How Long is Orton's Leash?

[Ride the Pine]

So after Kyle Orton threw 3 interceptions in his Denver Broncos debut, the question is this: how much room for error does Orton have before he is no longer the game 1 starter for the regular season? The Broncos has Chris Simms on the roster who, while never blowing anyone out of the water with his play, was a solid option in Tampa for a season before rupturing his spleen. Simms could be seen as a superior option to Orton, and almost led the Broncos to victory in the game last night.

So, how long do you think it will be before McDaniels makes the change, if at all?

[steveMcqueen]

McDaniels, will not waste any time in making the change especially if Orton continues down this path with his shakey play. The one thing the Broncos have to realize is that Orton is not a franchise type quarterback, his days and wins in Chicago relied heavily on a potent defense and a stunning special teams. Everything the Bears got when he was there was off of everyone working together to be a team. The Broncos however do not have a team atmosphere about their training camp, everything is to self centered there for them to be a winning program this year no matter who the quarterback is, their biggest problem occured when Shannahan announced he was leaving, the Broncos brought in a drill sargeant when they needed a leader. The quarterback and team problems will be solved when the coach decides to lead and not worry about what is being posted on myspace and twitter accounts by his players.

[Ride the Pine]

Yeah, I mean Orton is a guy that might be able to save the offense from tanking if the starter goes down during the game, but he won't go out, take the reins, and win the game for you.

[Dacy]

The problem here is that the Broncos have two mediocre quarterbacks who have relied on a dominant defense to win them games as a starter in the NFL. Their coach is basically alienating the entire team (Cutler, Marshall, probably others) and traded away a guy who was their best QB since John Elway. They picked up a RB in the 1st round when they already had many capable ones on the roster. This team will struggle to win 6 games this season, no matter who their QB is. This once-proud franchise has simply self-destructed in the past year, and it will be several Pittsburgh Pirates-like seasons of rebuilding before they are back to being an elite team.

[Ride the Pine]

Yeah I still think the timing of the Shanahan firing was a little off. I agree a change was needed, but with where the franchise was at, there weren't really any better alternatives at the time. Then they bring in a guy who basically wants to bring in his own players, thus pushing away the current stars on the team. That being said, I do think Cutler and Marshall have been a little whiny about the whole issue. You get paid to play football games, not worry about whether the new coach wants to be your best friend or not.