BRONCOS’ SIEMIAN QUICKLY FINDS HIS COMFORT ZONE
Teammates see how first-year starter is “ahead of the game”
His touchdown pass was like an echo through the space-time continuum. There is young Trevor Siemian in a deep drop near midfield, sidestepping a zone blitz, lofting up a long ball down the left side for a 51-yard score to a streaking receiver.
Siemian’s coming-of-age pass in the fourth quarter Sunday at Cincinnati to Demaryius Thomas looked remarkably similar to one he threw as a junior at Olympia High School in Orlando, Fla., in fall 2008. It’s right there on his prep-level scouting reel. The video is a little grainier and the uniforms a different shade. But it’s the same play, minus 4 yards, that the Broncos quarterback repeated again eight years later. Same calm demeanor. Same defensive read. Same olé play with the defensive rush. Same outcome.
“I’m not looking too far ahead or behind me, at all,” Siemian said Wednesday at Dove Valley.
But the NFL is looking. Siemian’s sudden spike, and his return “home” Sunday for the Broncos’ 2:05 p.m. kickoff against Tampa Bay at Raymond James Stadium, has a nation of football fans asking, “Where did this guy come from?” The answer will become clear this week.
Seven quarterbacks were picked in the 2014 NFL draft. Jameis Winston went No. 1 overall to Tampa Bay. In the seventh round, 249 selections later, Siemian was the last quarterback taken. The two will face off Sunday.
Winston was a Pro Bowl pick as a rookie last season. The Bucs, with Winston under center, are 7-12 the past two seasons. Siemi-
an, after a third-string apprenticeship behind Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler last season, started his first game three weeks ago. He has not yet lost.
Almost always, though, young quarterbacks get kicked around in the NFL. They stumble before they hit their stride. Is Siemian different? Or are we waiting for the fall?
“When the game starts, that’s when you see how the young QBs show up,” Broncos veteran cornerback Aqib Talib said. “They throw some throws they don’t necessarily want to throw. You just don’t see that from Trev. He’s the same, exact guy from practice in a game. That tells me he’s ahead of the game.”
The key for Siemian has been baby steps. The Broncos eased him into situations that give him a higher possibility for success: shorter passes, a run-heavy offense, shallow check-downs. In Week 1, his longest completed pass went for 19 yards. In Week 2, he completed a 44yarder, but only after Thomas ran 43 yards with a screen pass.
Then on Sunday at Cincinnati, Siemian took his biggest step forward. Against the Bengals, who loaded up against the run, he completed passes of 55, 41 and 29 yards. He was slinging the ball around the yard.
That 55-yarder, a touchdown pass to Thomas, was a dare. The Bengals brought in backup cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris to defend Thomas, a much larger receiver with an overwhelming size advantage. The Broncos saw this coming. They called a deep route. And Siemian walked into the huddle with a challenge.
“If I put this up, are you gonna get it?” he asked Thomas, who had complained about the lack of a deep-passing threat the week before. Thomas answered in the affirmative.
“He took advantage of some opportunities,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said of Siemian.
The Denver playbook seems to be thicker each week as Siemian proves he can handle more and more. But Kubiak insists the Broncos are taking only what defenses are giving.
“Sometimes you have to go out there and bang it around underneath, depending on how people play you,” the coach said, “as long as he gets the ball to the right guy and reads coverage.”
Siemian’s high school coach at Olympia, Bob Head, said this week he had to beg Siemian to even play football. As a teenager, Siemian was a standout shortstop on the baseball team. But in his first football game, after just a week of practice, Siemian fell in step immediately.
“He threw for like four touchdowns and ran for two and literally went out and dominated the game,” Head said.
Two levels up in the NFL, and a short time later, Siemian is catching on quickly again.