LYNCH
porary setup, given Kubiak’s willingness to make tough QB decisions on the way to a championship last year and what the Broncos gave up to snare Lynch at No. 26 overall. But practically everyone who scouted Lynch in college believed it would take time — perhaps a year or two — to get him ready for NFL action.
At the University of Memphis, plays were communicated through signals from the sideline. Lynch’s line checks were relatively limited. He wasn’t asked to process before or after the snap at anywhere near the level NFL quarterbacks need to.
“It’s just a matter of how much he can take and still be the natural guy he is in how he plays the position,” said John Elway, the hall of fame quarterback who now runs the Broncos’ football operation. “If you overload him and all of a sudden you shut him down, now he’s thinking and not reacting.
“So, until he can spit things out — he’s comfortable doing that, but still, when he gets to the line of scrimmage, can he go on and play and let his natural ability take over? Because that’s what you have to do playing quarterback. If you’re thinking too much or other things are controlling you other than your natural play, you’re not ready to go.”
Lynch has flashed that ability in his first two exhibition outings, completing 21 of 33 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
Watch him gun an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end John Phillips off a bootleg or spin out of an oncoming rusher’s grasp to scramble for a gain, as Lynch did last week against the San Francisco 49ers, and it’s easy to envision him thriving in Kubiak’s movement-heavy offense.
“It’s frustrating sometimes when you come out here and you don’t have a good day and you kind of get mad at yourself, just because you feel like you’re not getting this and that,” Lynch said. “But it’s a process that every rookie has to go through. It’s a learning curve and that’s kind of how I’m taking it — trying to keep my head up through good day and bad days.”
The nighttime work stems from advice Lynch got during the predraft visits from coaches, some of whom tested him with long play calls just to see how he’d respond. (Not always great.) At times, Lynch has had McGovern or someone else play the role of coach sending in the play. “But doing it over and over in front of those guys in the huddle, I think, is the only way you continually get better at it,” Lynch said.
Putting the plays on wristbands can be a helpful crutch, but that also can slow down the process on the play-caller’s end, and it’s not a long-term solution. The great quarterbacks can see clearly the picture of the play in their mind the moment they hear it, allowing them to focus on what the defense is doing and react accordingly.
“We’re really excited about Paxton. We think his upside’s tremendous,” Elway said. “But like you said, he’s just got to get used to the verbiage — and that’s just with reps and reps and reps, and he’s getting plenty of reps.
“We’ll see how it plays out. You never know.”