The 2017 season is only two weeks old, but the Denver Broncos’ offense already appears to be miles ahead of where they were at this point last season.

When it comes to yardage, first downs and turnovers, the numbers are relatively similar, but two facets of the offense are vastly improved, and they work in concert with one another. Quarterback Trevor Siemian is playing like a man possessed — and the Broncos are benefiting on third down because of it.

After two weeks, Siemian is tied with Detroit Lions quarterbacks Matthew Stafford atop the league leaderboards with six touchdowns, and he’s tossed only two interceptions. The Broncos’ ability to pass through the first two weeks of the season is driven in part by what has been a successful running game thus far.

The Broncos need to keep up what they’ve been doing in the season’s early-going. Their newfound ability to keep the chains moving makes their offense demonstrably more potent than last year’s version. The Broncos finished 2016 ranked 31st overall after converting just 34 percent of their third downs, but through the first two weeks of the 2017 campaign, the Broncos have converted nearly 57 percent of their third downs — which ranks first in the NFL.

According to Siemian, the key to converting third downs is putting the team into manageable situations on earlier downs, which is exactly what the Broncos have done through two games.

“You want to be good in situational football across the board,” Siemian said after Wednesday’s practice. “When you’re talking about that, it’s an 11-man operation. It starts with the offensive line’s blocking. It starts with receivers getting open and getting separation, and the backs picking up pressures and all of that. I think one of the bigger things is [that] we’ve been in manageable third downs for the most part, which certainly makes it easier.”

There’s always room for improvement, but the Broncos are right where they’d like to be at this point of the season; perhaps even ahead of schedule. Excluding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Miami Dolphins (who have only played once each; their Week 1 game was postponed by Hurricane Irma), the Broncos are one of only eight teams that have won both of their games. They’ve seemingly found a way to consistently put points on the board, and their defense is still playing at a championship level.

Now, they just have to maintain the same level of success; something that the Broncos know is much easier said than done.

“I mean, we were 4-0 last year and didn’t make the playoffs,” running back C.J. Anderson said on Wednesday. “We all know what it feels like to have success, and [then] things make a turn [for the worse]. It’s up to us leaders and veterans to make sure everybody in that locker room is taking it one week, one practice, one play and one day at a time.”

In the NFL, everything can change in an instant, but after a promising start, the Broncos’ rapid improvement has been impossible not to notice.