Denver Broncos: Drew Lock silences critics in one quarter
The finish between the Broncos and Chargers was not for the faint of heart.
The Denver Broncos just completed one of the best comebacks in team history and that is saying something considering some of the magic that John Elway mastered in his career.
The Los Angels Chargers had a 21-3 lead in the game and took a 24-10 lead into the fourth quarter. Along the way, the Broncos looked absolutely dismal on offense and Drew Lock was making fans everywhere question how much longer he will be the team’s quarterback.
A 55-yard touchdown run by Phillip Lindsay in the third quarter was the spark that the Broncos needed. That made the score 24-10, but there was still much work to do.
Through three quarters, Lock had been awful. In the first three quarters of the game, he completed just 12 of 23 passes for 93 yards with an interception. The interception he threw was particularly bad, as he tried to hit Jerry Jeudy on a deep route but there was a safety looking in the area the entire time. He never looked him off and stared down his target, throwing the ball even though that safety, Rayshawn Jenkins, was outside the numbers.
That might be the easiest interception Jenkins ever gets but what was more obvious was at that moment, Broncos fans around the country were almost certainly shouting “this is not the guy”!
Then the fourth quarter started.
Lock looked like a completely different player after that interception. He led the Broncos on a 9-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Albert Okwuegbunam.
The Chargers went on a drive of their own and got another three points on the board with a field goal. The Broncos trailed by 10 with just over seven minutes to play, but Lock didn’t back down.
Two plays later, he threw an absolute strike to DaeSean Hamilton who turned the reception into a 40-yard touchdown. Within three, the Broncos needed to get the ball back one more time.
The Chargers were able to go down and get another field goal to make the score 30-24 with just over two minutes to play. The Broncos would need a touchdown to win it.
Lock took the team on a perfect drive down the field, starting by taking what the defense gave him on checkdowns to Melvin Gordon, who made four catches on the drive, including a key third-down conversion.
With just seven seconds left on the clock and with no timeouts remaining, Lock needed to throw the ball into the end zone. He looked for Okwuegbunam but threw the ball a bit too far. Luckily, the Broncos were bailed out by a pass interference penalty on Brandon Facyson.
With one second left in the game, the Broncos had the ball on the 1-yard line. Lock took the snap, rolled out and found K.J. Hamler who caught the ball and fell to the ground, getting his rear end down just before going out of bounds.
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Broncos win!
In the fourth quarter alone, Lock completed 14-of-18 passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns. In the same game, many fans were wondering who the team was going to turn to next as its quarterback, but Lock reversed all of that in a big way.
The NFL has long been a “what have you done for me lately” league and in Lock’s case, he just did quite a bit.
Yes, he makes some bad decisions and still has some work to do on his overall mechanics. But what he did on Sunday was special. He shook off an otherwise bad performance and showed poise, grit and determination to put his team on his back and win the game.
That is what makes him the team’s quarterback of the future and this performance, at the very least, should silence any doubters for a little while.