I have been extremely pleased with our overall team play through 4 weeks and am more confident in our team as a whole than I have ever been post-Elway. However, it is always good to look for improvement. One area of improvement that I believe will come is QB accuracy. Although Orton ended up with decent stats Sunday, he missed early on several open receivers. Penalties had a lot to do with the rocky start for the offense, but some miscues in the passing game also hurt. If the offense had been on the field a bit more early on, perhaps we wouldn't have been working from behind the rest of the game. I am confident that once the glove comes off and the finger is fully healed we'll see improvement. Certainly I'm happy with Orton even with "the glove".

However, one area where I think the Broncos should focus on is short yardage situations. I am shocked at how much Hillis has disappeared this year. Last year he seemed to always make the neccessary yardage through some superhuman effort, and when he wasn't spectacular, always made positive plays, whether on offense or special teams.  In the preseason, he looked more than adequate as a RB, and seemed to be a shoo-in for short yardage situations. However, he has relegated himself to the doghouse through a lot of boneheaded plays the first four weeks. Against Cleveland he fumbled the opening kickoff. Last week during the epic goal line fail by the Broncos he had a false start- as a RB. This week he had two penalties on special teams. I think perhaps that Peyton is trying too hard because he's not seeing the field quite as much. He needs to relax a bit and play within his role. I also think that McDaniels needs to give him his role back - he's on the team for a reason. Against Cleveland, the FB-RB combination of Hochstein and Hillis looked pretty unstoppable. With Quinn and Graham, we should be able to line up and run against pretty much anyone. I realize that Hochstein has been starting on the line due to other injuries and that Reid's slip this last week had a lot to do with our failed 4th down conversion, and also think that Moreno deserves some short yardage carries, but I really think the Rumblin' Redneck deserves some carries in short yardage situation. For sure, the Broncos have to do something to improve in this area, and I'd much rather see Hillis get carries than Jordan, who I think is the worst RB on the team.

What do you think about Hillis and his miscues this season? Should he get more playing time or does he deserve to be in the doghouse? One thing to note is that Buckhalter and Moreno have also fumbled the ball deep inside Broncos territory, so Hillis isn't alone in that department. What do you think the Broncos should do in short yardage situations?