Josh McDaniels throws Orton under the bus...

[Hammock Parties]

Wow. Pretty sad. Tebow FTW!

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci...#ixzz10rMV0GLB

There are times when stats are for baseball.

And there are times when the numbers beneath the numbers tell a story everyone should know.

Take the 476-yard passing performance Sunday by Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton. On the surface, it appeared the Broncos lost to the Indianapolis Colts 27-13 despite Orton's outstanding performance.

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels pointed out some hidden statistics during his news conference Monday.

"He's being productive, but I tend to think about the quarterback relative to wins and losses, third down and red zone," McDaniels said. "Yesterday, we weren't very good on third down, we weren't very good in the red zone and we lost the game.

"Certainly that's not a reflection solely on Kyle Orton. I thought he did a lot of great things yesterday in the game, and I think he's done a lot of really good things all season long. I think he would agree entirely with my assessment of our team, and our quarterback has to play well in those situations for us to have a chance to win against good teams."

On first and second downs, Orton was all-pro caliber: 29-of-42 for 398 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a 107.0 passer rating.

But on third and fourth downs, Orton was 8-of-15 for 78 yards, no touchdowns and a pick. And he was only 4-of-13 in the red zone.