"The exterior of the Broncos' Dove Valley headquarters is made of thick, concrete walls with a stucco composite finish. Better to withstand the potential bye-week threat of pitchforks, lanterns and torches from fans demanding the team play Tim Tebow.

Every season has them, and every NFL team has gone through them. The Broncos, though, may be embroiled in one of the most fiercely debated quarterback controversies of all time.

A polarizing issue of this magnitude doesn't have one dynamic in play but several. One is that incumbent Kyle Orton is a good quarterback, but not good enough to hold off the Tebow phenomena.

Another is that the notion the raw-passing Tebow isn't ready to start doesn't fly with his legion of followers who see rookies such as Cam Newton, Andy Dalton and Blaine Gabbert playing for other NFL teams, ready or not.

Skewed perception has to be another factor. How else to explain why there's such an outcry for Tebow, who has a 1-2 career record, to replace Orton, who is 1-2 this season?

"A lot of the noise outside this building is obviously coming from the previous two years," John Elway, the Broncos' executive director of football operations, said in reference to the Broncos finishing 4-12 in 2010 and losing eight of their last 10 in 2009. "And that's understandable given what we've been through. But (head coach) John Fox wasn't here, I wasn't here, most of this staff wasn't here."