/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50608857/usa-today-9503759.0.jpg)
As we know, Trevor Siemian, the Denver Broncos starting quarterback will be making his first career start next week against the Carolina Panthers to open up the NFL season. Siemian's lone regular season snap came on a kneel down play against the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. So Siemian has very little experience at the NFL level.
Lack of game tape on Trevor Siemian worries the Panthers (in fairness, probably the Broncos too) https://t.co/8CSyZ102oZ
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 1, 2016
So obviously Trevor is rather inexperienced and that could be a concern for the Broncos since his first game action will come against Luke Kuechly and the very good Carolina Panthers defense. However, Panthers Defensive Coordinator Sean McDermott thinks Trevor may have the upper hand and uses a baseball analogy to back his statement up.
"I'll equate it to a baseball analogy where you get a first-time pitcher who's always going to have more success early because people really don't know his stuff as well," Carolina’s defensive coordinator says. "Whereas if you get him on tape and there's more eyes on him, scouting reports, so on and so forth, then you get a little bit more familiar with him."
McDermott does have a point, the book isn't just out on Trevor Siemian. Teams do not know his tendencies in the Broncos offense, they don't know he reacts under pressure, against zone looks, man looks, who he targets on third down, or how he even looks in Gary Kubiak's offense. All we really have to go off is the vanilla offense they showed during the preseason.
McDermott says just going off preseason film is an issue too. He would like to see a few games of Siemian before coming up with a gameplan.
"That's the hard part, too," McDermott says. "You'd love to have about three or four games in the regular season and say, ‘OK, we've got him in game five.’"
Now while I think McDermott has a point about Siemian's lack of film could be a plus for him, I don't think the Panthers defense is losing any sleep over this matchup. They held their own during the Super Bowl and forced a couple turnovers from quarterback Peyton Manning. So it's not like they were the reason they lost the Super Bowl.
Also, the Panthers have one of the better front sevens in the NFL right now. Kawann Short, Star Lotulelei, first-round pick Vernon Butler, Kony Ealy who had a breakout game in the Super Bowl, and of course their linebackers Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, and Shaq Thompson.
So they will likely come in with a solid gameplan that will likely take away the Broncos run game and force the inexperienced Trevor Siemian to beat them with his arm. Will Trevor's inexperience cause him to struggle or will the lack of film on Siemian give the young quarterback an advantage next Thursday night?