Broncos Quarterback Scoreboard: Paxton Lynch is a different quarterback

Every day, following practice, we here at BSN Broncos will be giving you our opinion on what we saw go down in the quarterback battle that day. Keep an eye out shortly after practice for our observations from the day, opinions on what took place and, ultimately, the day’s winner.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — During the first day of training camp on Thursday, Vance Joseph limited his team, specifically the quarterbacks, to the small confines of the red zone.

On day two, Joseph opened the flood gates, allowing the quarterbacks to give the football a ride, and that’s just what happened.

In what was deemed a “Paxton day,” for the simple fact that he received the first reps with the first-team offense, Lynch grabbed the reigns and tried to run away—quite literally—with the job. Siemian, however, made a sprint to the finish line, holding the reins just close enough.

Here’s what played out on the field with No. 12 and No. 13.

Lynch Progressing

If once is chance, twice is coincidence and three times is pattern, then Lynch is one day away from starting training camp on an unmistakable hot streak.

The former first-round pick showed he was capable of making a wide variety of throws, and plays, during the day. Lynch began the morning with a simple five-yard swing pass to Emmanuel Sanders and was off to the races after that.

Shortly thereafter, in vintage Lynch fashion, he aired the ball out many times, most notably splitting a double team to find Cody Latimer on a deep post. Although the ball itself wasn’t beautifully thrown, it showed that he isn’t afraid to take chances, and more importantly find success deep.

Along with an efficient day through the air, Lynch put his wheels on display — scrambling for what would be positive yardage on multiple different plays.

The only negative on the day for Lynch was when he put too much confidence in his arm. While in the red zone, Lynch tried to force a ball into the end zone, Aqib Talib jumped the route and had two hands on the ball but couldn’t hold on to it for the interception.

Lynch’s consistency at all levels of the field and his ability to tuck the ball and run were on full display during the second day of camp.

Split Siemian

In an usual twist to the quarterback competition, Siemian was the one with more highs and lows during practice. His first half of practice was nothing to write home about, only seeming to connect on about half of his throws.

Additionally, the only interception on the day, between Siemian and Lynch, came at the expense of Siemian attempting the long ball. In an effort to stretch the field, he aired the ball 40 yards into the end zone, but instead of Sanders coming down with the pass, Bradley Roby swooped in for the interception.

It should be noted that the underwhelming start wasn’t all Siemian’s fault. On multiple occasions, his receivers dropped balls that should have been caught. At least on Friday, Lynch didn’t have these same drops.

Siemian started to heat up after completing one of the most difficult throws in football: a perfectly thrown out-route on the sideline to Isaiah McKenzie while throwing off his back foot due to immediate pressure up the middle during the final team period.

Immediately after, during 7-on-7’s, he rolled this momentum into a stellar finish — going 3-for-3, all of which went for touchdowns.

Play of the Day

As noted earlier, Lynch let his legs loose on Friday, tucking the ball and running on multiple occasions. However, it was a home run that stole the show. During a team period, 11-on-11, with the entire play moving to the left, Lynch saw a giant hole open from the right hash to the sideline and took off 40 yards into the end zone.

After practice, Joseph wasn’t surprised by the big play on the ground, simply describing it by saying, “it’s Paxton, he can run.”

“He made a bunch of those in the Spring,” he added. “But obviously for a young quarterback like Paxton, early on, if he is playing, when things break down he does have legs to make things better. As a defensive coordinator, you can’t account for that guy. You want to play man-to-man, no one is accounting for him. If things break down early on, he can take off and make big plays with his legs.”

Without a doubt, Lynch has a clear advantage over Siemian on his ability to make plays with his feet. Friday, he showed he wasn’t afraid to do just that.

Scoreboard

For the second day in a row, the first-round pick won the day, this time getting the nod to lead the first-team offense first. Lynch looked to have a solid lead on Siemian for much of the day due to his consistency at in every aspect of his game. Siemian, however, finished strong keeping Lynch within an arm’s on the day.

Without a doubt, through the first two days of camp, Lynch is proving to be a different player than he was all of last year. When Joseph was tasked with describing what he’s seeing out of Lynch, he said, “Paxton is Paxton. He’s playing ball.”

If he can “play ball” like this for three days in a row, watch out.