[bevischief]

Originally Posted by Denny

At least PART of the "same stats as Cassel" has to do with the way he'd been utilized.

In Chicago, after they elevated him to starter, the coaches allowed Kyle a great deal of leeway in his on-field decision-making. He would often audible out of a pass play and into a run - even at the LoS - if that were the best play for the TEAM. He didn't give a rat's ass about puffing up his stats, he wanted his team to win. If that meant only throwing 10 passes in a game and running it the rest of the time, that's what happened. Worked fairly well too - KO was 21-12 (.636) as a starter in Chicago.

In Denver, he ran into the opposite situation. The HC (McDumbass) was obsessively controlling with an ego that demanded EVERYTHING be done his way, no deviations allowed. The play that was sent in had better be the play that was run, regardless of the actual situation on the field. That eventually ended up with the entire Offense being thrown onto Orton's arm. Kyle has a good QB skillset, but few QBs could carry a team like Denver without ANY help from the Defense, ST or run game.


Not to mention that Brandon Marshall has dropped off the face of the Earth after moving to Miami. BM set NFL records with Kyle throwing to him.


I've followed Orton's entire pro career. I have NEVER seen an entire group of WRs fight so hard to catch and advance the ball as they were doing for Kyle in the Green Bay game. They sure seemed to appreciate the fact that Orton was getting the ball to them and giving them the opportunity to do something with it.


Because Orton was tagged as a "game-manager" in his rookie year playing for Chicago. He had little support from the FO who were still touting Rex Grossman as the QBotF for the Bears and insisted that Kyle was simply filling in.

So, the perception was established of KO simply being "adequate" but you can do better. Sure you can. There's another Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees out there. Somewhere. Maybe. But those guys are very few and very far between. And not always recognized as "THE GUY." Out of that group, only P. Manning was seen that way going into the draft. And at the time, there was a great debate as to whether Peyton or RYAN LEAF was the better pro prospect. It's virtually impossible to KNOW who's going to be great and who's going to be a bust.

A team can do very well with a QB that simply "adequate." The Giants won a Super Bowl with Eli Manning. The Ravens did it with Trent Difler. Since then they've made the post-season 3 consecutive years with Joe Flacco. The Jets have gone to the AFC title game repeatedly with Mark Sanchez. The Bears went to the Super Bowl with Rex Grossman under center. The 49ers have clinched the NFC West with Alex Smith.

Yet the Cardinals are floundering with Kevin Kolb. The Chargers are repeatedly one-and-done in the playoffs with Phillip Rivers. The Eagles are falling apart with Mike Vick. The Cowboys can't get anywhere with Tony Romo.

You can keep spinning your wheels thrashing about in a vain search for the next "great" QB and keep your team in a constant state of self-destructive chaos. Or you can go with a "good" or "adequate" QB and build a winning team...