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Broncos' Teddy Bridgewater Ruled out for Week 16 vs. Raiders with Concussion
December 22, 2021
Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio told reporters Wednesday that quarterback Teddy Bridgewater would miss Week 16's matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders with a concussion.
He confirmed that Bridgewater would remain the starter when healthy, however.
"Teddy's our quarterback," he said. "If he's healthy, he'll be our quarterback."
Bridgewater, 29, was carted off the field after suffering the concussion during Sunday's 15-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He was taken to the hospital and released Monday morning.
"I just spoke to him a few minutes ago,'' Fangio said Monday. "He's been released, he's home, he's resting comfortably. He sounded a lot better this morning than he did last night. Last night he sounded real tired. This morning, and I just spoke to him, he sounded a lot better."
Bridgewater has started all 14 of the team's games, throwing for 3,052 yards, 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 66.9 percent of his passes.
The Broncos are 7-7 and firmly in the wild-card hunt. While they sit in 13th place in the AFC standings, they are just one game behind the Nos. 4-8 seeds, the Bengals Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens, all at 8-6.
With Bridgewater out for a pivotal matchup against the Raiders, also 7-7, Drew Lock will return to the starting lineup. He started 13 games for the Broncos last season, throwing for 2,933 yards, 16 touchdowns and 15 interceptions while completing just 57.3 percent of his passes.
Pat McAfee @PatMcAfeeShow"With Teddy Bridgewater out this will be the biggest start of Drew Lock's career on Sunday" ~<a href="https://twitter.com/RapSheet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RapSheet</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PatMcAfeeShowLIVE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PatMcAfeeShowLIVE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BroncosCountry?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BroncosCountry</a> <a href="https://t.co/H1gmVurCHP">pic.twitter.com/H1gmVurCHP</a>
It wasn't a great audition for the 2019 second-round pick, as the Broncos went just 4-9 in his starts, and led to the team trading for Bridgewater. If Lock ever wants to be anything more than a backup quarterback, playing well in opportunities like the one he'll get Sunday will be key.
"I'm just going to focus on doing my job the best I can," Lock told reporters Wednesday. "When I do my job the best I can, that's the best recipe for success for this team. Not worrying about anything else—not worrying about this, not worrying about that. 'What's my job on this play?' And I want to do that to the best of my ability."