

Broncos coach Vic Fangio expects right tackle Ja’Wuan James to be available for the Oct. 27 game at Indianapolis.

James signed a four-year, $51 million contract with the Broncos ($27 million guaranteed) in March to solidify a position that has been a revolving door. But he was injured 10 snaps into the season opener at Oakland.

“If we had had a normal week, Ja’Wuan could have probably played (against Kansas City), but he didn’t feel comfortable, nor did I, with putting him out there without practice time,” Fangio said Friday.

James has yet to go through a full practice.

“He hasn’t had enough quality practice time and has been out six weeks,” Fangio said. “I think it’s always the coach’s duty to not put a player out there that’s not ready. He’s cleared medically, but there is another part of the equation when it comes to recovery and rehab and I don’t think he had completed that part yet (to play Thursday).”

Elijah Wilkinson has started the last six games in James’ place.

Other injury updates:

Safety Will Parks is out after he said he sustained a broken hand against the Chiefs. Fangio said Parks will be out “a couple of weeks, for sure,” which likely means he won’t return until Nov. 17 at Minnesota following the Broncos’ bye.

Fangio said the three players on injured reserve who are eligible to return — quarterback Drew Lock (thumb), running back Theo Riddick (shoulder) and tight end Jake Butt (knee) — will begin practicing next week.

“(We’ll) get a feel and get feedback on where they’re at exactly and decide from there,” Fangio said.

Once the players practice, the Broncos have three weeks to determine if any will be one of the two designed-to-return players or remain on injured reserve for the rest of the year.

Rationalizing two-point try. Arguably, the beginning of the end for the Broncos against Kansas City — and possibly their season — came at the 9:06 mark of the first quarter.

Following Royce Freeman’s one-yard touchdown run and a Chiefs penalty on the extra point, Fangio opted to try a two-point conversion from the 1-yard line. Phillip Lindsay ran into a wall of red helmets and white jerseys. The Broncos would not score again.

And to hear Fangio tell it after the game, don’t expect him to make the same decision anytime soon.

“The go for two, it’s a pretty high (success) percentage from the one-yard line,” he said. “That’s one of those analytical things. I’m not sure if I’ll do it the next time because I believe the two-point play needs to be basically ignored until (the) fourth quarter or late in the third. But for one yard to get an extra point, I thought it was worth the gamble.”

It was a telling comment from Fangio, basically saying that he leaned too much on the analytics instead of his instincts.

Fake punt panic. The Broncos opened the second quarter with a failed fake punt in which Colby Wadman was sacked. The Chiefs used the starting field position (Broncos’ 38) to kick a field goal and take a 13-6 lead.

Dionate Spencer motioned from left to right before the snap. Wadman faked a hand-off to him and then tried to give the impression he was going to run for the first down (it was fourth-and-4). But two Chiefs defenders quickly converged on him. Plus, Wadman, as a right-handed thrower, had to adjust his body to make a potential throw.

“Once we snapped it, (the Chiefs) read it perfectly,” Wadman said. “I was looking at (Devontae Booker) to see if I could throw it over the two defenders. I hesitated and it cost me.”

Said Fangio: “We didn’t execute the play very well and it’s a play we practiced for a while. We needed a better fake, which did not get carried out. I think we panicked. Again, we did not do the details of the play, which caused other problems and made it look like a bad choice at the time.”

Fangio said he “absolutely” remains confident in special teams coordinator Tom McMahon.

Footnotes. The Broncos players are off until Tuesday. … Fangio said outside linebacker Von Miller played “pretty (darn) well,” although he did not record a tackle. … Quarterback Joe Flacco on his potential message to the Broncos’ young players: “I think the best teams I’ve been on have gotten blown out at some point of the year.” Flacco is right — his 2012 Baltimore team lost 43-13 at Houston in Week 7 and went on to win the Super Bowl.