Yesterday, Drew Lock made his first ever NFL start. Lock threw for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns. Overall the debut was promising but nothing to get overly excited over. So, I have decided to go through and drive by drive pick apart Locks performance and how he looked.
Drive 1
First play, run, a common denominator in the Broncos win yesterday. Followed by a throw just outside of Courtland Sutton but not off by much and a throw short of the sticks to Noah Fant that ends the drive. Lock obviously has accuracy issues; you saw that in college according to most all the scouts out there. It is something he definitely needs to work on, he missed some throws Sunday and it started showing early.
Drive 2
A throw to Desean Hamilton that leads him directly into the oncoming linebacker, a throw that sails on him aimed at Heuermann, a screen play to the fullback Beck, a nearly picked screen pass, a scramble completion to Heuermann again, and a TD throw to Sutton. A mixed bag drive for Lock with a good end. He definitely looks at the rooking he basically killed poor Desean Hamilton on a slant route. Then the sailed pass to Jeff Heuermann. The touchdown throw to Sutton is interesting though, it’s actually a good throw, he puts it in a spot that only Sutton can snag it and he does. A side note, Courtland Sutton deserves All Pro love as the number 2 guy behind Michael Thomas all but one week this guy has made spectacular plays.
Drive 3
An out route to Heuermann, a deflected pass to Fant, Touchdown to Sutton. The throw to Fant actually isn’t all that bad. Fant attacks the ball wrong, if he just gets big and jumps for it it’s probably a jump ball Touchdown. It’s a good throw by Lock. The Touchdown comes off a great route from Sutton but it’s a good throw and ends the woes of other Broncos QBs in the Red Zone.
Drive 4
Misses a throw in the flat, completion to Sutton. The miss here is a bad one, for one Lock puts way to much juice on the ball. It’s a Josh Allen like short throw, which is not necessarily a good thing, Lock most definitely needs to work on situational awareness. The throw to Sutton is good, solid throw right on the money gives Sutton a chance to get some yards after catch.
Drive 5
Three straight runs. As pointed out by @JoRo_NFL on twitter (Joe Rowles) one of the smarter football follows out there, it was probably smart to run the ball here and not risk getting blown out of the water by Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram. That said, on third and 2 come on, let your rookie with the two score lead sling the football.
Drive 6
Throw away. This is a positive, god knows Joe Flacco would have taken the sack, fumbled the ball backwards ten yards and broken his spine all on the same play, the fact Broncos don’t lose yardage here is a plus.
Drive 7
7 yard pass to Hamilton, throw away. Outside of the most incompetent end of half you’re up by a score play calling I have ever seen, and what I have come to expect from a coach whose philosophies are stuck in the 90’s, you can’t really pick on Lock for this drive. He had two great scrambles in it, the Broncos need to utilize his mobility more. Oh and a decent last second desperation heave to Courtland Sutton.
Drive 8 (Second half)
Incompletion to Fant, this isn’t necessarily all on Lock, it looks as if Fant just turns to the wrong shoulder. A simple miscommunication that should be fixed with time. But yet again, what is the play calling? You’re only up by 7, be more aggressive.
Drive 9
A screen play to Lindsay that gets blown up and a 1 yard completion to Freeman. Again this is less so on the QB and more on the play calling, I am not an all 22 guy so I have no idea who else was open on the Freeman throw but you don’t win games by throwing short of the sticks in my humble opinion.
Drive 10
Interception, a tough one. Lock doesn’t see the linebacker, rookie mistake.
Drive 11
2 short throws to Hamilton, one more out route to Heuermann. The dropped pass by Hamilton here is obviously a killer, it would have extended the drive. That said though the coaching staff refuses to throw beyond the sticks here and it results in a field goal.
Drive 12
PI, to me this is Lock’s most impressive throw of the game. He has perfect situational awareness, he makes a good throw that is in no danger of being intercepted but still gives Sutton a chance to be in the vicinity.
Overall, Lock had a good day, one mistake but a good day. I am more discouraged by the coaching staff’s lack of trust in Lock. If you want to really evaluate what you have over this last month against some bad secondaries, I’m looking at you Houston, you have to open the play book up a bit. You can’t shelter QBs in the NFL anymore, you just can’t. I hope this team gives Lock the best chance at improving as a starter and I look forward to seeing what comes next in future weeks.