The Denver Post reports: Former Bears quarterback Kyle Orton is confident he remains the starter in Denver despite the Broncos' acquisition of former Notre Dame star Brady Quinn.
"I have talked to (coach) Josh (McDaniels) and I will keep that private, but I do have total confidence that I'm the guy there," Orton said. "Just like every year, I'm going in to try to earn my starting job. I don't think I have anything to fret."
Orton, traded to the Broncos in the Jay Cutler deal, beat out Chris Simms a year ago. He implied that he didn't always feel he had a fair crack at the starting job while he was with the Bears.
"Whether you trade for a guy, or draft a guy, or you sign a guy in free agency, all you ask for is a chance for competition -- like I had last year with Chris," Orton said. "I've been in situations where that wasn't the case, and that's the most frustrating deal. If you get beat out by a guy, you can handle that. If you never have a chance to compete, then that's a whole different story."
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"I have talked to (coach) Josh (McDaniels) and I will keep that private, but I do have total confidence that I'm the guy there," Orton said. "Just like every year, I'm going in to try to earn my starting job. I don't think I have anything to fret."
Orton, traded to the Broncos in the Jay Cutler deal, beat out Chris Simms a year ago. He implied that he didn't always feel he had a fair crack at the starting job while he was with the Bears.
"Whether you trade for a guy, or draft a guy, or you sign a guy in free agency, all you ask for is a chance for competition -- like I had last year with Chris," Orton said. "I've been in situations where that wasn't the case, and that's the most frustrating deal. If you get beat out by a guy, you can handle that. If you never have a chance to compete, then that's a whole different story."
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Kyle Orton was a winner with the Bears and had to sit wasting away while Rex Grossman stunk up the place. After Rex wore the rest of the offense down, totally demoralizing the team, Orton was thrown in to finish up. Surprise! Kyle found ways to win and showed some stones when faced with an unimpeded pass rush.
Yes, he threw interceptions, but many, if not most of those were route failures. Rex just wanted the ball out of his hands so as to avoid being the focus of the oncoming hoard. Big difference.
Kyle will be just fine, given any amount of support.
Neither Cutler or Orton are good NFL quarterbacks. Orton + 2 first round draft picks + 1 second? One of the worst trades in NFL History by Chicago. The Bears are dumber than rocks. By the way, I am really looking forward to when Peppers has his two monster games next year against Detroit, and then does nothing for the rest of the season.
Orton threw for 27 interceptions in his four years with the Bears. Not exactly the stellar game manager everyone claims he is. Read the posts Tim, the thread is comparing the two.
NECutlerFan on March 15, 2010 2:14 PM
All I know is that Orton threw for 30 TD's in his four years with the Bears and Cutler threw for 27 TD's in one year
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And how many interceptions?
At least you keep comparing Cutler to another bad QB in his same class.
So, let me understand this, the Broncos collapse last year was NOT Orton's fault. But the Broncos collapse in 2008 WAS Cutler's fault? Hmm, that is a head scratcher. All I know is that Orton threw for 30 TD's in his four years with the Bears and Cutler threw for 27 TD's in one year.
JB13 on March 15, 2010 12:31 PM
.........
Based on your writing skills and the content of your post, I'm guessing you don't know how to read.
Yeah, JJ, you tell 'em! The Broncos don't know a good thing when they see it, right? I mean, forget about it. Ortman is the best QB ever! Da Bearsss will be wishing they had him back soon enough, right? I mean, how many guys like Ortman are there in the NFL, guys who actually win games and lead their teams to greatness! It's not Ortman's fault that the Broncos finished the year in one of the greatest collapses in the history of the league, right? No way! Ortman is a winner! And sooner or later, he'll get to show the world what real Bears fans have known all along, by leading his team to the Super Bowl! Go, Ortman!
A couple of comments:
@JJ - Get serious. Cutler is a far better QB than Orton has did more with the issues in Denver than Orton. Same records in 2008 and 2009 but vastly improved defense in 2009. Did you see Orton the last half of the year?
@Tommy Ivan - Um, last time I checked, the Vikings, Pittsburg, and Arizona were all good teams. You also might want to give it a few years before declaring victory. Here are my projections after 5 years:
Bears:
Cutler - 2 Pro Bowls with Bears
Knox - 2 Pro Bowls with Bears
Broncos:
Orton - Backup
Ayers - Backup
Pick in 2010 - Dez Bryant (Backup or out of football)
I would give this one some time to breathe...
And to Orton...I'm not too sure that I would believe McDaniels' statement that "you are our guy." I think that he has laid down those tracks before...
GO BEARS!!!
Cutler is a bottom feeder who can put up huge numbers against garbage teams.
Orton is as ordinary as it gets, but gives you the same thing against top, mid and bottom teams.
If a team is stuck with either of these two, they lose.
Winner, Bronco's for receiving instead of throwing away so many draft picks.
I agree with most of what's posted here -- Quinn sucks.
That stated, I get a kick out of fans who continue to insist that weak-armed, immobile Orton, who is destined to be a career backup QB, is better than Cutler.
Under Cutler in 2008, the Broncos offense was 16th, 3rd in passing.
Under Orton in 2009, the Broncos offense was 20th, 13th in passing. Basically the same players + 1st round rookie Knowshon Moreno, something Cutler didn't have.
Yeah, Orton's the best QB Denver has had in 4 years.
Quinn is simply a cheap backup at 700,000 a year for 2 years. They only gave up Peyton Hillis and a 6th rd pick for a QB who played their system while in college. Either way Quinn sucks and hopefully people will stop talking about him being great just because he came from Notre Dame. Its Orton's job.
Right on, JJ. Quinn, like Mirer and Powlus before him, is merely a product of the Notre Dame media hype machine, amassing big numbers vs. Navy, Army, Duke and other assorted basketball schools. Clausen's up next on the bust-o-meter.
As bad as Orton was last year, he was still the best QB Denver has had in the last 4 years and shouldn't worry about a putz like Quinn.