DENVER --Being able to "shake it off" isn't just for Taylor Swift.
Saturday night, it was for the offense, led by Trevor Siemian. And after a deep attempt up the right sideline for Cody Latimer was ruled an interception, it was absolutely necessary to extract some momentum from what will be the starters' final work of the preseason.
"I thought it was huge. I thought it was really huge," said running back C.J. Anderson, who galloped through some wide holes for 35 yards on three consecutive carries that pushed the Broncos to the 1-yard line, setting up Siemian's 1-yard play-action touchdown pass to Virgil Green en route to a 17-9 win.
What set up the series was Siemian's unruffled demeanor. He didn't mope. He didn't panic. He simply stepped into the huddle and oozed confidence. The offense responded from there.
"He came back and said, 'Hey, man, it's going to be a long drive. Let's just do what we do,'" Anderson said. "And we did that."
Gary Kubiak sensed that from the sideline.
"I think he's very calm," the head coach said. "I can tell by the way he handles the team in the huddle. He has control of what's going on."
And never was he in more control than on the Broncos' first scoring drive of the night.
Prior to the possession, the Broncos had just three first downs on 17 plays. They matched that total in four snaps, as Siemian hit Emmanuel Sanders for 17 yards, Virgil Green in the right flat for five yards and Demaryius Thomas for seven yards.
Even though the Broncos never faced a third down on their seven-play, 67-yard sprint to the end zone, it wasn't perfect.
"Me and Trevor have got to work on some things, because I stepped on his foot twice, and I ended up stumbling on two of those long runs," Anderson said. "But it was just good to get momentum and get going.
"We threw some passes. We had some big runs. We came back with the play-action for the touchdown. You can see how the offense is working if we're in sync and continue to do that every drive we get."
What you want to see is resilience and a short memory that ensures past miscues don't become a cluster of mistakes.
Siemian -- and the offense along with him -- showed that Saturday.
"He gets a bad break on the go ball, but comes right back and goes right down the field," Kubiak said. "What I see is a guy getting better."
