Can the Denver Broncos win with Kyle Orton as their starting QB? Most people laugh at that suggestion but with a closer look winning with Orton is not as far fetched as it may seem.

Why we think Denver can win with Kyle Orton as the starting QB

There is no question that as far as pure physical talent Jay Cutler has Kyle Orton beat by quite a bit. Cutler has a better arm (although Orton has a pretty good arm) and Cutler is much more mobile. But being a great, or even good, NFL QB is not about physical talent.. Many people consider Joe Montana the best QB of all time and physically most of the starting QB’s during the Montana era had skinny Joe beat as far as physical size and skill.

Things such as smarts, leadership, the ability to perform under pressure, and accuracy are many times more important than just physical skill. If you take a look at Jay Cutler through his first three years it is apparent he has all of the physical tools to be great…the issue with Cutler is his brain. Is he a good leader? Can he perform in the clutch? Can he perform well when things have not gone good for him. The jury is really out on Cutler when it comes to those things.

So on to Kyle Orton. He is a big guy, has a good arm, is smart, and is an excellent leader. He does not have the arm or mobility of Cutler…but does Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have the arm and mobility of Cutler? Of course not.

Orton has been on some horrible offensive teams that did not have much talent…and on top of that he was in a system that was very conservative. The theory in Chicago seemed to be to play it close to the vest and let the defense control things. Well that has worked at times in Chicago but it certainly has not been good for QB’s that want to put up big numbers.

Why do we think Orton has a chance to do really well in Denver? Two things: GREAT offensive talent around him and a coach that will put Orton is a position to do well. You simply cannot deny that Josh McDaniels worked wonders with Matt Cassel last year. He is also the guy behind the Patriots setting an NFL record for points scored in 2007. McDaniels knows how to coach QB’s and knows how to get his offense to score a lot of points.

Matt Cassel had NEVER started a game in either college or the NFL, and then comes in this year after Tom Brady is injured and is the 10th rated QB in the league with a QB rating of 89.4. When you consider that remarkable achievement you have to think McDaniels will do wonders with Orton, especially considering Orton will be throwing behind a really good offensive line. The Broncos should have a good running game. And the Broncos have a great set of WR’s. Orton simply has not had this type of talent, from the coaching standpoint to the the players, around him.

As many Bronco fans realized last year Jay Cutler has a horrible habit of throwing interceptions at the worse possible times. In defense of Cutler on some of those interceptions he was usually throwing from behind. The Broncos defense was horrible. But it still seems as though Cutler is a very undisciplined QB who just couldn’t figure out that taking small gains is better than turning the ball over.

The whole key to the trade of Cutler to the Bears will be how Orton plays, and if Denver can get two really good players from the two number one picks they received from Chicago.  If Orton plays well and Denver scores with the two number ones…then Denver will have made a great trade.

If Orton bombs and the two number one picks are just average players AND Cutler goes on to be as good as many think he can be…then Denver will have made a huge mistake.

We think Denver made a great trade, not only because of the picks they got but because we think Orton will play really well.

The Denver Broncos have many problems but the two leading problems are Mike Shanahan and Jay Cutler.

First we will start with Mike Shanahan. We will get to Jay Cutler and his punk attitude later, but to start with we will focus on the Lil Dictator and why he needs to go.

These are the facts concerning Mike Shanahan. He has won two Super Bowls. He has won ONE playoff game in 10 years. He has signed so many bad players it is hard to name them all. He has drafted so many bad players it is hard to name them all. 

Mike Shanahan is the head of the Denver Broncos. For the last 10 years they have been mostly mediocre. Is it completely Mike Shanahan’s fault? Well it is not exactly all his fault… but most of his fault. Why? Because in Denver it is the Lil Dictator that makes 99.9% of all decisions and that is where the problem lies.

There is no real oversight with Lil Mikey. He fires coaches when he wants to. He drafts the players HE wants (remember Maurice Clarett?). He signs the free agents he wants. His record in both areas, drafting and signing free agents, has been HORRIBLE.

The problem with Lil Mikey is not that he can’t coach…he can. Give him the talent and he can get the job done. The problem with Lil Mikey is that he has far too much control. The Bronco’s have very little talent on defense…and whose fault is that? It is Mike Shanahan’s.

The Bronco’s have more talent on offense but are led by a QB that spends more time on yapping, and thinking that he is already great, than actually being great. Jay Cutler is the second problem with the Denver Bronco’s. The QB position must be a position where leadership comes from. The Bronco’s simply do not get that with Jay "I have a great arm" Cutler. Instead they get a guy that pouts, a guy that sits on the bench and looks like he would rather be sleeping, and a guy that obviously cannot read defense.

Cutler is young and still has room to improve…at least that is the hope. So for now we will give Cutler a bit of a pass, but no more passes to Lil Mikey. For far too long Mikey has run off coaches because THEY did not produce results. Well Mikey, what about YOUR results?

You are the one that hires the coaches. You are the one that drafts the players. You are the one that signs the free agents. You are the one that fired the general manager. The buck stops with YOU Mikey.

Unless Pat "Mikey is my coach for life" Bowlen wakes up, Denver will NEVER get back to the promised land. Mike Shanahan has far too much control and apparently does NOT have to produce results.

Take a look at the drafts from 2000 until now. Almost all of them have been a disaster. The 2006 draft looks like a real good one if Cutler pulls his head out of his ass and starts to play like HE thinks he should. If not it will go down as a good draft because of Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler.

Almost every other draft has produced NOTHING. The 2008 draft shows some promise but we will not know for sure until a few years from now. The issue with Lil Mikey is that he can do whatever he wants and apparently doesn’t have to show results.

Most coaches get fired if they only produce one playoff win in 10 years. Not Lil Mikey. Jake Plummer must be laughing all the way to the handball court. Greg Robinson must chuckle when he sees another defensive coordinator hired and fired.

Larry Coyer must also get a smile on his face when he sees the Broncos defense play so horribly bad. Jim Bates must be somewhere smiling because of the Broncos defensive problems. He, like all the rest, was a scapegoat for the Bronco’s problems last year.

The biggest issue with Denver is LACK OF TALENT and that begins and ends with Lil Mikey Shanahan. 

If the Bronco’s do not seriously improve over the last nine games of the season Pat Bowlen MUST seriously consider firing Shanahan. How many more years of this mediocrity is he going to put up with?

Bill Cowher is out there. Mike Holmgren is going to be out there. Those two guys would probably be a much better fit in Denver than Lil Mikey. And what the Bronco’s really need is a general manager that has some real control.

Right now Shanahan makes all the decisions in Denver. He has the final say. No one gets drafted or signed unlese he says so….and that is the problem in Denver.

Mikey, YOU NEED TO GET THE JOB DONE NOW!

Jake Plummer spouts off at the mouth about Jay Cutler and Mike Shanahan.

We won’t waste much time talking about Jake the Mistake on this site because he is not worth it. But a new book coming out gives some insight into what the Broncos were thinking when they benched Lil Jake and decided to go with Jay Cutler.

The only thing Bronco fans really need to know is that Plummer was NOT dedicated to football the way he says he was or the way Jay Cutler is now. Jake the Mistake thinks he can B.S. his way around, but common sense shows that he was tired of playing football and really didn’t take it as seriously as he needed to in order to be a top flight NFL QB.

Let’s take a look at a couple of issues. 

1. Plummer got benched by Shanahan and then traded to Tampa Bay. If he REALLY loved football and wanted to play he could have played for the Bucs, who were a pretty solid football team last year. Jeff Garcia, who gets bounched around like Chuck Liddell’s jaw, took Tampa Bay to the playoffs. Plummer, if focused, could have done the same thing. Jake the Mistake showed he did not want to play football by passing up millions of dollars to play for a pretty good team. So stop trying to B.S. everyone Lil Jake.

2. Plummer was NEVER going to be an elite NFL QB. He was capable of looking really good at times, but he needed a very short leash because he was not disciplined enough to control himself on the field. Let’s get real, eight to 10 years into his career he was still making idiotic throws and mistakes. And before you say that Brett Favre does the same thing…please don’t compared Jake the Mistake to Brett Favre.

And finally, does anyone…anyone…think Denver would have been better off sticking with Plummer than going with Cutler? If you think that then slowly back away from the computer, turn it off, call 911 and get some help. Because if you think Plummer was the answer… you have certain mental issues that only a professional can take care of.

 Goodbye Jake, stay in Idaho

The Broncos trade Foxworth to the Atlanta Falcons for a low round pick.

Dominique Foxworth was a bit surprised to be informed that Denver was going to trade him or release him as early as today. The Broncos had finally figured out what Foxworth has not realized…he can’t really play. So in the span of training of six weeks Denver has gotten rid of two of their worse players on defense in John Lynch and Foxworth. 

Both were good guys in the locker room and off the field, but you have to be able to play on the field and that is where both of them fell far short. Denver has made itself considerably stronger on defense this year. It looks as though they are starting to make decisions that make sense.

Good luck Atlanta, you’ll soon find out you got a good locker room guy that can’t cover a door knob.

The New England Patriots found out what the Denver Broncos have known for a year….John Lynch is a liability on the field.

The Broncos knew last year that Lynch needed to go but because of his popularity and his leadership they couldn’t cut the ties like they should have. The Broncos offered him less money to come back and he accepted, but like so many older players Lynch is delusional and still thinks he can play at a high level. No you can’t John.

We said right  here on this site that we were glad to see him go, he was holding the Broncos back. His play last year was mediocre at best and shows how messed up the Pro Bowl voting is. Here is a guy that is NOT injured and he gets turned down by two teams seven months after he is in the Pro Bowl. My goodness, what a joke! 

The Patriots might bring him back, at least that is the rumor, and we hope they do before they play the Broncos. Denver knows Lynch as good as any team knows him and if Lynch is on the field for the Patriots that is only good news for the Broncos. Even if Lynch tells the Patriots what the Broncos try to do it won’t matter. Lynch is a liability on the field on whatever team he plays. 

We are just happy Lynch is no longer a Bronco.

The most important preseason game of the 2008 season did not exactly go the way the Denver Broncos wanted it to go. And, no, we are not talking about them losing the game.

The biggest area of concern coming out of the loss to the Packers is the Denver defense.

The Broncos were awfu when it counted the most…the first half when the starters were in the game. Denver had no pass rush and the DB’s looked as though they couldn’t cover a statue. Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the Packer offense did whatever they wanted to, when they wanted to do it. Needless to say, but the Broncos are going to need a much better performance from their defense if a wild card run is in the making.

Jay Cutler started out slow but got hot towards the end of the fist half and finished most of his preseason work with the look of a QB ready to become a star. His first touchdown pass to Nate Jackson was a thing of beauty. A laser shot between two Packer players that looked like they thought they were going to make the play. Jackson also made a nice catch.

Cutler later hooked up with Brandon Marshall on a 49 yard pass-catch TD that ended with Marshall bobbling the ball a few times but eventually hauling it in. Marshall looks almost unstoppable on the field at times. Looks like the only thing that is going to stop him this year, for at least two games, is the suspension he has received. Bronco fans and the team can only hope and pray that he wins his appeal.

As for the RB competition…both Selvin Young and Andre Hall played well. Without Hall totally dominating it looks as though Young will be the starter, but Hall will get plenty of carries.

The offensive line continued to play well, at least when Cutler was in the game. Through three preseason games, when Cutler has been playing, they have not allowed a sack and have consistently opened up running lanes.  This is shaping up as a very good offensive line.

Now the problem areas…and they seem like they could be a real big problem. Denver’s defense was miserable in the first half. The Packers did whatever they wanted to do. They ran the ball, but mostly they threw the ball all over the place. Rodgers was exceptional and sure looks like he can be a reall good NFL QB.

The issue with Denver was two things. First of all they could not generate any type of consistent pass rush. Rodgers had all day to throw. And second, they could not cover anyone. My goodness the Packer receivers were running free all over the field. And this was NOT the case of guys being open just because the QB had a lot of time to throw, this was a case of DB’s simply not being able to cover anyone.

Matt Prater made his only FG attempt and the return and coverage teams were pretty average.

So all in all the Broncos have to be happy with their first string offense. Denver should be able to put up a lot of points this year and, after seeing the defense last night, they will need to. The Broncos have a look of a team that is going to be exciting and fun to watch…but expecting a serious playoff run might be expecting too much. The defense needs some MAJOR work upfront.

Denver is probably going to be a lot better team in the latter half of the season if they can stay healthy. The young defensive linemen are going to be the key to this season…and so far they have a long ways to go.

The Denver Bronco’s main dress rehearsal for the regular season is tonight against the Green Bay Packers. The third preseaon game is usually where you will see the starters play the most and even some game planning going on.

Here are our five things to look for in tonights game.

1. Can Jay Cutler, under more regular season like conditions, continue to light it up? Cutler has been phenomenal so far in the preseason and looks like he has fulll control over the Denver offense. The third year of a QB’s career is usually when they start showing if they really belong and so far Cutler looks like he is on track to have a sensational year and join the ranks of the NFL QB elite.

2. Who is going to be the starting Denver RB when they open against the Oakland Raiders? Right now it looks like the starter is going to be Selvin Young, although Andre Hall still has a decent shot if he plays really well tonight. Either way the Broncos are in good shape with this duo of RB’s as long as they stay healthy and continue to improve. The main question about Young is his ability to carry a significant load….but only time will really tell about that. Both Young and Hall should see plenty of carries no matter who wins the starting job.

 3. Can the Denver offensive line continue to play well without Tom Nalen? Having Nalen in the lineup is only a good thing for the Broncos. When healthy enough to play Nalen is by all accounts a top five center. The young tackles, Ryan Clady and Ryan Harris, need to continue to improve. If these two guys continue to improve, Nalen comes back, and the group stays healthy….Denver has a chance to have a really good offensive liine.

4. Who will step up at WR? This has to be a concern for the Denver coaching staff. Denver will be without Brandon Marshall for the first two games of the regular season and possibly for game three as well. It looks like Eddie Royal will be the number two guy when Marshall is back and Stokely is the number three guy. But who steps into number one when Marshall is gone? Right now it looks like Darrell Jackson, but not much has been seen of him so far because of some minor injuries. Denver desperately needs one or two of the "other guys" to step up. Maybe it will be Kerry Colbert.

5. The secondary and the linebacking group should be solid to really good, so that leaves the defensive line. It all starts there on defense. Will the young guys step up? Denver needs Crowder and Moss to start producing. Marcus Thomas is already a starter and looks like a good pick in round four of last years draft. Dwayne Robertson should be a real good defensive tackle if he can stay healthy.

Elvis Dumervil looks solid at one end but Denver needs consistent pressure from the other side. If the Denver defensive line does not play well this year you can forget a playoff run. Denver plays too many good QB’s this year….without consistent pressure from their front four they are going to have a big problem being a good defense.

A few other notes….Matt Prater needs to be a bit more consistent with his early FG attempts. He has missed both of his first kicks in each preseason game. We will most likely see Champ Bailey play tonight, but really the main thing with him is just making sure the hammy is ok. We know what he can do. And will Denver continue with its agressive passing attack?

There is no question that Denver will try to run the ball like they do every year. But is this the year, in about the last six years, that Denver starts to get real aggressive in the passing game? They have the talent at every position to really hurt teams with the pass. It would be nice to see Shanahan lengthen the leash a bit.

Win or lose tonight it won’t tell us all we want to know about this years version of the Denver Broncos, but we will sure get some clues.