for putting that highlight reel together. It’s encouraging.

On a couple of the early plays in the video, I thought that if Orton could have led the receiver a bit more, the play would have gone further. And on the one where the receiver caught it over his left shoulder, if the ball had been placed over the right shoulder, the receiver wouldn’t have had to make a great adjustment. But I’m nitpicking. I’ve liked Orton since his rookie year (05).

A lot of those highlights are against really bad teams and/or late in a game the Bears were going to lose, ergo the defense was in prevent mode. Not impressed.
Though I am impressed with your editing skills, very cool!
Denver’s good O-line will be a plus for Orton as will the WR corps, assuming Marshall is not sitting out too many games due to a suspension.
I’m still not happy about this trade.

Once I parsed Orton’s 2008 stats, I was left with a different impression of a player I ignorantly dismissed before The Trade. In the 8 games prior to his injury, he played very well. I’m talking about 151/244 (61.6%) for 1,777 yards with 10 TD and 4 INT. The resulting QB rating of 90.8 compares favorably to Cutler’s 86.9 number over the same span. Now consider the obvious superiority of the supporting cast in place in Denver and add to that the improvement in scheme from Chicago to McD’s. I may be going out on a limb here, but I believe that Kyle will have a better season than Jay in 2009. Maybe Cutler will remain more prolific, but Orton will still be more efficient.

Matt Forte, RB, was the leading receiver last year with 63 catches. This can only be explained by either: The WRs couldn’t get open or the offensive line couldn’t protect Orton long enough and they were trying to relieve some pressure with the dump pass to the RB’s.

Either way both of these issues are corrected for in Denver. He now has arguably the best WR corps in football and stands behind one of the best lines. If we can get some consistency in the run game either Simms or Orton will do just fine.

All Defensive Draft in ’09
No Sanchez? No Problem!!!!!

ST & NO is my favorite part of MHR. Keep up the good work.

although it’s all KO all the time. I wish there was another option in your poll, namely, “whoever wins the QB competition in camp”. I could care less which one it is. I just want the person to have won the job hands down.

I have put it on my to do list to watch the Bears games for 2008 on NFL Game Rewind. This highlight package gives me a preview!

Even if we are guilt of a little wishful/glass-half-full thinking, I don’t see the problem with it. Certainly brightens up a Monday morning and gets me excited to see what happens with both teams next year. And, fwiw, while I chuckled at the Brees/Brady/Manning comparisons, I didn’t think your analysis of Orton was far off. Cool highlight reel!

my thoughts:
a. arms strength isn’t great, but it’s good enough; he will at times squeeze the ball into tight spaces, but most of the time he still makes a safe throw. Look for the pass to Mohamed at the end of the Detroit game.

c. I’m not sure that the line will improve his accuracy; nor will scheme. Most of his throws were to his RB and it’s tough for a scheme to come up with much easier throws. I would like a 60% completion rate, but if he can stay in the upper 50% and we can get a running game again, we should be ok.

d. touch is something cutler struggled with. I’m not sure if Orton really has that much touch, or just isn’t strong enough to make the overthrows that jay would.

e. Orton doesn’t have the pocket presence that cutler had, but he has a lot more than Greise had. He should be adequate.

Thanks for putting this together.

Video

No sound but it gives a lot more play a lot faster. Not saying Ted’s is bad… but this is just additional footage for those learning a little more about KO.

 I would love to see a “devil’s advocate” view point as well. Not to merely highlight his mistakes, but to see how a different O-line, receivers, and offensive strategy could have changed his production levels. To me, a great quarterback is not defined on how many great plays he can produce, but the number of mistakes they can limit. The Broncos last season are a great example of this. Every week was a 4 quarter highlight reel but what do we have to show for it? While I’m still wary of the changes we have made, history shows that McD’s system makes quarterbacks look smart and I’m encouraged by that.

The reaction of some on here reminds me of the saying, “when you’re given lemons, make lemonade” Here’s the way I see it, and this is just opinion. While I tend to agree that Orton is a decent at best QB we shouldn’t overstate his abilities. That being said some people need to stop being so negative. We will be fine on offence that’s the truth. It will be boringly efficient I believe. Will we win games? That depends more on the defense if you ask me. I have a feeling that this year it will be up to the defense to keep us in games while we try to pull out a win. Let us not confuse Cutler for Orton. I know the tendency is to overstate the qualities of ones own commodities but Cutler is and will remain a far superior QB. You can throw out whatever numbers you want but there is a reason teams were willing to give up 2 firsts a third and Orton for him. Cutler had the ability to win games, Orton has the ability to “not lose” a game. Big difference. Want to compare records, fine. Orton has a better record as a starter than Cutler. What does that mean really? Cutler has an incredible reconrd in games that the defense performed at least average “holding a team under 21 pts”, how many times has Orton’s offense put up 21 pts? I feel I should tell you that I’m a Broncos fan and I could care less about Cutler now that he’s gone but to make comments like we’re better off now and Orton will have a better season and such is stretching it I think. Let’s just keep it real. If are defense improves are we better off, yes. But we would be much better off with Cutler and a D than Orton and a D. The main reason for success this year will be McDaniels’ system and not Orton. Until we get to see what that is and how it works then nobody will be able to gauge out ability to be successful this year.

Long suffereing Bear fan friend of mine who happens to know a ton about football, imo. Here is what he had to say about Orton:

By the way you will find that Orton is a good accurate passer as long as the Broncos don’t ask him to throw deeper than 20 yards. I believe the proper term is “noodle arm.”
 
Get used to 8 or 9 defensive players in the box when Orton is playing QB. If the Broncos are seriously considering Orton as QB, they might as well give Elway or Montana or Aikman or Favre a tryout.

I appreciate your love of Josh McDaniels. The bottom line about Kyle Orton is ANYONE who makes it as a starting QB in this league has talent and can make some throws, but it’s the extra special qualities that set some QB’s apart, like brains, arm strength, pocket presence. Jay Cutler blows away Orton in all of those phases. Mirroring Bob in Boulder, I have 3 close friends who are BIG TIME BEARS fans and they are estatic. They cannot stand Kyle Orton and talk about him the same way I spoke about Brian Griese when he was here. By the way you can look up a highlight film of Griese and you will see some good stuff happen as well. Like I said every starting QB has some talent. I pray that Stafford or Sanchez falls. I actually like the idea of Josh Freeman who is a freak of a physical specimen a la Big Ben. I really can’t stand McDaniels and likely will never swallow the kool aid but I lived through Wade Phillips and I could live through 2 years of McKnucklehead.

Then hire a coach with that doesn’t talk about it being a “production business”. Even if it’s true, not very inspiring language from wonder boy. Want someone like Tony Dungy, Hope Leslie Frazier is still available.

Unfortunately #18 is retired in honor of Frank Tripucka. He’ll have to find a new number in Denver.

Is this good or bad?

All I would have had to say about Orton prior to this week was ‘out of the QB’s on Chicago’s roster he’d be the one you want’.

I am much more impressed with him now, I admit I haven’t followed the Bears closely in recent years. I really think Orton has the tools we need in Denver and at least will give us a fighting chance.

And boy, attitude is everything, isn’t it?

And any bonus that might be coming due?

(though I wouldn’t turn my nose up at Sanchez if he fell to 12.)

Living In Illinois the one thing I get to see most is Chicago Bear football. And truth is Orton will be productive, but he is not a Qb that can take Denver to the Super Bowl. Jay Cutler is, and that is evident in how the Bears in a single trade when from NFC North dreams to the team to beat. Sure he had a good season in Chicago, but if the Broncos D was as good as Chicago’s last year, Shanahan would proably still be the Coach, and this whole mess would have never had happened.

Lets face facts, Kyle Orton is a good backup, who beat out another good backup (Grossman) to be a starter. Chris Simms has proven he’s tough, but alas he’s just another good backup, who in time could develop into a good starter, but still would proably be a step back from where Denver was with Cutler. Hinkley the #3 man in Denver has yet to throw a pass in a regular season game.

Denver should try to get a QB (Harrell, Daniels) this year, if not next year(Bradford, McCoy, Tebow) with the extra 1st round pick, but Orton/Simms can not be the future for this team. They need to be nothing more then the next guy. After all playing quaterback in Chicago, and playing quaterback in Denver are two different things. The Shoes are bigger if you catch my drift.

I do see Orton being in Denver longer then McDaniels!

hackney

Sorry to be negative but Orton is not much more than a solid backup. If you all want to trade up to get sanchez the browns would be happy to help

Excellent observations about Orton. After reading the SI article and listening to the Channel 4 interview with Kyle, I’m becoming more and more optimistic about Denver’s immediate future.

…and want to add my voice to the many who are suggesting Orton might be a pleasant surprise to Broncos fans. And while part of me is really optimistic to see what Cutler will be able to do for my Bears, deep down I have a feeling that 3-4 years from now, Chicago is going to regret this trade. But who knows; time will tell. It may end up that, 3-4 years from now, both sides will be happy with what they got.

I do think the most relevant thing for people to consider is that, if you take the first half of the season last year (before Orton got hurt and then was rushed back from a high ankle sprain in 2 weeks), his passing numbers were better than Cutler’s. And that’s with fewer tools at his disposal, and against a tougher schedule than Denver faced during that same stretch. So in summary,

• Orton had better passing numbers than Cutler,
• with a (far) worse O-Line and (infinitely) worse WR’s,
• and did it all against tougher defenses

I think Orton will do quite fine for the Broncos, I really do.

I think it’s obvious fromt he video that Orton doesn’t have anywhere near the same velocity on the ball that Cutler does; however, that might not be an entirely bad thing. The Broncos were near the top of the league in dropped passes and you have to wonder how much of that was the result the ball being delivered so fast and powerfully. Also, I remember an interview from Royal where he was talking about constantly dealing with jammed and swollen fingers from catching Cutler’s passes. So a somewhat more delicate pass delivery might actually benefit our WRs.

with the increasingly inappropriate title you’re using for this column. Your insights are anything but nearsighted and shallow, Mr. B! ; D

You make a point a lot of folks miss. Orton has the fundementals down, and played behind a weak OL with lesser receivers. Cutler is a physical specimen with high end potential, but less than sound skills in the “here and now”. Denver has more to work with than McD did with Cassel, and gets picks on the side.

Very well done.

What if all this does work out and we actually make it to the playoffs on Orton’s arm. All we can do is hope and see.

You really picked some nice highlights that show what Orton can do. I was saying the same thing about the touch he has on throwing the ball. That TD throw against ATL was just perfect. With the line and WRs we have I am sure Orton or Simms will be fine with the offense that McDaniels will put in.

I think Orton can get the job done.

Highly rec’d. Thanks

As much grief as Plummer got, he had is in multiple play-offs. If we can rebuild this defense fast, we’ll be back in the playoffs this year. Cushing, Ty Jackson, a 2nd Round safety, Ron Brace in the third. Suddenly this trade is looking like a big move in the right direction.

Please prove me right Coach Hoodie. Until now I’ve been very skeptical.

As excited as I am about KO, I think this competition is going to be a lot closer than the poll might indicate. I just finished looking at highlights of Simms’ games in 2005 (NFL.com), and I’m pretty sure he has KO beat on the deep ball. If everything else is equal, Simms could get the nod because he can stretch the field further.

I also wanted to say that John Elway’s career completion percentage was around 58%. ;-) and no, I am not saying Kyle Orton is the next John Elway…there is no “next” John Elway. I am just saying that Orton’s completion percentage in 2008 wasn’t half bad if you ask me.

Orton has apparently shaved his beard. The Denver Post is running a series with daily upadates as to whether or not he’s going to grow it back. The nickname is hanging by a thread. Fans are gathing a Mile Hi/Dead Bank Stadium