Ideally, every team would like to avoid any and all injuries to their starting quarterbacks. When an injury to a quarterback happens, however, various opportunities arise.
For starters, the team can try to conceal the identity of its starter. That’s precisely what the Broncos are doing, given the injury to Trevor Siemian.
“I’d take it all the way to game day,” coach Gary Kubiak told reporters regarding when he’ll decide on a starter for Week Five. “I trust Trevor. He knows exactly what we’re doing and he’s very bright. He’s on top of everything today. He’s a part of the walk-throughs and everything that we’re doing so he’s on top of everything. We’ll just see where he’s at physically.”
The second opportunity comes from getting increased first-team practice reps for first-round rookie Paxton Lynch. Which happened on Wednesday, and possibly will happen on Thursday and Friday.
Even if Siemian doesn’t practice, he thinks he’ll be able to play.
“I think so,” Siemian told reporters. “I think you have to be able to. You don’t get enough reps during the week as it is for every look. You have to make the most of what you see on tape and what you see in practice and go from there.”
The third flows from the potential decision to stick with Lynch until Siemian is truly “100 percent” -- along with the ability to apply a very high bar to the definition of “100 percent.” That way, Lynch can be used without benching Siemian, and Siemian can be reinserted without benching Lynch.
Regardless of whether the third one becomes a reality, the first two currently are happening. Which will make it harder for the Falcons to be fully prepared to face whoever the quarterback may be.