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Denver Broncos Head Coach Vance Joseph announced today that Brock Osweiler will get the start this weekend, his third straight, against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Coach Joseph announced that Brock Osweiler will start at QB vs. Cincinnati.
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 13, 2017
» https://t.co/g9ww9swcYY pic.twitter.com/14kqlC01II
Osweiler played fairly well Sunday night against the Patriots and was not the reason why the Broncos lost their 5th straight game. He completed 18 of his 33 pass attempts for 221 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. He also completed 54.5% of his passes and had a quarterback rating of 72.9 last night.
That’s obviously not the greatest stat line for a quarterback, but it’s one of the better performances we have seen from a Broncos quarterback this season. That alone speaks volumes about how bad the quarterback play has been this season.
Osweiler was asked after last night’s loss if he wants to remain the Broncos starter going forward and he replied predictably, “absolutely”.
“Absolutely, I want to be the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos for as long as I possibly can. I love this organization. Like I said, I’m going to do everything within my power to help this team win games.”
One reason why Osweiler will remain the Broncos quarterback is that former first-round pick Paxton Lynch remains sidelined with an injury(or whatever). Joseph told reporters this afternoon that their remains no timetable for Lynch’s return.
Joseph on Paxton Lynch: Still recovering from shoulder injury. Throwing intermediate passes, not deep passes. No timeframe for playing. #9sports
— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) November 13, 2017
Lynch is throwing intermediate passes but has not been tossing deep passes just yet. Joseph indicated that they will continue to keep him sidelined until he’s 100% healthy.
Time to put my tin foil hat on here.
After Lynch suffered this shoulder injury in week 3, there were multiple reports indicating this was only a “couple week” injury and he should be back in no more than a month. Now we’re a little over two weeks away from Thanksgiving and there is no timetable for Lynch’s return? Something fishy is going on here.
Either Lynch’s injury is much more serious than they’re letting on, and if so, why didn’t they just IR him and open up a roster spot on a banged-up roster? Or the Broncos are using this injury as a convenient excuse to keep Lynch off the field despite fans calling for the former first-round pick. Keep in mind, Joseph told reporters a couple weeks ago that Lynch was not “physically or mentally ready” to return to the Broncos.
Regardless of the truth, Paxton Lynch will remain sidelined for the foreseeable future it appears and the Broncos will continue to march towards a top-five pick with Brock Osweiler under center.