Broncos Coach Fox Sticks With Orton At QB
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - The fans are calling for Tim Tebow. Denver Broncos coach John Fox isn't.
Fox said in a conference call Tuesday that he's sticking with Kyle Orton as his starting quarterback despite an awful performance by the offense in the Broncos' 23-20 loss to Oakland on Monday night that ended with fans chanting "Tebow! Tebow!" as players trudged off the field.
Orton misfired on almost half of his 46 passes, was picked off once and fumbled the ball away without getting hit when his tight end was open in the end zone for the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.
Fox said there was plenty of blame to go around.
"We came up a little short. There were plenty of reasons why. It wasn't just the quarterback by any stretch," Fox said. "Kyle is our starting quarterback and I don't think too many guys are firing all their guys because their team happened to lose in Week 1."
Orton had a terrific training camp and nearly perfect preseason but things looked a lot like last year in the opener: stalling in the red zone, no ground game to keep the defense from coming after the quarterback and a poor pocket of protection that resulted in five sacks and two turnovers.
Still, Orton is miles ahead of Tebow, who has shown very little progress from his rookie year in terms of his mechanics, accuracy and game management and is probably the Broncos' No. 3 quarterback behind Brady Quinn.
While Orton will play Sunday against Cincinnati, his top target and No. 1 tailback may not.
Although Fox said he won't address his team's long list of injuries until Wednesday, neither receiver Brandon Lloyd (groin) nor running back Knowshon Moreno (hamstring) returned to the game after getting hurt in the second half.
The Broncos' other Pro Bowler, cornerback Champ Bailey, also strained a hamstring and didn't return.
Defensive end Elvis Dumervil, who injured his left shoulder during practice last week and aggravated it in the game, said he has no idea if he'll be back for the Bengals.
Even if he is, he'll likely be limited to serving as a situational pass-rusher like he was against Oakland, taking away one of the Broncos' best run-stoppers and mitigating the impact of rookie outside linebacker Von Miller, who won't be able to come off the edge quite so unhindered.
"I kind of felt it in practice and tried to give it a go in the game, but it didn't hold up," said Dumervil, who missed all of last season with a torn chest muscle. "It could be worse. At least, I have a chance of recovering, so that's a good thing."
The Broncos' biggest problems last year were running the ball and stopping the run.
They were the same Monday night, when Darren McFadden ran roughshod over them for 150 yards on just 22 carries for a whopping 6.8-yard average.
"If we don't stop the run," Bailey said, "it's going to be a long season."
Again.
"I don't think our coaches can do a much better job of putting us in position to stop the run," Bailey said. "I know we're going to look at this tape and notice a lot of missed tackles, a lot of missed assignments, and that's just attitude, heart and desire. I don't think we had enough of that to win this game."
The Broncos promised to be a run-oriented team under Fox, but they ran for just 38 yards in his Denver debut with Orton's 13-yard scramble accounting for a third of that total.
Moreno and Willis McGahee combined for just 25 yards on 12 carries.
The one-dimensional offense hurt Orton, who was sacked five times and knocked down plenty more, and every one of his offensive linemen except for left guard Zane Beadles drew a penalty flag.
The Broncos didn't help themselves early on when the Raiders used five linemen and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy kept calling runs on first down and Orton didn't audible to pass plays instead.
Denver's defense forced a turnover on its first snap but didn't come up with any more takeaways, and the special teams were plagued by a blocked punt and a costly personal foul that flipped field position, all of which wiped away a month's worth of positivity and had fans grumbling for changes already.
"You always want to start fast, whether it's in a game or in a season," Bailey said. "You can't expect to do that if you don't do things right, and we didn't do a lot of things right."
By Arnie Stapleton, AP Pro Football Writer
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
