How Lloyd Cushenberry played “almost a perfect game” in a critical area

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Before Monday night, the last time Lloyd Cushenberry played in a real football game he was hoisting the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy in the air minutes after the final whistle.

Less than a week before the Broncos kicked off the season, Denver’s starting center said he didn’t need anyone to hold his hand in any aspect of the game despite being a rookie making his NFL debut.

The 22-year old knew the stage wasn’t going to be too big for him. His offensive coordinator, however, needed to see it to truly believe it.

“The thing that concerns you for a rookie starting his first game is if it’s too big for him,” Pat Shurmur said on Thursday. “And it certainly wasn’t. I thought he handled himself extremely well.”

The rookie center wasn’t blinded by the bright lights of Monday Night Football. Cushenberry passed his first test.

Once on the field, he aced one of the most important tasks, if not the most important task, given to a center — making all of the calls and checks at the line of scrimmage before the snap.

“On the actual mental side of things, the things the center needs to get done, needs to call, all that stuff, I thought that he played almost a perfect game mentally,” guard Graham Glasgow said without hesitation on Thursday. “When it came down to his call and him communicating what we were seeing defensively, I thought he did a good job.

“And when you can do that, I think the physical will come along with it with the more experience he has,” Glasgow continued. “And that’s something that is really, really exciting for me as the guy that plays next to him.”

While Glasgow recognized that communication can always improve among offensive lineman, there wasn’t a single communication error that led to a mistake on Monday night on Denver’s line.

“Certainly as a center, he needed to direct and he directed things well,” Shurmur stated. “We didn’t really have any screw-ups in terms of communication in there.”

There were two snaps that hit the ground, but Drew Lock immediately took full responsibility for both of them after the game.

“It’s definitely my fault, without a doubt,” Lock said, taking any potential blame away from his rookie center. “I took my eyes off one trying to get the draw off and the one under center was my fault, too. I had my hand way left.”

It wasn’t a perfect game for Denver’s third-round pick, however. But his mistakes had nothing to do with his inexperience.

“Obviously, when you’re playing against a really good front, there are times every once in a while you get beat physically — that happens to every player in every game… He blocked well for the first time out,” Shurmur explained. “But I think for the first time out, it was a solid, really good performance.”

Denver’s offensive line didn’t give up a single sack or commit a single penalty with Cushenberry leading the way. Additionally, the Broncos’ topped 100 yards on the ground and Lock finished with a 95 passer rating. Despite not getting the win, the Broncos’ offensive line, led by a rookie in the middle, had a promising night.

“I thought he did a good job,” Shurmur stated.

“I thought Lloyd did awesome,” Glasgow, the 11 million guard, added.

Less than a month ago, Cushenberry wasn’t receiving first-team reps as he was fighting his way up the depth chart. Now, he’s having “almost a perfect game” calling the shots for Denver’s offensive line.