Quote:
Originally Posted by Goz
Orton does benefit by moving to Denver. But to say he is going to move on to bigger and better things is a stretch. First of all, let me start this off by saying that I am a big Orton fan. However, you have to understand how limited he is. Orton cannot throw the long ball, at all. And he doesn’t try to. Because of this the opposing secondary was not afraid of being beat, so they stack 8 in the box, and can pressure Orton and try and to take out the running game, which was the only real threat for the Bears last year. No matter how great the OL is in Denver, they will are going to be under more pressure and give up more sacks. Especially if you add the fact that Orton will take the sack and he is slow.
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Orton limited because he can't throw the long ball? I disagree. He didn't do it particularly well in Chicago because his targets were pretty bad for starters as they don't have the ability to get open. His OL certainly was less than spectacular in blocking 5 on 4, let alone when they brought a blitz. Outside of Hester (who's not a very good route runner), who could get open in Chicago? Defenses obviously played up on the short routes and for good reason as most of the time, WR's couldn't get open. Orton has a strong arm and can throw it as demonstrated before his senior year in high school by throwing it 70 yards in a QB camp (which surpassed an NFL QB at the camp-I'm thinking it was John Kitna for some reason).
I watched Orton play every game at Purdue and I'm sure I carry some bias. I know what he's capable of doing. He's not a pro bowl caliber QB, but he's not a bottom tier guy either. In a QB-friendly SYSTEM (which the Bears don't have), Orton will have a more open air attack and much more control. He ran a much more sophisticated offense at Purdue that he was very good in all elements of his game. Obviously, he's slow, but he's no worse than Peyton Manning in that regard.