Broncos Quarterback Scoreboard: Drew Lock makes a splash; Teddy Bridgewater goes green in red zone

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.

MINNEAPOLIS — Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way: Vikings coach Mike Zimmer rested his starters on Saturday. So, everything that Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater did was against backups.

That being said, consider the outcomes of their five possessions — three for Lock and two for Bridgewater:

• Turnover on downs at the Minnesota 4-yard line
• Touchdown
• Touchdown
• Field Goal
• Touchdown

“If you’re not punting the ball, you’re obviously doing something right,” Lock said.

Five possessions, no punts. The Broncos averaged 5.0 points per possession with Bridgewater at the helm and 4.7 with Lock steering the ship. Both drives that did not end in touchdowns could have, if not for penalties — a holding infraction against Jerry Jeudy that wiped out a Javonte Williams run on the first Lock-led series, and an illegal-hands-to-the-face call against right tackle Cameron Fleming that nullified a 12-yard Bridgewater touchdown scramble.

Fangio acknowledged that the absence of Vikings starters was “part of the equation” in how he would evaluate the quarterbacks’ performance Saturday.

“But still, you’ve got to operate,” he added. “I thought we operated efficiently, both of those guys.”

Drew Lock: Making a splash

First of all, give credit to Pat Shurmur for providing Lock a chance to play to his strengths. Lock was 3-of-3 on play-action passes — including the 80-yard bomb to KJ Hamler that saw him explode downfield and exploit the safety coming towards the line of scrimmage.

Both of Lock’s touchdowns were on play-action, and while no quarterback can be elite on play-fakes alone, the Broncos should clearly utilize play-action whenever possible to allow Lock to play to his strengths if he wins the starting job.

Three-for-three for 109 yards and two touchdowns on play-action will do nicely, thank you.

But it was a 33-yard connection to Jerry Jeudy to open the second quarter that represented the most tangible sign of progress for the young quarterback.

Getting to the second and third read successfully has been a trouble spot for Lock in his career to date. But he did that well on third-and-4 from the Denver 45-yard line. He went through his first two reads, and then, 3.31 seconds after he received the snap, he found a wide-open Jeudy across the middle.

“I got to my third read — which was him,” Lock explained. They covered the beginning of the play really well, and that concept that we run, sometimes that middle guy gets lost, and sure enough, Jerry’s slippery enough to get in there and not be seen, and he was standing right there for me.”

And with that, Jeudy was off and running down the right flank of the field, eventually reaching the Minnesota 22-yard line.

“That’s the typical (example of) YAC (yards after the catch) is the quarterback’s best friend, because he sure got us a couple of more yards after the catch on that play,” Lock said.

Lock finished the work three plays later by hitting Trinity Benson on a 4-yard play-action pass to increase Denver’s lead to 16-3.

Beyond improvement in going through his progressions, the other area in which Lock needs to show progress is under a heavy pass rush.

However, Lock was not tested there as Minnesota’s front four got no penetration against a Broncos offensive line that included three projected starters: Lloyd Cushenberry, Graham Glasgow and the winner of the right-tackle competition (both Bobby Massie and Calvin Anderson started Saturday).

Pressure was a trouble spot for Lock throughout training camp and again in the joint practices with the Vikings this week. Saturday, he was pressured just once, and it was mild. But he handled it well, scrambling to the sideline for 6 yards.

Lock had two incompletions, both to Jeudy. On the first, he looked for Jeudy on a fourth-and-2 slant from the Minnesota 4-yard line. Minnesota cornerback Kris Boyd had tight coverage — and perhaps an arm around Jeudy’s waist — but the ball wasn’t placed well, and Boyd read Lock’s intent from the snap.

Another incompletion was a deep incompletion near the end of the first quarter to Jeudy that saw Lock lead the second-year wide receiver a step too far. But that was on first-and-10; it was a perfectly acceptable deep shot, and it was thrown beyond coverage, with no chance of it being intercepted.

But on balance, this was a resplendent day for Lock — precisely when he needed it the most. A 153.3 passer rating provided the data point which confirmed the obvious: After struggling in game-simulation move-the-ball work against Minnesota’s first-team defense on Wednesday and Thursday, Lock did what he needed to Saturday — and more.

Teddy Bridgewater: The red zone became the green zone

When public-address announcer Alan Roach announced Teddy Bridgewater’s name to the US Bank Stadium crowd, it responded with one of the loudest ovations of the day. Purple Bridgewater jerseys weren’t hard to find in the stands.

“That was pretty cool,” he said with a smile.

But what was better for Bridgewater was that he flourished in an area of the field in which he struggled this week: the red zone.

Thursday, he was intercepted twice by Eric Kendricks in the red zone — one of which was a pass that bounced off of Melvin Gordon’s hands. Another pass was deflected by Kendricks, who, like all of the Vikings’ starters, didn’t play Saturday.

Against Minnesota’s reserves — Bridgewater ran five plays in the red zone. On three of them, the ball ended up in his hands.

The results?

• 12-yard touchdown scramble, nullified by a Cameron Fleming penalty
• 9-yard completion to Austin Fort on second-and-goal at the Minnesota 13-yard line
• 4-yard touchdown pass to Benson on third-and-goal at the Minnesota 4-yard line

No turnovers. Forward momentum on each snap.

“The red-zone reps, man, they were cool. It was very beneficial for us,” he said. “We work red zone a lot around here, and I love it.”

The touchdown run was taken off the board, but it might have been Bridgewater’s best moment, as he held steady in the pocket, went through his reads and took advantage of open space to his right. He dodged Vikings defensive lineman James Lynch, used Lloyd Cushenberry as an escort and darted to the end zone.

“I pulled out one of my moves. I think I used that on Von [Miller] back in 2015,” Bridgewater said. It didn’t work back then. It worked today,”

And it is part of Bridgewater’s success equation. Last year, only six quarterbacks had more rushing touchdowns than Bridgewater, who scored five times in 15 starts. Having the threat of the run is essential for him to succeed in the compressed part of the field.

“Sometimes, you change your rush patterns,” Bridgewater said. “ You still play the same coverage on the back end and do different things up front to try to contain the quarterback, but it does bring a threat to a defense — especially down there, when you’re trying to prevent a touchdown through the air. You play great coverage, and quarterbacks are able to scramble. So, it’s another weapon that’s in my bag, and I was happy that I was just able to show that I can still move around a little bit.

“I joke with the guys all the time now how a lot of my moves don’t work anymore, but it was just good being out there running around, and seeing the guys flying around and having fun.”

For the rest of the day, Bridgewater focused on short to intermediate passes, and missed just once in eight attempts. His third-quarter touchdown pass to Benson was a perfectly-executed fade. He was precise and crisp after the snap and cool and commanding in his pre-snap reads.

Bridgewater finished the day with a 144.8 passer rating — and, most importantly, 10 points from two drives, which could have easily been a perfect two-for-two in touchdowns if not for Fleming’s penalty.

QB Play of the Day

While the pass to Jeudy shows Lock’s growth, an 80-yard touchdown on a deep post is always going to take the trophy here. That strike also represents the separation between the quarterbacks on today’s scoreboard.

Scoreboard

“I thought they both played very well,” Fangio said. “Kind of validated what I’ve been saying all camp — that they’re ‘even Steven.’”

The scoreboard reflects that, even with Saturday’s game counting double. Two days after perhaps the shakiest day for Bridgewater and Lock as a pair, the duo had their best collective day.

Lock gets the edge because of the deep pass to Hamler, but the truth is that both quarterbacks did what they needed to do — even though the accomplishments for both must be weighted against the quality — or lack thereof — of Minnesota’s reserves.

If Pete Carroll rests his Seahawks starters next week, it might make proper evaluation of the preseason games into a problematic chore, since Rams coach Sean McVay has already announced his plans to rest his first-teamers for the preseason.

Still, all you can do is work with the situation presented. Saturday afternoon, both quarterbacks did that — and quite well, to boot.

Daily 10-point scale score: 6-4, Drew Lock (counts 12-8, because games count double)

Collective 10-point scale score: 70.5-69.5, Bridgewater