EAGAN, Minn. — It was pretty much even-steven, as Vic Fangio is want to repeatedly say, in The Great Quarterback Competition between Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater.
Both quarterbacks were OK -- nothing bad, if nothing spectacular but decently efficient -- in the Broncos’ joint practice against the Minnesota Vikings here Wednesday at the TCO Performance Center. There wasn’t one cloud, nor even a puff of smoke, in the bright, blue Minnesota sky. It was getting hot as the afternoon crawled near 4 p.m.
"Today, we did a good job of just trying to execute based on different looks," said the veteran QB candidate, Teddy Bridgewater. "We’ve been going against our defense for the last couple days. Just to see some of the different looks that the Vikings defense has shown—it was huge for us just to see where we stand as an offense and what areas we need to get better in. Seeing the different looks, trying to protect it and trying to make the right reads versus different looks is the big takeaway from today."
Then came the deciding, end-of-practice move-the-ball drill, where the series of 11 Broncos vs. 11 Vikings continues until there’s no more downs, or there’s a turnover, or there’s a score.
RELATED: Drew Lock to start preseason opener vs. Vikings with Teddy Bridgewater starting game 2 at Seattle
Bridgewater threw a touchdown pass to Jerry Jeudy. Drew Lock threw an interception. For the day. Bridgewater completed 13 of 15 with the one touchdown during the 11 on 11 periods. Lock was 6 of 11 with the one interception. (No. 3 quarterback Brett Rypien was 8 of 12 passing).
No even-steven, coach Fangio. There was separation. Bridgewater won the day. 9News now has Bridgewater winning 6 practices, Lock winning 4, and there’s been one tie.
Will Bridgewater win the overall competition and become the Broncos’ season-opening starting quarterback Sept. 12 against the New York Giants?
There is more work to do, beginning with a second joint practice against Bridgewater’s former Vikings here Thursday afternoon. And there is the first preseason game Saturday afternoon when the Broncos and Vikings move to downtown Minneapolis and U.S. Bank Stadium. Lock will start that game and Bridgewater will come in with the second unit. It appears each will play at least 1 ½ quarters.
Lock knows what he must do.
"You’re in press conferences, we talk about taking care of the football, but when you get out there, the actual instincts are going to have to take over," he said. "I think the more looks you end up seeing, the better you become with these plays, the more familiar you are, it almost just comes naturally—you being able to take care of the football. You know the looks. You’ve seen 100 looks on a certain play to know when, ‘Eh, it’s probably going to be there,’ or, ‘Maybe best to check it down.’
"So it’s easy to say it on the mic, but it’s another thing to go out there and do it."
Then there’s three more training camp practices next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at UCHealth Training Center, followed by preseason game No. 2 on Aug. 21 at Seattle. Bridgewater will start against the Seahawks, with Lock coming in off the bench.
At that point, there should be nothing more to see. The Los Angeles Rams won’t play their starters in the Broncos’ third and final preseason game on Aug. 28. Training camp will be finished. It would be a surprise if Broncos’ decision-makers don’t make the call on the QB competition after the Seahawks’ game.
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