SEATTLE – Highlighted by his top throw of the summer, Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater made the most of his two possessions in Saturday nightap 30-3 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
Bridgewater was 9-of-11 passing for 105 yards, one touchdown and a 136.7 rating in leading the Broncos to two touchdowns. He departed after 23 plays.
“Teddy played well, obviously,” coach Vic Fangio said. “Some of his good plays were hard quarterback plays where he had to manipulate the pocket, step up laterally, wait for something to come open late.”
Drew Lock, who played well in his start at Minnesota last week, played five possessions (through the end of the third quarter) and produced three field goals. He was 9-of-14 passing for 80 yards.
“We had some protection breakdowns when he got in there and I want to see all of his plays with the remote in my hand and take a good look at it rather than what I saw on the field at the time,” Fangio said.
Might Fangio name a Week 1 starter this week?
“It won’t be (Sunday),” he said. “The earliest would be early (this coming) week or we let it go another week. These guys, both of them, have done well and they’ve made it a hard decision. We’ll give it thorough thought.”
Fangio was asked if his confidence level in Bridgewater and Lock has grown since the start of training camp last month.
“Definitely,” Fangio said. “Both of these guys have done well. We can play and win with either one of these guys and thatap a good thing.”
In non-quarterback news, the Broncos’ defense produced three first-half takeaways — interceptions by safety Justin Simmons and defensive lineman DeShawn Williams sandwiching a strip-sack by outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper that was recovered by Williams. The only negative was shoddy special teams play (kick returns allowed of 45 and 30 yards and a partially blocked punt allowed).
The Broncos improved to 2-0 in the preseason.
Simmons set up the first drive with his interception of Seahawks quarterback Alex McGough, who basically threw it right to Simmons.
Starting from the Seahawks’ 45, Bridgewater opened with a five-yard pass to tight end Eric Saubert after a short roll to the right. Three plays later, on fourth-and-5, Bridgewater showed patience and awareness, climbing the pocket to hit receiver Jerry Jeudy for a 35-yard gain (19 yards post-catch) on a crossing route.
The Broncos took a 7-0 lead on Bridgewater’s two-yard touchdown pass to receiver KJ Hamler.
Bridgewater’s second drive started at his 13-yard line. No matter. The Broncos chipped away at the Seattle defense, using 16 plays to score when running back Javonte Williams’ goal-line fumble was recovered in the end zone by left guard Dalton Risner.
The Broncos converted two fourth-and-1s (Williams two-yard rush and Bridgewater two-yard sneak). On second-and-9 from the 22, Bridgewater’s finest pass of the month was a 21-yard corner route to Saubert.
“A great throw, something we’ve seen from Teddy in practice,” Fangio said.
That was it for Bridgewater. For the preseason, he is 16-of-19 passing for 179 yards and two touchdowns. The Broncos have scored on all four of his drives.
“I was just out there doing my job and my job is to move the chains and get my unit into the end zone,” Bridgewater said. “The o-line did a great job protecting and everything starts with those guys. They open holes in the run game, protect in the pass game and communicate well. Honestly, I was just doing my job, getting the ball to our guys to make plays.”
Lock entered the game with a mostly new offensive line. Calvin Anderson moved from right tackle to left tackle, Lloyd Cushenberry stayed at center and into the game came right tackle Bobby Massie and guards Netane Muti and Quinn Meinerz.
Lock was sacked twice on his first possession. His second drive was a nine-play, 46-yard march that ended with Brandon McManus’ 39-yard field goal two seconds before halftime. Lock completed four consecutive passes while running the hurry-up offense, including a 19-yard strike to Diontae Spencer on third-and-6.
“I think (the second drive) was a good bounce-back,” Lock said. “Overall, just tonightap performance in general as a team, itap trending in a positive way and itap fun to be a part of.”
Lock was 1 of 1 for three yards on his third drive (McManus 52-yard field goal), 1 of 2 for three yards on his fourth possession (punt) and 1 of 2 for 34 yards (McManus 33-yard field goal) to wrap up his night. On the long completion to receiver Seth Williams, Lock was pressured out of the pocket and just as it appeared he was going to scramble, he flipped a pass to Williams.
“Itap one of those last-second decisions you have to make,” Lock said. “Seth got open enough to where I felt like I could fling it to him. I was trying to make a play, try to get us going and that was enough to get us down there.”
For the preseason, Lock is 14-of-21 passing for 231 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and five scores (two touchdowns/three field goals) in eight possessions.
The Broncos extended their lead to 30-3 with 5:04 remaining on quarterback Brett Rypien’s 11-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Shaun Beyer.
Footnotes. Fangio said he expects receiver Courtland Sutton, outside linebacker Von Miller and running back Melvin Gordon to play against the Rams; they’ve all sat out the first two preseason games. … Fangio on cornerback Michael Ojemudia’s injury, sustained while breaking up a second-half pass: “The early examination indicates itap not an ACL, but he definitely has some stuff (injured) there.” … Fangio on the special teams: “The coverage units in particular (are concerning). They had a nice kick return on us and another one that didn’t go quite as far and a deflected punt. As good as we were playing, those things that can ruin a game for us.”
