Broncos need an answer at QB, and Siemian isn’t it
After being humiliated by the Little Giants, the Broncos have big problems. And problem No. 1 is No. 13 in a Denver uniform. Can we please end this charade? Trevor Siemian is smart, brave, courteous and a good Boy Scout, but he is not the right answer at starting quarterback if the Broncos want to be a serious championship contender.
After losing 23-10 to New York, Siemian blamed himself for the most stunning and embarrassing defeat suffered by the Broncos since they were blown out by Seattle in Super Bowl XLVIII.
“We hurt ourselves. We didn’t score in the red zone. I turned it over. It’s tough to win that way. You’re already playing a good team. You can’t play against yourself as well,” Siemian said Sunday.
Everything Siemian mentioned was absolutely true, except that part about the Giants being anything except a big hot mess. How did the
Broncos not only lose, but get trounced at home by a winless NFL team?
And where did Denver’s identity go? A stout run defense got crumpled like a can of Orange Crush under New York’s feet. For nearly a month now, the offensive game plan has been revolting. Nothing is certain for a team whose record dropped to 3-2. And everybody’s a suspect.
Where do the Broncos go from here? Everything we thought we knew about this team has been tossed a mile high in the air.
Against the Giants, Denver came out as flat as a pancake, which falls at the feet of Vance Joseph. The Broncos hired a rookie coach to lead a championship defense, and now Joseph must demonstrate if he can deal with his first real football crisis.
For all the time and money that general manager John Elway spent at rebuilding the Denver offensive line, this group is as disjointed as the jawing that was going on among center Matt Paradis and teammates who were unable to keep New York pass rushers off Siemian’s back.
With 61 seconds remaining in the first half, the situation for the Broncos went from dire to worse in a New York minute. On third down, Siemian looked so hard and long in the direction of Janoris Jenkins that the Giants cornerback should have blushed.
Instead, Jenkins shamelessly jumped a route by Broncos receiver Bennie Fowler, picked off the pass and rambled 43 yards with the interception to the end zone for a touchdown that put New York ahead, 17-3. Adding injury to insult, when Siemian tried gamely but futilely to make a tackle near the goal line, he landed hard on his left shoulder, which is as fragile as those porcelain Hummel figurines in your Auntie Em’s curio cabinet. Brocktober, anyone? As Siemian walked to the locker room so the team’s medical staff could inspect and treat his injury, our old friend Brock Osweiler entered the Denver huddle to finish the first half. The Broncos had the making of a quarterback controversy, but not because anyone from Houston to Cleveland thinks Osweiler is truly a viable option as a starter.
The Denver offense simply cannot muddle down the road to the playoffs this way. If the Broncos are unable to run, there’s nowhere to hide their inability to protect the quarterback. The Giants limited tailbacks C.J. Anderson and Jamaal Charles to a pathetic 36 yards between them on the ground. Since a 42-17 rout of Dallas nearly a month ago, Denver has played a dozen quarters of football and scored three touchdowns.
While the story of Siemian’s rise from a late-round draft pick to NFL story is inspiring, this is no Tom Brady tale, no matter how much rabid Broncomaniacs might wish it to be so. Siemian is a gamemanager, a complementary piece to a stout defense. Against the Giants, Siemian needed 49 attempts before finally hitting Jeff Heuerman with a 13-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.
In the 10 professional starts that Siemian has been forced to throw at least 35 times, Denver’s record is 3-7. That’s not playoff football. It’s last-place football.
The Broncos do not have enough talent to play without desperation. How does Denver re-establish itself as a playoff contender?
“Go out there and play with our hair on fire,” Denver linebacker Von Miller said.
The competition at quarterback that Denver waged for the first eight months of 2017? It’s time to give it another look. Paxton Lynch and Osweiler should get ready. The job should be open.
What do the Broncos have in Siemian?
Does the name Kyle Orton ring a bell?