Denver Broncos lose road game to Buffalo Bills: 5 reasons why
1. Trevor Siemian’s untimely bad decisions
Through the first two games of the season, Trevor Siemian looked like an MVP candidate. In week three?
His performance was tainted by some really bad decisions.
Those decisions ultimately cost the Broncos the game.
Siemian threw two very bad interceptions, one where he was rolling to his left and trying to make a play on a long down and distance. He wanted to get the ball downfield to a receiver, and threw the ball into coverage where E.J. Gaines picked him off.
Siemian’s second interception was unforgiveable. With the Broncos down by seven points, driving and looking like they were gaining momentum offensively, Siemian tried to throw the ball away but didn’t muscle the ball out of bounds, and it was picked off by Tre’Davious White.
Siemian is out of the tackle box here. He needs only to get the ball past the line of scrimmage and well out of bounds for this to be a non-negative play for the Broncos, despite the free pass rusher here.
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What happens here? He short-arms the throw. We know based on other balls we’ve seen Siemian throw much further that this is not indicative of his actual ability to get the ball where it needs to be, so what gives?
Siemian needs to make better decisions than this in critical situations. It would be unfair to expect or demand perfection from Siemian at this point, but this kind of play is a routine play that has to be made. Throw the ball away, live to play another down.
This interception was the back-breaker for the Broncos, and a major contributing factor in them losing the game.
Siemian was also nowhere near as effective on third downs or in the red zone in this game as he had been in previous games. The Bills put a lot of pressure on Broncos receivers on the outside, but Siemian tried to force plays that simply weren’t there and the Broncos’ offense was inefficient as a result.
This game could prove to be a great learning experience for the Broncos, who get the Raiders at home next week.