Great post. Everyone is overlooking how the offense has completely changed with Orton.
Here's the pass vs run ratio per game:
Game 1 - 22 pass, 33 rush
Game 2 - 26 pass, 33 rush
Game 3 - 39 pass, 22 rush
Game 4 - 44 pass, 23 rush
Game 5 - 43 pass, 22 rush
Game 6 - 38 pass, 23 rush
Game 7 - 43 pass, 19 rush
So, why go that way? Well, quite frankly, it's because the coaches realized how ****ty our oline is, and with EJ's limitations they can't pass the ball a ton with him.
Here's how the rush yards per game breaks down:
Game 1 - 5.85 YPC
Game 2 - 3.42 YPC
Game 3 - 3.95 YPC
Game 4 - 4.17 YPC
Game 5 - 2.22 YPC
Game 6 - 2.95 YPC
Game 7 - 6.21 YPC
Quite frankly, EJ doesn't do well if we have less than 4 YPC and we have to throw a bunch. Even at 4 YPC (Houston), when the game is on the line, he can't win it. The coaching staff recognized that and made the change to Orton, who can sling the ball when the running game isn't working.
Today was our best YPC day due to Spiller's long run.
I think the coaching staff right now is trying to make up for the deficiency running the ball by having Kyle sling it. I think it's a solid strategy and I have to think they will focus on keeping Orton this offseason while bolstering the OL and resigning our D guys. If they do that, we could have a damn good team next year. And we should stay in contention this year.