John Elway may have traded a bounty for Paxton Lynch, but that doesn’t mean he should start now. Trevor Siemian has outplayed him and won over the Denver Broncos locker room…
I think it’s safe to say that battle lines have been drawn in Broncos country. Ever since John Elway knighted the position, the Denver QB’s importance has been bigger than that of the mayor’s.
The Broncos have two young quarterbacks with promising futures or glaring weaknesses, depending on how you decide to look at them. Just look at my columns as an example.
After the 3rd preseason game, I declared Siemian to be the clear cut starter, and ten weeks later I called for his benching after a disastrous performance in Oakland. Last Sunday night’s revival in the epic against KC, combined with Lynch’s ineptitude in Jacksonville, make it clear as to who should be the starter for the rest of the season.
If you still believe that Paxton Lynch is the Broncos best option, then you watched different games against Atlanta and Jacksonville than I did. Or pretty much everyone else, as the numbers on the season bear out.
Completion percentage? Siemian’s 60% out-mediocre’s Lynch’s 59%.
Yards per attempt? No contest. Siemian’s 7.37 ranks 14th in the NFL just ahead of Jameis Winston, while Paxton Lynch’s 5.99 puts him behind Blake Bortles.
QBR? Siemian’s 61.6 is 18th in the league, while Lynch’s 28.1 QBR puts him behind luminaires like Geno Smith and Landry Jones.
Even Lynch’s best attribute right now: his legs, doesn’t measure up to Siemian on the fancy stat sheet. Lynch’s negative 37.9% DVOA running the ball is far behind Siemian’s negative 10% DVOA (Top 5: Kaepernick, Prescott, Luck, Taylor, Rodgers).
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That’s not to say that Paxton Lynch isn’t the future. He’s just not the present. At his absolute best, he looks like a hybrid of Aaron Rodgers and Colin Kaepernick. At worst, he looks like a taller Tim Tebow.
So far, we have only seen his absolute best in the preseason along with a handful of plays in Tampa Bay and versus Atlanta, meanwhile, Trevor Siemian was last seen playing his best half ever in an all-time epic.
Frankly, this “debate” wouldn’t exist if Bradley Roby had pushed Tyreke Hill out of bounds on 4th and 10 or if McManus had made the 62 yarder, or…ugh…that game left a permanent mark on my soul.
Broncos fans need to stop fighting like Trevor versus Paxton is a new edition of the Twilight series. Denver has one young QB with all the intangibles and an efficient skillset, and another athletic freak with a cannon (but only if he can get his legs underneath him – if Lynch can’t step into a throw, he turns into Chad Pennington). This is a good thing.
One is a rookie and the other is a regular season rookie. This debate will not be decided anytime soon (unless Siemian gets his Tom Brady on down the stretch), and it will be a much fairer fight next year once Lynch has had an entire season to immerse himself in the offense.
Remember #TeamLynch: this is the FIRST offense he has EVER played in that huddles. Huddles!!! He is making a massive mental leap. It’s preposterous to expect him to get up to speed with an NFL offense this year, and he should only be used in a “break in case of emergency” type situation.
I thought the Oakland game constituted an “emergency,” but I was wrong. This offense is fine (not good, but fine). They have two dynamite wideouts, one of the best centers in the game, and gaping holes at left guard and right tackle.
So long as the guy under center can get the ball out quickly and to the right spots, this is a dangerous passing game. Lynch has been able to do the former, but the latter has been betrayed by his inconsistent accuracy. Check out the tape – he missed every big play that was open last Sunday.
There’s also the issue of the locker room. If you follow Von Miller’s snapchat (and if you’re not, you’re missing out on free high quality entertainment), you’ll see Siemian flanked by DT or Sanders nearly every time he goes to troll him (Von calls him Macaulay Culkin). Siemian has won this locker room, and that might be what matters most.
The bye week was Kubiak’s last chance to make a change at quarterback. He didn’t, and Siemian came out of it and played his best game of the season. The writing isn’t on the wall, the writing is the wall.
The 2016 QB debate is over. Table it for the off-season and move on to more important things Bronco fans. We’ve got a division to win.