Broncos Quarterback Scoreboard: Both quarterbacks bounce back, while one is nearly perfect in the air

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.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On Friday, inaccurate was the word of the day for the Broncos’ quarterbacks.

One quarterback flipped that on its head in nearly the best possible way 24 hours later during Saturday’s practice.

Teddy Locked In

On Friday, Bridgewater had one interception, along with multiple poorly placed passed.

On Saturday, the eight-year veteran had only one incompletion. That incompletion wasn’t hit fault, either, as it hit both of Noah Fant’s hands right on the numbers.

Bridgewater started the day with a 20-yard completion to an open K.J. Hamler in the middle of the field. He followed that up with a 10-yard pass to Branden Mack for back-to-back first downs.

Outside of a monster bomb to Fant during 7-on-7s (read below), Bridgewater wasn’t flashy, but he was incredibly efficient.

Only receiving six drop backs during team periods, Bridgewater followed up his first two completions by his only underwhelming sequence on the day. After hitting Fant for five yards off a play-action boot to the right, which the tight end dropped, he was then sacked. There was also a flag thrown for holding.

He took advantage of his final two passes during team period down in the red zone. With the ball inside the five-yard line, Teddy stepped up in the pocket and slide left with pressure collapsing the right side of the line. Keeping his eyes in the end zone, he pump faked to open up a passing lane. Jerry Jeudy emerged in the back of the end zone. Bridgewater slung it to him for six.

Bridgewater connected on his second opportunity in the red zone too. Off play action, No. 5 waited for Albert Okwuegbunam to streak across the back of the end zone from left to right. As he crossed what would have been the right hash, he became open and Teddy got him the ball.

While Bridgewater’s passing attempts were limited in team, he had the same efficiency during 7-on-7s. In one passing period, Teddy connected on all six of his passes. All were for five yards, give or take a yard or two. There was nothing flashy about it, but in five plays, the offense would have moved 30 yards without a single negative play.

Sandwiched around his bomb to Fant in 7-on-7s, Bridgewater connected with Jeudy for 10 and also connected with Okwuegbunam for 20 down the right sideline.

Teddy’s other three passes during 7-on-7 consisted of two five-yard slants and a seven-yard completion to Shaun Beyer.

Outside of his long touchdown during 7-on-7s, Bridgewater’s yards per pass were nothing to write home about on Saturday. But his efficiency, decision making, touchdown-to-interception ratio and completion percentage were all nearly flawless.

An Up-and-Down Ride

Friday’s underwhelming practice bled into the start of Saturday’s practice for Drew Lock.

No. 3’s first team period was ruined by Bradley Chubb. Lock’s first pass had no chance of making it across the line as the outside linebacker towered over the offensive line to easily knock the ball down. Chubb was all over the pass, so much so, that he nearly picked it instead of just batting it down.

Chubb ruined Lock’s next drop back even more as he would have taken the quarterback to the ground before he released it. The final throw of that period was an incompletion in the left flat.

The next time Lock threw the ball was during 7-on-7s. That period wasn’t any better. After an incompletion with what looked to be a miscommunication with the receiver, Lock held onto the ball so long that the play was blown dead, resulting in a sack.

It wasn’t until Lock’s second pass of the following 7-on-7 period that he got his first completion on the day. Lock connected with DeVontres Dukes for a gain of 15 yards in the middle of the field. The play before that, Drew threw the ball too far behind Warren Jackson for an incompletion.

But Lock had to wait even longer for his first completion during a team period. His only pass of the following period was broken up by Rojesterman Farris 15 yards downfield.

Then Lock began to get in a bit of a groove. In the following 7-on-7 period, Lock connected on all but one of his five passes, three of which were for 10 yards.

The other was one of the best passes on the day. On 3rd-and-5, Lock put fantastic touch on a sideline pass to Jeudy. The ball floated just over the head of Bryce Callahan and landed just enough in bounds for Jeudy to get his feet in for the 15-yard gain.

The rest of practice were team periods filled with ups and downs for the third-year quarterback. There was a mix of both on the following play.

Right at the snap, Von Miller blew by the right side of the line and would have sacked Drew before he was even able to see his first read. With Von’s jump and speed, it could have very well been a strip sack. However, since Miller can’t touch Lock, the play continued. Lock then connected with Courtland Sutton on the right numbers for a 15-yard gain as the Pro-Bowl receiver secured the ball near the ground.

Lock then connected with Jeudy for 10 yards, as Jerry stretched out to haul in the high pass.

Drew began the following team period with his biggest play of the day by completing a 30-yard pass to Hamler in the middle of the field. He followed that up with a five-yard completion to Sutton before Caden Sterns broke up the third pass of the period.

On the final move-the-ball period, Von didn’t do Drew any favors as the period began with a sack. On 2nd-and-long, Lock held on to the ball just a second too long, allowing Dre’Mont Jones to run by him for what would have been another sack. The play went on and Lock connected with Albert O. on a 30-yard strike.

However, since the play was blown dead for a sack, the offense faced third down. Lock wasn’t able to keep the offense on the field as he threw the next pass behind Hamler for an incompletion.

In the final period of the day, Lock was able to connect on one of his two passes from inside the five. His first pass was broken up by Alexander Johnson as Lock attempted to zip the ball into the back of the end zone. No. 45 made sure there was no lane for the ball to go through.

The second-round pick ended practice on a high note. From the gun, Lock immediately took off toward the left sideline on a designed roll out. With Seth Williams also taking off toward the sideline from the slot, Lock tossed it to the open rookie, who turned up field and into the end zone for the three-yard touchdown.

Unfortunately for Lock, most of his biggest plays on the day were blown dead due to a lethal pass rush. However, he didn’t do himself any favors with his slow start. It was encouraging, though, to see him bounce back in the second half of practice and maintain his composure.

QB Play of the Day

After three-straight first-down completions to open up practice, Teddy went for a heat check.

Looking the safeties off to the left, Bridgewater loaded up and unleashed a pass roughly 50 yards in the air. The ball hit Fant in the numbers, literally, just over the outstretched arms of new cornerback Saivion Smith. The first-round tight end secured the ball and held off Smith the final 10 yards until he reached the end zone.

The heat check resulted in fire—a 60-yard touchdown.

Scoreboard

For a fifth-straight practice, Bridgewater was the better quarterback on the field. However, unlike the previous three days, Teddy left no room for doubt as his one incompletion was too much for Lock to compete with.

Bridgewater continues to grow his lead. But the coming week—with a scrimmage on Sunday, two joint practices with the Vikings on Wednesday and Thursday and the first preseason game on Saturday—will be the real test for Denver’s two quarterbacks.

Daily 10-point scale score: 7-3, Teddy Bridgewater

Collective 10-point scale score: 49-41, Bridgewater