Seahawks Paxton Lynch great against Broncos but needs more

The Seahawks won their first preseason game of 2019 and Paxton Lynch was a big reason why. But Lynch needs to show more to make the team.

The Seahawks won a meaningless game on Thursday, but a Seattle win is great under any conditions. A lot of key Seattle players did not play as there was no reason to risk them being injured. We did learn a few things about other players, though.

One of those things was that quarterback Paxton Lynch looked better than anyone expected he would. But Lynch needs to show even more to be Russell Wilson’s backup this year.

Against his former team, the Broncos, Lynch was clearly motivated. Probably both by the desire to make the Seahawks but also to show the team that released him that he was given more chances. Lynch went 11 for 15 passing for 109 yards and a touchdown and ran for 38 yards on four carries and another touchdown.

After Thursday, Lynch has some advantages over Geno Smith, the quarterback Lynch is competing against the backup Wilson. One is that Lynch simply looked better than Smith. He showed a stronger arm and was more accurate. Two is that on Lynch’s touchdown run he looked more athletic than most people might give him credit for. Three is that Lynch played with more enthusiasm than did Smith. Smith just looked like he wanted to go home.

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But there are also reasons 12s might temper expectations for Lynch after his performance on Thursday. One is that Lynch was going up against backs of backups with little hope of making the Broncos in 2019. Smith played in the first half against better players. Two is that one preseason game, or even two, does not mean long-term consistency or success. Remember Trevone Boykin a couple of preseasons ago? The first two games he was fantastic but the final two he was awful and ended up being cut.

Lynch just needs to play well for four straight games and do it while Smith does not play as well. Smith still could run and offense fairly similar to Wilson if Wilson had to miss time. Lynch still has to prove he can run any kind of offense well for several games in a row.