[CasselGotPeedOn]

Kiszla: Is watching Broncos rookie QB Drew Lock throw the football as painful as passing a kidney stone?

Spoiler!

CANTON, Ohio — Watching Broncos rookie quarterback Drew Lock throw a football against NFL competition might not be as painful as passing a kidney stone. But it’s close.

Yes, Lock might take over as the team’s starting quarterback one of these years. But that year won’t be 2019, unless veteran Joe Flacco gets hurt. Is Lock the QB of the future in Denver? It’s way too early to say no. But he’s nowhere near ready to effectively operate a pro offense right now.

While a game that doesn’t count in the standings can never provide anything more than an incomplete grade, what was revealed about Lock in the Hall of Fame game reinforced what Denver coaches have already seen on the practice field.

“I was hoping for more, but not surprised,” said Broncos coach Vic Fangio, evaluating Lock after a 14-10 Denver victory against Atlanta. “He’s still got a lot of work to do. I thought his accuracy wasn’t clean all the time, along with his reads. But it’s to be expected. We’ve got four more (preseason) games. We’ve got to get him ready, more ready than he is right now.”

At age 22, the rookie quarterback from Missouri is a project, not a wunderkind. The Broncos have not found their Patrick Mahomes.

After waiting 60 years to become a head coach at any level, nothing was going to stop Fangio from leading the Broncos onto the field. Battling a kidney stone that refused to pass, Fangio got out of a hospital bed to do it. It’s as close to the agony of childbirth a man can experience. So sympathy to Fangio. But his stubborn refusal to take a sick day only adds to the shot-and-a-beer aura of Uncle Vic.

The reasons Lock fell out of the first round in this year’s draft are becoming more obvious. As a quarterback, he is so raw it frequently hurts to watch. OK, it’s not kidney stone painful. But it’s painful enough for any Broncomaniac to grab a beer out of the fridge for medicinal purposes.

After entering the Denver huddle early in the second quarter, Lock stood in the pocket on third down, needing a manageable 7 yards to move the sticks. He looked to the left flat, his eyes fooling nobody on the Atlanta defense, and aimed a pass in the direction of teammate Steven Dunbar Jr. Instead of throwing a strike, Lock’s throw was an interception waiting to happen, and a turnover was avoided only because Falcons cornerback Jordan Miller dropped the ball.

Lock took a delay of game penalty following an Atlanta timeout. He scrambled at any hint of trouble, which was a reminder of Paxton Lynch none of us needed. His every move suggested a dancer too busy thinking about the steps to get out of his own way to let the rhythm flow. Against the Falcons, he never sniffed anything close to a scoring drive.

Way back in 2016, when knuckleheads like me held out hope Lynch might be somebody in this league, his first preseason action produced this stat line: Six completions in seven attempts, for 74 yards and three sacks.

In his pro debut, these were Lock’s results: seven completions in 11 attempts, for 34 yards and two sacks. In a small sample size, his QB rating was 68.0, a failing grade, for those of you keeping score at home.

Now is this a fair comparison? Maybe not, as the offensive line in front of him was shaky, at best. But it’s another indicator Lock has much work to do before he can be considered a solid NFL backup, much less a legitimate threat to supplant Flacco as the starter.

Bottom line: The Broncos better hope John Elway is correct, and Flacco really is a QB in his prime.

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/08/0...eseason-debut/