Broncos Quarterback Scoreboard: Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock switch roles as the competition nears an end

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. — The Denver Broncos’ quarterback competition may soon be over.

On Wednesday, after the second-to-last training camp practice, Vic Fangio said he’s “pretty damn close” to having enough information to make a decision on who will be the Broncos’ starting quarterback. The head coach added, “we’ve got more information coming,” presumably referring to the team’s second preseason game against the Seahawks on Saturday night.

With a decision nearing, was either quarterback able to pull away in the competition during Wednesday’s practice? Here’s how Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock performed.

The Highest Highs & The Lowest Lows

Based off the header, you probably thought this section was going to be about Drew Lock. But not on Wednesday.

It was Teddy Bridgewater who had the rollercoaster day.

On Wednesday, Bridgewater had more touchdowns and deep passes than Lock. On the flip side, Teddy also had more interceptions and sacks than Drew.

Bridgewater’s day started about as bad as possible, but then got significantly better.

No one was open on Teddy’s first drop back. He waited. And waited. And waited for a receiver to free up, but that never happened. He then took off up the middle for what would have been a short gain or a sack near the line of scrimmage. A five-yard completion to Jerry Jeudy in the right flat followed.

Then, came the worst play of the day. With Jeudy streaking down the left numbers 15 yards downfield, Bridgwater floated a pass 35 yards past the line of scrimmage. Jeudy, however, did not continue running down the field. That left the ball floating in the air for Justin Simmons to get under for his easiest interception of training camp.

When asked after practice if there was a miscommunication on the play with Jeudy, Bridgewater didn’t say, but added they will get that figured out. Whether it was on Teddy or Jeudy, it was clear there was a misunderstanding on someone’s part on the play.

In the following team period, Bridgewater connected on two short passes and overthrew Tyrie Cleveland deep with Saivion Smith all over the second-year receiver. There was no chance of a completion.

Then came the best play of the day by either quarterback — a 60-yard bomb from Teddy to TB12, aka Trinity Benson (read below).

Bridgewater followed up the monster pass with two routine completions for 15 total yards.

In Bridgewater’s last meaningful team period, he and the offense started on their own 30-yard line. On first down, with nothing open, Bridgewater would have either been sacked or picked up a couple yards on a scramble. Then came a run.

On 3rd-and-4, Bridgewater found Sutton 20 yards down field. Cutting across the middle of the field from the right to the left, Teddy put the ball significantly behind the former second-round pick. However, Sutton made a pretty remarkable catch, stopping his momentum and snagging the ball behind him for the first down.

Bridgewater then looked deep again for Benson. This time, however, the pass hit Benson’s hands and went right through. Incomplete. Ronald Darby was in lockstep with Benson, but Teddy’s placement still made it a catchable pass.

Teddy’s most notable pass during 7-on-7s was a 45-yard strike to Fant in the middle of the field. Fant caught the ball at the 10-yard line and would have either been tackled just short of the end zone or got in for six.

Thanks to deep passes, sacks, a touchdown and an interception, Bridgewater’s day was a rollercoaster. However, that rollercoaster ended better than it started.

Deep Disconnect

Of Drew Lock’s five completions on seven attempts against the Vikings in the first preseason game, three went for more than 10 yards. On Wednesday, on almost double the attempts, Lock didn’t have a single completion for more than 10 yards during team periods.

But it wasn’t because he didn’t try.

In fact, after a five-yard check down to De’Mornay Pierson-El to start the day, Lock looked deep. With Diontae Spencer in single coverage down the right sideline, Drew tossed it up to the speedy receiver. However, rookie Kary Vincent Jr. was all over Spencer and knocked the ball away leaving no room for Diontae to make a play.

In the next period, after five-yard completions to Noah Fant and Courtland Sutton in tight coverage, Lock again looked deep. With Kyle Fuller draped on Sutton down the right sideline, Lock didn’t give his 6-foot-4 receiver a chance to make a play on the ball as he overthrew him by a yard.

Near the end of practice, Lock put just a bit too much juice on two other deep passes. The first would have been roughly a 25-yard gain on a deep out to Branden Mack. The second, Lock went for it all, but again, just overthrew Tyrie Cleveland down the right sideline.

However, Lock did have a beautiful deep pass to Fant down the left sideline off a wheel route. But, despite the ball hitting Fant’s hands in stride, the speedy tight end didn’t hold on.

For the most part, Lock was able to connect with his receivers within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, with most of his completions going for five.

A positive from Lock’s practice was his decision making under pressure. Thanks to Dre’Mont Jones and Company destroying the offensive line, both quarterbacks were under pressure often, especially off play action. Instead of taking sacks or panicking, Lock kept his composure and either made quick short completions or threw the ball away to avoid taking sacks.

While Lock wasn’t able to connect with Fant deep during the team periods, he did hit the first-round pick during 7-on-7s. After streaking past Justin Strnad, on the right numbers, Lock hit Fant for a 40-yard gain.

Although it was an underwhelming day for the calculated gunslinger, Lock remained turnover free on the week.

QB Play of the Day

Starting at their own 40-yard line, Trinity Benson turned on the jets and tore down the left hash, running past the defense. Open, with only a safety on the opposite side of the field, Bridgewater heaved the ball.

With the ball floating in the air for what felt like an eternity, safety Caden Sterns closed on Benson quickly. By the time the ball landed in Benson’s hands over 50 yards from where Bridgewater threw it, Sterns was one yard shy of either intercepting the pass or blowing up Trinity.

But he was one yard off. Benson caught the ball in stride and took it the final 10 yards for six. Touchdown.

Scoreboard

Both quarterbacks had an opportunity to pull away from the other on the day, and in the competition, based off the mistakes of the other. However, neither were successful on Wednesday.

With a decision on a starting quarterback coming as early as next week, neither quarterback is running away with the job. Heck, this competition remains as close as possible.

Since Thursday’s practice is expected to be more of a walkthrough, all eyes will be on Saturday’s second preseason game to see if one quarterback can pull away from the other and take the starting job.

Daily 10-point scale score: 5-5

Collective 10-point scale score: 80.5-79.5, Teddy Bridgewater