On Monday, the Mile High City was aghast at all the tweets emanating out of Dove Valley over quarterback Drew Lock throwing two interceptions during 11-on-11 team drills. The Denver Broncos had finally kicked off 11-on-11 drills after being delayed for a while, and Lock — currently battling Teddy Bridgewater for the starting job — did not have a great first day.
Missed among the hand-wringing over Lock's play was the fact that Bridgewater also turned the ball over. Following practice, more than one beat writer opined that Lock appeared to be "pressing" and that he showed his "frustration."
Head coach Vic Fangio never wants to see a player pressing but when asked directly whether Lock had been doing just that, he dismissed it out of hand.
“Not really. I think it's too early to come to any conclusions one way or the other—even a small conclusion," Fangio said. "[QBs Coach] Mike [Shula] and [Offensive Coordinator] Pat [Shurmur] are working with him on that stuff. I'm not worried about it at this point.”
Lock dealt with a finger blister on his throwing hand on Monday which could have accounted for any body language that onlookers interpreted as 'frustrated'. After learning about all Lock did to attack the offseason and cultivate the right mindset, the notion that he would be showing cracks in the emotional veneer so early would be concerning — if Broncos' coaches and players weren't providing countervailing remarks.
"Drew, I think he did so many great things this offseason," offensive guard Dalton Risner said on Monday. "I think he’s in a great headspace to go out and have a really successful year."
Even Fangio, when asked about his overall impression of the quarterback play on Monday, was positive — which included Bridgewater (who gets hyped because he's not Lock) and Lock both.
“Overall, it was good," Fangio said.
As it stands, these first few days of OTAs are like a handful of pieces to a larger jigsaw, which is why Fangio isn't jumping to even a "small" conclusion. Who could guess what the full frame of a jigsaw puzzle might look like by scrutinizing naught but four or five of its 400 pieces.
As people jump to conclusions one way or the other, keep that in mind. All will be known in due time. Lock has plenty of time to make his case to the coaches and so does Bridgewater.
The dust won't be settled on this QB competition until the preseason games — at the soonest. That doesn't mean we won't analyze the buzz we hear out of UCHealth Training Center each day, because, again, each day is a piece to the puzzle, but we're not going to jump the shark until the larger picture has been more fully exposed.
More must-reads: