Denver Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco took heat recently for suggesting it wasn't his job to mentor Drew Lock.
The rookie quarterback has no qualms with Flacco's statement.
"I feel like if it would have been like the exact opposite answer, people would have scrutinized him for not wanting to win football games first," Lock told the Associated Press in a phone interview on Thursday. "It's such a double standard there with what people are making out of what he said."
Lock noted that he peppers both coaches and other players with questions and has never been rebuffed by Flacco.
"(W)hen I've asked Joe a question, it's not like he turns a cold shoulder and doesn't talk to me," Lock said. "He answers and we talk about things. So, I'm appreciative of what he's done."
The rookie signal-caller didn't take Flacco's comments to mean the veteran wouldn't help him learn, but rather as a simple pronouncement that each quarterback resides on a different plane of experience.
"Me and Joe talk out on the field, talk over things in the QB room," Lock said. "I mean, it's hard even to think about how couldn't I learn from the guy when we're in the same QB room every day and on the same field every day and I get to watch his reps, I get to hear the play calls he's running in my head through the helmet. I think it was just mainly him stating that, yeah, I do have a young quarterback underneath me right now but don't forget that I'm here to win football games.
"And he thinks that he can do that and so do I.''
Flacco's job is to keep the Broncos starting quarterback job as long as possible by winning games. Lock's job is to soak up as much knowledge as possible as a backup so he's prepared when it's his turn to take over. Neither goal is mutually exclusive of the other.
