Denver Broncos

Denver Broncos Show They're Not That Much Worse

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Denver Broncos are still a good football team!

Future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning who collected his ring that night, retired. DE Malik Jackson got paid and moved onto the Jacksonville Jaguars. Inside linebacker Danny Trevathan is also no longer with the Denver Broncos going to the Chicago Bears.

Then you have Brock Osweiler who follow the money to the Houston Texans instead of replacing Manning. Not many thought of the Broncos as Super Bowl contenders anymore because of the losses. Many expected the Super Bowl 50 runner-up Carolina Panthers to kill them.

For goodness sakes, Trevor Siemian, hadn’t played an NFL snap until Thursday. So this team was supposed to be much worse than what they were last year But in a hard-fought 21-20 victory, the Broncos proved that they aren’t that much worse.

Siemian proved he could not screw it up too much and pull it out at the end of a close game. And the defense, while not as good, is still good enough to make key stops and win games. Thursday’s game showed that the Broncos aren’t that much worse.

The Broncos sacked Panthers quarterback Cam Newton three times Thursday to six in Super Bowl 50. They had the same kind of running game with C.J. Anderson as well. And Siemian’s numbers were similar to what Manning’s were in the Super Bowl.

The Panthers didn’t quite catch up with the Broncos over the offseason. So we’ll have to wait until this season and the playoffs to find out if the other AFC contenders did.