love your fandom. Your worries are valid, I dont want to be an apologist either but our offense is new to everyone bar Gaffney and Hochstien. This team is still 9-7 to me until we finish the season. That being said we won two I thought we wouldn’t so maybe 11-5 ha ha. Keep the faith Bro trust coach and his opinion.

Orton looked scared last night. How about some jump balls for Marshall down the field

in 8 straight 1st half of 8 games, there is something very seriously wrong with that offense. I can fault a couple as an anomaly but 8 straight games, wow.

the truth is we’re talking about Pittsburgh and Baltimore here. These are really good teams and especially good defenses. You can’t compare that to the Redskins. It seems like these two losses have erased everything we did in our six wins.

You guys forget that Kyle did step in our wins against Dallas, New England and San Diego or has all that been erased? No one was calling him out then… not every game is gonna be a great game. I don’t see people calling out Eddie Royal because of his stats this year (I don’t think they should either), but he has had a far worse year than Kyle and no one is calling for his head.

Anyway, just my two cents, not necessarily directed at you Tim, just an overall rant on everything I’ve been reading.

I think you’re right where I am today. Pissed off an need a channel to release it. I started to get on here last night (after 4 Jameson Shots and 8 beers during the game at a local bar, didn’t drive home tho) but decided my comments/blogs would be drunken and not well thought out.

I’m glad I waited…. Orton’s not the problem here. Balance is. You have to be able to run the ball in football to win. If the D can just sit on pass and Tee off on you, you’re done.

Orton isn’t the athlete we loved in Cutler or Elway. Arm Strength, Ability to shake a sack, or Scrambling. But when we are BALANCED on offense, we’re fine.

My biggest question is: Where the hell is Hillis?

I’m glad we’ve all decided that we’re happy with the results of the 2009 season – 10-6 and one and done.

Except, wait, we’ve played only eight games.

We could go 8-8. We could go 14-2. We could go one and done. We could win the Super Bowl. The planet could be struck by a meteor and explode.

Honestly, it’s TWO GAMES. I understand being upset. But keep it in perspective. The 11-4 Broncos went to San Francisco in 1997 and got crushed 34-17, Elway through 2 INTs and completed like 40% of his passes. How’d that season end up again?

It seems clear that Orton, like most QBs, does not play well when he can’t step up in the pocket because of strong interior passes. It also seems clear that our interior o-line has handled interior pressure abysmally over the course of the past two games. But it happens to be the case that the last two teams we played are some of the best in the league at creating interior pressure.

What does this tell us? It tells us that we lost two games, and that we might struggle again if we face these teams. But what if we face a team that creates pressure off the edges?

I’m not asking you to have faith I’m just asking you to realize that we have NO IDEA how the rest of this season will play out.

ordinarily love your stuff/take but this week your perspective is pretty emotional stuff.

It has become clear that teams have figured out our offense.

which teams ? those teams with great defenses ? defending super bowl champions ? oh. those teams. okay then.

it is plain to me that this is no Super Bowl contender.

ummmmm…when did anyone pick the Broncos to contend for the Super Bowl, either here or from the MSM ? was that ever realistic ?

We are stacked on offense

weird i heard that last year when we had a different coach (offensive mastermind), different QB (pro bowler dontchaknow), and still we were a .500 club. is it possible that we aren’t as good a club on offense as we’d all like to believe we are, on paper, at any rate ?

We have a championship defense here

are you sure ? the Steelers looked to me to be the ones that have the championship defense, but i admit i’m not that knowledgeable a fan.

clearly we are in uncharted territory here. we’ll need to consult Mr. Larson.

: )

Hey, that’s one of the things that MHR is there for.

Regarding this constant ‘throw it downfield’ topic: The line isn’t giving Orton the time to throw short. It takes longer to set up longer passes. The only thing this will demonstrably accomplish is to create a turf sandwich with Orton as the filling. As a side note, creating some holes for the running game might be nice, too.

You weight the box for two reasons – to stop the run and to blitz. With our line, both work right now. When the line was playing better, you didn’t see that because Orton showed that he can cut apart a defense when given time. He doesn’t have that time right now – stop blaming the QB for the OL’s play. For that matter, stop blaming Moreno. The line has a lot of issues right now. Leave the blame where it belongs.

I Kiiiidddd, I guess I look at it realistically, yeah I am pissed, there is anger to go around, but the reality is we really should be 5-3, we are 6-2 and have five very winnable games in KC (twice), WA, Oakland, and SD (which I feel is over-rated), that puts us at 11-5, and maybe we beat NY and that puts us at 12-4 and in the playoffs. This team definately has holes but so do other teams, hopefully that gets corrected. Man did we miss Ryan McBean or what, basically almost every big run was right over where he plays, I was not impressed with LK Smith, he was used and abused most of the night.

While the defense played well for a half, I don’t by this wearing down stuff, we owned the time of possession in the 1st half, yet the Steelers did not wear down. Good defenses find a way to keep the game close, great defenses find a way to win the game, we have a good defense, but not great.

I am with you, I have not been impressed with Orton, I want him to do well, but I feel he is never going to be more than a guy who won’t lose you a game, but at the same time can’t win you a game when you need it. He is a journyman that is better suited to a backup roll, he would be a great backup, but he won’t win you any playoff games.

is not totally stiffled on the run, we do OK (not great).
Is it that our offense has been decifered by the other teams, or that the last two teams are the only ones that could do anything with that info. Remember how KO is supposed to be going through progressions and taking what is given….if the run is keeping them honest, there always should be somewhare to go with the ball, and more YAC if the receivers are not quite so closely covered by defenders that moved into coverage just a step later because they were protect ing against a possible run..

reminded me of our ridiculous linebacking corps that year. Gold, Williams, and Wilson. God what a trio.
Okay maybe not. Make that Spragan, Williams, and Wilson. Still, they were sick. The loss of Al Wilson set our interior/front-7 defense back five years.

What is sickening is the other 10 players on the field with him. It’s not just Orton and his ability to fling the ball 40 yards down the field, it’s a combination of poor pass blocking against playoff contender teams and a lack of the receivers getting space from db’s. Our wide receiver’s are making mediocre db’s look like AllPros and until they start doing their job, they won’t be open for him to throw to them.

If you all notice, we do a pretty good job of running against teams that can’t defend the run, then we do poorly against the teams that stop the run. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out our run blocking is pretty sad, along with most of our RB’s lane cutting and exceleration.

What’s sickening is dropped passes on 3rd down or route running 1 yard short on 3rd. It’s not all Kyle’s fault, it’s 11 people not Doing Their Job! Just Do Your Job!!! All we will start scoring on anybody. Hell, we had the Steelers on the ropes and ready to go down and we let them go.

Maybe in the first half, but the second half was a completely different story. We were the one on the ropes and being beaten bloody. There was never any doubt.

This for me is absolutly true. This isnt saying that i dont like him or i dont think he is good, but i cant control my emtiions and what i feel when he drops back to make a pass. I just am not confident when i see him let go of the ball and im sure others agree.
      
      Another thing that has been mentioned is that when Kyle is even under a little pressure, he seems extremely skittish, timid, scared, and shaky. Thats just the way it seems. He played very well against new england and i had and still have very high hopes for him. I just dont know how well he can perform against defenses with the likes of Balt and Pitt. We’ll see how he does against a pretty good Wash dee and i believe we will come out on top

If I may be so bold, I think a rough translation of all the frustration goes something like this….when Orton threw those picks, they were not the kind of picks that sometimes happen when a QB is trying to make something happen…they were, simply put, bad throws….couple that with the fact that at least for the last couple of games, Orton has really looked unable to make a play…to improvise or extend a play with his feet, arms or head…and instead he throws picks that just look bad…..well, let’s just say that even those of us who were willing to sit and wait before making any kind of judgement are starting to get concerned….I am glad they ditched Cutler, I was happy to give Orton time and though I am still willing to be convinced, I am also starting to get little thoughts that maybe he is not the answer….I can live with some picks as long as they have at least the patina of trying to make something happen…

Having said that….I watched many games when Elway struggled, so it happens….I am still a fan, still hoping this is a bump in the road rather than a descent to Earth….but how can you watch those weak tosses and not wonder if perhaps Orton is just a placeholder?

After studying those plays, only one pick do I put on Orton: the third one, when the Broncos were playing desperation football. The first INT happened when Moreno was thrown off his route by the referee. (I know, the ref is part of the field.) Orton led Moreno to where Moreno otherwise would have been.

On the second INT, Marshall ran one way, and Orton threw another. Two factors imply to me that Marshall blew the route: (1) the ball was thrown a good 2 yards over and 2 yards beyond where Marshall was. I find it impossible to believe Orton would have missed that badly on a pass that went all of 21 yards in the air. (2) Orton had little explanation for the second INT. Had it been a bad throw, he would have said it was a bad throw: that is Orton’s M.O. in pressers—but he had little to say. Knowing that Orton would not throw his teammate under the bus, that has me suspecting that it was Marshall’s error.

I would not, therefore, make too much of Orton’s INTs in this game. In fact, I would not make too much of the entire game, in Orton’s interest. When a QB has no time, the QB does not do well . . . I don’t care if you’re talking about Johnny Unitas. Want better play out of Orton? Give him better protection. Orton very well proved that his first six games.

Other than that, please, please allow him to heave a couple downfield. Even if they fall incomplete, at least the defense will understand that the Broncos WILL throw it down there.

And get Hamilton out of there . . .

Specifically on that second INT. He threw that ball off his back foot while flustered due to the pressure. In that particular play he moved back into the rush versus stepping forward in the pocket. The route most likely was a read route by the WR, an he broke it off inside because the nickel back was sitting back deep, unfortunately it looked like Orton was confused and his mechanics were off on that one.

It happens to the best of us…..gotta run time for my insulin.

Are you still doing your weekly Upset Picks post? I don’t think I’ve seen that in about 2 weeks. :(