Kiszla: In race to be Broncos starting quarterback, Trevor Siemian wins and John Elway loses
In a quarterback competition stacked against him, Trevor Siemian emerged as the big winner. The biggest loser? John Elway.
In the race to be the Broncos’ starting quarterback, Siemian eclipsed the favorite son of Elway. Everything about the first eight months of 2017 was tilted to give Paxton Lynch every opportunity to win the job. Let us count the ways. Elway changed his coaching staff, overhauled the team’s offensive scheme and erased all of Siemian’s credit for winning eight games as a starter last season.
When Denver takes the field for the season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers and for the foreseeable future, however, Siemian will be the starter. “It’s a permanent decision,” Broncos rookie coach Vance Joseph said Monday....
...OK, for a self-described slappy, Siemian is a remarkable success story. At a salary of $615,000, Siemian also offers far greater value than the $10 million that Miami flushed down the toilet to get rudely disappointed by Jay Cutler.
The Broncos can win 10 games and advance to the playoffs with Siemian. But win the Super Bowl with Siemian? Only if your dreams are painted in orange and blue.
Despite Elway’s best efforts to help him succeed,
Lynch lost out because he has proved to be a dim bulb when making decisions with the football a full 16 months after the Broncos traded up to select a strong-armed prospect out of Memphis in the draft. While it might be unfair to distill Lynch’s failure to beat out Siemian down to a single play, it’s impossible to forget how Lynch failed to recognize a wide-open Demaryius Thomas crossing in front of his eyes on a third-down play against the Niners on Saturday night and instead hurled a pass into double coverage in an ill-advised and futile attempt to connect with tight end Virgil Green.
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http://www.denverpost.com/2017/08/21...s-mark-kiszla/