Through the first three weeks of the season, Denver Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian has posted a Total QBR of 68.8. That's a bump from the 52.2 QBR the Broncos recorded during the 2015 season with Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler under center. And while three games is still a very small sample size, the Broncos' decision to open up the offense a bit more on Sunday versus the Cincinnati Bengals raises the question: Is this team better off with Siemian running the show?
After Siemian threw for 312 yards and four touchdowns in that Week 3 win over the Bengals, let's examine how the Broncos are increasing his role in the game plan. With more deep shots and an emphasis on creating more one-on-one matchups outside of the numbers, the Broncos are in a position to complement the running game and their top-tier defense with the young quarterback.
The double moves
During Weeks 1 and 2, Siemian threw just one ball that traveled at least 20 yards in the air. One. That's an amazing number in today's league, given the amount of deep shots we see every week. In fact, Siemian averaged just 5.76 air yards per pass in those first two games. That ranked 32nd out of 33 qualified quarterbacks.
But this was part of the Broncos' plan with Siemian, who hadn't thrown a single regular-season NFL pass entering this season. That meant underneath throws and screen passes for Siemian on a team that could still win because of its ability to run the ball and play nasty defense. It was a controlled, or reduced, game plan for the young quarterback in the first two weeks of the season.
The change we saw in Week 3 is a big reason Broncos fans should be optimistic.