Denver Broncos Name Starting Quarterback
On Monday, the Denver Broncos announced that Trevor Siemian will be the starting quarterback for the season opener. Broncos’ head coach Gary Kubiak informed the team today that Siemian won the Broncos summer competition at quarterback. This puts an end to a quarterback battle that has been under the microscope throughout the course of OTAs, training camp, and the preseason.
“Siemian and Sanchez were considered ‘neck and neck’ by Kubiak at the end of OTAs and through the first few weeks of training camp, but Siemian nudged ahead thanks to his work in camp and in the three preseason games to date,” Andrew Manson of the Denver Broncos website said.
Last year, Siemian was active for six games, sitting behind Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler. He only played one snap last year as well — a kneel down play to end the first half in Week 15 of the 2016 season.
“I was pretty nervous last year,” the 24-year-old quarterback was recently quoted in saying, according to USA Today. “I wasn’t getting a ton of reps. I was trying to get a grasp of the playbooks. In that sense, I think I’m a little more comfortable now as in I know my assignments. I know where my eyes need to go. I can help another person out if they’re having a hard time. There’s a sense of: ‘I know what I’m doing,’ but I’m just trying to take it one day at a time.”
Even though those numbers don’t stand out, Mason reports that numbers alone don’t fully tell the story of how much Siemian is growing in the huddle and is also establishing his presence.
However, this decision to start Siemian may have more to do with the lack of positives shown by veteran Mark Sanchez. In the games that he’s played, Sanchez has been a turnover machine. The breaking point for Sanchez’s chances, however, came on August 20 in a preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers. In a span of 45 seconds, Sanchez fumbled the ball twice inside the 15-yard line.
According to CBS Sports, Sanchez was quote after the game.
“I just squandered a great opportunity to separate myself and I put the team in a bad situation. There’s no excuse for that, poor, poor quarterback play.”
Because of the recent news, it is expected that Sanchez will either be traded or cut by the end of the week.
The young quarterback won’t be asked to do much, and will likely just be a game manager-type of quarterback unless he begins to show flashes of great potential. Denver does, after all, have a top-five defense in the league, so it should take a lot of pressure off of Siemian and help him ease into the starting quarterback role.
If they can get that from Siemian, then the Broncos can once again contend for a playoff spot and maybe even further. The defense carried the shell of Peyton Manning last year, with no disrespect to his greatness, to a Super Bowl victory last year. It will be interesting to see how far Siemian and/or the Broncos defense carries them in 2016.
[Photo by David Zalubowski/AP Images]
