Denver fans were vocal in their support of backup quarterback Tim Tebow during Monday night’s loss to the Raiders, but coach John Fox says he didn’t hear the fans chanting Tebow’s name. And Fox isn’t about to change his stance that Kyle Orton will continue to start and Tebow will continue to sit.
“Kyle’s our starting quarterback,” Fox said today. “I don’t think too many guys are firing their whole teams after one game because they happen to be in the half the teams in the league that lost in Week One.”
Immediately following the game, Fox ignored a question about Tebow. Today he went out of his way to praise the Broncos’ paying customers while also saying that the last thing he’s going to do is listen to the fans when it comes to picking his quarterback.
“I couldn’t actually hear that,” Fox said of the Tebow chants. “I thought our crowd was great. I thought it was electric. I thought it was as good as I’ve been associated with. All my feelings about the fans and the crowd and the home field was tremendous.”
The Broncos are in a tough position: They can’t bench Orton for Tebow, because all indications are that Orton isn’t just better than Tebow in practice, but he’s much better than Tebow in practice. And yet they also can’t stop the fans from continuing to push for Tebow to be the starter.
The Broncos are back home against the Bengals on Sunday. If Orton struggles, the fans in Denver will make sure their Tebow chants are loud enough for Fox to hear.