The Denver Broncos’ 14:51 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at Christmas marked a new low for the team and resulted in the firing of first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett the following day. Russell Wilson threw three interceptions while defense allowed Baker Mayfield and Cam Akers to look like The Greatest Show on Turf. During the game, anger boiled over on the Broncos sidelines when offensive lineman Dalton Risner and backup quarterback Brett Rypien got into a minor argument.
In the third quarter, CBS cameras captured the end of Risner’s and Rypien’s altercation on the sidelines. The quarterback was led away by the offensive linemen on the touchline while Risner yelled in his direction.
A better view of the altercation was found on social media Monday, showing Risner shoving Rypien and Broncos running back Latavius Murray shoving Risner in response.
After the game, we found out that this incident happened when Rypien told the offensive line they had to better catch their quarterback if he went down.
“First of all, it’s brotherly love,” Risner told 9NEWS. “I have so much respect for Ryp. He let our offensive line know that we need to pick up Russell Wilson if he goes down. And it’s mid-game, it’s heated. I didn’t really hear what he said. I thought he meant we were giving up sacks.
“He and I exchanged a few words and (Murray) broke us up and five minutes later he and I were hugging. I said to him: ‘Hey, I like your message, I misunderstood you.’ And he said, “Yeah, I shouldn’t have come up to you like that. Should have come at a different time.”
“You know, so things happen when you’re frustrated and you’re competitors and you want to win. We have nothing but love for each other.”
Rypien agreed by saying there was no beef afterwards. It just had to do with frustration.
“It was just a misunderstanding,” Rypien said. “Dalton and I are really good friends. He thought I said something else.”
This was just one of several cases on Sunday that boded ill for the Broncos and led to the franchise’s decision to fire their head coach.