Mile High Monday: Lock, Jackson and Scangarello all have big days

Dec 9, 2019, 6:34 AM | Updated: 11:47 am

Denver Sports Analyst

The Broncos did something nobody expected them to do on Sunday. Yes, they beat the Texans in their building, but it was the way Denver played at Houston that shocked the football world.

With a rookie quarterback making the first road start of his career, the Broncos scored a whopping 38 points and beat the Texans by a final score of 38-24. For the first time since Oct. 19, 2018, the Broncos scored more than 24 points and the offense looked very sharp.

I like the excitement that surrounds this team right now, and it’s fun to see Broncos Country fired up to cheer on their favorite team. Yes, they’re not going to the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, but one can’t help but get excited to think about what kind of playoff run this team could make in the near future.

I also like contemplating life and sports when driving around with the top down on my old Jeep TJ – even in December! The following is a result of those trips during the week.

Buckle up, let’s take a ride through my thoughts.

***

To Infinity and Beyond

Drew Lock had an amazing game on the road against the Texans. He became the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns in his first road start. Fans are fired up by his inspired play, and it’s clear to see how much fun the rookie second-round pick is having on the football field.

His touchdown celebration of pretending to have a laser like “Toy Story” character Buzz Lightyear just emphasizes how much fun the young quarterback is having. The offensive line has told him that the wristband with the plays on it that he wears makes him look like the beloved Pixar character. Lock has taken that grief his teammates have given him and turned into his thing.

“I’d like to think that my confidence is contagious. I’m having fun with the game we’ve all dreamed about playing since we were little kids. And now that we’re here, why not have the most fun we can with the game we love? I don’t want it to ever come off as arrogance, but it was definitely a lot of fun with Buzz Lightyear this week. It blew up on Twitter to where the offensive line was, we should shoot the laser after you score a touchdown. All right, you want to do it we’ll do it. We fully embraced it,” Lock said.

#BroncosCountry rallying around Drew Lock @1043TheFan pic.twitter.com/3Rbrs5HyV4

— Cecil Lammey (@CecilLammey) December 8, 2019

The Buzz Lightyear thing is going to stick, and Broncos fans love Lock’s confidence. Just imagine what he can do with more development.

***

Scangarello Reprieve?

The Broncos offense in 2019 had been abysmal for most of the year. Last week against the Chargers, the Broncos got out to a lead, but then played some conservative football in the second half which allowed the Chargers to get back into the game. Last week during media availability, head coach Vic Fangio and offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello went out of their way to state how they were not being too conservative but the team needed to execute better in order for the offense to perform better.

Well, that worked out for the Broncos this week. Moving the ball was not a problem and picking up key third-down situations happened at a rate of 5-out-of-8 against the Texans. Entering the game on the hot seat, Scangarello put together his best game plan of the year and the team responded with a huge game. Scangarello ran plays that made Lock comfortable, and the rookie quarterback responded with a historic performance. Credit goes to both for the performance in Week 14.

“I think Coach Scangarello called an awesome game. I think he put me in a bunch of really good positions to make the guys around me right with being able to check out plays, check into plays. Once they first put the install in to start the week, first time I saw, all right, this is a good plan. We’ll be able to go in score a lot of points throw the ball and we’re going to spread the ball around. So props to him for that game plan this week,” Lock said.

Looks like Rich Scangarello doesn't want to be called a conservative play caller. Nice new moves! #Broncos @1043TheFan pic.twitter.com/N8CtVm1i0B

— Cecil Lammey (@CecilLammey) December 8, 2019

This GIF will never not be funny to me! Good job Scangarello, and let’s see if you can keep getting the best from your young quarterback.

***

What Revenge Game?

All week long, Broncos safety Kareem Jackson denied that playing against the Texans was going to be any sort of “revenge” game for him. Coming out of Alabama in 2010, Jackson was a first-round pick of the Texans and spent nine years there making big plays for that defense at cornerback. This offseason when Jackson was a free agent, the Texans didn’t want him back. This wasn’t a case of them not being able to afford his services, but rather Houston didn’t even offer a new contract to the star veteran.

The Texans loss is the Broncos gain, and Jackson was all over the field making plays for the Broncos in Week 14. He had a fumble return for a touchdown, made a few trademark big hits, almost had an interception that would have been a pick-six and finished the game with 11 tackles and three passes defensed.

On Sunday, we saw how much it meant for Jackson to play well against his old team.

“It was real special. Especially when we got the guys kind of rallying behind me like that. But for me, I wanted to treat it as another game on the schedule. I didn’t want to make it all about me and my return here. At the end of the day, we had to come here, we had to execute as a team. Regardless if I play here or if it was another team. It was all about executing today and just coming in getting the job done as a team. I felt we did it in all three phases,” Jackson said.

“We came in & we handled business. … Great team win!” – @ReemBoi25

The locker room was 🔥’d up after we #BeatTheTexans! pic.twitter.com/lcjR4C4X0E

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) December 9, 2019

The emotion post game shows you how much this team loves Jackson.

***

#WW84

It’s no secret that I am a huge comic book nerd. I always have been and I always will be. I’ve self-published my own comic “Gravis” and am working diligently on five different properties that I want to sell to Hollywood as movies or TV shows. I am loving the era of comic book movies that we are living in right now.

While some take issue with the number of comic book movies, I just want to see good movies – well-written movies that feature great actors, dialogue and action. It doesn’t matter what the subject is about, but if this good movie happens to also be derived from a comic book or graphic novel, then I’ll enjoy it even more.

On Sunday, the trailer for the next “Wonder Woman” movie was released online. The hashtag #WW84 was trending all day as fans got excited for the next installment in the franchise. The first Wonder Woman movie was awesome, and this second movie – set in 1984 – could be even better. As a child of the 80s, it was fun to see some of the scenes from that time and hear some of the music that will be on the soundtrack.