Through the first two weeks of training camp, the quarterback competition between Mark Sanchez and Trevor Siemian was nearly in a dead heat. After the first preseason game Thursday night against the Chicago Bears, neither quarterback stood out over the other. And it was because they both had very good games.
The game played out exactly how head coach Gary Kubiak said it would earlier in the week, with Sanchez playing the first quarter, Siemian playing the second quarter and Paxton Lynch playing the entire second half. Earlier this week Kubiak also said that he wanted to get a similar look at both quarterbacks; that also came true with Sanchez attempting 13 passes and Siemian 12.
“We came out, threw the ball around,” Kubiak said after the game Thursday night. “It’s something we wanted to do. I wanted to watch how they handled things, their decision making.”
It looked as if Sanchez was on his way to clinching the quarterback position with his red-hot start — leading the offense on a 10-play, 76-yard touchdown drive capped off by a 32-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas. However, Sanchez kept the competition open after throwing an interception while trying to find Bennie Fowler in a contested crowd of defensive backs.
“I thought Mark did really good. Just had the one mistake with the football that we’re continuing to try and correct. He knows that,” Kubiak said. “Mark needs to protect the ball.”
Sanchez finished with a line of 10 of 13 for 99 yards, one touchdown and one interception (91.5 rating), compared to Siemian’s line of 7 of 12 for 88 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions (81.5 rating). Siemian’s night could have ended significantly better if Fowler would have held onto a perfectly thrown back-shoulder pass from Siemian in the end zone.
“I thought Trevor was good, put some deep balls in some good places, some plays we should have made for him,” Kubiak said.
Additionally, the offense lead by Sanchez scored seven points — the Sanchez-to-Thomas touchdown — while the offense lead by Siemian scored 6 points — two Brandon McManus field goals.
“As a group, I thought it was a good step,” Kubiak said. “I think they went out and played how they’ve been practicing. They’ve been pretty solid, so we just have to keep moving forward.”
The only major difference between the two quarterbacks was that Sanchez played with the first team offense and Siemian played with the second team. It is widely expected that Siemian will get the start next week and play with the first team, while Sanchez will get the second opportunity.
Kubiak, though, wasn’t ready to commit to anything.
“I don’t know. I am kind of going day to day … we play more next week. I’ll have to see how we do,” Kubiak said. “We kind of have three games next week. We have two practices against the Niners and then play them on Saturday, so a lot of good evaluation will still take place next week.”
The next test for Sanchez and Siemian will be the practices against the San Francisco 49ers this Wednesday and Thursday before playing them at home on Saturday night.
Along with a lack of a clear leader at quarterback, Kubiak’s lack of a timetable for making a decision will likely remain unchanged, putting more importance on each practice and game that approaches.
“They’re both good players, two good players. They’re getting better with what we do,” Kubiak said. “We threw them out here with a purpose to let those guys throw around and compete. I think they both did a good job.”
While having a clear answer at quarterback would make Kubiak’s decision much easier, he may prefer having a difficult decision, especially if both quarterbacks perform at the level they did on Thursday tonight.
