As the Broncos’ season begins taking a turn south after losing three of their last four games — including the team’s first shut out since 1992 — it’s becoming more evident with every passing quarter of football played that the offense is holding a talented team with an elite defense back.
Right at the heart of the Broncos’ offense (or any offense in general) is the starting quarterback. Trevor Siemian, who has played subpar football after beginning the season with promise, placed most of the blame on himself after Sunday’s embarrassing, 21-0 loss to the Chargers: “I have to look at the film, but there is no rhythm — and a lot of that falls on me. Especially early on, I need to get us going. I have to figure it out, because we have a big game coming up against Kansas City Chiefs [Monday].”
Whether or not the blame falls squarely on Siemian’s shoulders is highly dependent on who you ask. Some will argue that Siemian should be performing better with a plethora of playmakers around him, while others will point to a faulty offensive line as the real problem with the under-performing offense. When asked about the offensive line, which allowed a total of five sacks on Siemian this past Sunday the second-year starter didn’t place blame on the offensive line, instead crediting his line for “playing their tails off”:
“(Defensive ends) Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram are good players. If you let them, they will affect the game. You just have to limit how much they are back there [in the Broncos’ backfield]. I thought the offense played their tails off. We have Allen Barbre — who has been playing guard all year — and [coaches] ask him to play right tackle. He gave us everything he could. The offense fought their tails off. They are good players. Hats off to them.”
While the offensive line has been less than stellar throughout the year, the Broncos have seen a particularly sharp decline in offensive production, averaging only 8.6 points per game through the team’s previous three games. After starting the season 2-0, where the offense seemed vastly improved from the year before, Siemian was asked simply: what’s changed? Once more, he took responsibility for the team’s lack of success, particularity on first and second down: “We have not been really good on first and second downs. That makes third downs tough for us. That is what we hung our hat on early on: being good on third downs. We ran third-and-five or less a good bit of the time. These last two weeks I have not played good enough. I turned it over, and it is tough for these guys to win.”
If the Broncos hope to take advantage of their top-five defense and make a push for the playoffs, the offense simply needs to perform better and put points on the board for them to have any chance. The offense begins and ends with the quarterback position, and right now, the Broncos simply don’t have consistent play at quarterback with Siemian locked in as their starter.
Next week, on ‘Monday Night Football’, the Broncos will travel to Kansas City for a match against the first-place Chiefs, who possess one of the best pass rushers in the NFL in Justin Houston. Between Siemian’s poor play and a passionate fan base growing more anxious by the minute, the Broncos have a quarterback controversy on their hands once more.
