ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On Wednesday, Drew Lock reunited with his teammates at the UCHealth Training Center for the first time since being pulled from Saturday’s practice.
The Denver Broncos’ starting quarterback, along with every other quarterback in the organization, was deemed ineligible to play Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints after the NFL ruled them to be high-risk close contacts.
“Obviously this was a big, big week with everything that went on,” Lock said on Wednesday, speaking to the media for the first time since missing Sunday’s game. “I’ve put out the statement, said what I said and I meant it. I’ll own up to this mistake. Again, I feel like this team and everyone that has been involved has done a great job with protocols.”
On the Tuesday leading up to the Saints game, Lock, Brett Rypien, Jeff Driskel and Blake Bortles met at the Broncos’ facility on their off day to watch extra film. During their film session, the quarterbacks did not have masks covering their face—which is required at all times by the NFL—for a period of time.
“We came in on that Tuesday, got some extra work in when no one was here. We got too lackadaisical with [mask wearing] and it ended up hurting us. It hurt this program,” the 24-year old said, explaining the situation in his own words. “I apologize for letting that happen. We could have been better. That’s the point of the matter here. We needed to be perfect and we weren’t perfect. That’s something that we got to be better at moving forward.”
Two days later, on Thanksgiving, Driskel tested positive for COVID-19. In the NFL’s contact tracing efforts, the league discovered the quarterbacks were not wearing masks for a portion of their Tuesday film session. This led the NFL to identify Lock, Rypien and Bortles as high-risk close contacts, meaning they had to quarantine for five days and thus miss Sunday’s game.
“We didn’t do the right thing,” Lock stated. “We didn’t have [masks] on the whole time we were in there. That’s just part of the matter is [the league] feels like it was off for the amount of time for them to keep us out of the game. That’s what it is. We got to be better.”
Despite Driskel testing positive on Thursday, the league did not complete its contact tracing until Saturday. In fact, the Broncos’ quarterbacks weren’t notified until midway through Saturday’s practice as they were pulled off the practice field just 24 hours before game time.
“As far as being surprised, you know, I think the timing was a little different. Obviously, we were out there getting ready to practice and we got pulled off the field. That came as a surprise to me,” Lock said. “Whatever the league doctors and lawyers and everyone has to say about it, we’re going to follow what they say and follow their rules. They told me we needed to stay home, so we had to stay home.”
With less than a day to prepare to play an NFL game without a quarterback, the Broncos turned to practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton to fill the void. As expected, the Broncos’ offense struggled mightily as the team only completed one pass.
“Watching it, it was a gut-wrenching feeling the whole time. It was tough. It was really tough. It wasn’t something that I enjoyed doing,” Lock said about having to watch his team lose 31-3 from his home. “I would much rather have been out there on the field helping my teammates out. It hurt my heart. It hurt my soul. It’s just time to move on and get to Kansas City and finally get out there and do what I love and that’s playing football.”
After Denver’s humiliating loss, Vic Fangio said he was disappointed in the quarterback’s action that led to none of them being available for Sunday’s game, adding, “We count on them to be the leaders of the team and leaders of the offense.”
On Wednesday, when asked about his coach’s comments surrounding his leadership, Lock responded, “Anything Coach Vic says is not in my jurisdiction to really get upset with him.”
“He’s my boss. He’s the leader of this team and whatever he says goes,” the second-year quarterback stated. “I feel like we were taking a little bit of leadership on coming in and getting ready by ourselves and doing that by showing up on a day where everyone was at home. So I feel like that shows leadership.”
Lock and the other quarterbacks were fined by the team for not following the COVID-19 protocols during that Tuesday meeting.
To ensure the Broncos aren’t put in a similar situation in which they don’t have a quarterback available for a game, Bortles will have “limited” exposure to the rest of the team. He did not practice on Wednesday and the team will continue to re-evaluate that decision on a daily basis.
As for Lock, he’s ready to move on. And he said the best way to do that is by performing well at Wednesday’s practice.
“Quite honestly, to me and this team, we’re ready to move on from it. We’re ready to get to Kansas City,” Lock stated. “We can keep addressing it and keep dragging this one longer than it needs to be, but that’s not what we’re going to do. You know what happened happened on Sunday. We know what needs to happen this Sunday night. Nothing that’s going to help us get ready for Sunday night has to do with what happened last week.”
Reunited with his team, Lock gets to go to his hometown of Kansas City to face the 10-1 Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.
