Kyle Orton again refrained from throwing at the Broncos practice. He has yet to throw at practice this week. While the Broncos said earlier in the week that Orton would be the starter and have not publicly amended this, it now looks like Tim Tebow may be the starter.
It is rare that a QB would not throw all week in practice, yet still start. It is even more rare that they would start when their team has already been eliminated from post-season contention. It is even rarer still that, that QB would start with his team eliminated from the post-season, while the most hyped 21st first round pick sat behind him in the depth chart.
Welcome to the NFL, Mr. Tebow. It looks like you may get your first career start, on the road and against the team leading the NFL in sack percentage. For the Raiders, the difference in preparing for the two QBs is significant. While Tebow is an unknown as an NFL player, it is fairly certain that he is not going to feature the same pocket-passing style that Orton does.
While it makes sense that the Broncos would not reveal their intentions at Tebow's playing time, the Raiders are not going to be caught off guard. Tom Cable has been expecting Tebow to get some playing time. Cable:
If he’s going to play as much as I think he is, he’s going to have to play like a regular quarterback in a regular offense.
Over the past few weeks, the Broncos have been trying to balance out their pass heavy attack. The Raiders can expect the run to be play an even more prominent role with Tebow under center.