Bucking Broncos; Can Denver keep their offense steady without Cutler?

A starting off season blunder occurred when new Denver Broncos coach Josh Mcdaniels started doing some moving and shaking with his new roster, supposedly thinking up this fancy scheme that involved sending Jay Cutler to the Buccaneers and getting Patriots backup QB Matt Cassel to come to the Broncos (I suppose McDaniels was lonely, and needed a friend).

Any player would agree that (supposedly) being used as trade bait without your knowledge, would be upsetting to say the least. Cutler, seemingly more sensitive then the normal professional football player and grown man, stayed angry at the coaching staff even after they tried to come and warm back up to him.

Regardless of if Cutler's behavior or McDaniels persona pushed the hands of fate, as we all know Cutler got his "revenge" and was promptly traded to the Bears for QB Kyle Orton and accompanying draft picks. But where does this leave the Broncos offensively?

In 2008, the Broncos offense was 3rd in the league through the air and 2nd in the league in total offense. Jay Cutler was 3rd in total passing yards and yds per game, and 2nd in throws for 20+ yardage.

On the Bears side, they were 21st in passing, 26th in total offense with Orton was 19th in yards, and 21st in yards per game. Although, Orton did not have the set of receivers that Cutler had, having Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal both in the top 10 for receiving. The most player who caught the most balls on the Bears was not even a WR, it was their RB Matt Forte. The toss up is how much of positive/negative stats you can devote to being the fault of one end of the offense or another.

There's no doubt in my mind that the improved talent of Orton's new wide receiver corp should give him some better numbers and more confidence in the passing game. But as far as if will be as successful as it was with Cutler at the helm, I suppose we'd have to wait and see. In my mind it will not, Cutler was just the better (more sensitive) quarterback.

Orton sure is not making progress easy with his rough preseason debut, where he threw 3 interceptions and zero touchdowns, while his counterpart Chris Simms followed behind with 2 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

It is a preseason game, and it is Orton's debut with a new team, learning a new offense and new teammates is not a change that happens overnight by any means, but if asked to make a quick prediction, id say two thirds of the way through the season, Denver fans will be yearning for their old QB.