Doc: Siemian rises to occasion vs. Bengals

The coach and the players bemoaned the third-down penalties, the dropped interceptions and the offense that is still doing 60 in the fast lane. Those were some of the facts of the Bengals' 29-17 loss to Denver, and they were indisputable. If you looked closer you saw something else, equally undeniable:

A second-year quarterback making his third pro start went on the road and took apart a good defense at winning time. This seventh-round draft pick out of Northwestern in 2015 directed two long fourth-quarter drives like he’d been doing it a decade.

Trevor Siemian threw 11 interceptions and seven TDs as a college senior. He was pondering a career in commercial real estate until Denver made him the 250th player (out of 256) selected in the ’15 draft. On Sunday, that guy completed nine of 10 passes for 159 yards and two TDs. In the fourth quarter.

It goes without saying that a team with Super Bowl ideas should not be ceding its home turf to a potential real estate salesman. The Bengals get the smallest of excuses, only because this is the socialist NFL and it’s only three games into the year.

Broncos mastermind John Elway came with the X-ray vision on this one. He watched Peyton Manning retire, let Brock Osweiler leave, cut Mark Sanchez and refused to trade for Colin Kaepernick. It wasn’t as if Elway didn’t have options. He believed the best option was Siemian, Denver’s clipboard holder a year ago.  Even as the rest of the world said “whuh?’’

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Here’s what Siemian did in the fourth quarter:

* Went 7-for-7 on a 15-play drive for 82 yards and a touchdown that gave Denver a 22-16 lead with 6:56 left. That march ended with Siemian zinging a 1-yard TD pass into jaws of the Bengals defense, to tight end Shannon Sharpe, er, John Phillips.

* Followed that up with a four-play, 83-yard lightning bolt that ended on a perfectly thrown rainbow bomb to Demaryius Thomas. Thomas out-muscled Bengals corner Chris Lewis-Harris for the 55-yard exclamation point TD.

Here’s what Siemian didn’t do:

Throw any interceptions, take any foolish chances, play like a guy whose 2015 season consisted of taking exactly one kneel-down, in a game against Pittsburgh.

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Nobody in the home locker room seemed to know how it happened, beyond blaming themselves for poor play. There was a suggestion that the game plan was not aggressive enough against the kid, but that theory didn’t get a lot of support. When Siemian was pressured, he avoided it or he took the sack.

“It wasn’t our day,’’ Pacman Jones decided. “It wasn’t mine. I had a bad day. It was mainly me.’’ Jones did fumble a punt, and allow Emmanuel Sanders to get behind him for a 41-yard touchdown pass. And yeah, on a day when the Bengals front seven stoned Denver’s run game and thus made Siemian one dimensional, the secondary carried a big load. And dropped it.

“I don’t think we confused him, if that’s what you’re trying to say,’’ Jones allowed.

But it was a total team effort, as they say. The offense still looks like a three-legged table. Jeremy Hill busted a 50-yard run off tackle in Cincinnati’s opening drive.  The rest of the game, he averaged three yards on 16 carries.

The passing game still looks like it needs some Marvin Jones and definitely some Tyler Eifert. A.J. Green caught eight balls, but there were Broncos behind him all day. Part of the offense’s issue is, it has played three above average defenses already. Another part is a lack of rhythm. Andy Dalton is nothing if not a rhythm QB.

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The Bengals mounted an impressive third-quarter drive thanks to Dalton’s arm and legs. Then, with a first down at Denver’s 15, they handed the ball twice to Gio Bernard, and lost a yard before kicking a field goal.

“The core is there, but we lost some weapons,’’ Andrew Whitworth said. He called it an ongoing “feeling-out phase. The key is not to let it become a mental thing, when you convince yourself you’re not good enough. This is just part of the grind.’’

They’re raising a glass (or a bong) in Denver, to Trevor Siemian. We’re raising a fit here. It’s not exactly a Bengals Death Watch. But no fandom does pessimism like Bengals fandom. You’ve been well trained.

Thirteen games remain, across the next 14 weeks. That’s either a blessing or a curse. After three games last year, the blessing seemed imminent. Now? A long season can go either way. The Bengals had their first big test Sunday. They flunked.