Drew Lock’s return was better than it seemed

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Drew Lock’s stat line on Sunday in New England was rough, to put it nicely.

In Lock’s first game in nearly a month since suffering a bad bruise on his throwing shoulder on Sept. 20, No. 3 posted the worst passer rating of his career.

In fact, Lock’s dismal 34.9 passer rating against the Patriots made Jeff Driskel’s 71 passer rating against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — in a game he got benched — and Brett Rypien’s 67.6 passer rating against the New York Jets look swell.

The rest of Lock’s stat line was just as bad too. The second-year quarterback went 10-for-24 — only a 41.7 completion percentage — for 189 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

But Drew Lock played much better than the numbers indicate in his first action in nearly a month.

Lock had the most important stat on his side — the win. The 23-year old became the youngest starting quarterback to win in Gillette Stadium ever, which opened in 2002. Lock improved his starting record to 5-2 in games he played from start to finish.

Additionally, Lock was able to get the win against Bill Belichick, who has almost never lost to a first or second-year quarterback. In fact, the Patriots were 23-1 entering Sunday when playing at home against a quarterback making one of his first eight career starts. Sunday was Lock’s eighth start. That Patriots record is now 23-2 in their last 25 games facing a quarterback making one of his first eight career starts in New England.

A major reason why the Broncos got their second win of the season was Lock and Denver’s offense scored on their first six possessions of the game. They didn’t punt until the fourth quarter.

In the first three quarters, Lock went 9-for-19 for 181 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He helped lead the Broncos into scoring range in four of their six scoring drives.

“I thought Drew played well,” Vic Fangio said after the Broncos 18-12 win over the Patriots. “He hadn’t played since about the 10th play of the Pittsburgh game. Didn’t practice until this week really. I thought he looked good out there. And when I say that, I just thought he looked comfortable. He didn’t look like a guy who is coming back from injury. He wasn’t tentative. He was out there playing football the way we wanted him to play.”

But Lock’s unexciting stat line in the first three quarters could have easily been so much better, making the game much more out of reach for New England, if only his teammates would have caught a ball or two. Or three. Or four.

With 12 minutes left in the second quarter, there had already been three potential touchdown passes that hit intended receivers hands that weren’t caught.

On Denver’s first possession, Jerry Jeudy had a ball in the front right corner of the end zone slip through his hands. On the same drive, a pass hit Albert Okwuegbunam’s body while he was in the end zone, although it would have been an incredibly difficult catch.

On the Broncos’ third drive, Albert O. had a touchdown pass go through his hands in the back of the end zone.

The second half wasn’t kind to Lock in the dropped passes department, either. With six minutes left in the third quarter, and Denver looking to put the game away, Lock again looked to his former college teammate Okwuegbunam in the end zone and again just came up short as the potential touchdown slipped through Alert O’s hands once again.

Four potential touchdown passes, although two on the same drive, hit the intended receiver’s body, but weren’t caught. If one, two or three of those were caught, the score and Lock’s stat line would have looked drastically different.

With 14 minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Broncos up 18-3, Lock tossed up a deep bomb to DaeSean Hamilton down the right sideline. Instead of a 33-yard completion to around the Patriots 5-yard line, the pass sailed through Hamilton’s arms, forcing Denver to punt for the first time in the game. Another catchable ball, another tough drop.

“The balls up in the air, there’s a chance there, we got to find a way to make those plays,” Fangio said on the missed opportunities in the passing game. “Whether it be just another inch or two farther in the throw, going up there and competing for the ball — we got to be better at those. You’re not going to get them all, but I think we could have converted at least one of those, which would have had a major impact on the game.”

And a major impact on Lock’s stat line.

The rest of the fourth quarter was not kind to Lock. In the final quarter of the game, Lock had more interceptions (2) than completion (1). His eight passing yards were eight points higher than his zero passer rating.

“Obviously, the interceptions, we don’t want to have,” Fangio said, continuing his evalation of Lock. “One was I believe a miscommunication. I’ll look at the other one on tape. I think it’s a great learning experience for him and the entire team and hopefully, we’ll be better prepared to close out the next time we get a lead like that.”

To put it frankly, Lock was terrible in the fourth quarter. But he got the win. He helped guide the Broncos to their second-straight win. He beat the odds by handing Belichick a loss in New England.

Lock’s first game back wasn’t always pretty, but it was significantly better than the stat line would indicate.