Broncos call on Paxton Lynch, who may never be ready
Vance Joseph, coach of the Denver Broncos, doubted second-year quarterback Paxton Lynch was ready to be his starting quarterback. But, probably with pressure from above, he sent Lynch out to face the Oakland Raiders.
It turned into one of the saddest days of the football season, Lynch limping to the bench in the third quarter, sitting and crying into a towel.
You wonder what the long-term effects will be.
For him as well as for other neophyte quarterbacks who are rushed onto the field before they’re ready to compete at the professional level.
Super Bowl hangover may be rough, but how does Nathan Peterman get over tossing six interceptions before halftime?
In a sense, Lynch is under more stress than Peterman, who was the Buffalo Bills’ fifth-round pick out of this year’s draft. He was an afterthought, but Lynch was Denver’s first-round choice in the 2016 draft.
He was hand-picked by the team’s general manager, John Elway, Hall of Fame quarterback who’s considered an expert on recognizing athletes with skill sets that resemble his own.
Elway trusted a broken-down Peyton Manning when other NFL execs were skeptical. With Manning the Broncos played in two Super Bowls and won one. Elway was hoping Lynch would be their next Franchise Quarterback.
Lynch has spent most of this football season recovering from a shoulder injury. However, there were reports out of Denver that he’s been healthy for weeks but could not comprehend the game plan.
The 23-year-old quarterback sounded clueless after Sunday’s 21-14 defeat, saying, “I thought I played pretty well.”
Here’s what he did: completed 9 of 14 for 41 yards against the 27th-best pass defense in the NFL. He also threw a red-zone interception. He left the game behind 21-0. His successor – and former No. 1 QB – Trevor Siemian, did much better (149 yards, 2 TD, 0 picks) in the garbage time Lynch left him.
As if Lynch’s postgame interview left doubt, Rich Gannon of NFL Monday QB confirmed the rumors that he’s far back on the learning curve. “I watched film of every throw this kid has made since he was drafted by the Denver Broncos, and he’s just not ready for prime time. He’s not very accurate. He struggles to function from the pocket. He struggles absorbing the volume of information in an NFL game plan.”
Lynch played in two games last season, completing 59 percent, averaging just 6.0 per pass. Elway expected improvement this year, but it hasn’t happened.
Gannon, a former Super Bowl quarterback, said, “The Broncos are in big trouble at the quarterback position. They have three quarterbacks, and they have no confidence in any of them. . . Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler, and Paxton Lynch goes in and gets hurt . . . ”
The injury to Lynch is a high ankle sprain that probably puts him out for the season. And out of the Broncos’ plans forever.
“They will be looking for a starting quarterback this off-season,” Gannon said.
Elway does not want to be too early to bury Lynch. He knows what it’s like to be a top pick who doesn’t make a favorable first impression. As a rookie he completed 48% of his passes, threw 7 TDs, 14 picks. His coach, Dan Reeves, embarrassed him by saying he was slow to learn the playbook.
The Broncos’ ownership was patient with Elway, because he played in an era when a quarterback was not expected to be good until he spent three or four years as an apprentice.
But Lynch, as Gannon suggests, is already out of time. His appearance against the Raiders was so demoralizing that Elway cannot possibly market him as the No. 1 quarterback in 2018.
The Broncos have lost seven consecutive games, for the first time in fifty years. Joseph, 45, is in his rookie year as an NFL head coach and could be one and done. It may not have been his idea to start Lynch before he was ready, but it turned out to be an unfortunate decision, with long-term consequences for many people.