Right or wrong, the blame always falls on the quarterback, and after the Denver Broncos loss to the New York Giants, opinions on Trevor Siemian are mixed at best. Now more than ever, everyone seems to have a clear-cut black or white opinion on him, but re-watching the film you see that his performance last Sunday is made of all different shades of grey.

Siemian wasn’t the only issue, but he certainly cost the Broncos some points with his two-interception performance against the G-men. After some exciting performances in the first two weeks, he’s sputtered off and made costly turnovers in Denver’s two losses.

Having re-watched every snap that every Broncos starter has made in Orange & Blue (plus some extensive college viewings of all three) throughout the years. We also go back to see what are the alternatives to Siemian. Though we first need to analyze the true issues at hand fro Trevor right now starting with the dread turnovers.

Though first, we need to understand what Trevor’s issues have been, starting with the dread turnovers.

The turnovers

The depiction of Siemian for the past season and a half is that he’s a “game manager” his performance Week 6 showed that he’s maybe the exact opposite. Siemian’s tried to make plays this year, and at times he’s forced throws which have resulted in costly turnovers. None more so than the two picks against New York. It’s not just how much the interceptions cost Denver, it’s how they came about.

The first pick Trevor throws is on 3rd-and-10 at the Giants 35-yard line – the Broncos had just missed a field goal on their previous drive and were now down 10-0, virtually already in field goal range.

You can see it’s a cover-2 look, No. 13 just seems to lock onto Demaryius Thomas and isn’t able to make the perfect pass that’s required to force a ball into double coverage. He also has a wide open Jamaal Charles in the flats who likely has enough room to run for the first down, or at least get more yardage for a more manageable kick. Siemian costs his team three potential points there, a great example of how he needs to be more of a game manager.

The second interception is much harder to stomach. It all starts with the pre-snap read where the quarterback should see he has safety help over the top and Janoris Jenkins playing aggressively with his eyes in front not having to worry about getting beat over the top. With that, Siemian should automatically know that he needs to throw away from the flats.

Instead, he stares Bennie Fowler down, who’s a bit slow getting out of his break, and with a slightly underthrown pass, it’s an easy pick-six. A poor read, especially in throwing it to Jenkins, the Giants best cornerback, and a deadly returner.

Trevor has some fairly easy plays to make here, and he makes the exact opposite decision. On the pick six, he’s not even forcing a pass, he just doesn’t read the play properly pre-snap.

These are areas in which by now you’d like to see some improvement, but it’s almost as if the Northwestern product’s regressed. Putting too much pressure on himself to make plays instead of being a smart decision maker.

Accuracy and touch in the short game

The Giants played tight zone coverage and played well doing so, but some slightly better accuracy could’ve made a big difference in the short-to-intermediate game for Siemian.

While he missed some tight window throws due to this coverage, especially in the red zone, the accuracy deficiencies that stood out most were on passes that didn’t carry an extreme level of difficulty.

Siemian’s had inconsistency issues with his accuracy, even on short to intermediate passes, since he’s been the starter, but those problems seemed to really affect him in this game. In the red zone, his ball placement was off but he also just missed some throws that he should make.

The one that stood out most was him throwing to Charles’ feet on 2nd-and-10 on what would have been—at minimum—a 20-yard gain if not a 40-yard touchdown. It’s not that Siemian didn’t see him, it’s that he threw to the ground instead of simply executing a pass to a wide-open target. That miss alone cost the Broncos points, and to make matters worse, on the very next play he threw his first INT.

Every quarterback in the NFL should be able to complete such a pass. It’s not that Siemian can’t, we’ve seen him make hundreds of tougher completions than that, he just can’t be so inconsistent. Everyone loves to compare Siemian to Alex Smith, but Smith wouldn’t miss that throw, you need to be surgical when given a golden opportunity like that.

Siemian hasn’t been as accurate passing the ball on the run either lately. An area of his game in which he’s made some of his best plays as a pro.

It’s not all bad

Siemian didn’t have his worst game of his career, he didn’t even have his worst game of the season (that would be Buffalo). He kept on showing the ability to battle out there, even after having been injured and having to drop back 50 times.

His ability to throw the ball deep was on display, and his yardage total could have been much more impressive if not for a couple pass interference penalties and a drop from Isaiah McKenzie.

His touch and accuracy on Jeff Heuerman’s touchdown were spectacular—making some of the previously mentioned mistakes that much harder to process.

Trevor also made a fine deep throw to Thomas beating safety help and showing perfect touch after going through his progressions, a beautiful pass, dropping it in the bucket flawlessly. There’s really nothing he’s shown he can’t do, but the lack of improvement in decision making and short-to-intermediate accuracy are concerning.

He also played well in the two-minute drill at the end of the game, and you have to wonder what could’ve been had he been on the field at the end of the first half in that two-minute drive.

The alternatives

This is where it gets interesting. Brock Osweiler’s shown he can be a game manager in the past in Denver. He’s another system quarterback who needs to get passes out quickly. Brock could’ve probably avoided at least the pick-six and also likely hit Charles for what should have been a big gain.

He won’t be able to make throws on the run like Siemian’s shown he can, nor will he throw it deep as much as Trevor has this season. Brock’s at his best in between the hash marks and he’s shown a nice ability to zing passes over the middle. Take that away, and he’s pretty average, if not worse. The Broncos need to decide if they want to have a true game manager or decide to hold out hope that Siemian can be the best of both worlds. Also, Brock would need to embrace that role as the 25-to-22 touchdown to interception ratio he’s had the last two seasons won’t cut it.

It’s a shame Paxton Lynch has been injured because there’s been a definite trend in 2017 that suits him well. Especially in the way the Houston Texans have adapted their offense to rookie DeShaun Watson, or how the Kansas City Chiefs have implemented more spread and option formations for Smith. Believe it or not, the future is here and the NFL’s becoming more and more of a spread and run-pass option league. That suits Lynch to perfection as he’s still coming along as a passer but is a freak of nature with his combination of athleticism and size. Lynch also has the arm to stretch the field or gas passes over the middle. He possesses all the tools he’s just raw. Which is why simplifying the offense could really allow him to succeed.

For now, that’s a moot point until he’s back to form, but it’s worth noting.

Ultimately, Siemian seems like the best course of action if he can correct the turnovers. Those have to go. Between missed opportunities and giveaways, he cost the Broncos as much as 17 points last Sunday night. That can’t happen. Period. End of story. Siemian needs to show improvements in the areas in which he struggled in the past, which ultimately haunted him in the Giants loss.

If Trevor’s more surgical with his accuracy on short throws and smarter handling the ball, he might not be a star, but he’s got the traits to be a serviceable signal-caller in the league.