Broncos, Siemian Blow Past Bengals 29-17

When you looked at the schedule before the season, this game figured to be a tough one for the Broncos to win. On the road, against a perennial playoff team, with a young QB in a hostile building. All those factors made me believe that the Broncos were in serious danger of losing to the Bengals on Sunday. Fortunately, the Broncos came through with a huge road win to get to 3-0 with a 29-17 victory over the Bengals in Cincy. The Broncos overcame three different deficits and stormed back in the 4th quarter to win going away. It was a tremendous team win, highlighted by Trevor Siemian's huge passing day, and the Broncos get a very impressive win and now sit at 3-0. Here are my thoughts and observations on the game...

1) Trevor Siemian might have had his coming out party. Siemian was very impressive in the 4th quarter. He finished the day 23-35 for 312 yards with 4 TDs and 0 INT. He made some awesome throws-especially on 3rd down. His 41 yard TD throw to Emmanuel Sanders on 3rd down in the second quarter made it 10-7 Denver. His 55 yard bomb to Demaryius Thomas late in the 4th quarter sealed the gamed. He made big throws all afternoon. He hit Sanders with a sweet 7 yard TD pass to make it 16-14 right before halftime. He made big time throws to Jeff Heuerman and Bennie Fowler in the 4th quarter as well. Tip your cap to Siemian because he was really good when it counted on Sunday.

2) Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryus Thomas came back with their best games of the season. Sanders was terrific as he hauled in 9 catches for 117 yards and 2 TDs. He destroyed Adam Jones all day long. Thomas had 6 receptions for 100 yards and the game-clinching score. He also had a huge catch and run in the 4th quarter as well. They both made big plays that helped the Broncos secure the win. That is what you need out of your playmakers on the road.

3) The Broncos defense got gassed on the first drive of the game as Cincy went right down the field and went 74 yards on 5 plays. After that, the Broncos defense settled in and did what they normally do: Create pressure, tackle well, and make big plays. They got four sacks, picked off a pass in the 4th quarter, and created enough pressure to keep Andy Dalton off balance in critical parts of the second half. Tremendous bounce back after a rough first drive.

4) Shane Ray had his best game as a Bronco. He had three sacks, forced numerous pressures, and showed his potential as another key piece to the defense. Von Miller also added a sack late in the game to preserve the win. If Ray can keep this up, who knows how much this defense can grow.

5) The key play early in the game was when Zaire Anderson forced an Adam Jones fumble on a punt in 1st quarter. With Cincy up 7-3 after forcing a Denver 3 and out, the Broncos recovered the fumble on the punt, and they capitalized by getting a touchdown from Siemian to Sanders on the next drive to go up 10-7. That was a huge turning point early on.

6) Another key play was late in the 2nd quarter. A Broncos drive was kept alive after a 3rd down incompletion was nullified by a Bengals defensive holding penalty. The Broncos drive continued and they scored a TD with just 28 seconds left to take a 16-14 lead going into halftime.

7) The Broncos did get the benefit of having 5 first downs due to Bengals penalties. They were also very fortunate because Siemian had two sure fire interceptions dropped in the second quarter. Sometimes you need a break or two on the road to win a game and the Broncos got a few of those on Sunday.

8) Another key play was when late in the game, the Bengals had a 3rd down drop by A.J. Green down 22-17. If he catches the ball, then the Bengals have a first down. Instead, they are forced to punt and Siemian made them pay with the game-winning bomb to DT to put Denver up 29-17.

9) With the huge road win, Denver now stands at 3-0 and atop the AFC West. With the Panthers, Colts and Bengals to start the year, I was not expecting Denver to win all three games, but here they are at 3-0 and they are rolling. I'm not jumping to far ahead of myself, but you have to like what you have seen out of Denver so far. Let's keep the momentum rolling this week as the Broncos travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Bucs. Go Broncos!