DENVER – They don’t believe in Trevor Siemian.

They don’t think he’s a quarterback who can win big, much less a Super Bowl. They saw the two interceptions – one terrible, one terribly unlucky – and hollered, “Told ya so!” They are waiting for the wheels to come tumbling off, for the other shoe to drop, for a grim reality to set in.

That must be it, right? The only explanation for why the Broncos were underdogs against Carolina (at home, where the Broncos are 253-92 since 1975, tops in the NFL) against a team they waxed like a surfboard in Super Bowl 50 is the quarterback. They don’t believe in him.

What would it take, do you think, for the football-crazy masses to take the Broncos seriously? Would beating a pair of former No. 1 draft picks in Siemian’s first two starts do the trick? From Cam Newton in Week 1 to Andrew Luck in Week 2, Siemian picked a heckuva time to start.

But they think the Broncos are finished. It must be because of Siemian.

“When you’ve got Peyton (Manning) out there, you want to see what he’s going to do. He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback,” Von Miller said. “You get caught in the moment when you’ve got that type of starter. With Trevor, I see him work every single day. I’m totally comfortable with what he’s got going on.”

The Broncos believe – in themselves, first and foremost, and in their 24-year-old quarterback. In the first five snaps of Siemian’s first career start, Gary Kubiak called five passing plays. On a fourth-and-1 on the shadow of the goal line, Ol’ Kubes told Siemian to go for it. Intrigued by a known commodity, Mark Sanchez, they opted for the unknown. Their actions speak louder than words.

If nothing weird happens, Siemian will face off against quarterbacks who were No. 1 picks in three of his first four games (Newton, Luck, Jameis Winston). Six of the first eight opposing quarterbacks on the schedule were selected in the top five of the draft (Newton, Luck, Winston, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers – twice). Siemian was a seventh-rounder. Those other guys are supposed to be here. He’s not.

They say he can’t take them there – back to the Super Bowl, where last year he was the scout-team quarterback, in Houston, where Denver’s would-be quarterback is now the quarterback. The Broncos say Siemian doesn’t need to take them there.

What’s their response when folks suggest Siemian is the weak link?

“I just look at last year and the formula we had, playing situational football. We don’t have to score 50, 60 points every single game,” veteran pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware told me. “We have to play great defense. We have to put pressure on the quarterback. The offense, when it’s time to score, and they get close to the end zone, they have to score points. Then we keep the game close and have (good) time management.”

Siemian was not the plan around here. Not Plan A, Plan B, Plan C. Maybe Plan G, for Go-Getter. The plan was Brock Osweiler, then it could’ve been Colin Kaepernick (imagine that), then Sanchez, and some day, supposedly, it will be Paxton Lynch.

Now the plan is to stick to the plan – do enough on offense so the defense can close it out, as Ware said. The first game of the season looked a lot like last season. The Broncos averaged 5.4 yards per play in 2015 and the same in the opener.

Siemian wore Birkenstocks, with socks, to his press conference Wednesday. His personality is more Jake Plummer than Manning, who figures to be in attendance, again, for a rematch between his two former teams. Before last Thursday, Siemian had taken one career snap, a kneel down. He closed his first start with a kneel down.

“He never got rattled. He was down. Being down 10 (points to start the fourth quarter) bothers some guys in this league,” Kubiak said. “You’re going to get down in this league sometimes, but you have to maintain your composure. I just really think that for the first time out, it was a good outing for him.”

Siemian wasn’t perfect. With oodles of talent assembled around him, he needn’t be.

“It felt like too long off, to tell you the truth,” Siemian said of the bye weekend.

It feels like the football world doesn’t believe in the Broncos because they don’t believe in Siemian. Sunday’s his next shot to prove them wrong.

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Twitter: @bypaulklee