The Denver Broncos have one more game to play and then it’s the end of the season. Best scenario, the Broncos finished 6-10.
Obviously, this is nowhere near the standard of excellence in this franchise and suffice it to say that everyone – from the executives, to the coaches, to the players – will enter the off-season with the special burden of being the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowling and miss the playoffs in each of the next five seasons.
Some players will enter the off-season with a proverbial fire burning under their hindquarters. After the Ohio State QB Justin Fields performance on Friday night against Clemson at the College Football Playoff, dispatching Trevor Lawrence’s team with prejudice and relative ease, Broncos fans are just eating more of their hearts in the infinite act and torturous of envy from the QB.
Drew Lock will be one of those players whose offseason is likely to be quite active. He will undoubtedly pick up some much-needed R’s and R’s before returning, but Year 3 for Lock is decisive.
It is possible that 2020 was decisive and that the Broncos has already decided its destiny as a starter. It is possible that Lock’s tone will change when we hear from GM John Elway on Monday for his end-of-season presser, but I doubt it. Optics suggest the Broncos will give Lock one more chance at the base, with the understanding that 2021 is a life-and-death opportunity.
On Thursday, the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, was a little reluctant to turn his gaze off-season, especially with a game to end, and he was a little quiet about his offseason plan or advice to Lock . But he gave a tip on the subject.
“I think the important thing for all players, especially those who have gone through seasons like this – in my opinion, this is kind of a first season for him, is to go back and breathe,” said Shurmur. “So, let’s go back and dig and reassess everything and try to put ourselves back in the mental part of each situation and say, ‘OK, let’s talk about this.'”
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Wait, is the coach’s first advice to take it easy? Counterintuitive as this may sound to the quarterback in a double-digit loss team, it can be exactly what the doctor ordered for Lock to reload and restart.
“I think that’s it, just go back and reflect on everything that happened and then let’s sit down and give him a detailed plan of how we want to proceed,” said Shurmur. “Once again, I still don’t know what the off-season will be like. I hope to overcome all these COVID things, so that we can work together here in the off-season, physically.”
If it depends on NFLPA president JC Tretter (downtown Cleveland Browns), there will be no OTAs on the pitch, no preseason and Zoom’s life will continue. However, the NFL has proven that it can navigate the pitfalls of a season affected by COVID and keep players safe. Although many players contracted the virus, fortunately, there were no extreme cases of hospitalizations or worse.
Some coaches had a direct confrontation with COVID-19, including Broncos defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, who lost six games and was hospitalized this season. But the players, being the world-class athletes they are and considering their relative demographic age, started to sniff and fell ill, but recovered.
The NFL will remain in a waiting pattern in relation to the Offseason Training Program, but Tretter’s goal of eliminating everything except the training ground and the regular season remains a possibility, depending on what unfolds with the pandemic in the coming years. months.
“I would love to turn off those zooms – I am finally learning to hit the mute button and it has been going on since March, but just go back and reevaluate,” said Shurmur.
Regarding Lock, Shurmur ended by saying, “Think about it and reflect – these are things I could have done better; these are things I did well. I have a list of things we will discuss and just keep it private at this point.”
Lock told himself earlier this week that the sample size of the entire season of experience and game tape will be an unparalleled resource for him as a tool to improve this off season. Naturally, your first focus on improving will be to focus on those areas of your game that are still raw or flawed. Here are some suggestions.
- Footwork.
- Launch / platform mechanics.
- Knowledge of the scheme.
- Reading the defense pre-snap.
- Reading the post-photo coverage.
- Using your eyes to better manipulate and control security.
- Deep ball accuracy.
- Decision making.
The latter will be difficult to fix without time on the task and longer live reps in games that have bets. After all, there is a reason why defenders tend to join the league and do a lot of interceptions just to minimize them gradually.
You must be exposed to fire. QBs need to go through the crisis in real time to deduce how they will react to a given situation; that are always random and unique for the time and place.
This comes with experience and maturation. The problem for Lock is that if he doesn’t discover the other things I listed above, it will continue to haunt him and exacerbate his decision making.
All he can do is eat the elephant, one fork at a time. Take an inch, it’s an easy thing. It is difficult in the yard.
We’ll see how the Broncos are committed to continuing to support Lock as he navigates the trial and error learning curve. First, the team boss will be watching closely to see how Lock scores his second season against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.