Why I hate Kyle Orton the Quarterback

Now that Kyle Orton has been named the opening day starter decided this would be a good time to post this. It isn't complete, this is the fan/emotional look.

Look, this is what it comes down to for me, and no argument, discussion, debate or logical statement can change this for me: I hate Kyle Orton the Quarterback. Not the person, the quarterback.

When he came to Denver I was on the Orton fan train. Even got a free Kyle Orton picture from NFL.com at one point (never did anything with it). I watched all of his games in 2009, defended him, saw what he could do, and truly BELIEVED in him as a QB. I never watched him in Chicago, but listened to guys like Doc and Ted way back in the day over at MHR. I bought into the Kyle Orton project, even felt that the drafting of Tebow was the worst idea because Kyle seemed to me as a pretty damn good QB. Went through the whole thing, and when he came out in the 2010 preseason and was lighting it up, it was freaking awesome. VINDICATION! All those noodle arm jokes, dings about his abilities fell to the wayside. Even during the first 6 weeks while my faith was flagging at times, I believed that he was good enough. He showed True Grit in the Tennessee game, he looked great in the game vs the Seahawks. He did an admirable job against the Colts. The Jets game was a heartbreaker.

But then, the Raiders game happened. And after 10 minutes I saw what I see now, a quarterback who is not a leader of the Broncos. Go ahead, debate me, nothing you say will ever change my mind. On that day, he gave up, and the entire team gave up, and that is how it stayed the rest of the season with him as quarterback. Anytime something would go wrong, BAM, offense and defense both just gave up. If I had the endurance I could go back to every game in 2010 and find the exact drive where the team gave up. Week after week this happened, and right wrong or otherwise, a majority of my fan blame and hatred was directed at the quarter back. Because you know as bad as the defense played last year, they were constantly on the field because the offense did NOTHING. This is a fan emotion, and as I looked closer, I found the facts and stats that proved(to me) everything that I felt about Kyle Orton.

So it doesn't matter what he does at this point. The only way I will rejoin the Orton train is if he wins a Super Bowl this year. That is what it will take. I have so much anger towards Kyle Orton the Quarterback that at this point, it doesn't matter anymore. Tebow isn't perfect, but he is the kind of Quarterback I want, a man who inspires people. Rewatch those last 3 games. It is there. The stats may not show it, the win/loss record may not show it, but if you look at the performance of the team, he made everyone around him better, he lifted the team up. Look at the end of week 17 against the Chargers. 3 Nearly impossible things happened. Tebow gets the score with less than 40 seconds left, the team recovers the onside kick, and both of Tebow's hail mary passes bounced off the hands of a receiver.

The rest I have already said about the lack of a true competition, an everything else. But all of that doesn't matter, because I hate Kyle Orton the Quarterback.

Preseason Week 2: 1st Team Second Pass

So, I slept on it, and just finished re watching the 1st team offense and defense, and have some additional thoughts.

I was critical during the 1st drive for the first team defense, but upon second watching, I have a much better impression of it. They did a great job stopping the Bills offense, and it was a special teams gaffe that gave up the 4 & 1 conversion. Doom in particular did a great job stopping the runner on 3 & 1. I am hoping (and these past 2 weeks give me this hope) that at his heavier weight plus his experience will allow him to continue to be strong against the run.

The other thing I noticed is that every 3rd down that the Broncos would blitz, Champ was ALWAYS on the slot guy. This could be a tell in the future, but honestly I will take Champ vs any QB in the league and let the chips fall where they may. And others have said it, but holy crap is Von Miller fast. He mis-timed the snap on his off sides call, but even if he had gotten the timing right, that would still have been a sack. I also noticed that Doom and Von were moved around, with Doom being on the Left and Right at different points. The other impressive thing was the fact that Denver's front 4 was able to consistently get pressure on passing downs. Any time they blitzed they were destroying Viking's timing.

The one thing I noticed, and am not sure what the reason behind this, is that there was a ton of action up front, and this huge 5-8 yards in the middle of the field where there were no Bronco jersey's. Probably just the formation, but it helped lead to the Bills bigger gains on those screen passes. But give guys like Vaughn props for being able to stop the screen passes from completely gouging the defense.

As far as the offense goes...what can I say. When Orton plays like that I am happy because the Broncos are willing, but the sack that Orton took is the exact reason why I doubt him. Call me a cynical hater, but it is what it is.

If I have time tomorrow I will watch the second team, and try to contain all my sarcastic hater remarks towards Quinn

Preseason Week 2: First pass thoughts

So, preface this up front. The Bills SUUUUUUUCK. Fitzpatrick does have a killer Viking beard tho, so from now on I am going to call him Viking.

So, first up is the 1st string defense. Not sure why they weren't able to completely destroy the Bill's O-line, but they were able to hold them to a field goal. The big standouts to me were Doom on run support Von on the pass rush, and Champ Bailey in the slot. I really, really love Champ in the slot. When you blitz on 3rd and long, the slot guy is usually the outlet, and with Champ there I hope to see plenty of failed passes his way. Is it premature to say that Dennis Allen is bringing the kind of Defense that in a year or two could be a top 10? Again this week the defense dictated to the Bills offense, none of that read and react crap that seemed to be festering in the Bronco's for way too long.

This defense is mean. Yes I know Moore's hit was against a defenseless WR. I personally thought it was clean but I am obviously not smart enough (or buff enough if comparing myself to Houcli) to be a ref. But whatever. The other thing I really like is that for the most part, the defense is focusing on fundamentals, tackle, wrap up and put the MoFo on the ground. Do not leave the ground for a flying missile tackle. You look really stupid when you miss.

As for the 1st team offense, for the most part I liked the play of the O-Line. The run game wasn't working as well against the Cowboys, but it got the touchdown when it mattered. And surprise surprise, Kyle looked alright. Context being that this is the Bills, and I have to mention it, for fucks sake, you sacked your self against Chris Kuper. That is that bullshit, and he has done it too many times. So again, Kyle Orton looks just fine when nothing comes near him, but the moment he feels...something....he folds like a deck of cards. But what do I know, I apparently smoke Tebow crack.

I really like the run game this year(so far....). McGahee will punch it in the hole, and Moreno can do some very nice things. They will have to do a lot this year since we are going with Kyle "I grow a crappy neck beard and my bones are made of glass"Orton. Orton will not be effective in the Red Zone without it. Debate it with me all you want, but the only time he was successful in Chicago was when he had Forte as his constant outlet. What we saw tonight was Orton being Orton. He wasn't challenged in any way, and was effective. And that is the best he will ever be, effective. But remember, he looked good in the preseason last year, and we know how that ended.

Then there is Brady Quinn. I think you look like shit. A large % of your passes were check downs or passes in between the numbers. As far as I can tell, you attempted maybe 3 passes outside of the numbers. You STILL don't push the ball down the field, and this was against the 2's tonight/ Yeah, your TD pass was nice.

2nd string D has good spots and it has bad spots. Want to give a shout out to Ted Bartlett's Try Hard White Guy Mike Mohammed. Made some nice plays and I hipe if he doesn't make the team that he can be put on the practice squad.

The 2nd and 3rd string gave up a touchdown, but that is to be expected. But even then, those guys were out there playing aggressive defense, so the aggressive philosophy is everywhere. I like. And since I have a sneaking suspicion that Kyle Orton will lead the offense to plenty of 3 & outs. Yeah, I don't like Kyle Orton, but that is a rant for a different time(and if you read my comments at IAOFM you know how I feel)

Tebow....what can I say? He did nothing, didn't get a chance, and instead of letting him run the 2 minute drill you fucking put in Adam Webber and just let him hand the ball off 2 times???? baaaaah

That is all I got for tonight. More soon. Promise this time since well..more stuff to actually watch.

-- Gotta Knock a Little Harder

2nd pass: Preseason week 1: Denver vs Dallas

All right, so tonight I am going to give a more in depth look at what I see in the film of this here game. Tonight I will only be focusing on the 1st team offense and 1st team defense. Those of you looking for Tebow talk will have to wait until tomorrow. Very sad I know....but I want to try to make this more manageable to write, and hopefully more manageable to read. I will break this down by position group and describe everything that I see/think is going on while that unit is on the field.

So first up, the most glamorous position in football, the Offensive Line! (gotcha!)

The best thing about this offensive line in my opinion was the run blocking. Orlando Franklin had some problems(as a rookie would, who woulda thunk?), his COMPLETE whiff in the RZ was what killed that run play for a loss. My only concern I guess, and perhaps this is unfounded, but it seemed that every time the Cowboys blitzed, nobody was getting a double team. First play from scrimmage the Cowboys DE came untouched, and if Orton hadn't thrown the ball as high as he did that DE would have had a chance for a pick(more on that later, FOCUS!). Pass blocking against a blitz is a concern, because seemingly Orton got the pass out a half second before he would have been leveled. I doubt it is ever designed to allow your quarter back to have no time to throw, even with the blitz. If that pattern continues given Orton's mobility, he WILL get mauled a lot. This was for the two passes outside of the RZ, I will get to the Red Zone shortly. This group needs time to gel, and I am still waiting to see more film on Beadles and Walton before I make any final calls. Those two were constantly beaten last year, so I can only hope the lack of an offseason didn't hurt their development.

Running Backs:

This was the best part of the 1st team offense. Knowshown and McGahee showed that Fox Ball is possible with these running backs. Knowshown showing the skill we all knew he had, and McGahee both hit the hole hard and got yards, and also did the nifty move where he bounced it outside to the left and gained good yards. Being able to rush the ball 5 times in a row and get 36 yards off of it shows that you are doing something right. The defense was even expecting the runs and the O-Line plus the runners were able to get the job done very well.

Receivers:

Outside of the red zone, there was only one play to speak of, Eric Decker's beautiful catch and run. Great example of taking advantage of the blitz and making a big play on 3rd down. Like this guy, like him a lot. I think it will be interesting to see the WR depth chart and who will be playing where. Will Royal go outside or stay inside at the slot? Will Decker go outside or stay in at the slot. And when Demaryus Thomas is back into the line up, where does that fit. Plus with guys like Matt Willis and Mark Dell, it is nice to see depth at that position. They also did a great job in the run game with their blocking, so...there is a lot of interesting things going on here.

Red zone:

Red zone red zone red zone red zone , what can I say. Orlando Franklin whiffs on a run block completly, 4 failed passes, 1 run play for a loss of yards, a penalty, and only 3 points. Sound familiar? Because I have seen how this story ends. Call me an alarmist, but the defense isn't even showing exotic plays, blitzes or packages and Kyle "I throw such a pretty ball and oooo look at my mechanics" Orton can't get the ball in there. Lets forget about that other QB on the roster and look at Orton's play. To me...the fade route to Lloyd just looked like a bad decision. To me it never looked like Lloyd got any separation. I know he is a beast, but.....

Very next play, nothing again. Offensive Line might not have held up long enough, but Orton just threw it out of the back to Lloyd. Look, all I am saying is that Orton had the threat of a run game down in the red zone (something his supporters have been talking about.....separate argument).

All right, I am tired. I will do 1st string defense tomorrow.

1st Pass: Denver vs. Dallas Preseason Game 1

Alrighty, here we go with pass numero uno on the Bronco's very first preseason game. This isn't going to be perfect, but it is what it is and hopefully you will enjoy your read, and if not well....hopefully you will learn to love and laugh again.

All right, lets focus!

This post will focus on my first watch of the game, live with both live video and audio from the KOA broadcast. Lets try to organize this in some semblance of thought...

1st Team Offense:

Good

How awesome was it to see the team march down the field using a run game. It gives me a bit of hope that the O-Line has drastically improved since last season, and hopefully with everyone working together during TC and in the preseason (please no injuries!) they will get better. Orlando Franklin was also really nice in run blocking, he needs to improve in pass blocking, but my understanding is that most 1st year O-Lineman need time to develop the pass blocking. Easier to maul forward, harder to move back and protect.

Liked how Knowshown fought through the line(spin move out of the backfield anyone?). Not sure he will ever be a big star, but hopefully with McGahee sharing the load, and a stronger emphasis on the run game, he will be consistent and healthy. He is a good receiver out of the backfield, and should work as a great checkdown receiver. Didn't see many opportunities to test out the short yardage situations that have haunted the Broncos for years, but I want to think positive, it's the preseason right? Knowshown did have the nice 2nd & 3 run that became a first down. I would be remiss in not mentioning McGahee, awesome running.Overall, the run game looked nice for the one series it was out there.

Matt Prater is money. Just sign him up for 10 years and forget about it.

I didn't see much of Eric Decker , but his big pass play make me wonder who would work better in the slot(at least while D. Thomas is out of the lineup). Royal had his best season as an outside receiver, and while he didn't play tonight that is a development I will be watching.

Bad:

Here is a question that I have had since reading about it in Training Camp, why do Kyle Orton passes get knocked down at the LOS with a higher frequency then other QB's? On this play it certaintly looks like the DE saw that screen pass and just stuck them hands up and killed the play. Not that Lloyd would have gotten far with the way the CB was rushing up on him.

Kyle Orton:

Ok, so..... to me it seems we have the same old Kyle Orton. Great between the 20's, field goal to end the drive. When there are 3+ WR's on the field the defense doesn't respect the threat of a run game at all, this DESPITE the fact that during his series the Broncos were running all over the Dallas Defense. I am not impressed with his play, at all. In the end, with him starting I see plenty of 3 and outs (because we are playing Fox Ball here, run, run pas). Orton's style of passing was figured out last year, and even with the threat of a run game, I have a feeling he will get beat again this year. Maybe I will see something different when I rewatch the game, but this was an example of "Same shit, different day". Will watch this more in the coming preseason weeks, but he played WORSE in this 1st preseason game then he did in last years 1st preseason game. To be expected I supposed given the lockout etc etc etc, but all the reports out of training camp, but 2/6 is not good, and ZERO completions in the red zone is one of the reasons why this team couldn't score last year to begin with. I am harsh, get over it.

1st team defense:

Good:

Pressure, aggression and a desire to dictate to the offense. None of that read/react shit. It will be interesting to see how it develops as the season goes on when the guys get a chance to gel and learn the playbook better. Is it a Top 10 defense? I think not, but I am going to put them around 16, which in the grand scheme of things is a huge improvement from 32nd. The concern is giving up big plays in the run game and stopping the screen game. Until I see more I am not going to comment on it more. They gave up 2 big run plays, one was 20ish yards, the other was 18. Denver last year gave up something like 80 plays of over 20 yards last year. For this defense to improve that must change, but hey, no big pass plays out of the 1st team, so that is that.

And did I mention pressure? Loved that fact.

Bad:

More of a concern on the 2 big run plays, and the big(ish) plays from the Romo pass in the flat and the screen pass that turned into a big game. It is what it is, but they held them where it counts and kept them to a field goal.

2nd Team Offense

Good:

Well, this is where it gets a bit harder, but lets give it a go. The 2nd Team WR's are quite impressive, Ninja Willis is a keeper if he can stay healthy. The O-line got better as the game went on, so I can only hope that the first series performance was an anomaly and that the depth on the O-Line isn't as bad as first appeared. Still, Tebow was almost murdered on the first series.

Bad:

Christ, if I loved the run game we were able to get from the 1st team, I hated the run game that we got from the 2nd team. It was 2010 all over again. Stuffed in the back field, stuffed, 3rd and long. That will put anyone in a bad situation(which puts my next set on Tebow into context).

Hey, here is something else, Tim Tebow in the Shotgun, empty backfield, 5WR set, what play is going to be run.....a QB draw! EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME! This happened in all 3 of his starts last year, and it happened every time in this game. If I know this, the opposing teams know this. Throw the fucking ball eh?

And while I know we are now playing Fox Ball, in the preseason I would like to see you ATTEMPT to convert a 3rd and long. Who cares if you don't get it, try....HB Draw...really? *sigh*

Tim Tebow:

I am a Tebow fan. I believe Tebow should be the starter. Now that we got THAT out of the way lets look at his performance. Given that he had ZERO run game and was in 3rd and long situations behind a leaky O-Line, he did great. He ended his 1.5(ish) quarters 6/7 for 91 yards plus 2 rushes for 15 yards. I wanted to see him get a TD, and if the O-Line didn't measure their quality on the number of holds they got he would have gotten one. The big thing that Tebow did again in this game was push the ball down the field. His screen game also worked, because teams are keying on him.

He is raw, and he needs to work through his progressions, but he needs reps to accomplish that. Put the 1st team running game WITH Tebow and you will see the run game be even more effective, and the pass game will become easier for Tebow to grow into because of the run threat. He did lock on a few times, but given that he only had one incompletion....I am going to say he had the best performance of the night given the full context(because I think context is important).

And for fun(because it is preseason) how hilarious was the broken play. Shows Tebow's character, and it was hilarious.

2nd Team Defense (gonna get a bit shorter from here, need to rewatch the game)

I love the fact that we have depth this year on the defense. I do not envy that staff in trying to cut down the roster. The fact that the 2nd team D held up against the run is encouraging, and again only game up a field goal is a nice change from last year where apparently the team had no depth anywhere. This group was doing more of the same from the 1st team, pressure and being aggressive to dictate to the offense. Jason Hunter was also doing well to justify keeping him around. Seemed to always be in on the pressures, and his two sacks were nice.

Perrish Cox gets an interception, probably won't keep you out of jail but whatever.

3rd Team Offense

JJ is a keeper.....

Brady Quinn:

Christ, talk about a tale of 2 quarters. Brady Quinn did everything he could to get on a episode of NFL Follies. From falling down on a hand off to 2 straight 3 and outs, his 3rd quarter performance was hilarious. He did get more comfortable in the 4th quarter, but in context....he was playing against the weakest competition. Remember when Tom Brandstater looked like Tom Brady 2.0? Yeah, so do I. Context is important, and Quinn has started 9(?)ish games in the NFL, so I would expect him to look good against the 3's. He also had the benefit of a run game....makes it easier to do things when you have that.

He did make some nice throws, and he is vastly improved from last year when he couldn't do jack shit. I am not convinced he is the 1st or 2nd QB on the roster.

That is enough out of me tonight. Sad we lost, loved seeing real Bronco's football. Any and all comments, criticisms and ways to improve will be greatly appreciated. Over the next few days I am going to break down the game play by play and give a more detailed post or two, so hopefully that will be entertaining!

--See you, Space Cowboy