Denver Wins! 10 Quick Thoughts...

Yes as soon as I saw him with the refs, I looked at the clock…it was down from 0:42 to 0:20 and I knew that had to be way off. All that had occurred was 1 run play by Benson for the TD. How could that have taken 0:22 off the clock?

So to put it back finally to 0:38 was a huge heads up play by the young HC. I tip may hat to him.

I won’t pick Denver in every game, but I’ll always pull for them.

That was terrible most passes he throw were awful! and to add he put eddie and Marshall in Danger!! They took some Hits cuz of him!! Hopefully it just the Glove but im not happy about Ortan!

I wonder if the humidity was a factor.

It’s very easy to be critical of him right at the moment. I believe he had the toughest job to do in the entire NFL on this week 1 game, for the reasons I listed above. He may be a veteran, but that offense is difficult to learn to say the least. Let’s give him ’till mid-season to show that he is improving.

Yes he looked bad on some plays, but the thing that will save him, is if he learns how to throw the ball away. I trust he won’t be making too many of those mistakes in the future, as it almost cost our team today. Not to mention how McD seemed to feel about it right after the play (=

…his guys dropped an awful lot of passes. Still, Orton should get the credit he is due.

Orton 16/27, 156 yds, 0 TD, and ) INTs

No matter the final stat line, the guy played like garbage and threw the game away twice at the end before being bailed out. He pretty proved himself to be the same Kyle Orton I’ve always seen.

80 yards down the field

Center field.

He was assigned the “protection safety” role. He was all the way down the field.

…prevent D as much as a screw up by playing too much zone. We have quality CBs and SAFs, so we should have been in man (in my opinion). I think we got a little nervous, and switched to zone when we should have stuck with the pressure and man coverages. Still, it is easy for me to second guess in hindsight.

But still…Orton was still playing with stitches on the primary throwing finger (for lack of a better term). I was complaining about a sore foot walking around the house today. I’ll forgive him some sketchy games until his hand is 100%.

I thought he would be a good fit (even though he isn’t known for speed, I thought he would help the run defense), but “just” a specialist. Instead, he looked solid in several roles. Well done Andre!

He was tremendous, and should be considered for defensive MVP of the game.

Agreed. Of course, Jay was notorious for the same thing. I’d like to see him get used to the system a little.

I saw receivers dropping passes that hit them in the hands. Hillis, Stokely, Gaffney and especially Marshall let catchable balls go through their hands. I also saw a Cincinnati defense that has a very good secondary — there was not a lot of room to throw a lot of times. The fact there were no interceptions was actually a bit of a surprise to me.

Also, the Cincinnati secondary is really good at reacting and moving to the ball. Sometimes too good: watch the Stokely TD again and you’ll see safety rotate over to the outside, leaving Stokely all alone for the tip drill. The safety begins to move as the ball is being thrown, not before. Perhaps he recognized that was where Orton was looking, but it is still a very fast reaction.

Don’t get me wrong — I think Orton needs to up the level of play. I do agree he is not looking off as well as he should, and I don’t think he’s seeing the entire field as there were a few times he had better choices further down field (in my humble opinion as a guy in the bleachers rather than on the field). And he probably should have done soemthing to avoid losing so much yardage on the last sack that took them out of the lock-it-up FG range (but note there were also two non-Orton miscues that moved them back to begin with).

However, I will note that at 48:00, before the Bengals began their last drive, Kyle Orton and Carson Palmer had nearly identical stats, with the exception of Palmer’s INT.

Is Orton the once and future QB? Nope, never. But he’s better than you give him credit for, McGeorge. Let him get the stitches out and play more than 4 quarters before you chuck him under the bus.

1 in the red zone. That sure brings back memories…still miss him??

I will say that Orton should have his arse chewed for taking that sack when we were in FG territory. That was just a very bad decision on his part….throw the darn ball away. We were lucky to get this win…had we lost, it would have been because of that sack.

I do hope we are done with the bashing on trading the pick for Alphonso Smith.

We will see more games where KO will be off in terms of his timing, or will simply hold onto the ball too long, but these are all a part of the growing pains in this new offensive system.

Once it plays itself out, they’ll look much better.

…but the OL seemed ok on run blocking, but the runners didn’t look so hot. Pass protection wasn’t the typical “elite” type that we like, but there is a lot of team work involved, and we did have Hochstein filling in. I’ll give them a pass this week. Just my opinion.

And let’s not forget he was playing injured too.

Orton held too long on one but got ankle tacked from behind. On the second, Orton had no where to go and the protection broke down – not his fault.

IMO, he will be alright…

Glad to see your props for Prater…He looked solid.

The defense gave us alot to be hopeful for

I am very curious to learn what the benchmarks and timetables for him. There is nothing wrong with having a game manager as a veteran number 2 QB but the starter needs to put a bit of fear into the opposing defenses and fans. I sure hope that TB v.2 starts getting some snaps.

The offense isn’t there.

But I’ll give them a few games before I start to pass full judgment. The defense and ST were much improved, and that made me happy. If the O can pull things around over the next 2-3 games, Denver is in the mix. Guess we’ll see.

I thought we may have to wait ’till the end of October before we see the D playing well. They are much improved over last season.

The center of the field is an area they are leaving open, which is scary. But compared to the last 2 years, our new D has arrived!

Hmmm. Bears lose – we move up a notch. We win – Seahawks move down a notch.

Smith appears to be worth the first rounder, and not only do we have him a year early, but we have him at a second round price tag. I really don’t understand the thought process behind wanting that top 5 pick back. A top 5 pick gets paid like a star player, if you miss on that pick you’re set back years concerning the salary cap. I’ll take a 12-18 pick anyday over a top 5. Still have stud talents available, at or less than half the cost

Some fans are short-sighted, while others are intelligent, and know that a dynasty take time to establish.

We may not have the personnel for that this year, but this team is headed that way for the next decade, for sure.

No Kool-Aid here, just a big box of Cheez-It!

Excellent ponit. I saw the Cincy players sweating and winded with their hands on their hips. I never saw a Bronco look winded, sweating or with their hands on their hips.

with a good defense you are in every game. If the offense “gets it” it will be fun seeing them hold the ball and time come off the clock too as well as some points!

Champ looked like the real Champ we have come to enjoy and Dawkins led the team in tackles!

that we can get a couple things figured out by the Dallas game. I only get to go to a game once every couple of years, or maybe once a year if I’m lucky. And this year I am going to the Dallas game with my sister in law, which happens to be a Cowboys fan. If they lose I can deal with it, but I would much rather rub it in her face that we, “the lowly cant beat anybody with our QB or defense and HC” Broncos beat the “were Americas team” Cowboys.

I think with a couple more games of the offense getting together, we will be just fine. And Orton will find his groove, I have no doubt.