The Drew Lock era in Denver is off to a decent start.
Lock, the rookie quarterback selected by the Broncos in the second round of this year’s draft, got the first start of his career today and had an up-and-down game, throwing two early touchdown passes but then struggling much of the rest of the way. Fortunately for Denver, those two early touchdowns were a big boost, and a deep ball from Lock on the final offensive play drew a pass interference penalty that put Denver into field goal range. The field goal from Brandon McManus was good, and the Broncos won 23-20.
Lock did throw an ugly interception late in the game that helped the Chargers get back into it, so he certainly has plenty he can work on. But he generally did a good job reading the pass rush and getting rid of the ball quickly.
The Chargers were able to tie the game late. On fourth-and-11 with just over two minutes to play, Rivers hit Mike Williams deep downfield to put the Chargers into field goal range. After that the Chargers played for the tie, not the win, and they got a field goal of their own to tie it.
That, however, was not enough. The Broncos won to improve to 4-8 and the Chargers dropped to 4-8. Neither of these teams is going anywhere, other than to battle for last place in the AFC West, but they did put together an entertaining game.