A lot has been said about Drew Lock in the past two days. GM John Elway revealed on Tuesday that the Denver Broncos “still like what they see” about Lock and believe he can be a good quarterback, while coach Vic Fangio said he wants to see more of the “good” elements of his game .
Both Elway and Fangio emphasized the importance of Lock showing better “consistency”.
Even Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Chris Harris Jr. joined Lock’s conversation, offering a critical tone about QB’s upsets while praising him and warning him not to “sleep” with the boy. As it was Thursday, it was time for Pat Shurmur to join Lock’s discussion and the offensive coordinator started by praising his QB.
“Well, in all areas. I think he showed the ability to do a lot of good things, and as you develop as a defender, we started talking about consistency, “said Shurmur. Do it indefinitely and have a complete understanding of the situation and where the ball should go, ensuring that we are in the right race, ensuring that we manage the scrimmage line well. I think he did a good job at that. “
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There’s that ‘C’ word again. Consistency. The only consistent element for Lock’s game this season was, well, its inconsistency.
But what does Shurmur want to see from Lock to end this season?
“As the season goes on, there is less and less ‘OK, what the hell was that?’ From our point of view, watching, which is good, “said Shurmur.” When it comes to improvement, there is just consistency – doing it indefinitely. That’s where it’s really important, but you have to do it indefinitely, you need to be consistent and play to win football. Everything goes hand in hand. “
Allow me to summarize everything. The Broncos have been plagued by Lock’s flashes of brilliance since their first debut last year and this has continued this year.
The problem is that these flashes were very random or, to quote Elway, very “up and down”. What worries everyone, including his coaches, is Lock’s tendency to repeat the same mistake over and over.
This recurrence is a feature that was absent last year under former OC Rich Scangarello. However, under Shurmur’s supervision, Lock became a repeat offender.
The Broncos are telegraphing to Lock that they liked what they saw of him, even though he acknowledged this different season that saw the team fight a front of three wars against COVID-19, the injury bug, and the NFL. What Elway, Fangio and Shurmur want to see now is consistency.
This does not mean that Lock needs to be Aaron Rodgers, or throw four touchdowns in each game, as he did in Carolina two weeks ago. It simply means that Lock needs to keep his attack on schedule, not turn the ball, play with balance and command on the line of scrimmage and execute.
It may sound like a difficult task. But this is what it takes to be an NFL QB. If Lock wants to stay in the NFL and bet on his audition for the future Denver QB franchise in 2021, that’s what will be needed.
Go defeat Justin Herbert again, just do it by leading from the front instead of having a miraculous fourth quarter and that will be the first step to alleviate some of the concerns in Broncos Country and encourage team leaders that the ‘consistency’ message was loud and clear ear.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.