Diontae Spencer and Vic Fangio will have to find something else to talk about.

Since Fangio and the Broncos brought Spencer to Denver from the Canadian Football League, the Broncos’ coach and his return specialist frequently discussed producing the team’s first punt return for a touchdown since 2015.

“Him and I have had many short conversations since he’s been here about him taking one to the house,” Fangio said. “There were many times where I felt like it was going to happen. In previous games, he’s come close.”

After posting three return touchdowns in his last two CFL seasons, Spencer’s NFL breakthrough happened on his first opportunity in Sunday’s 32-27 win at Carolina. Spencer fielded the punt on the 17, quickly slipped an ankle tackle from one Panthers gunner and juked another before finding a seam, hitting it and winning an 80-yard race to the end zone.

“I just let everything else take over and, you know, got in the end zone,” Spencer said. “We’ve been preaching on that pretty much since last year, just me trying to get in the end zone and create a spark for this team. I felt like I did that today.”

After celebrating his first NFL touchdown with “the griddy,” a dance that’s become a popular end-zone celebration this season, Spencer found Fangio for a big hug.

“I was almost as thrilled as he was that he got it, but I don’t think anybody can exceed his thrill,” Fangio said.

In addition to getting the Broncos out in front, Spencer’s punt return made up for an otherwise lackluster day for special teams. Brandon McManus missed two of his four extra points, leading the veteran place kicker to tweet “Brandon McManus sucked today.” after the game. Spencer also watched, waited and hoped a late kickoff would bounce into the end zone with the Broncos up by five and in position to field an onside kick. When it became apparent the ball wouldn’t carry into the end zone, Spencer had to field the ball at the 2 and could only progress it to the 7. The Broncos punted from the end zone three plays later.

That could be a future topic of conversation, or the duo could shift its focus to recreating Spencer’s first NFL special teams score.

“Me and coach Vic, we’ve been talking about this since I got here,” Spencer said. “I think it’s just a confidence thing. I think just knowing that he believes in me, he knows that I can do it. I just want to go out there and deliver for this team.”