Brock Osweiler’s performance on Thursday night was even more impressive than it looked

INDIANAPOLIS — His first try at a comeback in Orange & Blue didn’t go as planned.

But Brock Osweiler wasted little time sweeping his team, his fans and the national audience off their feet the moment he got his second opportunity to lead the Denver Broncos in 2017.

One series after “settling in” to the game, after taking over for an injured Trevor Siemian at the beginning of the second quarter, the Broncos’ second-round pick in 2012 took over the game like he, nor any other quarterback in the prized Broncos organization, has ever done.

After his first pass of the game sailed incomplete, the $16 million quarterback lived up to every penny of his massive paycheck, at least for the final three quarters of the Broncos 25-13 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

“I mean, come on—let’s not act like we don’t know who Brock Osweiler is. He’s done incredible stuff for us. He’s done incredible stuff in the past. He’s done incredible stuff for us this year,” Broncos’ star pass rusher Von Miller said, giving the utmost praise for the second-string quarterback entering Thursday night’s game. “When he comes in and has success, it’s not really a surprise. It’s Brock Osweiler; it’s our guy.”

Yet Thursday night, in front of the national spotlight, Brock had success like he’s never experienced in the past. Outside of a game in which he threw two passes in 2014, Osweiler’s 147.7 passer rating was the best in his six-year professional career to go along with a magnificent 70.6 completion percentage.

“He played well. Three touchdowns—two passing, one rushing,” Broncos’ head coach Vance Joseph said after the game, assessing Osweiler’s performance moments after handing him one of three game balls on the night. “He played with great poise. He played clean, smart football for us and the result was a win.”

What made his performance even more remarkable was this was the first time he had ever taken game-reps in offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave’s new offense. In all three of Osweiler’s starts earlier in 2017—Weeks 8, 9 and 10—he was playing under the direction of then-offensive coordinator Mike McCoy. Since McCoy was relieved of his duties, up until Thursday, Osweiler hadn’t taken the field with the first-team offense.

“This is my third offense this year. Started with Hue Jackson in Cleveland,” Osweiler said refusing to wipe away an ear-to-ear smile permanently radiating off his face. “A lot of things tonight were the first time I’de ever ran them, or even called them.”

For Brock on Thursday, experience in an offense was overrated. Not only was it a career night for him personally in many ways, he re-wrote the Broncos record books. Up until Week 15, the Broncos never had a quarterback throw for two touchdowns and rush for a touchdown in a relief role. Brock changed that on primetime with touchdowns of 18, 22 and 54 yards.

“I was a little kid having fun tonight. That’s really what it was,” the 27-year old kid said as he divulged his true feelings to the media. “You guys know I’ve been on a little bit of a rollercoaster ride for about two years. Just to go out there, Thursday night football with my teammates who I love—I was just having fun. That was simply it. I was going to lay it all out there. We always talk about around our building, you never know when it’s going to be your last play, your last game in this business, so just enjoy every moment. That’s what I was doing tonight.”

On his first touchdown of the night, the 6-foot-7 quarterback truly did “lay it all out there” as he finished off an 18-yard scramble with a head-first dive into the end zone.

“It took him eight hours to get there,” running back C.J. Anderson joked about his long-striding quarterback’s touchdown jaunt.

From that score on, Brock and the Broncos’ offense never looked back—outscoring the Colts 25-6 after Osweiler took over the game down seven points.

“Brock, he was on fire,” Von said nonchalantly after the team’s second win in a row.

It was Osweiler’s third and final touchdown on the night, however, that stole not only the show, but potentially Denver’s disappointing season. With just under three minutes left in the third quarter, only leading by one point, Brock did what no Bronco has done this season: Scored a touchdown on a play that began in Denver’s own territory.

On second-and-eight from Denver’46-yard6 yard line, Brock found a wide-open Jeff Heuerman in the middle of the field, connected with him, and the tight end took it to the house for his first-ever career touchdown. Not only was it the Broncos’ longest touchdown on the season, it was their longest play of the season.

“I could have caught that with my teeth,” Heuerman said of Osweiler’s touchdown throw. “No, really, it was a perfect pass. I am just happy I didn’t trip over my feet.”

Along with his brilliant individual night, Brock led an offense that put up a season-high in total yards (462) and rushing yards (213), while putting up the second-most points all season and the most since the team’s season-high (42) in Week 2. After the game, Heuerman credited Osweiler’s pre-snap work—checks and calls—for the offense’s success in not only the passing game, but the running game as well.

Even with all of this—including the best performance by a Broncos’ quarterback all season—Joseph wouldn’t commit to Brock for the future, responding, “I can’t say that right now” when asked if it’s safe to say Osweiler would be the starter next week against the Washington Redskins in Week 16.

One thing that is certain moving forward, however, is No. 17’s dedication, commitment, and love that the kid at heart has for the organization he plays for.

“Unfortunately that’s not up to me to decide,” Brock said when asked if he believes he did enough to start moving forward. “But certainly I would love to be the starter of this football team… I love being a Denver Bronco.”