Horse Tracks 8/15/09 - 49ers 17 Broncos 16; Orton 3 INTs; Knowshon Hurt; BMarsh Acquitted

I live in Chicago and got a chance to watch Orton on a regular basis. He is not a bad quarterback and can make all the throws, he just had a bad game – plain and simple.

I don’t think people should read too much into it, as I cannot recall 1 time he played so bad. It was a bad day for him. He made a couple mistakes – but thats what pre-season is for.

Matt Cassel also during preseason looked like he was the most horrible thing in the league last year. If you watched any Patriot games from last year you would have been saying, “Thank God we got Tom.” Then when Tom got hurt, if you were a Patriot fan, your first words out of your mouth were “Oh #*$&!!!!”

Matt Cassel under direction of McDaniels turned out to be a great QB – they barely missed the playoffs with a much better record than us!!!

Don’t sweat it Bronco fans – this was just a bad day for Orton. The one thing Orton is, is smart – he learns from his mistakes – and now since he had a game like this, he will be concentrated on solely correcting his mistakes.

I don’t drink the Kool-aid either – I just know from watching Orton for the last few years in Chicago. And I do like Cutler better, only for his raw natural talent though, not his decision making – of course gun slingers are always more fun to watch, but generally lack in decision making. Look at Farve – most touchdowns ever, most interceptions ever as well!

Well NYC. I watched last night’s game twice and came away with the impression that the better TEAM lost. Denver was better in all three phases last night. We lost because our starting QB left 14 points on the field with a terrible pick in the end zone and what was essentially a pick 7 due to a woefully thrown pass.

After his 1st pick, KO fell apart. He displayed poor mechanics, a weak arm and was inaccurate. His decision making can improve, and so can his mechanics and happy feet. The lack of accuracy and weak arm are distressing. The fact that he got rattled so easily was more distressing. Very disappointing effort from our QB in a game Denver should have won by two or three TDs with capable QB play.

Loved Baker… he made the team last night. Flashed several times. Not an ice cubes chance in hell he makes it through waivers after that performance. Larsen looked awesome, liked what I saw from DJ, Elvis, the starting DEs, pretty much liked what I saw from the entire starting D. Special teams looked much much better. We all knew Royal and Hillis were nasty. Moreno looked good and after watching the play where he got hurt, it doesn’t look serious at all. Simms was much better than I expected him to be.

Wasn’t impressed at all with Quinn or Ayres, but lots of positives otherwise. Funny what one bad QB performance will do to an otherwise good game. KO better play lights out next week or he’ll get booed more at Investco than Cutler.

Several of the posters over at the DP have nicknamed Orton “The noodle”. That made me chuckle, if he has another game or two like he did last night, it will make me weap.

The Broncos easily had the best offense, defense, and special teams of the night. Before Orton’s first pick, I loved the flow of the passing game, and it certainly seemed as if Orton was dictating the SF DB’s as he had them on their heels. Im also willing to give a portion of the blame for Orton’s picks to the complexity of the offense. There’s still 29 or 28 days till the first game, and he will have the opportunity to get a stronger grasp on the offense. I also think there will be more runs with the first unit as the season comes around, I believe this was a main case as to why Simms was so much more effective than Orton.

Isnt Orton learning a new offensive system that is supposed to be complicated?
Im no student of the game but I could see a difference from last years defense. There will be growing pains I believe but I think we are on the right track as a whole. Maybe Marshall’s acquittal will be the spark or turning point that our whole team needs……Just a thought.

Comment Rec’d.
I will add that I believe Orton needs to learn to trust the OLine. They will give him more time than he had in Chicago. Unfortunately, that can not be learned in practice, but will have to come from game day experiences. That will alleviate happy feet and improve his decision making just by reducing panic mode reactions. He has shown in his history that he has the guts to handle the position, so I believe we may have some growing pains as he makes this adjustment.

NYC, since this is my rookie year at this site, I cannot offer any suggestions good or bad other than; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. IMO, the Horse Tracks feature is a primary reason that makes this site the best Bronco fan site on the web. I will continue to add my thanks daily because you add a worthwhile service to us all, and I don’t think I could do any better, therefore I can’t complain.

and rec’d McG. Great comment. Baker looks like every bit the player we hoped he would be. Funny how our biggest concern (after one preseason game, whatever that means) is now on O, not so much on D.

I agree, seems to me Orton was overwhelmed at times. His mechanics and footwork were very peculiar, but I got the impression that he was overwhelmed by the complexity of the offense and the position instruction he’s been getting. I suspect that will improve. At least I hope. The D was MUCH better as were special teams. I think this team can be competitive with more polish. I am caituously optimistic!

but the mental errors Orton was making struck me as a guy who wanted it too much. The first drive was fantastic (with the obvious exception of the RZ INT), but it seemed like he wanted so badly to come back from it that there was a little uncertainty in his game from that point on. Rushing things, trying to find his “touch” by pulling a little too much off the ball, judgment lapses, etc. Familiarity with the system can fix this stuff. I’m still in his corner. But I’m happy to have a capable backup.

The coaches were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the first-team offense. They ran a ton of different formations and personnel groups, and pretty complex (for the preseason) plays and schemes. Naturally, this being the first game of the preseason, there were some mishaps. I saw a few broken plays, several missed blocking assignments on run plays, and at least two plays where it appeared that the receiver ran the wrong route. I agree with Guru: I think McD was trying to test the offense and see how close they are to playing for real. What I saw was a mixed bag: as a team they looked in control of the pace of the game at times, and completely flustered at other times. Thankfully we still have 29 days to work out the kinks, so that they can be in control all the time when the season starts.

Overall, I saw a lot of things to be excited about, even if they’re things that need to be worked on.

Orton looked good, then he looked flustered. I don’t think that his problem is so much a lack of arm strength as he wasn’t stepping into some throws. The underthrown interception looked to me like he was on his back foot, a little too upright. Luckily, mechanical errors can be fixed, and he’ll learn to trust the o-line. Also, he has the right attitude. If you saw his interview with Vic Lombardi after the game, you couldn’t help but think he’d be alright.

Doom looks like he loves playing LB. I thought that he looked good in coverage, too. The times that Vernon Davis got open, it was on missed assignments by Haggan and Ayers.

Ayers will be the starter. Haggan didn’t look markedly better than Ayers, and he’s been in the NFL awhile. Ayers just needed to get his feet wet. He’ll be fine, and he’ll be starting.

Finally, Chris Simms looked good. He looked healthy. If Orton struggles further in preseason, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Simms start. He has a stronger arm, and he looked poised. Of course, they were running more, and Peyton Hillis is a great asset to have. It was also against 2nd-4th stringers, but it’s nice to know that the backup QB position has been substantially upgraded. He probably has a little better grip on the offense as a whole than Orton, as Simms has been here six weeks longer, but it’s a pretty good insurance policy.

Orton can not throw the deep pass and made awful pass selections. Simms is showing signs of his Buc days with his arm strength and accuracy. If Simms puts up the stats, then he should be our starter. If not, then Mc Daniels will have made his first major mistake as a coach.

That was a very pleasant surprise!

Three thoughts:

We absolutely NEED Brandon Marshall on the field!

If Orton relaxes and realizes that he has all day behind that OL, he will be OK.

Agreed with the above poster that Baker made the cut with his performance!

My knowfingers are knowcrossed!

ProFootball Talk is saying it’s a sprained MCL, they are not sure if it is a Grade I or Grade II yet.