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NFL Surprise – Denver Broncos 5-0 behind McDaniels, Orton

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 | Brandon Marshall, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Jay Cutler, Josh McDaniels, Kyle Orton, NFL, Sports

While there have been a lot of pleasant surprises during the 2009 NFL schedule, none compare to the performance of the 5-0 Denver Broncos.  After a frustrating end to the 2008 NFL season (the team lost its 5 games to hand the division/final AFC playoff spot to the San Diego Chargers) and a tumultuous off-season, the team has rallied behind new head coach Josh McDaniels and new QB Kyle Orton.  Denver Broncos fans and Broncos tickets holders are now loving NFL action again in Denver.

The off-season saw the firing of beloved, long-time head coach Mike Shanahan.  After owner Pat Bowlen pulled Josh McDaniels away from the paws of the New England Patriots’ head coach Bill Bellichik.  Instead of endearing himself to franchise QB Jay Cutler, McDaniels ended up alienating him when rumors leaked that the Broncos tried to trade Cutler for Patriots’ back-up QB Matt Cassell whom McDaniels had mentored in New England.  Cutler immediately demanded a trade, and the Broncos eventually traded Cutler to the Bears for Kyle Orton and 2 future 1st round draft picks.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, Broncos’ superstar wide receiver Brandon Marshall who was upset with Cutler’s departure refused to participate in off-season workouts, demanded a trade and was eventually suspended by McDaniels for part of the pre-season.

It didn’t get any better once play started during the pre-season in August.  The Broncos won only 1 of 4 pre-season games and Orton was just downright bad – 4 interceptions with only 1 touchdown.

But the team did not let an awful off-season and pre-season get them down.  Somehow, McDaniels earned the respect of the team, even Marshall, and Orton proved that he could play at the highest level in Denver.  The Broncos pulled off a miracle come-from-behind win in Cincinnati in the opening week of the season, and the team has ridden that high ever since.  The Broncos went to 3-0 with easy wins over 2 bad teams – the Cleveland Browns and the Oakland Raiders – and then proved they were for real with wins over the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots in Weeks 4 and 5.

In the Cowboys win, the Broncos rallied from a 10-0 1st quarter deficit to win 17-10.  The defense shut down the Cowboys offense through the final 3 quarters and Orton connected with Marshall on a spectacular 51-yard catch and run with under 2 minutes left to give the Broncos the win.

In the Patriots win, the Broncos pulled off another come-from-behind home win by outscoring the Patriots 10-0 in the 2nd half to force the game into overtime.  Once again Orton connected with Marshall for the game-tying score in the 4th quarter and then he led the Broncos on the game-winning drive that culminated with Matt Prater’s 41-yard field goal less than 5 minutes into the extra period.

Just like that the Broncos were 5-0 and flying high in Mile High.  The team loves McDaniels.  McDaniels has faith in his players.  Orton has emerged as a quality starter in McDaniels’ pass-oriented system.  Orton has a 97.4 passer rating and he is completing 63% of his passes.  He has thrown for 1236 yards and 7 touchdowns against just 1 interception.  He had the 3rd most passing yards of any NFL quarterback in Week 5.  And Marshall has found a way to work past his demons and learn to play as part of a team.  Marshall only has 283 receiving yards thus far this season, but he has 4 touchdown catches and he and Orton seem to grow together each and every game.

The schedule doesn’t get much easier for the Broncos over the next 6 games – 2 games against the division-rival San Diego Chargers, @ Baltimore, home against the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants and @ Washington Redskins.  It’s unclear if the Broncos can keep this pace up, but so far so good for McDaniels & Co. in Denver…

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