Drew Lock embracing 'Darth Vader' role vs. Chiefs, aims to even career record vs. KC

[Miles]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Drew Lock has lost just three times in his young career.


Twice, really, if you grant him a bit of slack and decide not to count a Week 2 loss to Pittsburgh in which he played just two series and exited when the score remained 0-0.


One of those losses, a 16-14 defeat at the hands of the Titans, was a competitive game late into the fourth quarter.


The other, regrettably, was not.


After a 2-0 start to his career, Lock led the Broncos to Kansas City for a Week 15 matchup last season — and the young quarterback and his teammates struggled in a 23-3 loss in the snow. Lock finished 18-of-40 for 208 yards, an interception and a 50.8 rating as the Broncos failed to score a touchdown and dropped their ninth consecutive game to the Chiefs.


It was a swift — albeit, brief — drop back to reality for the hometown kid, who grew up in Lee's Summit, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City.


As the Broncos approach their first game against the Chiefs since Kansas City secured their first Super Bowl title in 50 years, Lock will aim to turn in a better performance against the Chiefs.


For a number of reasons — including that the Broncos can improve to 3-3 after 0-3 start — this opportunity looms large, particularly against a 5-1 Kansas City team that looks poised to challenge for a repeat title.


But asked whether the Broncos will use Sunday's game to compare themselves as a team to the Chiefs, Lock focused solely on the chance to earn a win — and on all the aspects that would make a victory sweet.


"The measuring stick there is that it's a division game," Lock said Wednesday. "That's big. If you're going to look at it in from the heart of Broncos Country, it's even bigger. It's the Kansas City Chiefs. And if you want to look at it from my heart, it might be pretty big too. It's my hometown — and at the same time I can't let that change the way I play. It's just a regular game. [I'll] go through my reads, try to push us down the field to score points. This is just another week this week. We're going to come out and prepare the same way, extremely hard, and be ready to go Sunday like it's any other Sunday."


Lock, though, admits that the idea of playing the Chiefs may never seem completely normal. His family, which used to pack Arrowhead Stadium on a regular basis, traded their red garb for orange gear last December. On Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High, they'll continue to support Lock.


"It's hard to forget 22 years of your life, especially because I'm only 23 now," Lock said. "This is my first full year out of Kansas City. Everyone remembers their hometown, so there will always be that feeling of, 'My parents are actually leaving Kansas City to come see the game,' type of deal. It's nothing that makes you play different or nothing that get me all amped up to play the game this week — that's not how it works. You should be amped up for every game every week.


"It is cool, I'll say that. It is cool to be able to put the Darth Vader mask on and steer away from the Jedi and come to the dark side, so to say, over here in Denver. I kind of like playing that guy. Hopefully, I can be that guy and get a win this Sunday and start the rivalry a little bit."


Lock knows the Broncos need to stop the nine-game streak to reignite their rivalry with Kansas City — he said Wednesday he'd already heard about the streak "three or four times" that day — but he doesn't believe he faces any more pressure to outduel Mahomes than he would in a normal week.


"As a quarterback, you pretty much feel that pressure every single game to put up points," Lock said. "Pat has been known to put up a lot of points in that offense. If you want to go off of stats and how many points they score a game, technically speaking, you want to be prepared to put up a lot of points up. I feel like our defense is playing their butts off right now. I'm proud of the way they played last week. They kept us in that game and there's no saying that they can't go out and play an awesome game on Sunday and do a great job — Kareem [Jackson] and Justin [Simmons], maybe get a few guys back on the D-line and just let those guys roll and come out with their A-game and see how things turn out."


Lock may have an advantage that he hasn't enjoyed yet in his young career, as he'll get to see a team for the second time. The Chiefs now feature a new defensive coordinator, but Lock has played against All-Pros in Tyrann Mathieu and Chris Jones.


"I found out a lot about who their players are on defense," Lock said. "It's always nice to be able to play a team — well, this will be my first time, actually — but playing a team you've already played and where you know those guys. You know how they move, you kind of know how they think. I saw Frank Clark rush the passer a couple times in that game, I saw Chris Jones rush the passer a couple times in that game — you just know what to be aware of. You get a good idea of who you think they are. Now, they could come out and throw something completely different at us, but it's a comforting feeling to know we've played this team before and we know what to kind of expect."


As Lock aims to be the foil to Mahomes and the Chiefs, he'll take every edge he can get.