When Jeff Driskel stepped in for the injured Drew Lock to quarterback the Denver Broncos’ offense against the Pittsburgh Steelers, there were low expectations.

After all, the former Florida QB had likely not practiced much with the first-team, and he appeared in only three games last year with four touchdowns and four interceptions.

By late in the fourth quarter, Driskel was 18-for-33 passing for 256 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception. He was also sacked five times.

His first TD pass was a 20-yarder to Noah Fant, who scored in the corner of the end zone to make the score 17-14. Then he delivered another score to Melvin Gordon III, a 16-yarder to cut in the deficit again, 26-21.

Driskel is a fifth-year player from Florida and Louisiana Tech who has appeared in 12 games (8 starts) during his first four seasons with Detroit (2019) and Cincinnati (2016-18). Driskel entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2016.

With the Gators, he appeared in 29 games, with 21 starts, over four seasons at Florida, and threw for 3,411 yards, 23 touchdowns and 20 interceptions while completing 328-of-552 passes (59.4%).