Lock did just that and more on Sunday afternoon, leading a dominant Broncos offense to four scoring drives and 31 points against Houston ... in the first half. The second-round rookie threw three touchdowns in the first two quarters, completed 22 of 27 pass attempts and finished with 309 passing yards and a 136.0 passer rating. Seven Broncos receivers finished with at least two receptions and Denver ran away with a 38-24 victory over the AFC South-leading Texans.
After Lock's electric performance, one of his veteran teammates could only marvel at the rookie's afternoon.
"He's a f------ rock star," linebacker Von Miller said of Lock, per The Athletic's Nicki Jhabvala.
The 23-year-old quarterback was in a similar mindset after shredding Houston's defense.
"I mean, we were ready to rock and roll from the get-go," Lock told reporters. "For us to come in and play a defense that's flying around the field, hitting people, stopping the run, for us to go in and do what we did, I think it speaks to a lot of what this offense can be."
Denver finished with 391 total yards and 7.1 yards per play after its hot first half start, this after posting 356 total yards of offense combined the last two weeks. Part of that is due to Lock thriving in coordinator Rick Scangarello's offense, particularly on deeper passes. Lock attempted eight passes over 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, completing five for 155 yards and a touchdown and throwing one pick late in the third quarter.
"I don't think he missed many today," Broncos coach Vic Fangio said. "To do that on his first road start, against a team that's gonna be in the playoffs, probably win their division makes it even better."
Lock is earning the respect and admiration of coaches and teammates, on and off the field. The quarterback noted that he earned the nickname of Buzz Lightyear this weekend because his wristband full of plays was reminiscent of the Toy Story character's. Lock celebrated with his teammates Sunday by shooting pretend lasers out of his arm.
The Broncos are on a two-game winning streak and having fun with a quarterback under center so young he wasn't born when the original Toy Story came out in 1995.
"Buzz is older than me," Lock joked. "But we've got to bring back some legends sometimes."
The Broncos will ride Lock into this season's sunset and potentially for the foreseeable future, and the fun-loving rookie is happy to live in this moment, confident in his play and the team's future going forward.
"I'd like to think my confidence is contagious. I never want it to come off as arrogance, I want it to come off as fire," Lock said. "I'm having fun with the game that we've all dreamed about playing since we were little kids. Now that we're here, why do we not need to have the most fun that we can with the game that we love?"
