Denver Fans “Welcome” Their New QB
Kristian Wiles
August 8, 2009
Posted under Denver Broncos
If you sit quietly and concentrate, you can probably still hear the booing from Thursday night’s training camp performance. I’m at the Phoenix airport so much of what I hear is the baby crying next to me, the cell phone guy who thinks that talking louder is the best way to overcome his limited reception, and the snoring lady lying on the floor. Isn’t it amazing how people are quite comfortable treating the airport like their living room? Anyway…
Fans in Denver are wondering if this week’s display of inaccuracy by new QB Kyle Orton is a sign of things to come. The guy was pretty underwhelming to begin with. Even with his limited success in Chicago he never really “captured the imagination” of the windy city. The big difference between Orton in Chicago and Orton in Denver are his teammates on the other side of the ball.
The Denver D was horrible last year giving up an average of 4 touchdowns each game. In spite of their offseason attempts at improving their defense, the Broncos will still need to score significant points on offense to win games. Orton has a weak arm, is immobile in the pocket, and apparently isn’t hitting his open receivers IN TRAING CAMP. He’ll likely shake the rust and start making the throws he was good at in Chicago, 5-15 yard tosses to open RBs or TEs, but will it be enough?
Even beyond Orton, you have to assume that some of the booing from Thursday was directed at the rookie coach Josh McDaniels. By every measure he has had a rough start and the more this new team unfolds in Denver the more it looks like it will end ugly. Either way, the fans’ reaction to mistakes during training camp proves that the town has little patience for Cutler’s replacement and their head coach who made the move.
