did not allot much time for nerves heading into his debut as the starting quarterback for the Broncos last season.
Denver opened its season with a Thursday night game against Carolina — a 21-20 Broncos victory — and Siemian had too much cramming to do ahead of his first start to spend much time chomping on his fingernails.
New players for the Broncos aren’t as lucky this season. The Broncos don’t kick off until 8:20 p.m. Monday against the Los Angeles Chargers. Denver played the first game of the NFL season last year. Now, it will play in the last in Week 1.
“It’ll be a long week watching all those games Sunday,” Siemian said. “But we’ve got plenty of work to do, so we’ll stay busy.”
The extra wait isn’t likely to get to Siemian this week. While he may not be “10 times better” as a quarterback than he was last season, as teammate said during an appearance on Pro Football Talk’s PFT Live on Tuesday, Siemian does feel a greater level of calm as he prepares for his second season as an NFL starter.
“That first game there is a lot of anticipation,” Siemian said. “You’ve got a lot of time to think about it, go over the game plan and all those things. I’m definitely more comfortable going into this year, going into Year 2. The first year I felt good about everything, but at the same time you are still holding on to the seat of your pants a little bit. Like I said, I like where I’m at, like where we’re at. I feel really good about it.”
Miller raised eyebrows Tuesday when he drew comparisons between Siemian and former Broncos quarterback . The linebacker provided a clarification Wednesday. Miller knows as well as anyone that he’ll never play with another Peyton Manning, but that doesn’t mean Siemian, who studied Manning carefully throughout the 2015 season, hasn’t picked up some of his mentor’s leadership qualities.
“As far as their vibe, the energy that Peyton had, that’s what Trevor has,” Miller said. “You can never replicate Peyton Manning or who he was on the football field or any of that stuff, the type of leader he was, but it’s kind of like a vibe that Trevor has that’s similar to Peyton’s.”
The bottom line is the Broncos can feel confident their quarterback, voted a team captain for the second year in a row, won’t be affected by the weekend’s long wait. Coach Vance Joseph expects others to follow the quarterback’s lead.
“As I’ve kind of grown and developed, my role has kind of evolved,” Siemian said. “From day one, I’m just trying to be a good teammate, be the best player I can be and help guys out wherever I can.”
