Put simply, Drew Lock balled out on Sunday.
As the Denver Broncos picked up their fifth win of the 2020 season by beating the Carolina Panthers 32-27, Drew Lock had his best game as a professional. He did it when he needed it most.
The Broncos are a team facing plenty of uncertainty heading into the future. That uncertainty has led to questions in regards to the head coach, members of the coaching staff, front office personnel and of course, the starting quarterback.
Fans have already started to look at quarterback options in next year’s draft and there are already mock drafts out that have the Broncos selecting a quarterback in the first round next year such as BYU’s Zach Wilson.
That can all be put to bed.
Lock lit it up in Charlotte, completing 21 of his 27 throws for 280 yards and four touchdowns. He put together a QB rating of 149.5, which is the third-highest for a game in team history. Only Peyton Manning against San Francisco in 2014 and John Elway in a game against Arizona in 1995 had higher ratings.
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Lock really needed this performance and it should silence critics that feel the team should already turn the page at quarterback. Does this performance make up for all of the mistakes that Lock has made this season? Of course not.
He still needs to get much better with his progressions and his decision making, but what this game does is show what Lock is capable of. When you have a player that can put together a game like this, on the road, you give him every chance to succeed.
Lock made big plays in this game when he had to. When the Broncos got into the red zone, he capped those drives off with touchdown passes. Late in the game, just when it seemed like Carolina was set to steal all of the momentum and maybe the game, he threw a 49-yard strike to K.J. Hamler to seal the deal.
This was a huge performance for the second-year quarterback and any notion that the team needs a new quarterback in 2021 needs to be squashed.