Johnson: ‘Time to put the rookie in’ at QB for the Denver Broncos

Nearly a year ago, it was Peyton Manning’s return from injury in Week 17 of the 2015 season that seemed to spark the Denver Broncos to a No. 1 AFC playoff seed and a Super Bowl 50 victory.

Then-starting quarterback Brock Osweiler had led Denver to four wins in six starts to that point, and hadn’t played poorly through two-and-a-half quarters against the San Diego Chargers, throwing for 232 yards, a touchdown and two picks.

But it was Manning, who took over in the third quarter with Denver trailing 13-7, who would provide a spark with four late scoring drives to put the Broncos over the top and on the way to home field advantage through the playoffs.

It was a pivotal point not just in the moment but also as a benchmark in the Broncos drive to a Super Bowl 50 win and the postseason aftermath that saw a scorned Osweiler leave in free agency for the Houston Texans.

Eleven months later, with Manning and Osweiler gone and second-year starter Trevor Siemian and rookie first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch in their place, could the Broncos current quarterback situation be coming to a similar head?

During 104.3 The Fan’s “C.J. and Stokley” Monday, co-host Charles Johnson called for the Broncos to make the move to Lynch after another poor showing from Denver’s offense Sunday night in Oakland.

“I feel bad for the guy (Siemian) because I think if it were to unfold the way that we said it should, if they were good at something offensively, then he could be a serviceable quarterback,” Johnson said. “It ain’t happening. It’s time to look at the rookie. It’s time to put the rookie in the game.”

Johnson and co-host Brandon Stokley agreed it’s not so much the play from Siemian, who just notched his eighth career start against the Raiders, but that the Denver offense needs a pick-me-up if they’re going to climb back in the AFC West race.

Denver suffered a drubbing at the hands of the Raiders, moving to third in the division.

But Siemian, however, fared far better than his worst performance of the season (the previous week against the Chargers). Instead, he had just his second multi-touchdown game, his second highest yards output of the season (283), and his fourth best quarterback rating (81.2).

“They’re not going to get very far with what they have right now. I’m not trying to put it all on Trevor, but somewhere you have to get a spark with this offense and with this team,” Stokley said.

“There is not ‘Wow’ factor there with the guy,” Johnson said. “If the script is working, he is a good quarterback. He’s serviceable enough to help you win. But if the script isn’t working, and somebody has to create a little bit more out of what they’re getting, he’s not that guy. And it’s unfair for us for him to be that.”

In his Monday press conference, Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak said, like all of his players, Siemian needs to work on consistency, but he has faith in the gunslinger.

“I feel really good about what Trevor’s doing, but Trevor’s like any other player. He has to get better. We’re looking at it as a group. I have to do a better job for Trevor and ‘Knapper’ (quarterbacks/passing game coordinator Greg Knapp) and ‘Rico’ (offensive foordinator Rick Dennison) do, too,” Kubiak said.

“Up front we have to do a better job, and we can help Trevor by running the ball, but he’s making a lot of plays. He got us back in the game with a tremendous play to (wide receiver) Jordan Norwood]. He’s going some good things, but like all of us, we’re looking to be more consistent.”

Though the first eight starts of his career, Siemian’s thrown for 1,770 yards and 150 completions on 251 attempts, according to Pro Football Reference.

Pro Football Focus gave Siemian a 50.7 grade, or below average good enough for 28th in the NFL,;

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.