Playing at home can never be minimized in the NFL.
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – The Denver Broncos plan on helping quarterback Trevor Siemian as much as they can in his first National Football League start Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers. Siemian can certainly dink and dunk, but those short passes absolutely must have deep to intermediate throws mixed in.
Instead, Siemian will square off against two rookie cornerbacks in James Bradberry and Daryl Worley, the biggest changes on the NFC champions roster that returns 18 starters.
Ware had a fun time with Michael Oher on the other side as well, making Newton’s life a living hell in the pocket.
His first regular season game will go a long way in either confirming or adjusting my opinion.
More than Ealy, the Broncos will be anxious about the interior line of the Panthers, defensive tackles Kawann Short and Star Lotulelei. Carolina did lose Josh Norman after rescinding his franchise tag and he has since moved to the Washington Redskins, but the Panthers defense will still be very solid anchored by Luke Keuchly and against a Denver offense that is starting Trevor Siemian they should be able to make their presence felt.
The massive makeover didnt take away from their championship celebration. Manning called it Miller’s “world celebrity tour”, a six-month jet-setting junket of television and dance studios, A-list parties and B-roll appearances.
Millers torment of Newton in the Super Bowl was just the start.
When Newton posted a picture of himself playing water polo with the US national team in April, Miller photo-shopped himself in knocking yet another ball out of the QB’s right hand.
Siemian’s ability to hit the ground running may define the Broncos season in the American Football Conference, where the Patriots will hope to get through the opening four games with Jimmy Garoppolo deputising for the suspended Brady before their star quarterback returns against Cleveland in week five. Coach Ron Rivera said he wants to limit his 6-foot-5, 245-pound receiver’s snaps to 30-35 per game, down from about twice that as a rookie in 2014.
Being under-appreciated and under-valued initially is nothing new to Siemian, as his old mentor will attest to.
The NFL is hosting a two day fan festival that begins Wednesday afternoon and continues Thursday with a free concert featuring Dierks Bentley and OneRepublic.
In general, defending Super Bowl champs have won 19 of their last 22 season openers, but the 1999 Broncos suffered one of the losses, falling to the visiting Dolphins 31-28 in a Monday-night game. He has led exactly one scoring drive against a first-team unit.
It doesn’t happen always, but a Super Bowl rematch can occur during the following season. His dogged determination to have a bounce-back year was on full display this summer.
“I think the team has handled it really well”, Coach Gary Kubiak said. It earned the soft-spoken Thomas offensive captain honors.
If the Broncos are to retain their title then Denver will again need to lean on their defense rather than the arm of Siemian. “You could have a Dorito on your shoulder for all we care”, Broncos safety T.J. Ward said per Cameron Wolfe of The Denver Post.
Former Miami Dolphins QB Jay Fiedler worked with Siemian in the build-up to the draft past year and believes his cerebral approach helps set him apart.
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“We were learning. We were trying to mix two systems”, Anderson said. We did that already. We have a whole new season to look forward to.
