period of time.
#Broncos QB Joe Flacco’s neck injury means he could miss significant time, I’m told. So its likely Brandon Allen gets multiple starts.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 28, 2019
The injury means that Brandon Allen will start for the Broncos on Sunday at least, as Drew Lock remains on injured reserve. Allen was a sixth-round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars out of Arkansas, where he backed up Blake Bortles for a season before becoming the Rams’ second and third-string quarterback.
Following final roster cuts and the injury to Lock this preseason, the Broncos claimed Allen off of waivers to be their backup until Lock could return. The soonest Lock could return would be the Broncos’ Week 11 game in Minnesota against the Vikings, but if he’s still not healed he could be out longer.
