The Broncos didn’t officially declare a starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Chargers. Denver wanted Los Angeles to have to prepare for both Brandon Allen and Drew Lock.
Seemingly nobody was fooled as it was widely expected that Lock would start. After the rookie QB helped the Broncos defeat the Chargers 23-20 on Sunday, coach Vic Fangio admitted dragging out the decision for competitive reasons was “just playing silly games.”
There won’t be any games this week. The Houston Texans will know Lock will start against them in Week 14.
“I’m telling you now he’s starting next week,” Fangio said Sunday evening. “You don’t have to wait until Saturday.”
Lock completed 18-of-28 passes for 134 yards with two touchdown passes and one interception in the win, good for a 84.5 passer rating. He became Denver’s first rookie QB to win in his debut since Gary Kubiak in 1983.
Lock appreciates his coach’s vote of confidence and hopes to reward that confidence.
“Hopefully [Coach] doesn’t have to talk about the starting quarterback for a long time here,” Lock said after the game. “I think it’s going to be an awesome transition for me to get even more comfortable with the guys around me.
“It was a little different splitting reps with Brandon this week. Now, I feel like I’m the voice, I’m the one guy where I can go in and really start to be myself 24-7 with these guys. They may have thought they saw a little bit of me tonight, they’re going to see a lot of me in the next week.”
Sunday’s game against the Texans will start at 11:00 a.m. MT on CBS.
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