It’s been years since I made an appointment to watch “Saturday Night Live,” the iconic sketch comedy show. Yet on Sunday during the Denver Broncos’ loss to the previously winless New York Giants, I half expected Trevor Siemian to turn to the camera after getting sacked or throwing a pick-six and give that all-to-familiar phrase, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”
Alas, although the game was live, it was in Denver and it was a very disappointing Sunday night on NBC for fans of the Broncos.
With a 23-10 loss on Sunday, the Broncos dropped to 3-5 over their last eight prime-time games. In reality, Denver is two missed last-second field goals away from being 1-7 under the lights in the Siemian era.
These are not the Peyton Manning-led Broncos, who lost just five prime-time games (three of which came in 2013) over the future Hall of Fame QB’s four seasons in Denver. Maybe Siemian and his supporting cast really aren’t ready for prime time.
Credit Gary Kubiak and Vance Joseph for icing Graham Gano and YoungHoe Koo in the season openers in 2016 and ’17, respectively, but without those two misses Denver’s record over the past two seasons would be downright horrendous when the whole of the football world has their eyes on Denver.
The Broncos opened their Super Bowl 50 title defense with a dramatic last-second victory in 2016 when Gano sailed his potential game-winning attempt wide left. Denver escaped with a 21-20 victory and all seemed well in Broncos Country. This was, after all, a Carolina team that had just won the NFC and boasted the reigning league MVP. But the game was also a sign that, like the Belushi brothers, there’s nothing quite like the original.
The Broncos would pick up just one more prime-time win in 2016.
A Week 7 thumping of Brock Osweiler and the Texans on “Monday Night Football” was one of Denver’s most complete performances last season. However, that showing came on the heels of a Thursday-night loss to the Chargers one week prior. Much like Denver’s loss to New York on Sunday, the Broncos entered the game in San Diego last season as the favorites only to disappoint. The Chargers were 1-4 at the time, while Denver was 4-1 (and their only defeat had come with backup and rookie Paxton Lynch at quarterback).
In the loss to San Diego, Siemian attempted 50 passes despite being less than two weeks removed from a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder. Like a Rob Schneider bit, things did not get better with repetition. (Siemian also attempted 50 passes on Sunday despite a left shoulder injury that caused him to miss the final series of the first half.) His injury was so bad in San Diego that he couldn’t even get the ball into the end zone on a desperation pass as time expired. That throw would haunt Siemian for the remainder of the year, as critics would point to it as a sign that he lacks the arm strength needed to “win a game downfield.”
Denver played three more prime-time games in 2016, all against division opponents, none ending in victory.
A Week 9 trip to Oakland could have moved Denver into first place in the AFC West with a victory, but a quick three-and-out set a bad tone for a game in which the Broncos would trail virtually wire-to-wire. The Raiders went up 13-0, scoring on each of their first three possessions. Denver responded with 10 points in the second quarter, but like Darrell Hammond’s Sean Connery to Will Ferrell’s Alex Trebek, Oakland had an answer for everything the Broncos threw at them.
Denver went three-and-out on six different drives in the game. Siemian fumbled and threw an interception, both in the fourth quarter. A 69-yard catch and run touchdown to Kapri Bibbs in the fourth quarter bandaged an otherwise forgettable day for Siemian and the offense. (At least he didn’t get caught lip-syncing “Pieces of Me” on the sideline.)
The bye week was not kind to the Broncos in 2017, nor was it in 2016. The loss to New York was Denver’s second consecutive loss coming off the bye after they dropped an OT thriller to Kansas City on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 12 last year. While Siemian played well in that contest, passing for 368 yards and three touchdowns, Tyreek Hill ran (and returned and received) wild on Denver to the tune of 169 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. Brandon McManus missed a 62-yard field goal attempt in overtime (he did connect from 44 yards in OT), and Cairo Santos was true from 34 yards to win it and continue Denver’s downward spiral for the season.
That decline hit rock bottom in Week 16, again facing the Chiefs, when Denver had their playoff hopes eliminated with a 33-10 loss on Christmas Night in Arrowhead. The salt in the wound as Denver’s chances to play in a sixth-consecutive playoffs faded into oblivion was a trick play that saw defensive tackle Dontari Poe throw a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. It was like watching Jerry Minor steal a punchline from Tracy Morgan; some things just shouldn’t happen.
Siemian was 17-for-43 with an interception and no touchdowns in the loss. His 43.1 passer rating and 39.5 percent completion rate were both season lows.
Perhaps it was a harbinger of things to come in 2017 when the Broncos opened the season with a narrow prime-time win over the Chargers in the final game of Week 1. After Koo was true on his first attempt (negated by timeout), Shelby Harris got a hand on the rookie’s second try and Denver escaped with a 24-21 victory. Denver nearly squandered a 24-7 fourth-quarter lead, and Los Angeles would have carried all the momentum into overtime had Koo tied things at the end of regulation. As they did one year prior, Denver earned some early applause but the show hadn’t even reached the opening monologue.
Sunday’s embarrassing loss – Denver was 13-point favorites – sets the stage for a tough slate of remaining prime-time performances this year.
Denver travels to Kansas City in two weeks to face the division-leading Chiefs on Monday night. After winning seven straight contests against KC from 2012 to 2015, the Broncos are riding a three-game losing streak against the reigning division champs.
Two weeks later, Denver hosts the reigning Super Bowl champs in a Sunday night game. It will be the fourth consecutive time (including playoffs) that New England has traveled to Denver, with the Broncos claiming two victories so far in those meetings; however, Osweiler and Manning started those games. In the Week 15 matchup last year, Siemian produced just three points against New England in a 13-point loss (not in prime time).
The Broncos cap their 2017 prime-time schedule with a Week 15 Thursday game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Colts are middling at 2-3 this season, but Andrew Luck is expected to return soon and short weeks never favor the traveling team. It will be Denver’s third road game in four weeks. It could be as hard to watch as a sketch starring Jon Lovitz.
As tough as it is to say, Denver could be looking at a 0-3 record over those games, which would drop them to 3-8 in prime time during the Trevor Siemian era. Were it not for those missed kicks, it could be much worse. Maybe not as bad as “Mad TV,” but certainly not ready for prime time.