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omac
12-01-2007, 02:00 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/nfl/magee/20071125-9999-1s25nflcol.html


Cutler still a beacon in murky AFC West

UNION-TRIBUNE

November 25, 2007

I'm peering at the AFC West. In the murk and the mire, I can make out just one guy who can give this division clarity. Jay Cutler.

It is difficult for me, I must admit, to bring up his name. In the week preceding the beginning of an NFL season, the practice on these pages is for four or five scholars to identify a coming Super Bowl champion and the league's MVP. I chose Denver to take The Big One in large part because of my admiration of Cutler, whom I listed as the MVP.

Admission: I suspect Tom Brady is going to edge out my guy.

Not that I have cooled on Cutler. Revelations don't come along all that often in the NFL, but I experienced one while observing Cutler play quarterback against the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium last season. The feeling was similar to the one I had when I heard Judy Garland sing for the first time. Judy, damn, she could make you cry.

On the afternoon Cutler came into view at Qualcomm, he was a rookie making only his second NFL start, but he clearly had an arm that the football gods bestow on very few. He had size, too, at 6-feet-3 and 233 pounds, and he could move around a little. In his first four starts, he aimed multiple touchdown passes in all four. No other first-year guy had done that. A quarterback with a future, obviously.

Football as it is when it is played for money is a quarterback's game and a coach's game. “To give a coach like Mike Shanahan a guy like Cutler . . . ,” Jim Saccomano said.

Saccomano didn't have to finish his sentence.

I had put in a call for Saccomano and he answered it. He would. They don't have a hall of fame for NFL publicists, but if they did, they would be striking Saccomano's bust. He was the Broncos' publicity guy through many of the 25 years when I was tagging along after the Chargers. When I was reassigned, I continued to hear from Saccomano. Every time he was in town, he would contact me as a courtesy. Some kind of fellow.

I explained to Saccomano that I favor Denver in the competition in the AFC West because I give Shanahan's side a pronounced advantage at quarterback. In our town, Philip Rivers is beset by the blahs and one doesn't have to be carrying a clipboard, a stopwatch and binoculars to determine that Rivers, with that sidearm delivery of his, is mechanically flawed. In Kansas City, the quarterback is Brodie Croyle, a slender individual (very slender) who had a lengthy history of injuries when he was playing the position at Alabama. One does not wish Croyle any ill, but for his name to show up on NFL injury lists would not be surprising.

As the NFL heads into its climactic weeks, the Chargers and the Broncos are at 5-5, with the Chiefs at 4-6. “We're 5-5 with a bullet,” Saccomano said. “I don't know what the Chargers' 5-5 would be.”

“A bullet,” Saccomano explained, is a symbol attached to a number when it is spiraling up the musical charts.

The Broncos have had problems. Once this season, they were No. 32 against the rush. There are 32 teams. They were being exploited in this area, as they were in Denver in Week 5 when the Chargers won 41-3 with Rivers throwing just 18 passes. The following week, the Colorado side had a bye. It has been a different team defensively in the succeeding weeks, often crowding eight athletes around the line of scrimmage.

“Now instead of giving up about 180 yards a game rushing, it's more like 107,” Saccomano said. “We're No. 8 against the run. We've just made steady improvement.”

For their game against the Bears in Chicago today, the Broncos are getting back wide receiver Javon Walker, who has been idled by a knee injury. Brandon Marshall is a second-year wide receiver whom Saccomano likens to “a man-child.” He is 6-4 and 222. Mostly, the Denver club has Cutler.

“He just gets it,” contended Saccomano. He noted that when Cutler was being screened before his rookie season at the Indianapolis combine, Vince Young and Matt Leinart said no, thank you, when it came time to do the bench press. “Cutler said, 'Sure, why not?' ” Saccomano said.

At Vanderbilt, Cutler as a senior had been the Southeastern Conference's MVP. “I would say to you that playing at Vanderbilt, it was more difficult for him to become an MVP than it was for Reggie Bush to win the Heisman award,” Saccomano said.

“This guy was throwing to physics majors and premed majors and going against Georgia, LSU, Alabama and Auburn. Mike loved it that he had to run for his life for four years.”

To Saccomano, Cutler possesses “a little bit of spit and arrogance,” but he tempers it. “John Elway knew he was Elway and I wasn't,” Saccomano said. “Cutler knows he's the quarterback.”

In the AFC West, nothing is more meaningful.

SR
12-01-2007, 02:26 PM
Very entertaining article. Good find.

omac
12-01-2007, 02:47 PM
Very entertaining article. Good find.

Thanks man. :beer:

broncosfanscott
12-01-2007, 10:00 PM
That is a very good article and I was glad to see it in the morning paper.

TXBRONC
12-01-2007, 10:06 PM
It was good read, thanks Omac.

omac
12-02-2007, 04:22 AM
Your all welcome. A whole lot of good things to look forward to for the Broncos and their fans. :cheers: