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Friday, September 17, 2010
Here's the full quote from the Providence Journal, in response to a question about the challenges of playing at the New Meadowlands Stadium: "The Meadowlands is always a tough place to play. The road environment is very different than our friendly home crowd, who, when I looked up, half the stadium was gone when we were up 21 points early fourth quarter, which I wasn't so happy about. But I don't think the Jets fans leave early. They're going to be loud the whole game." Technically, the only short-term way to properly compare the two would involve the Jets opening up a 21-point lead early in the fourth quarter on Sunday, so get to work, Brian Schottenheimer. 
The NFL quarterback who led the league last weekend in big-play passes — those 25 yards or longer — wasn't Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or the other usual suspects. It was Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton, who tossed five such completions in Sunday's opener at Jacksonville.
Go figure that the Broncos, with a quarterback who only a year ago had fans and experts wondering about his arm strength and who is without the supposed big-play receiver, may be evolving into a downfield offense."We feel like we've found some things that we really want to take advantage of in that area that has nothing to do with who we're playing, really," coach Josh McDaniels JACKSONVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 12: Aaron Kampman #74 of the Jacksonville Jaguars pressure Kyle Orton #8 of the Denver Broncos during the NFL season opener game at EverBank Field on September 12, 2010 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Of Orton's five long completions, three were bona fide long throws — of 41, 27 and 25 yards each, all to Brandon Lloyd. Two others, a 28-yarder to tight end Daniel Graham and a 25-yarder to Eddie Royal, were shorter throws with significant yards after the catch.
But consider that in four games last year, Orton didn't have even one 25-yard completion. In two additional games, he had no completions of longer than 30 yards.
"I hope it spreads the field, I hope it opens other things up for us, but that's certainly an area of the field that we've talked a lot about in the offseason and trying to make them defend the whole field, rather than just half of it," Orton said.
The trend hasn't materialized out of nowhere.The Broncos' first offensive play in their first preseason game this year was a 31-yard completion down the left seam to receiver Jabar Gaffney.
No, the team hasn't tossed its playbook full of bubble screens, but the Broncos already have shown they won't rely on them this year.
"I don't know the difference of why or whatever. This is the team we have right now and we think it's the best way to go about it with our team this year," Orton said. "We've got a
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versatile group of wide receivers that can do a lot of different things, and so far when they've been given a chance to make a play downfield, they've done a good job of making it."
McDaniels, who calls the offensive plays, can point to specific reasons for the evolution of the team's offense.
It starts with Orton, who in his second season feels far more comfortable with every page of the playbook, as well as with the receivers.
Gaffney, Lloyd, Royal and Graham are holdovers from a year ago, yet each expects to see more passes with the departure of Brandon Marshall, who had nearly twice as many catches (101) than the No. 2 receiver last year — Gaffney (54). And despite Marshall's reputation of being a big-play receiver, he averaged only 11.1 yards per catch last season.
The Broncos believe Lloyd has the potential to make more plays in the middle or deep end of the field, and he showed it with his five-catch, 117-yard performance against Jacksonville. The Broncos are also hoping rookie Demaryius Thomas, when he returns from a foot injury that has kept him sidelined, will add a downfield dimension with his size and strength. Thomas practiced without any limitations again Thursday and could make his debut Sunday against Seattle.
"I think you take into consideration the personnel that you are playing with and their skill sets and what they do well," McDaniels said. "Then, you try to branch out and use more of those things this year than maybe you did last year.
"Every year I've called plays it's been a different style — there have been different skill players, different linemen, things that the quarterback does better from one year to the next, whatever it may be, and then there's always the evolution of finding new thing.
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