ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Perhaps more than any other NFL player, Drew Lock plays in the present and is discussed in the future.
Each and every game has been a reckoning on his career. When Lock was picked off four times in a 37-12 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, the conversation around the virtual water coolers was the Broncos were back to square one in trying to find their quarterback.
When Lock threw four touchdown passes in a 32-27 win at Carolina, Lock was back on the rails as the team’s QB for 2021.
When he was so-so last week in a 48-19 blowout home loss to the Buffalo Bills, throwing one touchdown without a pick but also totaling a mere 132 yards passing off 32 attempts, the hot topic was again stated as a question: Will the Broncos go forward with Drew Lock as their starting quarterback in 2021?
During his weekly Zoom media interview Wednesday, Lock got a chuckle out of how he has become the subject of so much debate in Broncos Country, but as usual, he addressed it head on.
“The quarterback is the most important position on the field,’’ he said. “Everyone is going to talk about it, everyone thinks they can play it better than what they’re seeing on TV. It’s an easy position for people to talk about and gossip about.
"I’m looking forward to going out this week and making another claim that I should be the guy here and try to win these last two, and show what I can do and the decision is the decision. But I do believe I’m the guy here, and with progressing over time with this offense, we get another year in this same offense, the sky’s the limit for us.’’
Lock has now had a full season of work spread over two years. In 16 games, he is 8-8 while throwing for a 59.7 completion percentage, 3,350 yards, 21 touchdowns and 16 interceptions for a 79.8 passer rating. He has flashed top-tier talent, but his inconsistency leaves him at the bottom of the league statistically.
His efficiency was better in the final five weeks of last season, when he went 4-1 with a passer rating near 90, than it has been this year, as he’s struggled through a sophomore slump. Lock’s 16 combined turnovers this year (13 interceptions, 3 lost fumbles) are the league’s most.
“I think this year has been a little bit more rough for Drew compared to the last five starts last year when he came in,’’ said Chargers cornerback Chris Harris Jr., who was a Broncos’ teammate of Lock last year and studied him on film as an opponent this week. “He’s been up and down, had a little bit more turnovers with the fumbles and the interceptions.
“But he can still get hot and still make those throws and still tear you apart. So you have to be ready. You can never sleep on Drew. He can still get hot and make all the throws, he just had a turnover issue during the season, which he knows he probably has to clean that up.”
Don’t the Chargers know about not falling asleep on Lock. He played poorly for 2 ½ quarters in the Broncos’ previous meeting against the Chargers on Nov. 1 at Empower Field at Mile High where Denver fell behind, 24-3. But Lock flipped and threw three touchdowns in the fourth quarter – including a 1-yard toss to KJ Hamler as time expired to pull out a dramatic, 31-30 win.
“He makes a lot of good plays, throws, makes good plays with his feet, he's athletic, can avoid the pressure, can scramble and make plays,’’ said Broncos head coach Vic Fangio. “We just need to see more of it. Keep improving in all the little things that Drew can improve on. Nobody's working harder than him to do that. He has the great want-to and the great drive to be a great quarterback. We just hope to see constant improvement from him.”
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