Week #3... Kyle and Jay both WIN... Who's Better So Far?

With both the Bears and Broncos winning in Week #3, it's looking like both teams are benefiting from the 'Trade of the Summer', though with the Broncos at 3-0, one could make the case for the Broncos being slightly better off. Those people might have to consider Denver's strong defense as well, but we're not here to debate which team is better, we're looking at Jay Cutler vs. Kyle Orton.

So, without further adue, here's the week #3 stats for Jay and Kyle...

Jay Vs. Seattle... Bears Win 25-19

21 of 27 for 247 yards (78% completion rate)

3 Touchdowns

1 Interception

11 of Chicago's 14 1st downs were achieved on pass plays

Jay's passing game accounted for 78% of the Bears total net yards

Kyle Vs. Oakland... Broncos win 23-3

13 of 23 for 157 yards (57% completion rate)

1 Touchdown

No Interceptions

10 of Denver's 21 1st downs were achieved on pass plays

Kyle's passing game accounted for 42% of Denver's total net yards

Summing It Up...

Looking at Week #3, it seems pretty obvious that while Jay was the foundation of the Bears offense, Kyle seems to be doing exactly what he prooved so adept at in Chicago... Game Management.

While the Broncos Defense gives up fewer points each week, the Bears have got to be wondering what's going to happen when they come up against a week when Jay is not quite 'on his game' like he was this week. The Broncos have obviously proven they can run while the Bears don't seem to be 'getting off the bus running' like they have so many years in the past.

Let's VOTE....

So, since the argument of 'who's better this week will be down 'fan-lines', we're going to ask a different question this week...

Which QB has been MORE INTEGRAL to their team's early season success this year than the other?

Vote on Top/Right of the page and feel free to share your comments by CLICKING HERE.

Week #2... Orton and Cutler Both Win... Was Either Better?

While Chicago Bears fans got the rebound they were hoping for after a bad start by Jay Cutler against Green Bay, Broncos fans welcomed the team to their home opener by celebrating a resurgent defense that stifled the Browns for a mere 6 points!

You can read about the games in lots of places, but we're here to talk about Cutler Vs. Orton, so here's the stats...

Jay Cutler vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers

27 of 38 for 238 yards and 2 touchdowns

NO interceptions

13 out of 17 first downs were secured on passing plays

Jay rushed twice for a loss of 2 yards

With only 275 total net yards, Jay's passing game was responsible for 86% of the bears offense

Kyle Orton vs. the Cleveland Browns

19 of 37 for 263 yards and 1 touchdown

NO Interceptions

13 out of 25 first downs were secured on passing plays

Kyle rushed twice for a net of 0 yards

Kyle's 263 yards accounted for 59% of the total offense of 449 yards by the Browns

Summing it up...

It seems that the 'beauty may be in the eye of the beholder' this week for the fans of their respective teams. Both QBs did what they were asked to do in their given systems, although from an unbiased standpoint, it seems that the nod in the head to head competition goes to Jay, simply because of the fact that he bore the burden of a disproportionate amount of the offense.

What do you think!? Make sure you vote on the right and CLICK HERE to post your comments about Cutler Vs. Orton, Week #2!

Week #1... Orton Gets Lucky and Cutler no Luckman

If there's one thing that we learned in both the Broncos-Bengals and the Bears-Packers games, it's how quickly the tide can turn.

Kyle Orton and the Broncos benefitted from Brandon Stokley being in the right place at the right time when a long bomb was deflected.

Jay Cutler and the Bears fell when Aaron Rodgers prooved that his pre-season performance was no fluke and the Bear secondary reprooved it's challenges at giving up big plays.

So, let's get to the point of this blog though and look at Week#1's stats...

Kyle Orton vs the Bengals

Kyle was 17 of 28 for 243 yards and 1 touchdown to start 1-0 with the Broncos.

Take away the 'luck' of the Stokley TD and Kyle was 16-27 for 156 yards and no TDs, no INT's and a probable 0-1 start, but luck is a 4 letter word just like many others and the stat book will show this as a pretty good outing for Kyle.

Jay Cutler vs. the Packers

Jay was 17 or 36 for 277 yards, 1 Touchdown, and 4 Interceptions

Obviously, Jay was no Sid Luckman and his 2nd half performance prooved that he can bounce back from a bad half and engineer a decent drive. However, it's also obvious that Jay and his receivers should probably go to the library together and make sure they are all on the same page of the same book!

Week #1 Goes to Kyle... with a few caveats

Like it or not in Chicago, Jay let you down. This may be a good thing because the pressure that Bears fans put on the #1 QB in the city are immense and probably unreachable, at least in a 1 game measurement.

Likewise in Denver, Kyle's win may set the bar higher than he is capable of given that without the big play, his efforts were very average and the offense just didn't seem like it could put together a sustained drive. After all folks, it was the Bengals.

Next week, the Browns head to Denver and the Steelers head to Chicago... We'll see how it plays out!

CLICK HERE to make your comments on Jay Vs. Kyle, Week 1!

Week#3... The Swap Meet Game in Denver

Sunday Night Football on NBC... Cutler returns to the site of the ultimate professional temper tantrum... Orton faces his former team... Story lines abounded.

But this isn't about story lines, it's about performance, so here it goes...

Kyle Orton

12/16 for 96 yards, 0 Touchdowns, No Interceptions

75% completion rate

8 yards per catch

1 Splinted Finger

Jay Cutler

15 of 21 for 144 yards, 1 TD, No Interceptions

71% completion rate

9.6 yards per catch

Quick Judgement

Cutler definitely looked better in this one folks

Beyond the Cutler/Orton Battle

Take away the 98 yard drive to end the 1st half and it looked like 'Game Manager' Kyle was outshining Jay, but we can't judge this battle without giving credibility to that drive.

In the first 1 1/2 quarters BEFORE that drive, Denver's offense looked much better than some might have expected, holding Jay to very few first downs and they even pinned him deep with a 3-and-out.

Unfortunately for Denver, their offensive line just couldn't create holes against the Bears D-Line to establish the running game at all, which left Kyle to simply manage what he could.

On to the final week of Pre Season... but not until we find out more details on Kyle's finger injury. We'll post updates as we find them.

Cutler Vs. Orton: The Swap Meet in Denver

So, here we are... Denver vs. Chicago on Sunday Night Football.

Ultimately, this preseason game means NOTHING to the long term of the regular season... The starters may play a half at most and it's really a time where unsure players are battling it out to prove themselves worthy of being kept.

BUT, for Broncos and Bears fans, it means a chance to measure their 'old' vs their 'new'... So, we're calling it 'The Swap Meet'!

Here's how it stacks up through the first 2 weeks of the preseason.

Kyle Orton

27 out of 42 for a 64% completion rate

271 total passing yards for an average of 6.4 yards per completion

2 rushes for 3 yards (yeah, he's not the most mobile guy in the world)

274 total yards

4 Interceptions (3 in his first game)

1 Touchdown

Jay Cutler

13 of 23 for a 57% completion rate

185 total passing yards for an average of 14 yards per catch

1 rush for 12 yards

197 total yards

1 Interception

1 Touchdown

The Bigger 'Team' Pictures

The Chicago Bears have so far run 114 plays...

51 rushing plays and 63 pass plays (34 completions for a 54% completion rate).

Jay's passing rate of 57% is barely better than the team and he has 37% of the pass attempts and is responsible for 38% of the completions. Jay is only responsible for 1 out of 4 total interceptions

The Denver Broncos have so far run 124 Plays...

51 rushing plays and 63 pass plays (34 of 63 for a 54% completion rate).

Kyle's passing rate of 64% is 10 points better than the team and he has 66% of the pass attempts and is responsible for 79% of the completions. Kyle has thrown all 4 of Denver's interceptions.

Summing It Up

So far, it looks like the interceptions skew the comparison to Jay... for now.

Kyle was seen by many as a 'game manager' more than anything and maybe that's just what Denver needs to re-establish any chances of success. At Purdue., Kyle prospered with 'Basketball on Turf'.. he loved the quick outs, slants, and when he got into rhythm, he saw great success for Joe Tiller. Can this profile re-emerge in Denver? We'll see, but the shorter 'yards per catch' seems like it may be conducive to it.

For Jay, he's got a great arm and some speedy receivers (at least Devin Hester) that will allow him the chance for big plays, but he's also constricted with the presence of someone who many think is the worst quarterback killer of all time.... Ron Turner, the Bear's Offensive coordinator. The reality is that the Bears have relied on the run for a long time, but Jay's success may ultimately lie in Ron Turner's willingness to let him take the gun out of the holster.

What are your thoughts? CLICK HERE to post your comments

Cutler Vs. Orton, Pre Season Week #2

Here we are in Week #2 of the preseason where all of Chicago continues to have high expectations for Cutler, although the Ricketts family did steal some headlines in Chicago this weekend. Meanwhile, after a 3-interception debut last week, many of the fans in Denver were left wondering whether 'Bad Rex' (Grossman) somehow replaced Kyle Orton on his trip between Chicago and Denver. So, here are the stats for Preseason Week #2...

Jay Cutler

Jay's stats: 8 of 13 for 121 yards with 1 touchdown and no interceptions. He also ran 1 time for 12 years. The Bears beat the Giants 17-3.

Not great, but solid. It seems that maybe Ron Turner still has the ability to make a gunslinger keep a gun in their holster, as the Bears ran 34 running plays and only 31 passing plays... but this blog isn't about whether Ron Turner is actually Chicago's 'quarterback curse', it's about Jay vs. Kyle, so back to the stats.

Jay did show that he can definitely zip the ball into small spaces on a couple of plays and looks like he's starting to feel good in the offense.

Kyle Orton

Kyle's Stats: 18 of 26 for 182 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He also ran (does Kyle actually 'run'?) twice for 3 yards. The Broncos lost 27-13 to the Seattle Seahawks.

Not bad at all... You might even look at that and say, with those yards and that many throws, we won't be too bad on him for the INT... but then you'd have to see the interception to actually analyze it. So, in my best 'play-by-play-blog-type', here it goes...

Seahawks in the red zone... Orton takes the snap... steps back... looking... looking... rolls left... coverage tight... Orton switches hands... lobs it with his left... INTERCEPTED IN THE ENDZONE... Did he really throw that with his left hand?

Yep, you got that right... he switched hands and threw it with his LEFT HAND! It didn't even look like a throw, it looked like, well, you know what it looks like when a righty with no left-handed skills tries and throw with his left hand. IT WAS THAT BAD! I think I wet myself laughing after watching that replay and just had to try and make you laugh as well.

The Verdict:

It's up to you, but based on Kyles lack of ambidextrousness (yep, it's a word, we checked) we're going with Jay this week.

It's still the pre-season and with Chris Simms getting his ankle rolled onto, it looks like we may get to do this at least one more week... We hope Kyle keeps the starting job, because this is getting fun and it may be closer than you think as the year goes on.

What do you think?

CLICK HERE to post your comments about Jay, Kyle, 'da Bears, The Broncos, etc...

Jay Cutler Vs. Kyle Orton, Preseason Week #1

The Chicago Bears gave up Kyle Orton and about a hundred draft picks for what many in Chicago think is the second coming of Sid Luckman...

The Denver Broncos basically ended up with a whole new coaching staff and a quarterback who had only been able to 'survive' in Chicago being coached by an Offensive Coordinator who lets his QBs take risks as often as the United States holds a presidential election.

Well, when Kyle threw 3 interceptions in his first exhibition for Denver, the jury was CONVINCED that the Bears made a good choice... But then, Jay Cutler didn't exactly look like Jim McMahon in his first pre-season game either!

So here we have it... the first weeks stats... what do you think?

Kyle Orton... 9 of 16 for 89 yards with 3 interceptions and no touchdowns in a 17-16 loss to the 49ers..

YUCK... That stunk!

Well, how did Jay do in PreSeason Week #1 for the Chicago Bears... 5 of 10 for 64 yards and 1 interception in a 27-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Neither had a touchdown, so not much to be impressed with on either end.

Let's call week 1 a draw... or do we...

CLICK HERE to add your comments