All’s well that ends well must have been the motto for the Denver Broncos during their game against Jaguars. With where Denver was seeded last week, they needed to win yesterday to get back into the playoffs, adding additional pressure to rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch, who played for the first time yesterday since October. To say there was a lot riding on this game and on Lynch would be an understatement.
“I had little butterflies coming into the game,” Lynch said. “But after that first throw, you are ready to go. I knew we had to get rolling and pick it up, and that’s what we did.”
But despite any nerves Lynch had at first, the game resulted in a W for the Broncos, moving them back into the final Wild Card spot.
“Well, he got his first win so that’s what I feel best about,” head coach Gary Kubiak said about Lynch. “I thought he did some good things in the first half. He got us in a position for a field goal right at the end of the half. He did a good job at the two-minute (offense) and didn’t turn the ball over, which we knew would be huge here. I’m not sure we helped him much in the second half. We got to do, I have to do, a better job for him. But we came in here and did what we needed to do to win.”
During Lynch’s first career start, the Broncos also suffered their first loss of the season. It wasn’t exactly an impressive showing from the rookie, but he wasn’t going to let that affect him this time around. Lynch knew he needed to be careful with the football, but at the end of the day, he just had to go out there and play.
“You can’t be in the game just tiptoeing around and not wanting to make mistakes just because it’s football,” Lynch said. “You just have to keep playing. We knew if we didn’t turn the ball over, we had a really good shot at winning. You want to get those guys the ball that are big players and big targets for us, but sometimes the game goes this way and you still get the win and everybody is still happy about it.”
The Broncos head to Tennessee this weekend in what remains a must-win game. Considering how tight the AFC playoff race is, any stumble could tumble Denver out of the postseason conversation.
