Lammey: How do the Broncos keep Paxton Lynch dialed in?

Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph put an end to the quarterback competition at his Monday press conference by naming, to little surprise, Trevor Siemian the starter over Paxton Lynch.

“After a long battle, four or five-month battle actually, we’ve decided on making Trevor Siemian our quarterback,” Joseph said. “With that being said, both guys competed hard. Both guys wanted the job.

“I was pleased with both guys, but overall, the operation of the entire offense — decision making and ball placement — were more consistent with Trevor. That’s why he won the job.”

Siemian looked better than Lynch with his consistent play most days in training camp, but it was his efforts in the preseason games that sealed the deal.

The Broncos have a championship-caliber defense, so they went with the guy who gives them the best chance to win and not the player who clearly needs more time to develop.

Now that Lynch is the backup to Siemian again this year, do the Broncos have a plan in place to keep Lynch dialed in?

Not a redshirt year

It sure looked like Lynch checked out at times last year. As a rookie, it wasn’t really a surprise that Lynch didn’t win the starting job out of camp, but there was a thought he could take over at some point during the season if he was ready.

That day never came.

Instead, Lynch took over for an injured Siemian in the Week 4 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played well in that contest and got to start the next week against the Atlanta Falcons.

That game did not go as well for Lynch, as the Broncos lost their first game of the year. He went 23-of-35 for 223 yards with one touchdown and one interception while getting sacked six times in that game. Lynch did not look comfortable throughout the contest.

He went back to the bench when the Broncos played the then-San Diego Chargers just four days later. Siemian started that game though he was clearly injured, and the Broncos suffered their second loss of the year.

It would be some time before the Broncos went back to Lynch, but he did end up playing again as a rookie in 2016.

Struggles in Jacksonville

In Week 13, with Siemian banged up, the team once again turned to Lynch.

Against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Lynch completed only 50 percent of his passes going 12-of-24 for 104 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

It was evident the coaching staff kept the game plan simple for Lynch. Part of that may have been by design, based on the opponent, but that game plan could have been put in place because Lynch had somewhat regressed behind the scenes.

There has been plenty of speculation that Lynch ‘checked out’ once benched after the Falcons game.

Starting running back C.J. Anderson alluded to it earlier in training camp this year when asked how Lynch was different this year.

“It’s a little different when you’re having a quarterback battle and then you don’t do what you want to do to win the battle. But then you might get out of the playbook and never realize that you might be up anytime like he was last year,” Anderson said.

“This year he understands that it’s still the battle but win or lose, he has to still in the playbook and be ready.”

With Siemian named the starter again, one wonders if Lynch is going to stay with the program and prepare as if he’s the starter.

So what’s the plan?

At Monday’s press conference, I asked Joseph if the team had a plan in place to keep Lynch dialed in even though he’s not the starter.

“He’s going to be fine,” Joseph said. “He has great teammates. Trevor and Paxton are really close. They’re buddies. I don’t foresee him checking out. We have great coaches on this staff and to keep him involved won’t be hard.”

Joseph added: “Again, he’s one play from playing again. Every guy on our team who is a backup who battled for a job — it’s disappointing, absolutely it is, but you’re one play from being back in action. When he plays again, it’s going to be obviously important. Who knows when he plays, but when he does it’s going to be critical that he plays well.”

It was a rough day for Lynch, but he answered the question at the podium on Monday and assured that he would not lose focus even though he lost the starting job.

“I’m going to take every rep I get, obviously, and value it even more at this point. I just really want to continue to get better and not sit around and pout and be upset about this because that’s not going to make anything better,” Lynch said. “I just want to come in day in and day out and just continue to get better.”

When he’s played, Siemian has been hampered by injuries — some major, some minor — dating back to his college days at Northwestern. The Broncos need to have a solid backup plan in case Siemian gets dinged up again.

That means Lynch can’t check out this year and needs to stay focused as his time as the team’s starter could arise at any time.

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