PAXTON LYNCH TO TAKE OVER AS STARTING QB SUNDAY
Quarterback will start vs. Raiders
“Some of the fans aren’t happy, and rightfully so. The season’s not going the way that we all planned for it to go, unfortunately. But things like this, it kind of puts football on the back burner for the day. We come out here to do things like this and it reminds you there are a lot of other things going on in the world besides football.”
Ron Leary, a Broncos offensive lineman
After swapping offensive coordinators in search of a simpler offense, the Broncos on Tuesday appointed the quarterback to run it. Paxton Lynch will take over as starting quarterback for Sunday’s game at Oakland and Trevor Siemian will be his backup, according to league sources.
The quarterbacks were informed of the decision Tuesday, and coach Vance Joseph is expected to tell the rest of the team Wednesday, when they return to practice.
The change — the Broncos’ second starting quarterback change this season — comes a day after Joseph fired Mike McCoy and elevated Bill Musgrave to interim offensive coordinator and play-caller for the remainder of the year. The final six games could be a final showcase for Lynch before the Broncos likely retool their roster — maybe their coaching staff, too — in the offseason.
“I think if you look at where we are and we’ve seen the guys that we’ve got, that at some point in time I would anticipate that we’re going to see what we have in Paxton,” general manager John Elway said on Orange and Blue 760 radio Tuesday.
Lynch was beat out by Siemian in an offseason competition for the starting job and was inactive the first 10 weeks of the season because of a right shoulder sprain he sustained in the preseason. When Siemian was benched in Week 9, Brock Osweiler took over for three games, only to produce many of the same troublesome results: turnovers, inefficiency and losses. Osweiler will probably be inactive Sunday.
By switching offensive coordinators, Joseph hopes to not only jump start an offense that has contributed to six consecutive losses, but also pare down the playbook.
“Just going against ‘Billy Mus’ over the years and watching his offenses play — just having a system of completion passes in a pass game,” Joseph said Monday. “Again, sometimes it’s doing the same thing more often. You can kind of master it. I feel that we have a lot of good offense and a lot of good plays that we miss. But we hadn’t mastered anything. I think it’s going to bring a sense of consistency to our offense that we can master four or five concepts and that’s good enough to get better.”
Last season, Lynch played three games (starting two) in place of an injured Siemian, and completed 49 of 83 passes for 497 yards, two touchdowns and one inter-
ception. He also took nine sacks and posted a 79.2 passer rating.
Sunday against the Bengals was the first game this season in which Lynch was active following his lengthy recovery.
“It’s been tough,” Lynch said last week. “Obviously, you want to play. I love this sport and I love playing football. I want to play regardless of the situation, but I think the guys have done a good job and they’re going to continue to push forward. We all are.
“While I was in the training room watching from the inside out, it was just a big emphasis for me being on my iPad the whole time since I couldn’t be out there getting the reps. I feel like, mentally, I’ve taken a step forward. … Obviously, if you ask me if I can play, I’m going to say ‘yes.’ I would have said that right when I got hurt. But I talked to the trainers and the coaches, and like I said, they’ve done a good job so far and I feel great. I’m just going to continue to leave it up to them.”
Since the Broncos traded up to draft him in the first round of the 2016 draft, Lynch has worked with two head coaches and now moves on to this third offensive coordinator in Musgrave and third quarterbacks coach in Klint Kubiak.
Before making the call at quarterback, Joseph said it would be up to the coaching staff to ensure the system fits Lynch’s strengths.
They believe it does. And they believe he’s ready.