Lock full participant for first time since injury
Drew Lock was a full participant in Broncos practice Wednesday for the first time since injuring his right throwing shoulder against Pittsburgh in Week 2.
That’s a good sign for the secondyear quarterback’s hopes of returning to start Sunday against New England at Gillette Stadium. Backup Brett Rypien will start if Lock isn’t cleared to play.
“( Lock) got a bunch of reps today, and we’ll take a look at it obviously,” coach Vic Fangio said. “We’ll take a look at the video and it’ll be a decision we evaluate throughout the week.”
Fangio said Lock’s ability to return against the Patriots — with 1- 3 Denver in need of an upset to get its season back on track — is “a medical decision, No. 1.”
“And once he gets cleared, my conversations with Drew will play a big part into it,” Fangio said. “And then I’ll make a comparison as to where Drew’s at and where Brett’s at.”
The Broncos are confident in Rypien, who led Denver to a Week 4 win over the Jets in his first NFL start despite three interceptions. The 24- year- old undrafted second- year pro made his debut in the fourth quarter of
Week 3 against Tampa Bay, going 8- of- 9 through the air with an interception.
“In light of these weird circumstances ( with the game being postponed a week), Brett did get the full week of reps last week for the most part,” Fangio said. “So if we did decide to go with him later in the week, we wouldn’t feel quite as unprepared as normal.”
While Rypien said he’s taking the “same mentality into this week that I had last week,” Lock is eager to prove he’s gameready. The 23- year- old officially returned to practice last Wednesday but was limited that day as well as Thursday and Friday.
“The biggest thing for me is to be able to come out and practice and play clean football,” Lock said. “Watching Brett practice all last week in practice, it was extremely clean and he knew what he was doing with the ball… If I show that I can do that just like Brett was in practice, then it will be up to their hands with what they want to do.
The quarterback isn’t worried about a re- injury, and said he will continue to be aggressive when taking chances running the ball outside the pocket.
That no- fear mindset is also paired with Lock’s maturing knowledge that “there has got to be better times for me to realize that the play is over and not get hurt.” Lock was also hurt as a rookie while scrambling outside the pocket, a thumb sprain in a preseason game that caused him to spend the majority of the season on injured reserve.
“I’m ready for the first hit, just to get it out there, and let it happen and let everyone hold their breath for a couple seconds– and then I get up and everything’s fine,” Lock said.
Lock also doesn’t want to disrupt any momentum the Broncos have coming off their first win as Denver posted a seasonhigh 37 points, the second- most in a game in Fangio’s two- year tenure. Through five quarters this year, Lock is 23- of- 38 for 236 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.
“I didn’t want to come in and let the intensity lag from last week’s practice,” Lock said. “I wanted to raise it a little bit and keep things rolling. If I have crisp and clean practices and deliver the ball where it needs to be and on time, hopefully I can show them what they need to see.”