Time To Put T.O. into The Denver Broncos Backfield

There’s been wailing and gnashing of teeth about Denver’s dismal running game, lamentations about the loss of bruiser-back Peyton Hillis, and general moping about when and whether Josh McDaniels should replace Kyle Orton with Tim Tebow as the team’s starting quarterback.

Yet the most innovative and effective notion of all gets almost no attention: Putting T.O. in the backfield by making Tebow (T.) Orton’s (O.) starting running back.

Tebow has a Hillis-like running style who could not only make yards where the current running backs seem to lose them, but he’d also be a good receiver out of the backfield. Add to that the ever-present threat that he would himself throw the ball and you have a two-headed T.O. monster that would scare the bejeezus out of opposing defenses in both the running and passing games.

Putting T.O. in Denver’s backfield would not only loosen up defenses generally, it could make for blown coverages in both game phases because, really, what do you do when T.  pitches to O? Break off your receiver to stop the run? Or stay on your receiver to protect against the pass?

Either way, the defense becomes vulnerable to the choices the defensive backs don’t make: If they stay in coverage, T. runs; if they break off coverage, T. passes to wide-open receivers or flips it back to O. for a money shot way downfield.

It takes the play-action effect to a whole new level, a level for which even the best defenses will have trouble scheming, much less executing. More importantly, it becomes a high-risk environment for the defenses, but a relatively low-risk environment for the offense because:

a) T. didn’t fumble much as a runner and would only throw a few times per game anyway (mostly to wide-open receivers); and

b) T.’s presence would give O. more opportunities for deep strikes to more open receivers.

Kyle Orton has proven to be a masterful quarterback when he has a reasonable amount of time to throw. Putting Tim Tebow in the backfield with him will give Orton the time and space to make the great throws we know he can make and cause enough defensive confusion that he’ll end up getting at least one gimme TD (or two) every game.

So, let’s hope Denver’s bold young coach will put the T.O. monster in Denver’s backfield and see how many heart palpitations he can induce in opposing defensive coordinators for the rest of the season.