Denver Broncos: QB competition hindering Pat Shurmur’s evolution?
Lost in the Drew Lock or Teddy Bridgewater competition at quarterback for the Denver Broncos is offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who is going into his second year as Denver’s play-caller. The hope with continuity is improvement year to year, especially after a 5-11 finish. As a matter of fact, the Denver Broncos offense did show some improvement in the final five games of last season.
Denver put up 22.8 points per game in the final five games as opposed to 18.57 in Lock’s prior starts, and Lock’s TD/INT ratio was 9 to 4 in those games after starting 7 to 11. This could be linked to Lock and Shurmur finally getting on the same page. That’s something I would like to be building on now and the entire offseason.
For those who simply feel Lock can’t be a solid NFL quarterback and prefer Teddy Bridgewater, then I suppose the same would hold true there as well. I have nothing against Teddy Bridgewater. I am simply more excited as a fan about Drew Lock’s potential than a steady veteran.
Most of the playbook can probably be run by either Drew or Teddy, but the great QB/play-caller duos in the league talk and cater plays and formations, and protections to match a particular guy’s skillset.
Pat Shurmur is currently given split time if any to tweak things to help either QB make plays. Not a problem in OTA’s, but by all accounts, it will be much of the same split in training camp, and the preseason. That’s not an ideal offseason with “your QB” singular.
There is no denying that the lack of an offseason hindered Shurmur from working with Drew Lock and the offense on the finer details and it showed early on. By not knowing who the quarterback is I fear the Denver Broncos will again rob themselves of the time to fine-tune the offense going into week one.
I’ve never been in an NFL quarterback room so I may be wrong but it seems to me that the guy calling the plays and the guy calling them out in the huddle should be working in-depth on the X’s and O’s sooner rather than later.
Now maybe Shurmur can work with both guys and get chemistry, but I would prefer to see it focused on the starter preferably on Drew Lock hoping he can reach his potential ceiling and be a long-term answer.