Paxton Lynch puts together a perfect practice

As we know, this week of practices and Saturday night’s game against the San Fransisco 49ers are probably the biggest practices and game of Paxton Lynch’s career. He has a shot to show the coaches and his teammates that he deserves to be under center for the Denver Broncos week one when they host the Los Angeles Chargers.

Well so far so good for the Broncos former first-round pick. He has put together an encouraging week and capped it off today with what may have been his best practice all summer.

Lynch was perfect today. He completed all 12 of his pass attempts that also included some “wow plays as John Lynch described them yesterday” and flashed the potential that made him a first-round pick.

Head Coach Vance Joseph was asked after practice about his thoughts on Lynch’s performance today and he said he was “very impressed” with Lynch.

“Very impressed. His best day? I’m not sure. He made three or four big time throws today. He looked relaxed. Hopefully that carries over to Saturday.”

If Lynch put together more days like this throughout camp this battle would be over by now. Elway is itching to name Lynch the starter but he hasn’t been consistent enough for that to happen. This is what Joseph wants to see from Lynch on Saturday, consistency and just do what he did today against the 49ers defense.

“I want Paxton to relax and go out there and play his game. Make good decisions, move the chains and score points. Simple as that. I don’t want him to feel pressure. I want him to be himself and be an athlete when he’s called to be an athlete. Just play quarterback for us. Simple as that.”

If he does that, it will make the Broncos quarterback battle very interesting, but first, he has to do it. Consistency has been Lynch’s big issue all summer. He’ll be having a great practice than end up having an awful drill where he throws multiple interceptions to ruin his day. He needs to start stringing together multiple days like today and so far he has put together a good week reportedly. A solid showing on Saturday night might be all it takes for him to win the starting job.

The big thing that has been holding Lynch back so far has been confidence. If his confidence is shaky, he struggles. If he’s feeling good about himself, he goes out and puts together days like today. This is something General Manager/President Of Football Operations John Elway noted today after practice.

“Like we said, he’s making progress. They’re all making progress. But I think what you saw in Paxton today is he played with a little more confidence than he has in the past. I think anytime he does that he’s a lot more successful. That comes with youth too. You have your ups and downs as youths and the consistency is not there where you want it to be. That’s why you continue to practice, continue to work and continue to get better.”

That’s what the Broncos hope happens with Lynch. Continue to get better so they can name him the starter. Even if he struggles on Saturday Night, the door might not be completely closed on him for starting week one. Elway once again noted that they do not have a time table for naming a starting quarterback.

“No, it’s not. That’s why they’ll split time this week and we’ll see what happens and continue to go into it. I know Vance is going to continue to look at it and we’ll stay in contact and communicate on it. As we said, we wanted to see these guys through preseason and eventually we’re going to name a starter. We just don’t know when.”

It’s clear the Broncos want Lynch to win this and they continue to keep that door open for their former first-round pick to take the job. As I have said it’s been Paxton Lynch’s job to lose all offseason and it appears he’s close to losing it, but a strong showing Saturday night could change all of this.

It will be a make or break night for Lynch, but hopefully, it’s starting to click for Lynch and he can carry over that consistency into Saturday night.