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Darren Rizzi vows to clean up Broncos' special teams: 'It starts with me'
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- Darren Rizzi vows to clean up Broncos' special teams: 'It starts with me'
The Denver Broncos ' special teams units have come under scrutiny this season, and coordinator Darren Rizzi has received the brunt of the backlash.
From a " leverage " penalty to long kickoff returns allowed to botched substitutions that led to a Marvin Mims injury to a blocked field goal last week, the kicking game has had multiple blunders in 2025. Last week, the substitution woes continued as at least one player was late to get on the field on a punt.
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After practice on Tuesday, Rizzi explained that injuries contributed to the sub-misscommunication on Sunday.
"That's where we ran into a snag the other day in the game," Rizzi said. "We had a couple of times where the 11th guy is running out late, which we can't have. Guys' roles changed. Obviously, we've been fortunate through these first eight weeks of not having a ton of moving parts. Then all of the sudden, we lose a few guys for this game, then roles changed. That's where I have to be better, players have to be better, we all have to be better on the substitution part of it. ... [There were] guys running out late. We had some guys on the bench that were supposed to be on the field."
Riizi accepted responsibility for the late subs and vowed to get them cleaned up.
"It starts with me," Rizzi said. "It always starts with me as a coordinator, and it trickles down to the players. I certainly take full responsibility on getting it cleaned up. I'll tell you right now that through my experience, I'm certainly confident in myself and my ability, and we'll get it cleaned up. The players are 100 percent bought in. There's absolutely no doubt about that. We've had some issues here or there, but along the way we've had a lot of positive, too. We have to keep doing the positive things, and we have to help the team more in these situations for sure."
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Up next for the Broncos is a Thursday Night Football clash with the Las Vegas Raiders . We'll see if they can play a cleaner game on special teams in that AFC West showdown.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Denver Broncos: Darren Rizzi accepts blame for special teams blunders
