The Broncos get blown out at home vs the Eagles 30-13 going into the bye and blow a golden opportunity where had they won, they would have been tied for first place at 6-4 with KC. They are 5-5 and are still last in the division but with 5 of their next 7 games being divisional games, they are still in the thick of it. After such a disappointing loss where certain players made blunders, fans were calling for change especially at the QB position. Bridgewater on Sunday refused to make a tackle on a defender, who was just a few inches away, who scooped the ball off the ground after another Melvin Gordon fumble and due to the poor effort from the team tackling him, he scored making a 20-13 game to 27-13 to end the 3rd quarter and that was basically ball game. Fangio a few days ago was asked about if a change at the QB position would even be considered or would he start working Drew into some first team reps. He blatantly said "No. Teddy's our Quarterback." His refusal to even consider the notion of Drew starting should beg the question. Does Fangio have a little hate for Drew?
The Broncos drafted Drew Lock in the 2nd round in 2019. Lock played quite a bit in his rookie preseason but unfortunately injured his thumb in week 3 and went on IR. However, Drew was cleared to play week 5. So why didn't he get playing time until week 13? The Broncos had veteran Joe Flacco to start the season. The Broncos won weeks 4 and 5 that year so it made total sense to keep Flacco in even though Drew was healthy. The Broncos plan initially was to sit Drew a full year under Flacco before they consider giving him any playing time. This philosophy makes sense to me. However, Flacco suffered a neck injury week 8. This injury would sideline him week 9. Fangio, however, hands over the keys to Brandon Allen. What?! It's week 9 and at this point Drew has been healthy for 3-4 weeks and has ample amount of time. Play the Franchise guy! There's no point in putting in placeholder after a placeholder if you have the guy you invested so much in, ready and waiting on the bench. Allen was decent but was evident that he was just a journeyman after week 12 so Drew got the start week 13. From week 13-17 the Broncos go 4-1 Lock throwing 7 TDs and 3 ints and turned a potential disaster of a season to a respectable 7-9 and ensured Fangio safety for another year. The question for me is why didn't Fangio play Drew week 9? Did he think he wasn't ready? Was Drew still injured? Looking back on it, starting Allen week 9 made zero sense.
2020 was an up and down season for Drew. After a promising rookie campaign, Lock seemed to take a step back and threw 16 TDs and 15 ints with just under 3000 yards in his sophomore slump. As a result, the Broncos believed they should push Drew so they got Teddy Bridgewater in April to compete with Lock for the starting job. The Broncos training camp started late July and so the quarterback competition began. There was many speculation as people kept tally on who won the day and watched every play closely trying dissect who should be leading the race. However, it's hard to judge in practice because it does't fully replicate the real speed of an actual game. So we patiently wait for the first preseason game to truly see what the QBs look like. The Broncos take on the Minnesota Vikings August 14th as Drew got the start with the 1s as Teddy got the start with the 2s. They played against the Vikings second team defense the whole game but it was still a good game to evaluate them. Lock went 5/7 151 yards 2 TDs with no ints while Bridgewater went 7/8 for 74 yards 1TD no ints. The stats for both QBs look good but Tim Jenkins, football you-tuber and former QB, pointed out that Lock was actually considerably better than Teddy as Lock made nice pre snap reads and made good throws downfield which was what Teddy failed to do as he was hesitant to throw the intermediate pass and took the short safe play even though it was unnecessary as a deeper option was available. Tim pointed out Teddy doesn't hunt and take the check down a little too many times even at times when the check down is not the best option. So Lock wins round 1. Next week the Broncos face the Seahawks who did not play any starters either. Teddy went 9/11 for 105 yards with one TD with the ones as he go the start while Drew went 9/14 for 80 yards no Tds no picks with the 2s. Teddy won the day but Tim points out Drew was not as bad as his stats indicate to where he made tight throws and trusted his protection and never bailed out early like he did many times past year. He played within himself which is key. So Lock wins round one marginally. Teddy wins round two not as marginally but there was good separation between the 2 in terms of play as Teddy definitely played better game 2. Vic after the second game went above and beyond in complimenting Teddy after the Seattle game calling his pocket movement and footwork similar to Tom Brady's. WHAT. Did we hear anything like that about Drew in the first week after Lock lit it up? No. At that point we should have known. Anyway back to the competition. Lock and Teddy split basically with Lock in my opinion with a slight lead over Teddy still. Fangio names Teddy as the starter on the Wednesday before their 3rd and final preseason game vs the Rams. At this point it should be stated that it was not a real QB competition and Fangio had his eye on Teddy the whole time. Fangio needed Teddy to have a better game than Lock to name him the starter. If Fangio named Teddy the starter after the Minnesota game, there would have been riots. So Vic basically waited for the game where Teddy had a better game than Drew to make his decision so the backlash or outcry isn't as bad. If I am Drew, I am requesting a trade and looking for a fresh start on a new team. There's no reason for him to stay in a joke of an organization.
Teddy vs Drew Minnesota Game Breakdown
Teddy vs Drew Seattle Game Breakdown
It makes me sad that Drew did not get a fair shot because he really did make strides in year 3. His footwork looks cleaner, he hangs in the pocket, and is still lethal in play action. And for everyone that wants to harp on Drew for stinking it up in the second half bus Baltimore, I got 2 things for you: 1. Teddy did not play well either that game. 2. QB's can't be expected to come in a game and light it up without any practice and first teams reps. Look at Rodgers and Wilson last week. They combined for 0 Tds and 3 ints as neither of them had consistent practice as Russ was coming back from injury and Aaron was cleared to play the day before the game due to Covid. So it does not matter how good you are because practice is still important.
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