A pressing pessimism hit Broncos coach Gary Kubiak in the face sooner than 24 hours after his team took down Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. For having an undefeated team, Kubiak sure had a lot of questions lobbed his way.

Why can’t his team get into the end zone? Why can’t it throw deep? Why all those field goals? Why all the offensive frustration? Why can’t he solve global warming? Most of those questions came at him at Dove Valley on Monday morning.

Kubiak arrived prepared, rattling off stats as though he were delivering a prepared stump speech.

“We had a lot of productivity on offense: 24 first downs, 400 yards and 6.2 yards a play,” Kubiak said. “We were very productive. I’d take that every week. Hopefully we can produce like that, move the ball like that.”

And he wasn’t done. He added: “We had nine drives. I think seven times we went inside the 35 or something like that. We’ve punted five times in two weeks. So there’s some good ball movement going on.”

The Broncos’ offense, though, seemed to stutter through two weeks — especially the passing game, averaging 212.5 yards, ranking 26th in the NFL. Denver ranks ninth in the NFL in scoring, at 27.5 points per game. But the defense scored twice Sunday. Take away those points, and the Broncos’ offense ranks 19th in points.

And there’s discontent bubbling to the surface.

“It’s a little worrisome,” veteran wide receiver Demaryius Thomas said. “You can’t keep kicking field goals. It’s any given Sunday, Monday or Thursday. One day a team might come out and score three touchdowns on our defense, and if we kick five field goals, we lose the game.

“We’ve got to figure out what we can do to get in the end zone,” Thomas said.

As the Broncos hit the road for the first time this season in a Sunday date against the Bengals (1-1) in Cincinnati, the reality of their offensive prowess probably falls somewhere between the gloom and the good cheer. Related Articles September 20, 2016 Broncos to bring back S Shiloh Keo, waive DL Kyle Peko

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First, the good: The Broncos, behind bullish running back C.J. Anderson, compiled 282 net yards rushing through two games, more than double their total of 130 through two games a year ago. Denver has revamped its running game behind a more settled offensive line. And with new starting quarterback Trevor Siemian, the Broncos have 425 net yards passing, an increase from Peyton Manning’s 388 yards through two weeks in 2015.

Now, the bad: The Broncos, against the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts, scored a touchdown on only 33 percent of their trips inside the 20-yard line. That ranks 26th in the NFL. And Siemian in two weeks has thrown only five passes that gained more than 20 yards, ranking 21st. But four of those passes were short, with long gains from a receiver after the catch; the longest was Thomas’ 44-yard gain Sunday on a 1-yard bubble screen.

“Being able to run the ball obviously opens up the pass,” said Broncos wide receiver Jordan Taylor, who caught Siemian’s completion that traveled farthest Sunday, a 20-yarder in the second quarter. “I know we’re going to continue trying to run the ball the rest of the year. We want to get more balls down the field and get some deep catches, but those will come.”

Although Siemian wasn’t throwing downfield, he was mixing up his spots. He completed passes to 10 receivers. The Broncos may be protecting Siemian with less-risky play calls in his first games as a starter. Or maybe these Broncos are who we thought they were: run-heavy, West Coast, dink-and-dunkers.

But Kubiak isn’t saying.

“You’re not too predictable offensively as far as where he’s trying to go all the time,” the coach said of his quarterback. “You’re attacking a defense and doing what you should be doing against a defense.”

Passing fancy

The Broncos through two games rank 26th in the NFL in yards passing. But with new starting quarterback Trevor Siemian, they have improved over their first two games of 2015: