Thursday nights pre-season opener for the Broncos was the first time that many of us were able to watch the 3 Denver QB's this season. Up until now we have been working on assumptions based on previous play and what we have heard from the local media about these players. Now, we have limited information on Kyle Orton and a fair amount of data on both Tim Tebow and Brady Quinn. With this information I have broken down the game film on all 3 players and come up with some conclusions as to how the "competition" is going.
In my breakdown I looked at everything. I looked at QB drops, running play footwork, accuracy, wide receiver play, and overall effectiveness. For passing stats I looked at every throw whether there was a penalty or not because as a coach you need to take every play into account. It doesn't matter if it is apart of the official record or not, it's out there so it needs to be evaluated. This is just an analysis based on Thursdays game and nothing else.
Kyle Orton- Orton only played for the first series of the game on Thursday so his numbers aren't great, but his effectiveness was adequate. He dropped back to throw 6 times in his 1 series and came away with 3 catches and 2 official completion. Of Orton's 3 incompletions, 1 was tipped at the line of scrimmage and 1 was a throw away due to some solid coverage by the Cowboys. The other incomplete pass was a ball that was thrown over his wide receivers head in the endzone. 5 balls were thrown with the intent of a completion with 1 being tipped and 2 of the remaining 4 were in accurate. The running game was effective and the Broncos scored a field goal after the drive stalled in the red zone.
Tim Tebow- Tebow played the remainder of the first half and had some statistical success which showed up on the scoreboard as well. While he had 6 passes caught on 9 attempts that doesn't tell the whole story. 4 of Tebows caught passes were inaccurate. I say they were inaccurate because they weren't thrown where they needed to be in order to maximize the results of the play. On the 48 yard pass down the middle of the field Tebow hit his receiver on the just over the left shoulder while the the receiver was running to the right and behind the defense. The ball should have been placed over the right shoulder allowing the receiver to maintain his stride and possibly gain extra yards after the catch. On a third down play Tebow throws to a man running a slant and if he hits him between the numbers or out in front of him a little bit then the receiver may have been able to run for a first down. Instead the ball was thrown low and behind the receiver causing him to go to the ground to catch the ball 3 yards short of the first down marker with no chance of picking up any additional yards.
During passing situations Tebow also make poor decisions on 5 different occasions. Most of these poor decisions were caused by the Cowboys bringing pressure. The first was the Interception that was voided by a pass interference call. Tebow was rushed off the left edge and tried to force a throw into a wide receiver that was well covered before the interference and due to the hit applied by the defender the pass was week and floated to another defender that would have picked the ball off even without the interference. Sometimes it is better to take the sack and this was one of those times. Tebow looked uncomfortable in the pocket. On several occasions he pulled the ball down and tried to run when he had limited pressure and he didn't seem to feel where the pressure was coming from. On one play he felt pressure from the left and rolled right when the proper play would have been to trust his blockers and step up in the pocket and wait for the crossing route open up on the opposite side of the field from where he ran and eventually threw the ball away. He seemed as though he was itching to run on a third down play where he dropped back and the O-line maintained all of their blocks and after checking just one read Tebow took off and was tackled well short of the marker. He had a wide receiver break open just as he started to run.
His last scrambling play had 2 bad decisions on the same play. First, though there was some pressure coming at Tebow he had time to move around in the pocket before he took off to run. While running he crossed the line of scrimmage and ran for 3 yards before met by a defender and forced to reverse field and retreat back across the line. He then proceeded to throw a terrible looking pass that was completed but didn't convert into a TD on the third down play. That was a bad decision not because they didn't score, but because if they had it wouldn't have counted because once you cross the line of scrimmage you can't throw the ball anymore. It doesn't matter how far behind the line you retreat to, once you cross it you can't go back.
Brady Quinn- Quinn played the entire second half and after the first series you felt like it was going to be a long half. He hit a TE in the hands on an out route and the ball was dropped and that was followed up by a third down pass that was thrown to no one. Quin came back in the next series and strung a few completions together and lead the team down the field. Most of Quinn's completions came as a result of accurate passes. The Broncos had quite a few yards after the catch in the second half because quin put the ball on the money and on time for 7 passes out of his 9 completions. He also had to accurate passes dropped by his receivers. He wasn't perfect though he did throw 4 inaccurate passes in which only 2 were caught. He also had one of his passes tipped at the line.
The thing that stood out about Quin in this game besides his accuracy was his poise and patience. On 2 separate occasions he had issues with the snap and came out of the situation with positive results. The first play was a running play that required a reverse pivot by Quinn before the hands off the football. He gets his foot stepped on by a lineman and falls to the ground. He doesn't panic and finds a way to get the ball into his running backs hands and the Broncos gain around 3 yards. The other play was in the shotgun and the snap never appeared to leave the ground. After the ball rolled to Quinn, he looks around finds his receiver and throws a completion for a TD. Not once on those plays did he look flustered.
Quinn also looked very comfortable in the pocket, even while it was breaking down. When the protection was there he would sit back and read the defense. He made good, quick decisions and moved his team down the field. When the pocket was breaking down he found ways to give himself time to scan the field and find the open man.
Results- Each QB did good things in this game and each made some mistakes. Each player put points on the board for the Broncos and that is what you really want in a starting QB. Orton was far from impressive but he only played in one series. Tebow looked really good on paper but far from how stellar his numbers were. He did do some good things though and that shouldn't be entirely lost in my analysis. Quinn looked in command and like a guy that just needs a chance to show what he's about. Overall Quinn was the most consistent in his play and that showed on the scoreboard for the Broncos. Fox has said on several occasions that he likes gamers and in this game I feel Quinn earned a shot at playing with the second string in the next game.
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