Denver Broncos Season Review:  Quarterback

I’m not sure Cassell was very good in NE because of McD’s ability to coach him up. It reminds me a quote from Shannon Sharpe several years back when Elway was hurt and Bubby Brister got the nod. Sharpe said something like Bubby is getting the keys to the Ferrari and he just needs not to wreck it. My point is that the NE offense was such a fine oiled machine that many QB’s of lesser skills would have looked fine running it. Maybe McD is the great QB coach, I just don’t know yet. I suspect Brady was on his way to being awesome anyway. Cassell was good for one year when taking over the Ferrari. But if McD was responsible for Cassell, then did Cassell just forget everything he learned about being a top notch QB the moment he left the Pats? LIke I said, maybe McD is this good but I don’t think we truly have the evidence to make that claim yet. Give him another couple of years.

now i want to go look up skelton

Ultimately gave the position a C, but was close to a B. So probably B-. I recognize that Orton has liabilities, foot work isn’t great, elusiveness is less than average, pocket composure could be better, but he doesn’t turn the ball over and he’s really tough physically and mentally. I saw plenty of evidence that his arm strength is just fine, despite some of the criticism he’s gotten in that regard. I also like his football intelligence which will really pay dividends this next year as he grows more accustomed to the system. Simms brought the grade down as you might expect. Nice man and great teammate, but is done in the NFL as a player despite his work to come back from a horrific injury. In the end, the O-line has to get better for the QB position to get better. There just aren’t that many Aaron Rodgers in the league who can overcome mediocre line play and be successful.

I gave Orton a C, which means he’s average. If he could possibly get out of a sack, or not sack himself when he tries to leave the pocket, he’d get either a B or A from me. It takes more than stats to be a good/great QB.
He is a smart QB who doesn’t make many mistakes, which is good, but he also doesn’t take too many chances when we desperately need him to take chances. He also can’t leave the pocket when the pressure comes without falling down, even in very critical situations.
Because of the timing of his blunders/inabilities, he can’t get a grade that is north of “Average”

I hear the McNabb might be trade bait after the playoffs… He’d look good in the orange and blue until we draft his successor, or develop Brandstater.

…. i have to say that your stuff is pretty balanced, and for that reason alone, it’s moved into my MHR ‘must read’ list even when i don’t agree. (and no, i don’t really have an actual list. that’d be weird).

i’d go with you for the most part on orton, but a little lower all around. i’d give him a C. when you mention that he’s not flashy i’d concur, only i think i put a higher premium on flashy. orton was indeed solid but rarely (i think never, actually) made something out of nothing. flashy is hard to measure but i think it should be part and parcel of the QB description. it’s why GMs move up in the draft to get the better ones (no cutler comments, please).

also, i agree that he will get at least a two year deal, with the caveat that the second year will be slated as an outward transition year, spent on the bench. three years of solid orton will be “by much too much.”

anyway, loved the article. keep it up, my friend. rec’d

I feel Orton still needs time in this new scheme. It is alot more complicated then
alot of us realize. IMO, Both Brady and Cassel had time with the clip board before
taking the reins. Kyle pretty much had to learn on the fly, and though Simms may be
done physically as a Qb, he is intelligent.
Just my opinion

and while I like Orton and want him to succeed, I voted C – at best. There were just too many times this year, particularly over those last ten games, where we really needed “a play” and Orton either didn’t come through or was hamstrung by his perceived limitations (by coaching staff) to pull it off. He seems almost completely unable to improvise and while this may reduce turnovers, it puts a lot more pressure on your defense. Too many times, I saw a guy who would throw it away too quickly and while he constantly got kudos for “taking care of the ball”, he did that until he didn’t – in the last game of the year he tosses three picks. I think he can be better next year providing he has some tools to work with and other parts of the offense are upgraded. He’s tough, his teammates seem to respect him and he’s got a complicated offense to run, but I think that while he can get a team to the playoffs, I don’t think he has the physical tools to win many playoff games. That said, I think he’ll be here at least next year. There – was that wishy-washy enough?
Go Broncs!

I saw enough to be concerned that Orton isn’t more than a transitional QB— with most those points covered. I’m concerned about escape-ability, pocket composure, athleticism, and a seemingly hyperbolized aversion to risk.

I saw enough to be optimistic that he is a long-term guy.

I think it’ll take another year to have a strong feeling one way or the other.

Cassell has some talent as a QB but the franchise tag had more to do with getting a good trade value for him and Bill Belichick covering his ass if Tom couldn’t make it back from his injury.

I also think the numbers do lie. Cassell is a better QB than his stats for ’09 indicate. KC had a ton of dropped balls this year, which I put on the receivers shoulders.

I do think you’re dead on with what Orton needs for 2010 though. He needs time. Time in the system and time in the pocket. He’s never going to be a scrambling QB, but he does need to improve on his footwork – especially if the O-Line doesn’t get some serious help.

Orton was only sacked 29 times…hardly cause for his many flops and happy feet. I’m not sold on him long term, but I’m not into dumping a guy after one season.

I think he is a fine QB…for any subpar team. I want a great team…a Super Bowl team…it won’t materialize with Orton. That doesn’t mean I don’t like him though. I’m just not going to delude myself again this year – like I do ever year. lmao

Ask me again in August, I’m sure I’ll be talking about how great Orton will be and how he will lead us to the promised land.

(Btw nice write up, thanks for this piece.) I think you guys above make some fair points of concern about him, with regard to sacks, but what I saw this season was a really solid quarterback who made some consistently excellent throws. And while he is certainly not as mobile as we’d like, I wouldn’t pin all those sacks on Orton. He was under a lot more pressure as the season wore on as the offensive line started to break down. They lost Ryan Harris for the season and then lost Hochstein. The backups were much poorer in my estimation and he often had little time to throw. While there were some other sacks that were because he took too long to make a decision and/or throw it away, I also prefer to have a QB who will take a sack rather than throw a pick. (Anyone spring to mind there?)

Mind you, Orton threw a few more picks later in the season, too, a few of those clearly his fault, or at least partially his fault. But again he was under constant pressure.

And he was learning a very complicated scheme, so the fact that he was pretty good from a fairly early point in the season was impressive to me. He found a lot of different receivers.

I also think he can throw deep (though clearly not on par with an Elway or a Cutler) more than the Broncos called it. Some of my critiques are more with the game calling than with Orton and that’s one example.

Overall, he seems like a really good fit for the new system and I’m happy to have him until the next young guy comes along to take his place, whether it be Brandstater or a new draftee.

Btw, sign me off on the Fordham QB Skelton as well, from what game film I’ve seen of him and what I’ve read, he seems like a real sleeper. I like it!

Orton gets a B – Solid play most of the year. He’s probably around 12-15 QB in the league and I’d like to see what he could do with a full reloading season under his belt. Remember that Orton wasn’t here for the first couple months of last year. He worked his butt off, and contributed a lot to our success. I bet that he will really benefit from more time in the spring with McDaniels and hopefully he brought his playbook to study with in Vegas.

Brandstater gets an I – Incomplete. Had that one good preseason game against AZ scrubs. Hope his development is coming along, but we won’t know until August this year.

Chris Simms gets an F-minus – Some of the worst QBing I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe that we haven’t cut him yet. I wanted him cut before the SD game was over.

I enjoyed watching him this past season. To have mangled his hand like that, and just get the job done was impressive. It might not have been pretty, but that’s a tough SOB. He got the job done. The offense didn’t function without him when it was all said and done. He learned a whole new playbook and scheme, and managed to execute it to a reasonable extent. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

As much as I admire what the man has been able to accomplish with the talent he had available to him, I do have something to admit. When I saw Elvis and co. put pressure on Flacco, and he simply sprinted to the sideline and either threw it away, or made a play downfield, I was very jealous. I got the same feeling during the the game vs. the Steelers, and watching Berglismeister doing the same thing. Players do exist that have the smarts and toughness to go along with the skills and intangibles. Yes, they’re rare, but to have such a QB makes the game plan that much easier, as well as the chances of going deep in the playoffs being that much more likely.

Kyle has his moments where I’m almost ready to swear blind allegiance, and then I’m left screaming “what the hell was that?!”. The man almost has the skills to get the job done…….almost. Pocket presence/awareness will always come back to haunt him. Real playmakers stand out… because they make plays. People tend to notice. That’s when, for a split second, it sounds like 50,000 people got punched in the stomach at the same time. Then, suddenly, the crowd erupts. Playmakers are hard to miss.

Kyle’s solid, and will always make a solid backup, but the understudy will eventually help train the leading man. It’s possible the Broncos go far before that happens, but it will happen.

Think about it: In 2008, the Bears were 27th in rushing yardage and ranked 30th in pass defense. The offensive line was so weak that I heard that, when they played the Bears, some of the other teams were thinking of resting their starters and playing their cheerleaders in their stead. It was so bad that the officials were having to check instant replay to make sure whether the quarterback or a defensive tackle took the snap from center. And the receivers? Well, let me put it this way: One of the starters, before he was hurt, was Brandon Lloyd. Yes, that Brandon Lloyd, the one who had trouble even getting activated to play in games for the Broncos this year.

Yet Orton was trucking along with a 91.4 quarterback rating during the first seven games. Then, in the eighth game, Kyle went down with a high ankle sprain, but he came back in the 10th game, following Grossman’s disaster in the ninth one. Understandably, Kyle’s numbers dipped the next few games because he was playing on that sprain, which happened to be on his drive foot, the one off which he has to push when he passes. until the final game that season, in which he did a really good job (97.1 QBR), despite a loss to Houston.

A lot of people were down on Orton that season. I guess, when one is severely handicapped by an injury, it is easy to get people, who watch the games sitting down, to turn against one. But what I can’t understand is why their front office was searching for greener pastures. All Orton had to overcome that year leaves me wondering what other quarterback not named Peyton Manning would have done better in the same situation.

So then we come to 2009. The cynics turn out in force figuratively to meet Kyle as he first stepped off the plane at the airport. He was the “throw-in” quarterback in that disaster trade in which the last quarterback, red cape and all, were deported out of town. People were just determined never to get over that one.

So comes the first six games, and Kyle averages a 100.1 quarterback rating over that stretch. (I’m giving the QBR because I don’t want to get involved with all the different stats . . . the QBR takes them all into consideration.) He does a decent job in the seventh week against Pittsburgh, but then has his worst game of the year at Baltimore (but then, who didn’t?). So, against Washington, he comes back with a vengeance, playing at a 134.7 (QBR) clip . . . until, damn . . . some behemoth falls on his . . . you guessed it . . . ankle.

Well, you know what happened: Orton left the game, so the Broncos fell on their collective faces. But this time, when he came back, he is seen playing with two ankles taped.

And the Broncos just fell apart . . . not to say Orton’s ankles were the reason for that. A lot more than that went into the Broncos’ demise, of course.

But, meanwhile, Orton had lost all his mobility . . . behind a line that would give one the idea that maybe they were thinking about going south and trying out as matadores. Not to worry—at least in Orton’s case. These were his QBRs, game-by-game, for the remainder of the year: 55.4, 89.1, 92.1, 95.3, 92.5, 90.4, and 65.4. (The 55.4 was his first game back from his injury.)

Piling onto his problems this year was his playing in a new system . . . to him and everyone around him. And Hamilton and Wiegmann were obviously getting old, and Harris disappeared for the lineup.

Yes, think about it. In view of all the obstacles, Orton put on a show. And 2009, folks, was only his third year actually on the field. I gave him a B in the poll. But, come to think of it, I would go back and change that to an A, if I could . . .

Since this his first rodeo then it’s only natural that he get’s a B and 86.8 rating is OK.

That kid never got a chance. He got zero playing time (3 quarters? 4 passes in the game he started?) and the right side of our line couldn’t protect anybody. I feel for him. Hopefully he’ll get another chance elsewhere. No sense keeping a lefty here but foolish that everybody dogs him after no real chance to succeed.

I choose a B, but I’d say it’s closer to a C+ or B-. I’d be more interested in Canfield and LeFevour, both like they have great upside. I’m not familiar with Skelton at all.

Thanks for the balanced analysis Orton deserves B- rating. With one year under Orton’s belt I look for Orton to have more confidence and become a better player maker. Confidence & experiece will help make him a much better player for next season. Said another way Confidence can make him a difference maker. I also believe Broncos will improve da O-Line through FA market, and the draft. The O-Lines needs to get bigger and more physical and consistent! . Hopefully Harris will return to his starting position at R-Tackle. We need to improve da Center & Guard positions.