Broncos Quarterback Scoreboard: In Seattle, Teddy Bridgewater was the better man

Editor’s note: A Broncos quarterback competition can only mean one thing — another Broncos quarterback scoreboard. A fan favorite in the past, these stories will be posted after each and every training camp practice updating just how Denver’s quarterback competition is unfolding. At the end of each practice, 10 points will be divided among Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater with a cumulative score of the entire camp following. Which quarterback is in the lead? Find out now.

SEATTLE — “We’ve got more information coming,” Vic Fangio told media after practice on Aug. 18, three days before the Broncos faced the Seattle Seahawks in the second preseason game for both teams.

Saturday, against a Seahawks defense featuring five of its first-teamers in the starting lineup, “more information” came to the Broncos.

And that information appeared helpful to Teddy Bridgewater’s cause. He led two touchdown drives in as many opportunities, including a 16-play, 87-yard march that included two fourth-and-1 conversions and consumed nine minutes and 47 seconds of the clock. He completed nine of his 11 passes, and one of the incompletions was a clean drop in the flat by rookie running back Javonte Williams.

And while Drew Lock didn’t fare badly once he entered the game midway through the second quarter, he didn’t have type of splash throws that he did in Minnesota a week earlier, although he did lead a successful two-minute drill march to a Brandon McManus field goal near the end of the first half.

Could Fangio make a decision between the two quarterbacks in the coming days?

“We might,” he said after the Broncos’ 30-3 romp over the Seahawks at Lumen Field. “I want to take a look at the tape some more.”

The tape will show a lot to like from both quarterbacks — but more from Bridgewater than Lock on this night.

Teddy Bridgewater delivered a game that his Hall-of-Fame mentor probably loved

It could have gone differently for Bridgewater on Saturday.

Facing a Seahawks defense with five first-teamers in its lineup and a desire to generate pressure, Bridgewater and the offense’s first series looked like it could have ended in a three-and-out after an apparent miscommunication on an attempt to KJ Hamler led to a third-and-5 incompletion.

Instead, Fangio went for it. Bridgewater stepped away from the pass rush, hit Jerry Jeudy in stride at the Seattle 24-yard line, and watched as Jeudy dashed another 19 yards with the football, turning fourth-and-5 at the Seattle 40 into first-and-goal at the 5-yard line.

Three plays later, Bridgewater read Seattle’s corner blitz perfectly, capitalizing by hitting Hamler in the right flat for a 2-yard touchdown pass, and the rout was on.

Climbing the pocket was something Bridgewater did effectively Saturday, despite pressure from Seattle’s front seven.

“He’s got good quarterback awareness and instincts. I think it’s shown in the way he can move within a pocket and buy time that way,” Fangio said. “There’s two types of elusive quarterbacks — the ones that run around, and there’s the other ones that manipulate the pocket to buy time. The best in the past 20 years of that has been Tom Brady, and he’s got a little of that in him, as far as manipulating the pocket.”

The Brady comparison might be a stretch, but on Saturday, Bridgewater looked comfortable under fire.

“It’s just one of those deals where you have a clock in your head and you can sense the pocket,” he said. “I always tell the tackles that I like when you guys just force the defensive ends to do a certain thing and let me step up in the pocket, creating a lane to where I can escape or just give myself more time to pass the ball and push the ball down the field.”

Bridgewater was modest about his performance. Twice in once answer in his post-game press conference, referred to “just doing my job,” complimenting the offensive line and his pass-catching targets.

Collectively, they kept the line moving — even though they needed three fourth-down conversions to do it.

Two of them came on Bridgewater’s second and final series — the afore-mentioned 16-play, 87-yard drive through the Seahawks. Both conversions on that series were fourth-and-1 plays, and offenses ought to be in the mindset of always going for it on fourth-and-1 if they follow analytics.

“I think out of the three of them, two were very realistic, could have happened in any game. One of them may have been a stretch,” Fangio said, presumably referring to the fourth-and-5 pass to Jeudy, “but, again, if you’re offense is doing [well], you have confidence.”

Confidence led to conversions, and conversions led to two touchdown drives. The second score saw Dalton Risner recover a Royce Freeman fumble for the points, but it was made possible by Bridgewater stepping out of pressure from the Seattle 22-yard line and hitting tight end Eric Saubert on a perfectly-placed strike at the Seattle 1-yard line.

And with that, Bridgewater’s evening was done: 105 yards on 9-of-11 passing, one touchdown pass and a 136.7 passer rating. Most importantly, both series ended in touchdowns.

“My mentor — my great mentor — he always tells me just get your unit to the end zone. No matter how you do it, just get them in the end zone,” Bridgewater said. “That’s my mindset every time I step on the field. How can I keep this unit that’s out here with me competing and battling every play to the end zone? Because that’s the most exciting feeling when you score a touchdown.”

Bridgewater’s “great mentor”? Hall-of-Fame coach Bill Parcells.

“He’ll shoot me a text out of the blue: ‘Hey, I don’t care what you do, just get your guys to the end zone,’ [or] ‘Hey, I hope you’re not just sitting around; get your guys to the end zone.’ So, I just hear that message in my head constantly throughout the game.”

Bridgewater’s advisor, former NFL safety Abram Elam, played for Parcells in Dallas in 2006 and connected the two for a meeting in 2014 before the NFL Draft, which saw Bridgewater taken by the Minnesota Vikings with the No. 32 pick in the first round. Minnesota’s coach then and now was Mike Zimmer, who was Parcells’ defensive coordinator in Dallas from 2003 through 2006.

“I was able to connect with him coming out of college,” Bridgewater said. “Our relationship just grew over the years.”

And Bridgewater’s performance Saturday — efficient, based on pocket presence and good decision-making, was the sort of performance that Parcells himself could appreciate.

Drew Lock’s night highlighted by a solid two-minute drill

It didn’t start well. But it got better.

Lock stepped onto the field and got an altered offensive line, with Bobby Massie replacing Calvin Anderson at right tackle, Quinn Meinerz and Netane Muti working at the guard spots and Cameron Fleming stepping in for Garett Bolles at left tackle. Only center Lloyd Cushenberry remained. On the third play, Lock fumbled as he was hit, but he recovered the fumble. Still, it was a three-and-out.

“We had some protection breakdowns when he got in there,” Fangio said. “I want to see all of his plays with a remote in my hand and take a good look at it, rather than what I saw at the field at the time.”

The next series was more encouraging. Lock and the No. 2 offense got the football back with 1:02 remaining before halftime thanks to DeShawn Williams’ interception. They had all three timeouts when they took over at their 33-yard line.

Lock completed 5 of his 8 passes on the drive for 41 yards. Not bad. But what was encouraging was his decision-making. With second-and-5 from the Seattle 39, he calmly went through his progressions, then checked down to Freeman for 8 yards, moving the offense into field-goal range — but using the Bronocs’ final timeout of the half in the process.

On two of the three snaps that followed, when Lock didn’t see the chance for a strike, he threw the football away to prevent a clock-churning completion. In between, he found Trinity Benson for a 5-yard pass near the left sideline, in perfect position for Benson to run to the sideline and stop the clock.

“I think it was a good bounce back — just going out there and making the best out of every play that we had,” Lock said.

here’s obviously things that we need to work on, but overall I think tonight’s performance in general as a team, it’s trending in a positive way. It’s fun to be a part of. There were some things there that we’d like to fix, but overall I think it was good.

Two of the three drives Lock led in the second half ended in field goals. On the first, Freeman provided the thrust of the series, accounting for 19 of the 21 yards gained before the Broncos opted to kick a 52-yard field goal on fourth-and-5 from the Seattle 34-yard line.

Two quarters earlier, the Broncos went for it with Bridgewater on fourth-and-5 from the Seattle 40.

“At that point, a field goal was logical, and plus, I wanted McManus to get work, too,” Fangio explained.

Lock smiled when asked about the decision to kick.

“You’ll always argue to go for it on fourth down,” he said.

After a three-and-out on the next series, Lock improvised his way into a 33-yard pass to set up the Broncos’ third field goal in five drives led by the third-year quarterback. Lock eluded pressure, stepped forward and shoveled a pass to rookie Seth Williams, who galloped 33 yards into the Seattle red zone.

“Good vision,” Fangio said, adding that from his sideline angle, he “couldn’t tell” whether Lock could have run for the first down on his own instead of flipping the ball to Williams.

“That was very good improvisation on his part.”

The drive stalled three plays later at the Seattle 6-yard line. Lock fielded the football from under center, but then had an offensive lineman step on his foot. Lock fumbled and recovered, but the Broncos settled for three points.

“It was my first time ever getting stepped on,” he said, adding that there was no issue with the snap.

“I’ll put it on me,” Lock said.

Lock ended the night with 80 yards on 9-of-14 passing and a 79.5 passer rating. But he also concluded it with no turnovers and points on three of five possessions — although just one series had more than a single first down, the two-minute drill that saw Lock and the offense move the chains three times. Lock also didn’t have the type of  play-action opportunities that he had seven days before in Minnesota.

QB Play of the Day

Bridgewater’s 21-yard pass to Saubert was perhaps his best play in either of the last two games, and saw the veteran at his best: eluding pressure and tossing an accurate throw into a tight window near the sideline. It set up the Broncos’ second touchdown of the game two plays later.

“It was a great throw,” Fangio said. “We’ve seen him do it in practice, and obviously it was a good catch, good route by Saubert.

Scoreboard

Bridgewater was essentially as effective as Lock was last week with the first team. Although he didn’t have the back-breaking big play like Lock did with the play-action pass to Hamler, he operated efficiently. Bridgewater also did it against a defense with more starters — including all three defensive linemen — while facing a greater array of pressure packages than Lock saw last week.

Lock avoided the big mistake during his five possessions of work spanning the second and third quarters. But he also had less success with the reserve personnel than Bridgewater did last week.

Nevertheless, Broncos fans should be encouraged by both passers. Lock ran the two-minute drill well Saturday, and recovered from a rough first series in which his protection faltered. Bridgewater missed just one throw, and that was on an apparent miscommunication with Hamler. Every other pass was on target and catchable.

“We can play and win with either one of these guys,” Fangio said, “and that’s a good thing.”

But if the competition ended Saturday, the edge appears to belong to the eight-year veteran, who led the Broncos to 14 points on two possessions that netted an average of 66 yards and 4.5 first downs per possession. Lock’s five possessions saw nine points and an average of 19.2 net yards and 1.0 first downs per series.

Daily 10-point scale score: 6.5-3.5, Bridgewater

Multiplied by two because it was a game: 13-7, Bridgewater

Collective 10-point scale score: 93.5-86.5, Teddy Bridgewater