All offseason long, fans and media members argued over social media if the starting quarterback for the 2017 Denver Broncos should be Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemian or Tony Romo. Instead, in week nine of the season, the Broncos turned to former ‘quarterback of the future’ Brock Osweiler to take the reins against the 7-1 Philadelphia Eagles.
Sadly, any of those four quarterbacks could have lined up under center for the Broncos and the end result would have been the same: the Eagles were still going to win, and win handily. The Broncos are not only one quarterback away from becoming a Super Bowl contender and while many preached this for months, this loss to the Eagles all but confirms that.
The offensive line once again did not play well, failing to protect Osweiler with poor pass protection. In previous games, many pointed out that Siemian was equally to blame for the offensive line’s poor play, consistently holding onto the ball far longer than average, resulting in unnecessary sacks. While Osweiler’s athleticism allows him to escape from opposing defenders more frequently than Siemian, Osweiler was still under pressure throughout most of the game as the Eagles registered three sacks. The Broncos’ offensive line has now allowed 28 sacks through nine games, which rank in the bottom three in the NFL. It was almost too easy for Eagles’ defenders, who constantly beat Broncos linemen and had straight shots at Osweiler all game.
While the Broncos have a great wide receiver duo in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, once again, their depth at receiver behind those two and all three tight ends on the roster had little effect on the game. While Thomas had a decent game with eight catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, most of his stats came in ‘garbage time’, when the game was already out of reach. Aside from Thomas, no other Broncos registered more than three catches. Cody Latimer finished second on the team in receiving with only 51 yards.
Yes, Osweiler had a dismal day himself, throwing for only 208 yards and one touchdown while also tossing two interceptions. The fact of the matter is that the Broncos were going to struggle Sunday — regardless of who lined up under center today. Osweiler didn’t drop a critical third down pass nor did he allow Alshon Jeffrey to score two touchdowns. Osweiler didn’t allow the Eagles to score 51 points and he certainly didn’t commit all 14 penalties that went against the Broncos.
Heading into week 10, the Broncos will likely play Lynch as soon as he’s healthy enough to start, in an attempt to see if he has what it takes to be the latest quarterback of the future. While that has yet to be seen, the Broncos will need better play from the entire team, not just who lines up under center.