Lynch gets his chance to lead Broncos

Nov 23, 2017 - 4:02 AM ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- It is time for Paxton Lynch to learn by doing.

He has spent 23 of the first 26 regular-season games of his NFL career on the bench watching and waiting while Trevor Siemian and, later, Brock Osweiler got the starting assignments. In those 23 games, the Denver Broncos went 10-13, and in the last eight of those games, they went 1-7 and the offense never accounted for at least 20 points in any of those games.

There was little reason for the Broncos to stick with what they had. And after dismissing offensive coordinator Mike McCoy on Monday morning and replacing him with Bill Musgrave, it was easy for them to go with Lynch for their Sunday game at Oakland.

Siemian will back up Lynch. And while Broncos head coach Vance Joseph didn't say for certain that Lynch would remain the starter for the rest of the season, it seems clear that the rest of the Broncos' campaign will be used to determine whether their 2016 first-round pick is the future of the team or whether they need to turn to free agency or a deep draft class to find their next signal-caller.

"It won't be perfect, but again, we have to coach him to the point where he can be efficient with the offense," Joseph said. "That's what we're doing. Again, running the football is always a must for a young quarterback and giving him a chance to have some easy completions. That's also a must for young quarterbacks."

Lynch's mobility will also be used.

"I'm looking forward to watching him play because he can run around," Joseph said. "His skill set is perfect when you're young. If it breaks down, he can run with the football. I told him, I said, 'Just play. Don't try to be a pocket passer. We call a play and it's not there, take off and run.'"

One thing about this year's process helps Lynch: splitting the repetitions with Siemian during OTAs and training camp. He doesn't have to start from zero when it comes to building cohesion with the first team.

"I think it helped him tremendously," running back C.J. Anderson said. "In the time during training camp when they were battling for the job, he got to see some good looks from our defense.

"One thing I told him that is crazy and I told him all the way back in September, 'You're just one play away. You never know it.' He was one play away.

"I told him, at the time when Billy (Musgrave) was the QB coach, be back there letting Billy know what the reads are, where the ball should go or what coverage it is. Be annoying, kind of how I was. Be annoying. He's done that and he's ready now."

Ready to annoy opposing defenses with his arm and his feet, the Broncos hope.

SERIES HISTORY: 115th regular-season meeting. Raiders lead series, 61-51-2. Broncos have won 10 of the last 12. Most historic meeting between these two teams was on Jan. 1, 1978, when the Broncos defeated the Raiders 20-17 to win the first of their eight AFC championships.

--After replacing dismissed offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, Bill Musgrave had no time to waste in settling into his new position after serving as quarterbacks coach for the previous 10 months.

Musgrave will lean upon his past experience with young quarterbacks -- most recently in Oakland as offensive coordinator with Derek Carr -- and even his own work as a player in San Francisco and Denver under then-coordinator and later-head coach Mike Shanahan.

"I've been fortunate to be around some young QBs. I was a young QB once with Shanahan. He really did a great job with me and got me off on the right foot. I try to apply those lessons as I go forward," Musgrave said.

His biggest lesson? Take each quarterback individually and know that you can't attack the process with a one-size-fits-all approach.

"You handle every guy differently," he said. "Some guys respond to different styles of coaching, so that's the key. It's a little bit like a teacher. You find out what that student's champion is and play to his strength. That's what we're going to try to do as coaches.

"We're going to think players first, then plays and play to our guy's strengths to keep those concepts up their respective alleys."

--Brock Osweiler wasn't bad in his three starts. But he wasn't a world-beater, and couldn't pull the Broncos out of their skid, so after three defeats in which he threw three touchdown passes against four interceptions, he was demoted to the third team.

"Words can't explain," Osweiler said. "As football players, we put our hearts and our souls; we put everything we have into winning football games and winning for our team. When that doesn't happen, it breaks you. It (stinks)."

Osweiler returned to the Broncos at the cutdown to 53 players on a one-year contract and now faces an uncertain future. The promise of his seven-game starting stint with the Broncos in 2015 has faded, and while he appears to be a capable backup, the window on potentially becoming a full-time starter in the NFL may be closing.

For now, he will prepare to watch the game in sweats from the sideline.

"Big picture, it's just control the things you can control," Osweiler said. "Right now, that's being a great teammate, continue to practice hard and continue to study film and develop your skill set.

"It's a funny league. You never know what's going to happen. You always need to prepare like you are going to play. That is always what you're going to get with me."

NOTES: CB Aqib Talib was held out of practice Wednesday because of a shoulder injury. Talib hasn't missed a game all year. ... TE Jeff Heuerman did not practice Wednesday because of a knee injury. Heuerman did not play against the Bengals last week because of the injury. ... WR Emmanuel Sanders did not practice Wednesday because of an ankle injury. Sanders missed a pair of games because of an ankle problem, but has played every game this month. ... QB Trevor Siemian will be the No. 2 quarterback behind Paxton Lynch in Oakland on Sunday, a reversal of their roles late in the preseason after Siemian beat out Lynch for the starting job.