CANTON, Ohio — Vic Fangio’s game-day debut as Denver Broncos coach did not go quite as smoothly Thursday as he had hoped it would.
Fangio spent most of the day at a Cleveland-area hospital due to a kidney stone, sources told ESPN, but the team announced he’ll coach against the Atlanta Falcons in the Hall of Fame Game.
Fangio walked into the stadium shortly before 6 p.m. ET.
Team sources told ESPN that Fangio had not passed the stone as of late afternoon, but had improved enough, and felt good enough, to coach against the Falcons. The Broncos hired the 60-year-old as the team’s head coach in January — his first head coaching job after 33 seasons as an NFL assistant — and Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game is his first game.
Fangio had joked earlier in the week that he was trying to figure out where he wanted to stand on the sideline during the game and how to cut down on the size of the sheet with his defensive playcalls, saying he might have to use “two sides, but that’s a work in progress.”
Fangio showed no outward signs of dealing with a kidney stone this week in practice, as the team went through its usual training camp schedule Monday and Tuesday before having a short walk-through Wednesday before the Broncos traveled to Ohio. Fangio attended the team’s tour of the Hall of Fame on Wednesday as well.
The team spent Wednesday night in the Cleveland area, which was why Fangio went to a hospital there.
Fangio’s no-nonsense demeanor and his sense of humor has been a big hit with the players, including an assessment after practice earlier this week when he had to look at game video to see if the team’s offense really had a good day in practice or if it was “crappy play” by the defense.
Fangio had decided that most of the team’s starters would not play against the Falcons, saying that preseason is a developmental affair to “pick our best 53 [players].” He had admitted, however, that he believed once the game started the competitiveness would “kick in.”
He has also said that, in the interest of building his roster, he would put players in uncomfortable situations at times, on both offense and defense, in the preseason games rather than making the playcall that would work best in those situations.
“Just to see who can handle it,” Fangio said Tuesday. “For instance, if I’m pretty confident they might be throwing it, instead of giving a corner some help, we’ll see if he can cover his guy. Play a light box even though we think they might be running it, things like that. … Let’s see who can block a good-pass rusher without chipping him. Even though they’ve got the box loaded, let’s see if we can run the ball up in there, things like that.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter contributed to this report.