Siemian Got Loud Ovation After Kubiak's Announcement

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (The Sports Xchange) - Although Trevor Siemian made fewer mistakes over the course of the summer than Mark Sanchez, there will be errors that go along with playing a first-time NFL starting quarterback. At times he locks in on receivers. At others he doesn't get to the second and third read.

The Broncos have a talented roster, in spite of free-agent losses. Their players know it. And that talent is going to have to pick up Siemian.

Those players gave him a loud ovation in a team meeting Monday morning when Gary Kubiak announced that Siemian would be the starter.

"We're corralling around him, no matter what," said outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware. "You can make mistakes or you can play a perfect game. No matter what, you have to have the guys back saying, 'You know what, no matter what, we support you,' because sometimes the defense won't play well, or the offense won't play well or special teams won't play well, but if everybody comes together, that's when you win games."

And in the parlance popularized by the Patriots, that means everyone doing their job.

"When you think about team, there is no 'I' in 'TEAM,' but if I don't do my job, the team suffers. I tell the guys that all of the time," Ware said. "If Trevor doesn't do his job, the team suffers."

-- Rookie Paxton Lynch's time may come later this season. But it may depend as much on Siemian's play as his own continued progress on the practice field.

If Lynch continues running the scout team, as he did last week, the first-round pick will get the chance to face perhaps the best defense in football on a daily basis, giving him an opportunity to adjust to the speed at which he will have to play on game days.

That experience last season helped Siemian prepare for the opportunity he now has, and it could aid Lynch in the coming weeks and months.

"Paxton is still a young quarterback," Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders said. "Sometimes it's good that he can sit back and be able to grow without playing and the pressure of the media beating down on his head. He can just sit back and really get a true introduction into the National Football League and be able to understand it and be able to grow in this playbook."

Lynch is expected to play the entire game Thursday against the Arizona Cardinals, and barring an injury, he will end up seeing more preseason snaps than Siemian and Mark Sanchez combined.

"He needs to play every rep he can play," Kubiak said.