ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On the first football Sunday in the Mile High City, the sun was shining, the crowd was record-breaking and the pads were on — meaning the defense was here to play.

“Those pads make a difference. Even those pants, they make a difference,” Vance Joseph said.

Boy did they.

After three days of impressive quarterback play from the combination of Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch, both went out in front of the biggest crowd since the Broncos moved camp back to Dove Valley and laid the biggest egg of camp.

While Joseph won’t give a daily winner each day, on Sunday he handed out a collective “loss” to the two quarterbacks vying for the single starting position.

“They Both Struggled”

Practice ended in a similar fashion as it started for the quarterbacks: unimpressive. Lynch opened up practice with a would-be sack caused by holding onto the ball too long. Siemian finished practice by putting the ball in the hands of the defense.

“Do I like what I saw,” Joseph asked himself about the performance of both quarterbacks. “Not really. Both guys had issues today. I didn’t like what I saw today, honestly. They both struggled today; I didn’t like it.”

The offense struggled to find its groove in a practice that featured as many incompletions as completions.

The lone upside of the two quarterbacks came during a 7-on-7 period that featured Siemian moving the ball down field, completing five consecutive passes and Lynch completing three of four but also throwing an interception and taking a sack — hardly enough to write home about.

During team periods, it was all defense, all the time in terms of the passing game. Outside of the three interceptions on the day — read below — both quarterbacks were slow making reads, inaccurate and fortunate that the defense didn’t hold onto even more potential interceptions.

The biggest difference on the day between No. 12 and No. 13 was the way each quarterback was inaccurate. Lynch’s throws were under thrown or behind his intended target while Siemian’s were over thrown.

The biggest mistake from either quarterback on the day came at the expense of Lynch in the red zone. As Lynch rolled left, Bradley Roby jumped a pass intended for the end zone, caught it and took it 100 yards the other way for a defensive touchdown.

“We turned the ball over too many times,” offensive coordinator Mike McCoy said. “We had a red zone period early that we didn’t have clean enough execution in the passing game.”

Fortunately for both quarterbacks, their counterpart looked just as bad as they did. Fortunately for the Broncos, they live to play another day.

“It wasn’t very good today,” Joseph said. “And it was both guys.”

Doss The Boss

As he’s done in years past, cornerback Lorenzo Doss put on a show during Sunday’s camp, intercepting each quarterback on the day.

In 7-on-7, Lynch threw a heater behind Marlon Brown that bounced off his back shoulder and into the hands of a diving Doss. While the expression “If you can touch it, you can catch it” could be said about Brown for this play, the fact is the pass was behind Brown and had too much heat for a short slant.

Later on, Doss singlehandedly ended practice when he jumped Siemian’s pass intended for the sideline and took it to the house. Before Doss could even make it to the end zone, Joseph had called practice for the day — potentially in an effort to save his quarterbacks from any more mistakes.

Play of the Day

On a day full of ugly from under center, the lone bright spot in the air came on the foot of kicker Brandon McManus. Not only was he accurate kicking field goals on the day, he had the most accurate “pass” of the afternoon.

Like a quarterback sending his wide receiver out for a pass, McManus, or the Broncos staff, sent a trainer out in the middle of the fan section on the hill to catch McManus’ kick. From 40-yards out, not only did McManus nail the field goal, he placed the ball perfectly in the trainer’s arms, roughly 20 yards past the goal posts, without him having to move an inch.

Flat out impressive.

Scoreboard

The win on the day undoubtedly went to the defense for doing their job—making whichever quarterback was under center look flat out bad.

In terms of who won between the two quarterbacks, it would be foolish to think that either quarterback gained ground on the competition on the day. Siemian could have had a slight edge due to not turning the ball over, but that narrative was washed away on the final play of practice, making the competition, once again, a tie in the worst way.

Day-to-day score: 2-1-1, Lynch

Daily 10-point scale score: 5-5

Collective 10-point scale score: 20-20