Broncos Country entered Thursday night’s game with the hopes of finding clarity on the quarterback situation. They did not. In fact, the Week 1 starter is probably shrouded in more mystery now than he was 24 hours ago.
And that’s a good thing.
Yes, the Broncos would love to know who their starting quarterback is going to be sooner than later, but if the team is forced into making a tough decision, they’d much rather it be because they have three intriguing options, not none.
Against the Bears, that’s exactly what they saw.
Combined, the three quarterbacks completed 23 of 32 passes (72%) for 261 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and they looked even better.
The only flaw of Mark Sanchez‘s night was an interception thrown on his second drive, and while the pick will live on in his stat book, the credit really has to go to the Bears defender who made an impressive play on the ball. And if Bennie Fowler hadn’t dropped a perfectly thrown back-shoulder pass in the corner of the end zone, Trevor Siemian would have finished with a touchdown, too.
Next week, reports are that Siemian is likely to start against the 49ers, with Sanchez following him up and Paxton Lynch brining up the rear.
For now, though, here’s what the three passers had to say after the game:
Sanchez on his strong start:
“It was a great start, to go down and score, to overcome a penalty and stand in there on third down. DT (Demaryius Thomas) just made a route look easy, running down the field like that. That was fun. It was good to get hit and bounce back up and lead the team down the field. I had a ton of support from these guys. It felt great.”
Sanchez on his interception:
“I thought it was a safe enough throw. I think he got his left pinky fingernail on it and tipped it right to somebody. That was unfortunate. Those things happen. You try and eliminate those. We’ll learn from it and won’t let it happen again.”
Sanchez on making a strong first impression:
“I thought it was important for us to score on that first drive. Not just a field goal, but get six points. To stand in there on third down and take a hit — I think it was (Danny) Trevathan who kind of smacked me there — it’s nice to pop up from a hit like that. They never feel good, but they feel better when your guy is standing in the end zone with the ball. Emmanuel (Sanders) made some great catches for me. Bennie (Fowler) was out there making catches. Virgil Green over the middle. We had plenty of targets out there. Those guys did a great job of wiggling free and getting open for me. Offensive line did a great job of protecting. The running backs got us a ton of yards on the ground, so that was great.”
Siemian on the pressure to match Sanchez:
“Not at all. I was pumped for Mark (Sanchez). Pumped for the offense. It’s our first live action. It was cool to see that kind of success on our opening drive.”
Siemian on how far he’s come in the last year:
“Quite a ways, no doubt. I’ve tried to stay pretty focus and keep my nose to the grindstone. I haven’t picked my head up and looked around. I’m pretty focused on the past year or so.”
Lynch on his performance:
“It felt good to go out there and play against a real defense and be live and get hit and move around in the pocket and make some throws. It felt good to go against a live defense and get those reps.”
Lynch on his first completion:
“It felt good, just to get the first one out of the way. I was hoping I would be able to get a touchdown tonight, but I didn’t. We moved the ball pretty well. There were a couple of penalties that hurt us there late, especially with the younger guys.”
Lynch on how it felt to get on the field:
“I felt really comfortable with the game plan. The way we put the game plan together and the plays we had in there and the plays they called when I was out there were pretty simple to run and stuff I was good at, so I felt really comfortable.”