A worldwide pandemic wiped away plenty of sports in eastern Washington.

Drew Lock is 50-50 for the Denver Broncos’ game at New England next weekend but if his right shoulder is still sore, fellow second-year pro Brett Rypien will get his second straight start.

Melvin Gordon sealed the Denver Broncos’ first win of the season with a 43-yard touchdown run with 1:48 left and the defense made just enough plays in the fourth quarter to beat the lowly and still winless New York Jets 37-28.

It was a Monday night, Sept. 19, 1988 to be exact, when the landline phone at Mark Rypien’s home in Washington D.C. began to ring.

Brett Rypien received good news three weeks ago when he learned the Denver Broncos would be retaining him as a member of the practice squad.

While the Big Sky Conference football season remains in limbo on the cusp of August, more than a dozen ex-Eastern Washington and Idaho standouts enter preseason NFL training camps around the country.

The Denver Broncos have placed quarterback Joe Flacco on injured reserve and promoted rookie QB Brett Rypien from their practice squad to back up new starter Brandon Allen.

Denver Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco has a herniated disk in his neck that puts his season and possibly his career in jeopardy and leaves Denver’s dysfunctional offense in the hands of a trio of quarterbacks who have never taken a regular-season snap in the NFL. That group includes Spokane’s Brett Rypien, a Shadle Park and Boise State product.

There is still time for Brett Rypien to take the next step when the Denver Broncos play the Arizona Cardinals in an NFL exhibition on Thursday night.

In Brett Rypien’s record-setting tear through the Greater Spokane League, the former Shadle Park quarterback didn’t throw a single pass to one of the school’s all-time greats, former tight end Jake Rodgers.

Hours after visiting a hospital because of a kidney stone, Vic Fangio won a football game. The new coach of the Denver Broncos saw a late interception set up rookie Juwann Winfree’s 15-yard touchdown catch and his team edged the Atlanta Falcons 14-10 in the Hall of Fame game to open the NFL’s preseason.

Brett Rypien displayed some of his pedigree in the East-West Shrine Game.

Sean Modster caught a career-best three touchdown passes to lead No. 23 Boise State to a 45-14 victory over New Mexico on Friday night.

Boise State, which hasn’t lost to Fresno State at home since 1984, beat a ranked team for the first time in November in program history to keep its conference title aspirations alive.

Brett Rypien may not have been here, sitting on a chair inside the recruiting lounge of the Blaymaier Football Complex talking about preparing for his final season at Boise State. In fact, he probably wouldn’t have been here.

Losses always hurt. But sometimes wins, even improbable ones like Washington State’s 47-44 triple-overtime victory over Boise State can hurt even longer.

Saturday’s game between No. 20 Washington State and Boise State at Martin Stadium is something of a Homecoming for Brett and everyone in the Rypien family has waited anxiously for it to finally get here.

The five stages of grief have nothing on the college football fan’s emotional dance with the starting quarterback. Often as not, those reactions – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance – become a freeway pileup, cleaned up and towed away by halftime.

Junior quarterback Brett Rypien – the former Shadle Park standout – is coming off a sophomore campaign that in some ways was better than his debut season. But losses in three of the final six games left a sour taste.