Drew Lock: 5 reasons Broncos fans should be keeping the faith

2. The grass is green where you water it

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side — the grass is green where you water it.

The Denver Broncos made the decision in the 2020 offseason to move on from young offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello in favor of a veteran play-caller in Pat Shurmur.

Shurmur certainly has a track record of doing good work with quarterbacks, and he comes from the Andy Reid coaching tree. That combination should equal Patrick Mahomes production, right?

Again, the grass is green where you water it. What the Broncos are building with Lock and Shurmur is still in its infancy stages. There have been frustrating moments from both Lock and Shurmur this season. The Broncos have cycled through a wide variety of lineups offensively, dealing with injuries, COVID-19, canceled practices, no offseason work really to speak of, and no preseason games.

Those are not excuses for basic mistakes being made — those must be corrected and if they persist then changes should be strongly considered — those are reasons why things aren’t going as well right now as they could otherwise be.

Lock had three different offensive coordinators at Missouri. He has now had two different offensive coordinators in the NFL. We have talked this year about what a difference it has made for Garett Bolles just to have consecutive years with the same offensive line coach. We have talked about how it takes time for players to adjust to Vic Fangio’s defense and really speak it as a first language.

Heck, Bryce Callahan even spent his time injured last season working with the players and teaching them about Fangio’s scheme to help get them up to speed faster.

Lock is not afforded the same time to grow into Shurmur’s scheme simply because Justin Herbert stepped into Anthony Lynn’s established offense? Or because Patrick Mahomes inherited Andy Reid’s offense in Kansas City with unbelievable playmakers?

It is fair to criticize Lock for some of the bad decisions he’s made, but it’s completely unfair to write him off as a long-term option 11 games, two offensive coordinators, and two injuries in.

Lock should not be exempt from criticism — and he isn’t — but he should have ample time to figure it out. He wasn’t a first-round pick, but with the upside he has shown, the Broncos should treat him like one and give him at least a couple of years to see if he and Pat Shurmur can work together the way the Broncos envisioned they could.

Water the grass.