The win is huge, without a doubt. Grabbing a victory from the defending NFC champs – a team that by all measures looks better than the one that went 15-1 last year – is a major coup for Gary Kubiak and the Denver Broncos. But the most important thing the Broncos accomplished Thursday night, according to two-time Super Bowl champ Bryant McFadden, was to instill confidence in second-year quarterback Trevor Siemian.
Siemian started Thursday’s Super Bowl defense as the first quarterback ever to take over for a defending world champion having never attempted an NFL pass. And while his first pass went for a first down, he was intercepted twice in the game. Still, Siemian showed great composure, leading the Broncos to 14 points in the fourth quarter – just enough to eke out a win.
Postgame, tight end Virgil Green talked about the confidence the coaching staff and the players have in their young quarterback: “He went to the sideline and talked to the coaches. [Head coach Gary Kubiak] got with him a little bit. We were moving the ball up and down the field the whole night, so we knew he had confidence and we knew we could get into the end zone. We just had to execute.”
For Siemian, his confidence moving forward comes from the group of guys he’s playing with.
“I’m just super confident in the group of guys we have offensively,” Siemian said following the victory. “There are a lot of vets and a lot of great leadership in that group that I can lean on, and I’m just really confident in those guys.”
