The Denver Broncos offense currently ranks 28th in the league, averaging just 323.3 yards per game. If you’re wondering how concerning that is, keep in mind that Denver was 16th in offense last year (league average), with 355.5 yards per game.
This team has only topped 355 yards of offense once all season, against the Colts in Week 2. That’s cause for concern …
Yes, the defense can make up for deficiencies on the offensive side of the ball, but it took everything they had to drag this team to the Super Bowl last year, and now they’re being asked to carry even more of the load.
We can pretend that offense doesn’t matter. We can point to 2015 and say, “We didn’t need offense then, and we don’t need it now.” But the Broncos know better. The Broncos know they have to improve.
On Monday, Gary Kubiak spoke up on some of Denver’s struggles. Let’s break down what he said, and see what he really means:
On Trevor Siemian‘s performance:
“I feel really good about what Trevor’s doing, but Trevor’s like any other player. He has to get better. We’re looking at it as a group. I have to do a better job for Trevor and ‘Knapper’ [quarterbacks/passing game coordinator Greg Knapp] and ‘Rico’ [offensive coordinator Rick Dennison] do, too. Up front we have to do a better job and we can help Trevor by running the ball, but he’s making a lot of plays. He got us back in the game with a tremendous play to [WR] Jordan [Norwood]. He’s going some good things, but like all of us, we’re looking to be more consistent.”
Let me give you a few numbers:
69%
67%
66%
60%
56%
53%
49%
Those are Siemian’s completion percentages, in chronological order, for the season (discounting Week 4 when he was knocked out halfway through the game with a shoulder injury).
That is what we call regression.
Has Siemian thrown a nice pass here and there? Sure. But so has Case Keenum and Blaine Gabbert, and nobody’s calling them a good quarterback.
The longer we keep pretending like Siemian’s not the problem, the longer we’re going to continue seeing a quarterback that completes close to 50 percent of his passes, has a handful of interceptions and a duffel bag more of dropped ones.
But I’ll give Kubiak this: Siemian needs more help. He needs a run game — desperately. Unfortunately, the Broncos seem to be doing everything they can not to provide one.
