ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — There’s a “chance” Drew Lock will miss his third full game of the season on Sunday when the Denver Broncos host the Miami Dolphins.
Denver’s second-year quarterback suffered a strain and bruising around his ribs during Denver’s 37-12 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, which put his status for Week 11 in doubt. Fortunately for Lock, “nothing is broken,” Vic Fangio confirmed on Wednesday.
Dealing with no structural damage, Lock made “good progress” in his recovery from Monday morning up to the team’s first practice of the week on Wednesday.
“We’ll see how much [progress] he continues to make throughout the week and see where he goes,” Fangio said shortly before Wednesday’s practice.
With a wait-and-see approach, Fangio described what he needs to see from Lock throughout the week for the 24-year old to play against the No. 5 scoring defense in the NFL.
“I think it all depends on how he feels, how he’s showing that he can play and operate, how much is he favoring it, is it affecting him,” Fangio explained. “How much does he practice? How does he feel? When he is practicing, how does he look? All of that will factor into the final decision.”
But there’s one major hurdle the 6-foot-4 quarterback will have to clear to step on the field Sunday.
“We do want him to get a significant amount of reps at some point during the week,” Fangio stated. “We do want him to practice some. We don’t want him to go into the game with very limited snaps or none.”
Wednesday wasn’t a promising start in that regard.
No. 3 was on the field with a helmet for the team’s first practice of the week, but was off to the side watching, not partaking, during the portion open to the media. Lock officially did not practice on Wednesday.
This wasn’t a surprise to the head coach as he knew at best Lock would be limited for Wednesday’s practice if he practiced at all.
Lock observing Wednesday’s practice puts even more of an emphasis for him to practice, and play well, during the team’s final two practices of the week on Thursday and Friday.
If Lock cannot play, the Broncos will once again call on fellow second-year quarterback Brett Rypien to guide the offense.
“I feel comfortable that Brett can do that,” Fangio said when asked if Rypien can play even if he has limited practice reps throughout the week. “I expect Brett to get a good bit of the reps today.”
In Week 4, in his first NFL start, Rypien guided the Broncos to their first win of the season over the New York Jets. The undrafted quarterback went 19-of-31 for 242 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
“I thought he handled the situation good,” Fangio said, reflecting back on Rypien’s first start. “I didn’t think he felt any pressure or the moment was too big for him. I thought he went out there and executed the offense. I would expect that he would benefit from that if he is to play this week.”
The Broncos will call on Rypien once again if Lock isn’t ready to go. Lock’s participation in Thursday and Friday’s practice will go a long way in making that decision.
