Booty canned; Orlovsky remains (for safety purposes)

I know the backup QB role has been a sore subject around here for quite a while. And I've made no secret about putting some of my faith into Safety Dan, who has been a popular whipping boy, himself... especially in these parts. But playing mistake-free is a huge part of the challenge, for even your grizzled, H.O.F.-bound veteran. Let alone an inexperienced player. QBs must take some risks, and Danny is still definitely in the process of learning how to do so. Uh... properly, that is. 

So please, set down your bleach. For now.

via Yahoo! Sports (I'm too old to care how to link this up correctly):

QB Dan Orlovsky will open the season as Matt Schaub's backup after John David Booty was released. Orlovsky threw two interceptions in the final preseason game. "I can't dismiss the great camp he's had. I'm not going to throw that away because he made two poor decisions last night," coach Gary Kubiak said. "Now, do I like those decisions? Can we win with those decisions? No. But I can't but help but think of the good things he's done this camp, the progress he's made, the way he played. He was eight-for-eight until he made one mistake and it seemed to lead to another one. So, it's my job to get that corrected. But I've got confidence in him and he's got to overcome that and move forward, and I've got to help him overcome that. It was about the accumulation of work, not one night.

Orlovsky completed his first eight passes Thursday, but then tossed two interceptions in Houston's preseason loss to Tampa Bay. Orlovsky had been having a good camp from the point of view of Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, but his performance Thursday may have cost him the backup quarterback job. "He's almost automatic and then all of a sudden he'll make some poor decisions in the red zone. I don't know if that led to the next one, but the bottom line is that if you're playing quarterback in this league, you have to protect the ball and that's something that I've been battling him on. You just hate for him to end the preseason that way. I've got confidence in him, I think he's grown up a lot, but obviously these things just can't happen," Kubiak said in his post-game news conference.