Denver Broncos president of football operations/general manager John Elway has had enough of the holding penalties that have plagued the career of left tackle Garrett Bolles and is not hiding his frustration.
Bolles has again been plagued by penalties this season, and despite help from teammates and a top notch offensive lines, the issues continue.
Bolles may be running out of chances in Denver, despite his first round draft status.
“Obviously it hurts us [Sunday] at different points in the game. … You know a lot of times, even though we overcame a couple of them, they’re a drive-stopper,” Broncos head coach Vic Fangio said, according to ESPN’s Jeff Legwold. “We’ve got to be able to block our guy without holding.”
Bolles has indeed been flagged for 26 holding penalties in 34 career games and Sunday’s game was extremely frustrating as he was flagged four times during the Broncos’ loss to the Chicago Bears.
Elway is also expressing his frustrations with Bolles.
“Well, it’s got to stop. Period,” Elway said, during his weekly appearance on KOA NewsRadio. “There are no more excuses for it. He’s had 26 holding penalties in the last two years and two games, so it’s got to stop. The bottom line is if he thinks he’s getting singled out, he is. He’s got to understand that. He’s got to understand what he’s doing. And that was my question [Sunday], ‘Does he know what holding is?’ Does he know what he can and can’t do?’ If he thinks he’s getting targeted, he’s got to realize he isn’t. We’ll keep working for it and he’s still a talented guy. He cannot do that because it’s beating us.”
Bolles seemed to place blame on the officials for Sunday’s terrible performance.
“It was frustrating,” Bolles said.
“I’ve built a reputation for myself in this league of holding. I disagree with it, to be honest. There are some calls I disagree with, and there are some things that I understand. … But I have the best O-line coach in the National Football League with Coach Munchak. … I’m going to turn this around. I promise you all that. I promise Broncos Country that. I promise my teammates that. That was just unfortunate that they keep coming after me, but it is what it is.”
Current Broncos teammates, and former players such as Mark Schlereth have seen the issues, with Schlereth, in particular, taking issue with Bolles’ “stubbornness” in changing his technique stating on his morning radio show in Denver that Bolles “flat out can’t play.”