Denver Broncos: 7 takeaways after losing Drew Lock, game to Steelers

1. Jeff Driskel’s performance

There is no doubt that Jeff Driskel is a backup quarterback in the NFL, but he’s been hired by the Denver Broncos to come in and play in situations exactly like this one.

All things considered, he didn’t do all that bad, especially on a second watch of the game.

Driskel didn’t take really any reps in practice this week, essentially imitating Ben Roethlisberger in practice as the broadcast crew alluded to during the game.

With that said, Driskel made some nice throws in this game, kept the Denver Broncos in it through four quarters, and should — in theory — be even better with a full week of practice to game plan and be at the command of the offense.

There are a couple of things in this game that Driskel did that he simply cannot do going forward. Driskel took a sack on a first-and-goal play after a catch by Noah Fant which had a horse-collar tackle added onto the end of it.

Driskel took the sack, and the Broncos wound up way out of touchdown range and gave the Steelers back any momentum they had gained.

The stat sheet will show an interception for Driskel, but it wasn’t his fault (it was actually Courtland Sutton’s, more on that later).

There weren’t any throws that were so errant by Driskel that he simply looked incompetent out there, not by any stretch.

Aside from poor pocket presence at times against a very stout Pittsburgh pass rush, I actually thought Driskel looked solid in this game and even better on the second watch than he was in the initial game watch-through.

He finished the game 18-of-34 passing with two touchdowns, the interception, and six sacks.

It’s horrendous for the Denver Broncos to have to deal with losing Drew Lock, but they can wrap a game plan around Driskel, whose arm strength and athleticism are two plus traits he can utilize to keep the Broncos in tough, tight games as he did in this one.