ENGLEWOOD, Colo. —It's been quiet at the Broncos' first two training camp practices.
But not too quiet — at least for Head Coach Vic Fangio.
Gone are the days when music blared from the speakers along the practice fields at UCHealth Training Center. Now, when the stretching period ends at the beginning of practice, so too does the music.
And for Fangio, it's a change that has been a long time coming.
"Anybody that's been a position coach or a position coach, they don't like the music, because it makes it hard to talk to your guys," Fangio explained. "So I don't see the benefit of having music out there. I was an assistant coach, and I don't want to have to drum out the noise to talk to my players."
As a head coach, Fangio now gets to make his own rules, and getting rid of music during practice is one of the most evident.
It's not that the head coach is opposed to music. He said he's a fan of both Earth, Wind & Fire and Michael Jackson.
During practice, though?
"I don't like it. I don't like to have to yell to communicate with a player that's standing as close as me and you are," said Fangio as he gestured to a reporter a few feet away. "That makes no sense."
When the Broncos get set to play on the road, they'll use noise to prepare. But Fangio made sure to clarify the distinction between music and noise.
"There's no music in games," Fangio said. "When it comes to the point when we need to simulate crowd noise in practice — which we will do — it will be noise. It won't be music. It will be noise — that's what it is in the game. Noise, by definition, sounds annoying. Music sounds nice. So if we've got to deal with noise, let's deal with noise."
For their part, the players don't seem to mind much.
Chris Harris Jr. said without the music, there's "a lot of coaching and learning" during the sessions.
"I don't care," said Harris when asked if he wanted the music to come back. "I'm just going out here trying to learn this defense as much as possible — just get comfortable and continue to get better on my fundamentals."
