Drew Lock 'Hurting' for Albert Okwuegbunam After Fourth-Quarter Drop vs. Raiders

The NFL being a game of inches is not just a legendary quote from the greatest football movie ever produced. Victory and defeat really do hinge on the tiniest breaks within the framework of sixty actionable minutes.

Tony D'Amato Al Pacino put it best:

"One half a step too late or too early, and you don't quite make it. One half-second too slow, too fast, you don't quite catch it."

Indeed, life imitated art for Denver Broncos tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, who dropped a potential touchdown late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 17-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Thrown open on a seam-busting laser from quarterback Drew Lock, Okwuegbunam watched as the pass clanked off his hands.

He likely would have walked into the end zone. Instead, Denver walked out of Allegiant Stadium having dropped its eighth game of the season, all but mathematically eliminating the club from playoff contention.

This was the game-winner 😩 pic.twitter.com/YUj4YohKuW
— Zack Kelberman (@KelbermanNFL) December 27, 2021

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Replay showed an anguished Lock, hunched over, bewildered that his 30-yard strike fell incomplete. Though, whatever emotions he felt at that moment paled in comparison to Okwuegbunam, his former college teammate at Missouri.

And rather than criticize, Lock empathized.

“Anytime anybody is hurting after a play you hurt as the quarterback of that team. You care about everyone around you, especially a guy that you’ve been with six years already, seven years," Lock said in his postgame press conference. "Uncharacteristic of him and it hurts me for him, but I know it will hurt him tremendously for the next couple days. That’s what makes Albert him. He’s going to bounce back from that and I’m excited to see what he does the rest of this year. He takes a lot of pride in his work, he takes a lot of pride in how he plays this game and he’ll figure it out and bounce back after that one.”

Truth be told, it isn't that uncharacteristic for Okwuegbunam, who was held catchless on two targets against the Raiders. The sophomore TE has struggled with drop issues in 2021, fumbling near the end zone in the opener and muffing a would-be TD bomb from Teddy Bridgewater in Week 5.

Two of the three Okwuegbunam-ridden contests resulted in defeat — hardly coincidental, as Pacino famously warned.

"The differences are really small in this league, and we just got to be better in places here and there," Lock said.

Follow Zack on Twitter @KelbermanNFL

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