Elway: Orton, not Tebow, is Broncos' starting QB right now

If the Denver Broncos had to pick a starting quarterback today, it would be veteran Kyle Orton, not youngster Tim Tebow, team executive John Elway said Wednesday on NFL Network.

"Kyle is still the starting quarterback," said Elway, a Hall of Fame quarterback who's now the Broncos' executive vice president of football operations.

Orton passed for 3,653 yards, 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions and completed 58.8 percent of his throws in 12 starts this season as the Broncos finished 4-12.

Tebow, a first-round draft pick out of Florida in 2010, generated some excitement while starting in the Broncos' final four games. He passed for 654 yards and five touchdowns on the season, but he also rushed for 227 yards and six scores.

"Tim is a very good football player," Elway said. "He's not a very good quarterback yet. We can make him a great quarterback. He's a young guy.

"When you look back a year ago when they drafted him ... he has all (the intangibles). Now we have to get him experience and get him the work to improve him as a quarterback."

Elway, no stranger to Super Bowls after having played in five of them, emphasized that new coach John Fox and his staff have plenty of evaluation to do at quarterback and every other position this offseason.

"Now that John and his staff are in place, they're going to have to come in and draw their own conclusions," Elway said.

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Mangini has no qualms starting rookie McCoy vs. Patriots

Browns coach Eric Mangini has no qualms starting third-string, rookie quarterback Colt McCoy against the AFC-leading New England Patriots on Sunday in Cleveland.

"He's been in a couple of tough arenas -- going into Pittsburgh for his first game, that's about as tough as it gets," Mangini said.

Billick: Browns should play McCoy It’s time for the Browns to go with Colt McCoy and find out how good he can be," writes Brian Billick. "I’ve always believed the only way to learn is to play." More ...

McCoy will get the call because neither Jake Delhomme nor Seneca Wallace was able to practice all week as they recover from high ankle sprains.

Mangini left open the possibility that Wallace could be active for the Patriots game.

"I think Seneca has a shot this week (to be active), but it's an outside shot," Mangini said.

This will be McCoy's first start at home. He's 1-1 with a loss to the Steelers and a win over the New Orleans Saints, who fell for several trick plays during a 30-17 loss to the Browns two weeks ago.

The Browns had hoped to have Wallace back this week, but he has not yet been cleared by doctors.

Wallace hasn't played since injuring his ankle Oct. 10 against the Atlanta Falcons, his fourth consecutive start filling in for Delhomme, who rolled his ankle in the season opener at Tampa Bay. High-ankle sprains typically take four to six weeks to heal, and Wallace is just one month into recovery.

Starting tackle John St. Clair (ankle) also didn't practice Friday. Mangini held out hope that all three injured players could return soon.

"We just follow what the trainers and doctors say," Mangini said. "The week he (Wallace), John and Jake had was the best they've had in terms of movement."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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With Lynch traded, Jackson steps in as Bills' starting RB

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Fred Jackson doesn't have time to question the reasoning behind why the Buffalo Bills traded fellow running back Marshawn Lynch to the Seattle Seahawks -- though he was aware a deal had been in the works.

What matters to Jackson is providing the Bills' sputtering offense a sense of identity now that he has reclaimed the starting job he had in taking over for Lynch midway through last season.

"That's the business side of it, that's what they handle upstairs," Jackson said before practice Wednesday, one day after Lynch was traded to the Seahawks in exchange for draft picks. "All we can do is come out here on the field and play with the guys we have. We have to focus on going out and winning football games."

And that has been the problem for the winless Bills, who are going through another round of upheaval while preparing to host the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-2) on Sunday.

Last week, Buffalo shuffled quarterbacks after cutting former starter Trent Edwards, who has since signed with Jacksonville and will serve as the team's backup this weekend. This week, its running backs, as the Bills came to the conclusion that three is, in fact, a crowd.

Lynch's departure frees up more carries for Jackson and rookie first-round pick C.J. Spiller, who has yet to provide the spark he showed in scoring three touchdowns this preseason.

In his first opportunity to discuss the trade, Bills coach Chan Gailey wouldn't provide details into the timing of the move even though Lynch had first asked to be dealt well before the Bills drafted Spiller.

"I don't get into sooner or later, there's a lot of things that go into decisions like this," Gailey said. "You're trying to do what's best for your team. And it worked out that a trade was made, and we're fortunate we have two good players that can carry the load for us the rest of the way."

Gailey said he's leaning on Jackson because, as a fourth-year pro, he has more experience. And he intends to have Spiller more involved. Spiller has scored a touchdown receiving and another on a kickoff return, but he has just 49 yards on 14 carries.

Lynch had received the bulk of the work in starting the past three games, and he led the Bills with 37 carries -- three more than Jackson and Spiller had combined -- for 164 yards. That left Jackson and Spiller splitting limited playing time because Buffalo's offense was either having difficulty sustaining drives or forced to play catch-up by going primarily with a passing attack.

Not much has worked on an offense that has failed to generate 230 yards in three of its four games and is averaging 13.5 first downs.

The Bills all but bottomed out in a 38-14 loss to the New York Jets last weekend. It was a game in which quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick led the team with 74 rushing yards, and Buffalo went 0 of 10 in third-down conversions and finished with 19:31 in time of possession.

Enter Jackson, who had a breakout season last year in finishing with a team-leading and career-best 1,062 rushing yards.

Jackson learned of his promotion upon arriving for team meetings Wednesday and shortly after he wished Lynch well with his new team during a phone conversation.

"Now it's my time to stand up here and try to make plays," Jackson said. "It's going to be a challenge. It always is, but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to."

The trade didn't catch Jackson by surprise because he said Lynch had kept him up to date on the progress of talks over the past few weeks.

Spiller, selected ninth overall out of Clemson, was surprised by the move, saying he believe a three-back rotation had a chance to work. However, Spiller acknowledged he's having difficulty finding his niche.

"I'm still unsure what my role is," he said. "It's kind of disappointing that you don't really know. But at the same time, you know what you can bring to this team. I stay encouraged by that. So you just wait your turn and try to help the team any way you can."

Fitzpatrick wasn't surprised by the trade, given how Buffalo's offense has sputtered and the team is winless.

"Well, there's never a dull moment in the NFL, especially when you're losing," Fitzpatrick said. "It's just one of those things we had talked about, crowded backfield and trying to get everybody touches. Hopefully, it works out for Marshawn, and hopefully, it works out well for us."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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