Drew Lock unveiled a new weapon in his arsenal on Sunday

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On the heels of his first defeat in the NFL, which included some questionable throws, Drew Lock made it very clear he wasn’t going to change who he is deep down in his heart and soul. A true gunslinging “Q,” as Drew himself would say.

“You can start the game 0-5, but I’m definitely going to shoot the sixth one,” Lock said on Wednesday, using his basketball days to explain his gunslinging mentality as a quarterback. “I’m going to throw a couple of picks here and there, but in my heart and in my gut, I know the couple of picks will turn into a couple of touchdowns. The good plays will outweigh the bad with being a gunslinger if you do it correctly.”

Minutes earlier, his head coach had a drastically different vision for what he wanted to see from his rookie quarterback the final two games of the season.

“I think just good play overall and running the offense efficiently, making correct reads, putting the ball where it needs to be and being accurate with his throws,” Vic Fangio said leading up to Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions. “Just playing his position good.”

Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.

Everything—everything—Vic Fangio asked for on Wednesday, Drew Lock delivered on the field on Sunday against the Lions. In the most “good” game ever.

Making his fourth career start, Lock went 25-of-33 for 192 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions for a “good” 99.6 passer rating.

There’s nothing gunslinger about that line. In fact, it was the opposite.

And that’s precisely the beauty of it.

Drew Lock was the ultimate game manager on Sunday—and that’s just what the Broncos needed.

“I’m going to keep the gunslinger mentality at all times, but I think I need to, gunslinger-adapt to a little bit a situational awareness and put them both together to try to be the best quarterback I can for this organization,” Lock said as he prepared for Sunday’s game.

Despite always having the big-play mentality as a part of his core, the gunslinger listened to himself and let his gun stay in the holster on Sunday. After tossing for over 300 yards and three touchdowns against the Texans two weeks ago, Lock fully displayed he can be a game manager when needed.

“I think I can definitely be both,” Lock said, explaining that he can both a gunslinger and a game manager. “We thought originally this defense was going to come out and play a lot of man and we were going to take big shots. They played a lot more zone than we thought, so we set guys up in the zone and picked them apart and took it down the field a bit. That’s in my game too. I can definitely be a gunslinger but at the same time, I’ll dink and dunk it if I have to.”

Dinking and dunking didn’t just deliver Denver their sixth victory on the season. It helped them eclipse 25 points for the first time at home since Week 1 of the 2018 season.

In Lock’s four games, where the Broncos have gone 3-1, Drew’s topped 25 points twice—once as a gunslinger and the other as a game manager. In the 27 games before Drew, dating back to Week 1 of the 2018 season, the Broncos had a total of two games where they topped 25 points.

Gunslingin’ is fun—when it works. Other times, it can look like Jameis Winston, who had three interceptions in the first half as his Buccaneers fell on Saturday.

Other times, being a good-ol’ game manager is just what the doctor ordered. Drew proved on Sunday he can do both mighty fine.