Is it time to call the fight? There wasn't much of one anyway.
The Denver Broncos' quarterback battle between Paxton Lynch and Trevor Siemian continued Saturday night in preseason game No. 2 against the San Francisco 49ers. Based on what we saw, a decision on Siemian and Lynch could be coming soon.
Lynch got the start and looked abysmal. The former first-round pick out of Memphis managed to throw for just 39 yards on 13 attempts in five series. He missed open receivers and threw into double coverage. He fled the pocket too early to tuck it and run multiple times.
Lynch, who reportedly fueled up for the game with In-N-Out Burger, turned in a performance blander than the West Coast burger chain's fries.
Siemian, meanwhile, gave Denver competency.
He came on toward the end of the first half and immediately led a touchdown drive. Siemian's 19-yard TD pass to Jordan Taylor put Denver ahead 20-0.
Siemian threw for 10 more yards on his first drive (49) than Lynch did in his first five.
For the second straight season, it appears that the former seventh-round pick from Northwestern is going to beat out the first-round pick out of Memphis.
Siemian won the starting gig last year as a dark-horse candidate. He beat out Mark Sanchez and Lynch, and wound up throwing for 3,401 yards, 18 TD and 10 interceptions in 14 starts. Improbably, the table is set for the 250th overall pick in the 2015 draft to open a second-straight season as the Broncos' starting QB.
The Broncos' offense was among the worst in football last year. They averaged 5.1 yards per play, which ranked 26th in the NFL. Broncos brass decided not upgrade the quarterback position this offseason, despite that, instead focusing on rebuilding a woeful offensive line through the draft and free agency.
How much improvement — if any — the Broncos make on offense this year will go a long way in determining if they're back in the playoffs after missing out in 2016. Denver might've found a difference maker in the sixth round of this year's draft. De'Angelo Henderson, a water bug tailback out of Coastal Carolina, continued to impress Saturday.
There's no official word yet which quarterback will be giving the ball to Henderson in Week 1. But that could be coming soon based on the way Saturday went.
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