Denver Native (Carol)
05-23-2010, 07:47 AM
http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_15143299
The snap delivered chaos until Kyle Orton barked and restored order.
Rookie center J.D. Walton, understandably nervous given the opportunity presented him, delivered the shotgun snap either prematurely or errantly to quarterback Orton, who never got it.
Confusion followed. Some linemen continued blocking. Other players let up. Players muddled, all with the look of "What's going on?"
Orton moved to his left and turned toward the right sideline.
"Huddle up!" he said.
Ten other offensive players hustled to their huddle formation. The Broncos were back in business for their first full-team, offseason practice last Monday.
Surrounding the Broncos headquarters, an unmistakable, board-up-windows quarterback controversy has started to funnel.
Again, Orton may be the only one capable of calming these outside forces. As the incumbent starter, all Orton has to do is beat out the quarterbacks the Broncos recently acquired to take his place — Brady Quinn, who was once touted as an All-American boy from Notre Dame, and Tim Tebow, an All-American boy of heaven and earth.
"I don't think Kyle's job's in jeopardy," said former NFL quarterback Jim Miller, who has a show on NFL Sirius radio. "If it's in jeopardy, that team is in trouble."
Josh McDaniels is the Broncos' coach who has declared an open competition at the quarterback position, with Orton in the lead.
But let's review McDaniels' 16 1/2-month term as the man in charge of Denver's football operations. This is not a coach frightened by the path of greatest resistance.
What happens if between now and the season opener Sept. 12 in Jacksonville, Quinn starts, Tebow is the backup, Tom Brandstater spends a second season observing as the No. 3 quarterback — and Orton is wearing a different uniform?
"The problem with that, is in this day and age of ESPN, and the writers and the media, everybody who is jumping on the blogs, Josh is going to take a rash of crap nationally," said Mark Schlereth, the former Broncos and Washington Redskins guard who is now an NFL analyst for ESPN.
Multiple NFL sources say the Broncos let it be known this offseason that Orton was available. Perhaps that time has passed. A Broncos source said Orton is not on the trading block.
Based on the Broncos' first offseason practice that was open to the media Monday, any deal involving Orton would be a trade involving their best quarterback.
Quinn, who was acquired from the Cleveland Browns in March, is just getting acclimated to his new teammates and new offense.
Tebow took very few snaps as he continues to work on his mechanics and studying the playbook. Brandstater has the strongest arm of the foursome. But he is raw and ranks somewhere behind Tebow in status, if not yet on the depth chart.
Orton, meanwhile, carried himself with the type of relaxed, poised demeanor common among established quarterbacks.
"If you want to be a successful quarterback in this league, you've got to have that about yourself," said Brandon Stokley, the Broncos' most experienced receiver. "You can see that he has it. You can see he's more comfortable this year, as well as we all are, being in this system for a year."
More important, perhaps, Orton was also the most efficient passer of the group. On Day One, anyway.
"I've been doing this for six years now," Orton said as he left the field Monday. "Do you want me to go out there like this?"
He then spread his hands apart at the waist, and pantomimed getting electrocuted.
"Everyone makes such a big deal about (the quarterback competition), but there is one quarterback on the field, whether it is junior high football, high school football, college football or the NFL," Orton said. "Everyone wants to be that guy. I certainly have handled myself in quarterback competitions."
Not that Quinn is ready to concede to Orton before the calendar reaches Memorial Day.
"He knows the offense pretty well, but again, this is an offense I'm familiar with," Quinn said. "So I feel pretty comfortable being in there as well."
Game on! Once the season starts and rosters are trimmed to 53 players, three quarterbacks becomes a crowd and four is usually one too many.
It's a virtual certainty one of the Broncos' four quarterbacks will be gone from the season-opening roster.
The team's quarterback competition can be separated into two most likely scenarios. A look at each:
1. Orton starts. Tebow is game-day backup. Quinn is the emergency No. 3 on game day, but starts if Orton can't play in a particular week. Brandstater is placed on the practice squad providing he clears waivers.
"Knowing Kyle, I think he'll thrive in this situation," Miller said. "He's not one to (complain). He won't make noise. He won't ripple the waters. He's going to approach it that, 'I'm going to play so well, you're not going to want to take me out of the lineup.' "
Said Schlereth: "To me there's not a whole lot of controversy. Kyle Orton has been a very good, very accomplished quarterback in this league for a long time. The problem with Kyle Orton is he's limited athletically. He's got a great arm, but he seems to get an ankle injury or whatever because he doesn't have the athletic ability to get away."
This brings up why Schlereth was one of the few national analysts who loved the Broncos' selection of Tebow.
"Let's not focus on what a guy can't do, but what he can do," Schlereth said. "When you watch Tim Tebow, there's a lot of things he can do.
"The advent of the Wildcat in this league, that's not going anywhere. You put Tebow in those situations, and you give yourself a run-pass option. It's going to be a real, serious package for you, especially in short yardage and goal line, where you really struggled last year. If they're better in short yardage and goal line last year, instead of 8-8 they're 10-6 and they make the playoffs."
2. Quinn starts, Tebow is No. 2, Brandstater is No. 3. Orton is traded.
Keep in mind, the Broncos responded to reports of a possible Quinn trade by sending out word the quarterback would be staying put. And Tebow isn't going anywhere except out front as the future (and current, for that matter) face of the franchise.
Process of elimination would leave McDaniels with either moving Brandstater or, gulp, Orton.
Not that such a possibility will prevent Orton from huddling up with the No. 1 offense Monday, when the Broncos continue their offseason practices.
"Once you've been in this business awhile, you realize that people keep coming for your job every year," Stokley said. "Very few people in this league don't have competition for their jobs. Peyton Manning. Tom Brady. Those guys. But other than that, you've got to get young guys in. And you kind of just get used to it."
The snap delivered chaos until Kyle Orton barked and restored order.
Rookie center J.D. Walton, understandably nervous given the opportunity presented him, delivered the shotgun snap either prematurely or errantly to quarterback Orton, who never got it.
Confusion followed. Some linemen continued blocking. Other players let up. Players muddled, all with the look of "What's going on?"
Orton moved to his left and turned toward the right sideline.
"Huddle up!" he said.
Ten other offensive players hustled to their huddle formation. The Broncos were back in business for their first full-team, offseason practice last Monday.
Surrounding the Broncos headquarters, an unmistakable, board-up-windows quarterback controversy has started to funnel.
Again, Orton may be the only one capable of calming these outside forces. As the incumbent starter, all Orton has to do is beat out the quarterbacks the Broncos recently acquired to take his place — Brady Quinn, who was once touted as an All-American boy from Notre Dame, and Tim Tebow, an All-American boy of heaven and earth.
"I don't think Kyle's job's in jeopardy," said former NFL quarterback Jim Miller, who has a show on NFL Sirius radio. "If it's in jeopardy, that team is in trouble."
Josh McDaniels is the Broncos' coach who has declared an open competition at the quarterback position, with Orton in the lead.
But let's review McDaniels' 16 1/2-month term as the man in charge of Denver's football operations. This is not a coach frightened by the path of greatest resistance.
What happens if between now and the season opener Sept. 12 in Jacksonville, Quinn starts, Tebow is the backup, Tom Brandstater spends a second season observing as the No. 3 quarterback — and Orton is wearing a different uniform?
"The problem with that, is in this day and age of ESPN, and the writers and the media, everybody who is jumping on the blogs, Josh is going to take a rash of crap nationally," said Mark Schlereth, the former Broncos and Washington Redskins guard who is now an NFL analyst for ESPN.
Multiple NFL sources say the Broncos let it be known this offseason that Orton was available. Perhaps that time has passed. A Broncos source said Orton is not on the trading block.
Based on the Broncos' first offseason practice that was open to the media Monday, any deal involving Orton would be a trade involving their best quarterback.
Quinn, who was acquired from the Cleveland Browns in March, is just getting acclimated to his new teammates and new offense.
Tebow took very few snaps as he continues to work on his mechanics and studying the playbook. Brandstater has the strongest arm of the foursome. But he is raw and ranks somewhere behind Tebow in status, if not yet on the depth chart.
Orton, meanwhile, carried himself with the type of relaxed, poised demeanor common among established quarterbacks.
"If you want to be a successful quarterback in this league, you've got to have that about yourself," said Brandon Stokley, the Broncos' most experienced receiver. "You can see that he has it. You can see he's more comfortable this year, as well as we all are, being in this system for a year."
More important, perhaps, Orton was also the most efficient passer of the group. On Day One, anyway.
"I've been doing this for six years now," Orton said as he left the field Monday. "Do you want me to go out there like this?"
He then spread his hands apart at the waist, and pantomimed getting electrocuted.
"Everyone makes such a big deal about (the quarterback competition), but there is one quarterback on the field, whether it is junior high football, high school football, college football or the NFL," Orton said. "Everyone wants to be that guy. I certainly have handled myself in quarterback competitions."
Not that Quinn is ready to concede to Orton before the calendar reaches Memorial Day.
"He knows the offense pretty well, but again, this is an offense I'm familiar with," Quinn said. "So I feel pretty comfortable being in there as well."
Game on! Once the season starts and rosters are trimmed to 53 players, three quarterbacks becomes a crowd and four is usually one too many.
It's a virtual certainty one of the Broncos' four quarterbacks will be gone from the season-opening roster.
The team's quarterback competition can be separated into two most likely scenarios. A look at each:
1. Orton starts. Tebow is game-day backup. Quinn is the emergency No. 3 on game day, but starts if Orton can't play in a particular week. Brandstater is placed on the practice squad providing he clears waivers.
"Knowing Kyle, I think he'll thrive in this situation," Miller said. "He's not one to (complain). He won't make noise. He won't ripple the waters. He's going to approach it that, 'I'm going to play so well, you're not going to want to take me out of the lineup.' "
Said Schlereth: "To me there's not a whole lot of controversy. Kyle Orton has been a very good, very accomplished quarterback in this league for a long time. The problem with Kyle Orton is he's limited athletically. He's got a great arm, but he seems to get an ankle injury or whatever because he doesn't have the athletic ability to get away."
This brings up why Schlereth was one of the few national analysts who loved the Broncos' selection of Tebow.
"Let's not focus on what a guy can't do, but what he can do," Schlereth said. "When you watch Tim Tebow, there's a lot of things he can do.
"The advent of the Wildcat in this league, that's not going anywhere. You put Tebow in those situations, and you give yourself a run-pass option. It's going to be a real, serious package for you, especially in short yardage and goal line, where you really struggled last year. If they're better in short yardage and goal line last year, instead of 8-8 they're 10-6 and they make the playoffs."
2. Quinn starts, Tebow is No. 2, Brandstater is No. 3. Orton is traded.
Keep in mind, the Broncos responded to reports of a possible Quinn trade by sending out word the quarterback would be staying put. And Tebow isn't going anywhere except out front as the future (and current, for that matter) face of the franchise.
Process of elimination would leave McDaniels with either moving Brandstater or, gulp, Orton.
Not that such a possibility will prevent Orton from huddling up with the No. 1 offense Monday, when the Broncos continue their offseason practices.
"Once you've been in this business awhile, you realize that people keep coming for your job every year," Stokley said. "Very few people in this league don't have competition for their jobs. Peyton Manning. Tom Brady. Those guys. But other than that, you've got to get young guys in. And you kind of just get used to it."