For the first three quarters of Monday night’s game against the Chargers, it looked like the Broncos would cruise to a win over their AFC West rivals.
They built a 24-7 win after scoring on both of their third quarter possessions and quarterback Trevor Siemian kept making the right calls on third downs to extend drives while the Chargers couldn’t find the same success. Things went the other way in the final 15 minutes as Siemian threw a pick and Jamaal Charles lost a fumble to give the Chargers a chance to cut the lead to three points as time wound down. A missed field goal added to the woes and the Chargers got a chance to try to pull out the comeback after Siemian threw incomplete on a third down with 2:09 left in the game.
L.A.'s bid to tie the game ended when Shelby Harris blocked a field goal, allowing Siemian to balance his postgame evaluation between the desired result and acknowledgement that they can’t give teams a chance to get back into games.
“I’ve learned pretty quickly nothing’s certain, especially when you’re playing a guy like Philip Rivers on the other sideline,” Siemian said, via the team’s website. “Down the stretch there, offensively we wish we would have made a few more plays to help our defense out, but, shoot, a win’s a win. We’ll take it however we can get it.”
Siemian ended the night 17-of-28 for 219 yards, two touchdowns and that interception and he also ran for a touchdown when he avoided Joey Bosa on a 1-yard run in the second quarter. The turnover was ill-timed, but it was otherwise the kind of game the Broncos will likely be OK with from Siemian if they can match it with the 140 yards they got on the ground and strong defense.