Tape Don’t Lie: Trevor Siemian should not be the Denver Broncos’ Starter
Trevor Siemian is no longer a stabilizing force on offense, and the Broncos don’t have a passing game. Gary Kubiak’s play-calling as of late hasn’t been much help.
Bronco fans have two elections this week. The highest office in all Broncos Country is becoming a topic of fierce dispute with the Saints and their “leave everybody open” defensive strategy on tap. If Trevor Siemian doesn’t kick the passing game into gear against the NFL’s defensive punchline, he’s in trouble.
This would be the ideal time to bench him and start the rookie, as the bye week would allow Paxton Lynch additional 1st team reps. There are plenty of other good reasons to do so, as detailed in Steven Kriz’s excellent column in favor of starting Lynch.
Consider this one opposed to Siemian. I like him, but he looks more like a competent backup than a playoff quarterback. Paxton Lynch’s accuracy has been all over the place in his short stint on the field this year, and frankly I don’t have much more faith in him either.
Long-term, I’m in love his skillset. I said in the preseason that he had a handful of plays where he looked like the football lovechild of Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers.
The problem is that Lynch has a massive learning curve. This is the first offense that he’s ever played in that huddles to call the play….huddles!!
My head almost exploded when I learned that. High school and college football is so dramatically different from where it was five or ten years ago.
Lynch has an absolute cannon, and he unlocks a greater portion of the Bronco playbook. Siemian has struggled as of late, but that’s not entirely his fault, as Kriz wrote:
It would be completely unfair to pin these struggles directly on Trevor Siemian. The play-calling has been a complete atrocity. The insistence on coming out of the gate passing the ball is completely mind-boggling. Gary Kubiak states week after week a need for balance—yet the play calling directly contradicts what he says he wants to do.
Atrocity is harsh, but it may not be strong enough of a word. In game one, when no one had a clue what to expect out of Siemian, it was cagey for Kubiak to open by throwing the ball. It caught the Carolina defense off-guard, and by the time they adjusted, they didn’t know what to expect. However…