Film Room: Can Broncos Trust Drew Lock Against Steelers?
The Denver Broncos lost their first game of the season on Sunday, falling 23-7 to the Baltimore Ravens. The biggest loss of the day, however, came when starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater went down with a concussion.
While it is only Thursday and there is still a chance that Bridgewater plays this week, the Broncos have to be prepared to go with their second option. Drew Lock finished the game against the Ravens, and the offense did not look pretty with him in the second half.
Lock finished the day completing 12-of-21 passes for 113 yards and one interception. He does deserve a little leniency due to the fact that he came in cold off of the bench against a good defense, but this performance certainly doesn't calm nerves going into next week.
So in today's film room, I decided to look a little bit at Lock's history as the starter in Denver, along with how he performed this past week, to see just how worried the Broncos should be if he has to start this week.
2020 Panic Under Pressure
Lock has always been a talented quarterback prospect. The Broncos had hope that they could develop him into a starting quarterback in the league when they selected him in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft. While he has shown flashes, the consistency just hasn't been there for him.
After a solid end to his rookie campaign in 2019, Lock was named the starter going into the 2020 season. He ended up starting 13 games for the team, completing 57.3% of his passes for 2,933 yards and 16 touchdowns with 15 interceptions.
Those numbers are less than stellar — to say the least. His biggest issues on film were his poor mechanics/footwork and how he reacted to pressure. While the first one can be improved, how a quarterback reacts to pressure can absolutely sink a young player in the NFL.
When I wrote a film review of Lock in the offseason, this was the first thing that I noticed. He was too quick to bail out of clean pockets, and he would tend to lose his footwork once he felt pressure closing in. This was one of the more egregious examples of Lock bailing a clean pocket from a year ago.
When it comes to his mechanics, his feet were rarely in sync with his upper half. He had the tendency to sweep his front leg out to the left and lose his momentum before it could make its way back out his arm. This would result in Lock throwing off of his back foot and sailing passes that he needed to hit.
These are just a few examples of Lock's misaligned footwork leading to poor throws:
These two issues essentially doomed Lock's 2020 season. He could never find consistency and struggled to stack good performances together. These struggles were the main reason why the Broncos felt a stable veteran like Bridgewater was best for the team.
Baltimore Snaps Showed Same Concerns
Lock had a big chance on Sunday to come in relief and bring some life to an offense that was struggling. Instead, he looked like a noticeable downgrade at the quarterback position and struggled to find consistency, yet again.
The first noticeable miscue came on a third-down play in the third quarter. Lock has a decent pocket, but he opts to quickly bail rather than keep his eyes downfield. His quick trigger to leave a decent pocket causes him to miss a potential high-low route combination to his left.
By leaving the pocket as early as he did, he takes away half of the field from his disposal and allows the defense to get the easy stop.
The next clip is yet another third-down opportunity that Lock misses due to pressure. He does an excellent job of climbing up in the pocket as the pressure closes in from the edges. He finds the correct read over the middle of the field (and past the sticks) and begins his throwing motion to hit that receiver.
For whatever reason, Lock instead opts to pull off of that throw and throws it a few yards short of the sticks instead. My assumption is that he felt the pressure closing in and decided not to risk a more downfield throw. The only problem is, on third down, this ball has to be past the sticks.
These are just two clips from this past game, but missing two key third-down opportunities and being forced to punt has a major impact on the game. Lock has to be able to convert in these opportunities going forward.
Can the Broncos Trust Him Against the Steelers?
This question is a bit rhetorical since the team doesn't have any other options if Bridgewater can't go on Sunday. The main issue really is whether or not Lock can give his team a chance to win this game.
He is such a talented quarterback, but he is still struggling with very simple things that NFL quarterbacks need to do. If he continues to panic under pressure, he will never be able to find consistency and be a quarterback that the Broncos can rely on to win games like this.
If Lock does start on Sunday, I won't say that the Broncos are definitely going to lose. The team clearly has the advantage over the Steelers and hopefully, Lock won't have to do too much if he does start. The biggest thing for Lock is that he has to start showing positive progression if he ever wants to be a quarterback that a team can rely on again.
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