If Trevor Siemian is healthy this weekend, he’ll be the starter. Gary Kubiak made that clear today.
Still, it’s that “if he’s healthy” part that’s interesting.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, there’s a chance that Siemian could miss one, even two, weeks with a sprained AC joint in his non-throwing shoulder. And if that’s the case, that puts Paxton Lynch in the driver’s seat.
Siemian may be the starter today, but if Lynch goes out and performs well against the Falcons on Sunday and possibly the Chargers on Thursday, it’ll be hard to pry him out of the starting lineup; there’s a reason the Broncos traded up in the first round to select him.
Either way, even if Siemian is back on Sunday and Lynch’s time behind center is limited to just over two quarters, his performance against the Buccaneers was fun. It was a sneak peek into the future of the Denver Broncos franchise, and his teammates and coaches were impressed.
Here’s what they had to say following the game:
Gary Kubiak on Lynch’s preparation
“He’s really doing a good job. John [Elway] and I sat down and talked about it today before the game and I said ‘John, I think he’s really growing.’ I’ve been watching him practice and prepare. You never know until he gets thrown into fire. We need to get a little more tempo and we need to get out of the huddle a little better. Those are things a young kid struggles with, but I thought he handled himself well. He made some big third downs for us. He got the ball down the field, and I really liked the way he avoided some bad plays and threw the ball away. I thought that was impressive.”
Kubiak on plugging Lynch into the offense
“In this league, you better plug in good players. You got to have great players in this league and get them in a position to be successful. I think the kid (Paxton Lynch) came in and handled himself really well. We did run the ball better with him in the game, which is important in the second half in trying to keep him out of some tough situations.”
Siemian on Lynch being ready when called upon
“Yeah, he’s somebody who’s done a heck of a job preparing and in practice so I’m not the least bit surprised he came out and had success. I know everybody has a lot of confidence in him, so I’m really happy on the way he came out and got us the win.”
Emmanuel Sanders on if he has the same confidence in Lynch that he does in Siemian
“Of course, of course. At the end of the day we got one goal no matter who is in there. We could lose me, we could lose DT (Demaryius Thomas), we could lose offensive lineman, defensive players, it’s always all about trying to go out and get the win. That’s what we prepare for, that’s what we play for. So when Trevor [Siemian] went down, you don’t want to see that, but at the end of the day we got to move and we got to go and get the win. We were able to do that.”
Sanders on catching Lynch’s first touchdown pass
“It felt good. Obviously we didn’t do with the ball what we were supposed to do with it, but he came in and threw his first touchdown. I remember him coming in the huddle and telling me, ‘I got to go at it, I want to throw a touchdown pass.’ We were able to connect on a five-yard pass. That’s the first of many.”
Demaryius Thomas on throwing Lynch’s first touchdown ball into the stands
“I’m usually throwing all the balls in the stands most of the times, even my balls. They went back and got it for him because you know his first touchdown pass. I was going to give him my touchdown [ball] because I actually kept it, but he’ll be all right. He’ll throw a lot more in his career.”
Thomas on Lynch’s performance
“He delivered the ball well. There could have been a couple more completion, but he did what he was asked to do. Come in and help us win the game. He took care of the ball, no turnovers. He delivered the ball and everyone was able to get some catches from him.”
Lynch on whether he was nervous
“Things were moving kind of fast when I first got in there, too. I could have been probably better getting in and out of the huddle a little faster as well, but after that first pass I kind of settled in and found my rhythm a little bit.”
Lynch on throwing his first touchdown pass
“Oh yeah, that was very exciting, especially for it to be to a guy like Emmanuel. Got me out of the pocket, moving a little bit down there in the red zone so I could have a chance to run it too. And Emmanuel just popped open and did his cartwheel.”
