DENVER — Trevor Siemian flat out didn’t have a good game.
In a 23-10 loss to the now 1-5 New York Giants, Compared to his two interceptions, Siemian’s 376 yards were as empty as Sports Authority Field at Mile High as the final seconds dribbled off the clock.
“When you have three turnovers, it’s hard to say he played well,” Broncos’ head coach Vance Joseph said sternly about the play of his quarterback during his postgame press conference. “Turnovers are always tied to the quarterback and that’s the key to success on offense—not turning the ball over. I would say with three turnovers, probably not good.”
But while the quarterback is always a likely scapegoat for offensive struggles, Siemian’s poor performance wasn’t the biggest problem with the offense. It was the other phase of the offense—running the ball—that let the Broncos, and their third-year quarterback, down on Sunday.
Through the first four games of the season, Joseph, among others within the organization, consistently preached how important Denver’s rushing attack was to the success of the offense.
On Sunday night in front of the entire country, however, that message was forgotten or simply ignored.
Mike McCoy’s offense was about as balanced as a teeter-totter with Garett Bolles on one end and his young son Kingston on the other. Of the team’s 75 offensive plays, only 17 were on the ground, leaving Siemian, and backup Brock Osweiler, with 58 combined dropbacks.
In Denver’s three wins entering Sunday night, they ran the ball more times than they passed it in every contest. Against the Giants, saying the opposite was true is an understatement.
The reason why Denver put the ball in Siemian’s hands time and time again was simple: they couldn’t find success on the ground, only averaging 2.7 yards per carry.
“They did a great job with their run blitzes,” Joseph explained. “They did a great job in their single-high and single-gap defenses, which obviously gave us a hard time in the run game.”
Going into Week 6, the Broncos’ worst performance on the ground was against the Buffalo Bills—in the team’s only other loss—where they tallied 111 yards on the ground. Against the Giants, their 46 rushing yards weren’t even close to their previous low, and unfortunately, through the team’s first five games of the season, it’s becoming more and more clear that the success of the Broncos runs entirely through C.J. Anderson and company.
“As far as being balanced, you want to be balanced, but you’re not going to do that 16 weeks,” Siemian said after the team’s second loss of the season in which they were the least balanced they’ve been all season. “At some point, a team’s going to put a lot of guys in the box, you’re not going to be able to run it as well and beat teams and vice versa. You’ve got to be able to win multiple ways and I think you see the good teams are able to do that.”
Following Siemian’s logic, Denver was not a good team Sunday night as they were unable to overcome a non-existent running game.
It’s not an excuse for Siemian and the passing attack, but a mere realization of how the team is currently constructed. Denver’s passing attack may be able to win games throwing for 400 yards and 50-plus dropbacks in the future, but not now.
It’s important to remember that less than two months ago, Siemian was merely a candidate to be Denver’s starting quarterback and through the first four games of the season the Broncos’ coaching staff treated it as that. On Sunday, however, he was forced to be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, which he clearly is not.
As a second-year starter, Siemian can be the pilot of a successful flight, but he can’t be the plane.
In the worst offensive output of the season, most fingers will be pointed at the signal caller. While he struggled, his woes weren’t the root of Denver’s dismal offense.
