Peyton Manning thinks that rookie quarterback Trevor Siemian has improved since he got to Denver in May. The seventh-round pick will be expected to play during the second half against the Cardinals on Thursday.
Manning told KOA's Dave Logan that although the rookie has put up some impressive numbers, he still has a couple of off-the-field things to improve on.
"Trevor has had a really good camp. He's a bright guy; he's improved. He wasn't healthy when he got here because he was coming off a knee injury. So he wasn't able to do a lot in his first month, but as he got healthy and was able to get out on the field and get the reps it really paid dividends for him. He got more comfortable and just played well throughout camp.
"I don't know if you noticed, but all of the rookies got their heads shaved by our 'senior committee.' It's kind of a defensive thing—that's the one time they're allowed to cross over the ball. Ty [Sambrailo] had long hair when he got here and they cut our left tackles hair. But, for three years in a row now I have spared the QB's. I spared Brock [Osweiler], I spared [Zac] Dysert and I spared Trevor. But I told Trevor, 'Just because I spared you from getting your head shaved doesn't mean… you still need a haircut.' He's got a bad haircut. It's borderline mullet at this point.
"So I said, 'Don't take advantage of my generosity…get a haircut. Represent the QB's. Look sharp.' He hasn't done it yet.
"The other thing is he still has his college email address. I do not feel secure on that. Some student could be reading all of our emails at Northwestern. I told him, 'Get an AOL, get a Gmail… do something.' I do not want to send an email to Northwestern dot org or whatever.
"When you get to pro ball, you can't wear your bowl gear from the Peach Bowl. You can't wear your combine sweatshirt, (which reads) 'QB 10,' and you cannot have your college email. You stick to those three things and everything else is cream cheese."
The veteran quarterback won't see any action in the matchup against the Cardinals, but Manning has a few ties to the Cardinals in Head Coach Bruce Arians and Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator Tom Moore.
"Bruce Arians was my quarterbacks coach for my first three years in Indianapolis. You really knew back then that he was bound to be an NFL head coach at some point. He had it in his blood; it was just a matter of getting the right situation. He's a high-energy coach and a fun coach to play for. Tom Moore was my offensive coordinator there for 14 years in Indianapolis. I think Tom is in his 40 40th season in the NFL.
"You talk about somebody that's seen it all. He's a quarterbacks dream to play for because he's just as loyal as they come. He always had your back. He used to tell me, 'Hey, if you change the play and it works well, that was your idea. If it doesn't work, it was my idea.'
"He's just an old-school guy. Tough. You talk about wearing out a referee… he would wear out a referee. I remember one time I wasn't playing and he was absolutely just giving this referee the business like you couldn't believe.
"He had his headphones on and the referee turned around and said, 'Hey, you can't talk to me like that!' And he said, 'I'm not talking to you; I'm talking to the guy up in the press box!' [It's] just things like that, that were funny and truly old school."
