The grinding aspect of the Denver Broncos' offense is a sore spot among some players, despite the 2-0 start to the season.
After Sunday's victory over the Indianapolis Colts, receiver Demaryius Thomas told NFL Network's Michael Silver that the Broncos are "gonna need more offense" at some point to win games.
Through two games with Trevor Siemian under center, Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders have been held to a combined 226 yards on 17 receptions. Neither has a 100-yard game, nor a touchdown.
The second-year quarterback gets why his pass-catchers are frustrated.
"It's understandable ... we want to give those guys opportunities to make plays," Siemian said, via ESPN. "Those guys have been awesome ... those guys have been great with me pulling me through ... They know they're getting their touches."
Part of the passing struggle is due to breaking in a second-year, seventh-round quarterback. But the passing game problems aren't new in Denver.
Thomas has only one 100-yard receiving games in his last 14 contests, including the playoffs. Sanders has only two 100-yard receiving days over that same period.
"There's some frustration, but it's hard to be frustrated when you're sitting here 2-0," Sanders said. "I can sit up here and make it all about me and Demaryius, how we're used to having 100-yard games, we're used to scoring touchdowns and we're used to doing this. But we're sitting here 2-0 ... Individually, I would like to have my highlights on ESPN, yeah, I would like to have 100-yard games, be ranked top five, but we're sitting here 2-0 ... I'm waiting for that big game, Demaryius is waiting for that big game -- we know it's going to come."
While the Peyton Manning-Brock Osweiler combo was far from prolific in Gary Kubiak's offense, the passing game under Siemian has fallen off even further. Last season, the Broncos averaged 248.1 yards passing per game. Siemian is averaging 222 yards passing through two starts.
Kubiak still doesn't trust his young signal-caller enough to stretch the field. Through two weeks, only two of Siemian's 59 pass attempts traveled 20-plus air yards (fewest of such passes in NFL). One of those two passes was incomplete, the other intercepted. Siemian is averaging 5.8 air yards per pass attempt (lowest in the NFL) -- last year Manning averaged 9.3 AYPA; Osweiler, 8.8.
"It's his second start, it's going to take time," Thomas said. "I don't know ... why the ball is not coming my way, but it's not a big deal, at the end of the day it's all about winning, we're 2-0 right now."