I wanted to take a look at two quarterbacks who made their first starts in Week 1: Trevor Siemian of the Denver Broncos and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys.

Both teams used a game plan to put their young quarterbacks in comfortable situations. Prescott is a rookie and Siemian saw only one snap, a kneel-down, last year as a rookie. But both of them also missed some chances at big plays, though that’s to be expected for inexperienced quarterbacks.

[Play our $250K Baller | Free Yahoo Cup entry | Free commissioners $15K contest]

Let’s break down how each of them did.

TREVOR SIEMIAN

The Broncos started their game against the Carolina Panthers with five consecutive passes. Broncos coach Gary Kubiak was trying to get execution confidence for Siemian.

Kubiak also did some things to help out Siemian. He used a quick snap count on each of the first two series, which makes things simpler for a quarterback because it limits defensive movement and adjustment. Kubiak started Siemian with simple concepts, eventually expanding in the third quarter to deeper routes and more combination route concepts. That gave Siemian a chance to make some defined throws downfield.

It’s not surprising Siemian missed some things in his first start. On his second play, the Broncos had a well-designed switch release with a natural rub concept, with Emmanuel Sanders from the slot coming wide open on the wheel route behind Cody Latimer. But Siemian didn’t process it, even though it was open, and threw incomplete to his check-down in the flat.

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

Siemian had issues with what he was seeing and not seeing. Another great example was a sack in the red zone on Denver’s second possession. The design of the play was to Jordan Taylor on a “bang 8” route against single-high safety coverage. Siemian didn’t have a feel for controlling the safety with his head and eyes. He didn’t pull the trigger on this throw.

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

Story continues