Lammey: Broncos don’t have a QB controversy — yet

The Denver Broncos don’t have a quarterback controversy — yet. Head coach Gary Kubiak emphasized on Monday that Trevor Siemian was the team’s starting quarterback, even though Siemian is currently dealing with a shoulder injury suffered in Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The team is preparing for its Week 5 game at home against the Atlanta Falcons, but they are starting out without Siemian practicing.

On Wednesday, Siemian did not practice with the team. Instead, the starting quarterback was in pads and a helmet but merely observing from the side of the field.

Kubiak has insisted that Siemian doesn’t need to practice this week in order to start on Sunday against the Falcons.

“We’re going to approach every week to get our best players on the field. Trevor is our starter, so we’re going to give him every opportunity to get there on Sunday,” Kubiak said.

“I was asked, ‘Could he play without a lot of practice?’ That would never be a problem with him because he is very bright in what we’re doing. We’ll push to get there and be as good as we can be against Atlanta. We’ll make decisions once we get to the end of the week.”

The head coach said the main issue is Siemian is “really sore” going through the throwing motion.

“Throwing the ball is not going to be a problem, (but) how does it feel when he moves his whole trunk? We’ll have to see,” Kubiak said.

With Siemian missing time, the Broncos get to take a longer look at rookie Paxton Lynch.

The Broncos moved up in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft to select Lynch out of Memphis. Lynch has a perfect skill set for the Kubiak offense. He’s got a rocket arm and can fit throws into tight windows. Lynch is incredibly athletic and is a threat to run on bootleg and rollout plays.

The rookie also has an aggressive mindset as a passer. Even though he didn’t throw deep much in college, he wants to attack a defense vertically.

That aggression was evident when Lynch took over for an injured Siemian in the Buccaneers game.

Lynch completed 14 of 24 passes for 170 yards and one touchdown to finish the game. The deep passes were on display as Lynch launched several passes down the field against the Bucs. In fact, he led the league in Week 4 with a 12.46 air-yards-per-attempt average.

Clearly, Lynch wants to go deep early and often. And he’s preparing as if he’s the starter.

“Coming into the week, I knew that Trevor was a little banged up, but I know that he’s doing everything that he can to get back out there,” Lynch said. “I knew coming out here I knew that I was going to take a lot more reps and take more reps with the ones and get some looks against the scout team defense that I’ll get in the game. It feels good to get more reps. I’m just doing the best that I can in case I do play on Sunday.”

Kubiak also revealed on Wednesday that Siemian could be a game-time decision.

“I’d take it all the way to game day,” Kubiak said. “I trust Trevor. He knows exactly what we’re doing and he’s very bright. He’s on top of everything today. He’s a part of the walk-throughs and everything that we’re doing so he’s on top of everything. We’ll just see where he’s at physically.”

The Broncos don’t have a quarterback controversy yet, but all that could change if Lynch plays against Atlanta and lights up their defense through the air.

Follow @CecilLammey