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Rookie Paxton Lynch will start at quarterback on Sunday when the Denver Broncos put their unbeaten record on the line against the visiting Atlanta Falcons. It will be the first career start for Lynch, who replaced an injured Trevor Siemian in the second quarter of last Sunday's 27-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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Mike Klis of 9news.com in Denver, citing multiple sources, first reported that Lynch will get the nod.
Siemian sprained his left (non-throwing) shoulder and was clearly limited in practice throughout the week. The 2015 seventh-round draft pick out of Northwestern beat out Mark Sanchez in preseason to win the starting job and has the reigning Super Bowl champions off to a 4-0 start.
Lynch, the No. 26 overall pick out of the University of Memphis, acquitted himself well in his NFL debut, completing 14 of 24 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown. He guided the Broncos to scores on three of the six possessions he led, answering questions as to whether he could run the entire offense.
The Falcons (3-1) arrive in Denver riding a three-game winning streak and leading the NFL in total offense (478.8 yards per game) and scoring (38.0).
Although Lynch was at times slow in getting the offense out of the huddle and to the line of scrimmage against Tampa Bay, his progress was clear compared with OTAs.'
Then, he sometimes had trouble relaying the play call in the huddle, something he didn't have to do in his college days at Memphis, where the call was conveyed via poster board from the sideline.
"He's much improved as far just handling himself, handling the huddle and those types of things," Broncos coach Gary Kubiak told reporters. "His confidence throwing the ball and stuff, he's always had that. Just handling all of the aspects walking in here today, getting a game plan that's different than the one that he had last week.
"He adjusts a little quicker so I think he's just more confident in his ability each week to refocus, start over and get ready to play."
