“ We still have high hopes ”

Are Denver Broncos sticking to Drew Lock as starting quarterback in 2021? That’s arguably the number one question on every Broncos Country’s mind as the team heads into Week 17 to take on the Las Vegas Raiders.

While GM John Elway is expected to definitively answer this question at his annual end-of-season press conference next Monday, some fans believe he has turned his hand on the Lock issue. , perhaps inadvertently, when he spoke to the team’s website for their weekly Elway Access show.

“Drew showed a few flashes. Obviously he was very inconsistent but [he] showed some flashes, ”Elway told Phil Milani. We still have high hopes for Drew that with a good offseason, a lot of hard work this offseason, a lot of film studies, that he can come back and be a very good quarterback in this league. “

Elway thinks the Broncos are talented in spades. The problem? Inexperience. But it was a gap that these young Broncos were able to close in the war of attrition that was the 2020 season.

“You look at the list, there are a lot of good young footballers out there that we believe in,” Elway said.

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Elway has been encouraged by Lock’s late-game heroism at various points this season. Lock brought the Broncos back from a 21-point second-half deficit to beat the Chargers in Week 8, and nearly doubled the same feat the following week in Atlanta, but was timid.

Last week in Los Angeles, Lock led a comeback to tie the Chargers with less than four minutes to go. If Vic Fangio’s defense is stopped, Lock gets another legitimate chance to come down for a winning basket. Instead, the Broncos led Justin Herbert to go down and kill the clock while securing what turned out to be the tie-breaker basket.

Lock recovered the ball but had 40 seconds to play and no time out. After Jerry Jeudy dropped his fifth pass of the day on a dime in the left seam that would have placed the Broncos in Chargers territory with about half that time to go, all Lock could do was lift a midfielder hails Mary in the final. the gun sounded. Which was chosen by DB Mike Williams.

Yet despite Lock throwing a headless red zone interception on opening possession, he flashed late again, doing his part to put the Broncos in position to win or at least send the game. in overtime. Those flashes, despite the ups and downs, are what continue to woo Elway, giving Hall-of-Fame QB-turned-GM hope Lock can turn the corner.

“That’s the part of him you see – quarterback, it’s his responsibility, to win football games,” Elway said of Lock’s late-game heroism. “We’ve seen Drew do that a few times this year. He did it against the Chargers earlier in the year when we got to beat them 31-30 at Mile High. He has that ability and I think it is. a good sign for Drew and the fact that it’s a good generator of confidence for the rest of the squad to know that as long as the game is over we have a chance to win it. No matter how much time is left . “

The ultimate official question of whether Lock will have a last chance at being The Guy won’t be answered until Monday at the earliest. But I’m inclined to agree with fans who interpreted Elway’s remarks on the team’s site on Thursday as some sort of Freudian slip, revealing the GM’s true position on Lock for 2021.

That doesn’t mean the Broncos won’t change the QB’s position this offseason. I could see Denver signing a true bona fide, fail safe veteran, Mentor Lock, while still being good enough to hold his feet against fire in competition.

For now, the Broncos are hoping for a Sunday win over the Raiders to close the season. Even if that means a slight dip in the 2021 bill. We’re talking about Elway and the Hated Raiders, after all. Such a win might just be the nudge the Broncos could use to send them into the offseason with modest momentum.

“I think it would,” Elway said. “We’re always looking to play more consistency and be smarter with football, not turn the ball around and give ourselves a chance to win. I think that’s our hope every week is that we are consistent, let’s play to our potential and put a full game together, really, against a good soccer team, too … But it would be nice to end our year with a good, solid soccer game and come out with a win where this sends us into the off season with a better taste in the mouth. “

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.