Quote:
Originally Posted by dksuddeth
how about that Kyle Orton though? mighty impressive.
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I was thinking about him recently, and yeah, he has been a revelation to this opening part of the early NFL season.
Orton was a fine quarterback in a new setting last year in his first season as McDaniel's current "product of the system" QB, but still... I like him (and so do you, I take it, dksuddeth).
To tell the truth, though, I've been impressd with Orton's play for nearing around 2-1/2 years now, since he was the off-on-again starter with the Chicago Bears. (little bit after Griese was out of the picture, but when he was still competing with Grossman for the next week's starting gig.)
Somewhat like Vince Young, (but actually not really) Orton has a
great home-field-winning advantage, it would seem, and he can be just as competent as a visitor, as evidenced by this past weekend's stellar play.
But, again, somewhat like his tying-tether player in Chicago, QB Jay Cutler, most of what's become of orton's early success this season is due more in part to the system he is under direction of, and another big factor to boot would be that neither the bears or Broncos have had what one would term a "solid" running-game complement since week 1, and that may even be a stretch. That means more of the offensive responsibility ("burden") falls on the passer to keep the team afloat and competitive.
Still, being the top passer alongside Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers through a quarter of the season is a great achievement.
(and again, to note: neither of the above two "elite" quarterbacks has a consistent ground game presence to "aid" them, so their arms go on auto-trigger more than, say, a Matt Schaub, at this point.)