Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Stats are for Losers

Kyle Orton did throw for over 300 yards Monday night. See what I mean?

Denver fans have grown accustomed to seeing Orton put up respectable numbers in losses. Now 11-18 as Denver's starting quarterback, I'm not impressed with any numbers Orton puts up.

I must be alone. In the limited analysis of the Broncos Raiders game from Monday, which Denver lost 23-20, commentators are very quick to jump on the fact that Orton did in fact throw for more than 300 yards. It's also well documented that he was on pace to throw for almost 5000 yards last season before slowing down and then sitting the last 3 games. Oh, and he was 3-10.



Around the league, Cam Newton debuted with 422 passing yards   most ever by a rookie in his first start   and lost. Drew Brees threw for 419 yards in a loss to the defending champion Green Bay Packers. Chad Henne, Miami Dolphins quarterback, threw for a career high 416 yards in a losing effort to the New England Patriots (and Tom Brady's 517 yards). Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo threw for 342 yards in the mind boggling loss to the Jets.

Tom Brady led the pack, and was the only winning quarterback of those five who threw for the most yards. This just proves that these numbers don't matter. I know that there are more things that go into the games, but the way people rush to defend Kyle Orton with "But he threw for a ton of yards," is absurd. Who cares? He threw for a bunch of yards after throwing an untimely interception and dropping the ball on what could have been a touchdown drive.

On the other hand, these same analysts point out that Tebow only completed 50 percent of his passes thrown in three games last season so he won't be successful. He was 1-2 in those starts, but the Broncos were competitive in all three. A far cry from the 59-14 beat down at the hands of the Raiders in Denver last year, and a loss to the woeful Cardinals in Orton's last start.

Tebow isn't always pretty to watch, but his charisma rallies his teammates. They respond to him. He'll get his chance, but when and why is a topic for another blog post.

Kyle Orton's numbers (thankfully) weren't enough to save Josh McDaniels' job as head coach. Soon, they won't be enough for Orton to keep his job.

No comments:

Post a Comment