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...

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