Siemian shows that Broncos have all they need in 29-17 win

Siemian asserted himself as a leader capable of leading the defending Super Bowl champions against another playoff contender. The Bengals (1-1) and Broncos (2-0) are doing the same things on offense and defense. Miller forced a fumble that led to a touchdown Miller, The Broncos’ star pass rusher has four sacks already, including the game-sealing strip of Andrew Luck that was reminiscent of his mammoth hits in the Super Bowl when he snatched the football and the Lombardi Trophy from Cam Newton’s grasp.

Shane Ray recorded six tackles and three sacks in the game.

The result of the above play was an illegal contact penalty, which bailed out an otherwise bad throw, but the way he stepped aside from unblocked Bengals linebacker Vincent Rey showed a poise few quarterbacks display in their third National Football League start. The team had an open competition at camp, and, despite drafting Paxton Lynch, went with second-year man Trevor Siemian from Northwestern. He finished 23 of 35 for 312 yards and a passer rating of 132.1.

While the Denver offense has lingering doubts, the Broncos are back again with one of the best defenses in the National Football League – even without important starters in defensive tackle Malik Jackson and linebacker Danny Trevathan.

As a redshirt freshman at Texas A&M, tackle Cedric Ogbuehi got to block Von Miller during practice. On the first play of the next drive Andy Dalton threw an interception. So, the third star goes to the outside linebacker not named Ware or Miller. Offensive coordinator Rick Dennison believed improvement offensively started with eliminating negative plays, but boiled down to simply scoring.

“I’ll think about it all year”, Green said. “So really, we kept him under 100”.

Five of Denver’s first downs Sunday resulted from Bengals penalties, including 24 yards on one drive which ended with a Broncos’ field goal.

Dansby will turn 35 on November 3, but the former Woodlawn High School wide receiver played all 71 defensive snaps in the Bengals’ 23-22 season-opening win over the New York Jets on September 11 and played 58 of the 74 defensive snaps in last week’s 24-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Broncos went with Siemian as the starter in part because they liked his demeanor and on-field calm. He threw two touchdowns in the first half, but the rest of his throws were sloppy.

That didn’t stop #13 putting on a show though with a couple of highlight reel grabs amongst a seven-catch, 121 receiving yard day. Bengals TE Tyler Kroft started ahead of C.J. Uzomah. “I thought we were aggressive all game long, and that’s how you have to be against teams like this to keep them off balance”.

Jeremy Hill was better in his running attack.

The Broncos rushed for just 52 yards, averaging 2.3 per carry. Two of those were short passes where he didn’t see a defender, the other an underthrown ball off his back foot.

The Bengals (1-1) host the Broncos (2-0) at 1 p.m. on Sunday on CBS.

PREDICTION: If the Bengals can’t create some offensive balance, they won’t have a chance against Denver’s No. 1 defense.

MISTAKES: The Bengals played a sloppily all day.

This should be a fascinating game and an early test for both teams.