Thread: Cutler still has some growing up to do

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...cos--and-down/


Cutler still has some growing up to do

In the midst of another dreary performance at home Sunday, the Broncos' discouraged partisans began streaming toward the parking lots sometime in the third quarter. They were cold, but not as cold as their team.

By the time the Raiders stretched their lead to three touchdowns with nearly 10 minutes to play in the fourth, the exodus was a flood. The stragglers that remained were not in a good mood, letting their heroes know exactly what they thought of another desultory show.

Last week, in Atlanta, the Broncos won a game almost no one expected them to win. This week, at the former Mile High Stadium parking lot, they lost a game no one expected them to lose.

On any given Sunday and all that, but sometimes it just looks like the Broncos forgot to take their medication. So I asked a number of them about the causes of this maddening inconsistency. The answers were illuminating.

Mike Shanahan listed all the good things his team did Sunday, suggesting a few mistakes were the only difference between last week's highs and this week's lows. He is a coach, after all. Stepping back and looking at the big picture is not his inclination.

Wide receiver Brandon Marshall was succinct:

"Immature," he said. "I think we're a fairly young team and we've been battling ups and downs all year."

Remarkably, Jay Cutler had no opinion. Not that he cared to share, anyway. Asked if he had an explanation for the ups and downs of the offense he runs, the Broncos' third-year quarterback replied:

"I do not. It's your guys' job to write it up."

Fair enough. So here it is: The heart of the Broncos' inconsistency is their quarterback. He personifies their split personality.

As Cutler goes, so goes his team. If you think turnovers are a good indicator of the Broncos' chances, you should check where they're coming from. Of the Broncos' 22 giveaways so far this year, 14 are Cutler's.

Or save time and just check his passer ratings:

In the Broncos' six wins: 137.5, 109.6, 93.3, 96.1, 107.9 and 106.4.

In the Broncos' five losses: 71.9, 77.8, 64.3, 60.7 and Sunday's 49.8, Cutler's worst game of the season.

That's an average of 108.5 in the wins and 64.9 in the losses. All their other issues aside, it is Cutler who sets the tone for the Broncos, both good and bad. And it is Cutler who personifies their immaturity, both on and off the field.

Not to trigger Jake flashbacks, but there is good Jay and there is bad Jay, and the final score almost always tells you which one showed up.

Sunday, the Broncos trumpeted Cutler getting to 3,000 passing yards in 11 games this season, tying John Elway in 1987 for the franchise record.

These are the wrong numbers to examine. Here are the numbers that matter:

Through his first 32 NFL starts, Cutler's record is 15-17.

Through his first 32 NFL starts, Elway's record was 22-10.

Who has the stronger arm doesn't matter. Who got how many passing yards how quickly doesn't matter. Winning matters. And Cutler has some work to do there.

The word is already out around the league that you can get into Cutler's head on the field, especially if things aren't going well for him.

I can't vouch for that, but we definitely see two different people after games, depending on the outcome.

After wins, Cutler is almost a stand-up comic, giving Marshall grief and showing a child's joy at a happy result.

After losses, he has nothing to say and considers accounting for the result an imposition. Every question is ridiculous. He mumbles a few quick answers and makes a rapid exit.

You might think this a natural response from a competitor, but keeping an even emotional keel is considered a key to success by most of the league's top quarterbacks.

Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers, to name three, make an obvious effort to be professional and responsive after losses, as if they see it as a test of their maturity. Cutler, by contrast, too often comes off as a spoiled kid. When things don't go his way, he will be in a snit.

"If you want to be a good team in this league, you have to be consistent, and right now we're not very consistent," said veteran wideout Brandon Stokley.

In fairness, it is still only Cutler's third pro season.

One hopes he will mature with age, on and off the field. When a team drafts and develops its own quarterback, patience is required.

Still, he's 25 now and was outplayed Sunday by a 23-year-old.

Whether Cutler cares to address the issue or not, the single biggest improvement the Broncos could make right now would be more professionalism, more maturity and more consistency from their quarterback.

Totally agree

No article could be truer.

I love the fact we have Cutler because of his potential, but this article is spot-on. Dude needs to grow up.

And so it begins....Guess the honeymoon is over for Jay.

That’s about the long and the short of it.

We can’t win without Cutler. Bates doesn’t believe in the running game. Didn’t when we had all our bodies there and REALLY doesn’t now. So if Jay’s having a bad game our running attack won’t be there to bail him out.

Our defense can’t stop anybody when it matters. So Jay needs to not be stopped when it matters.

When he’s on, we can eke out 1-score victories.

When he’s off, we get destroyed.

Whether he likes it or not, it’s on him. He KNOWS it’s on him. Which is why he presses so hard when he’s having an off game. He knows we can’t afford it, so he tries even harder to make big plays – and thereby screws up even harder, too.

Hopefully Shanahan takes pity on him and gives him at least one great back to complement the brute force of Hillis, and makes our offense commit again to the running attack. Rivers has had LT. Matt Ryan has the awesome ATL running attack. Even Russell has 3 good backs that SHOULD take the pressure off of him to do it all.

We won a Super Bowl with Elway having another off game, because TD wouldn’t be denied and our defense was hungry – and the whole team knew Elway would be around late in the game. Nobody has that faith in Cutler yet, and Cutler hasn’t got that running attack. He’s shown he can nosedive as hard as anyone, and start focusing on mistakes instead of forgetting about them and making the next drive the right one, but part of that is because he can’t just hand it off 8 times on the next drive and grind out a score.

He’s young. It happens. But it’s been that way his whole career, college and pros.

He didn’t have a lot of help at Vandy either. Here, we gave him the passing weapons…but we gave them TO HIM. We didn’t give him a running game to take pressure off his shoulders, we gave him every passing weapon we could find to put pressure on.

He had that at Vandy too, and he was brilliant at times and struggled at other times. If we want him to grow, we have to be able to win games when he can’t throw for 400 yards and 4 scores.

That starts with a running attack on offense and a defense that, at least occasionally, can bail out his mistakes. Have a no-turnover D with a turnover-prone QB is a bad recipe.

Fix the recipe, and maybe Jay can take his next steps toward being a dominant, WINNING quarterback.

~G

As Cutler goes, so goes his team. If you think turnovers are a good indicator of the Broncos' chances, you should check where they're coming from. Of the Broncos' 22 giveaways so far this year, 14 are Cutler's.

Or save time and just check his passer ratings:

In the Broncos' six wins: 137.5, 109.6, 93.3, 96.1, 107.9 and 106.4.

In the Broncos' five losses: 71.9, 77.8, 64.3, 60.7 and Sunday's 49.8, Cutler's worst game of the season.

Ive been pointing to this logic all year. Hopefully he will grow into a more consistent QB as he is still young but this is spot on.

He needs to learn to check down once in a while.

He thinks he can throw for the BIG play to much and gets burnt.

That said, no sacks or INT's and no ability to stop the run doesn't help either.

the first drive was how our offense should function 95% of the time. we were picking up first downs every 2-3 plays, taking what they would give us, and making it look easy. we should do that ALL game.

as soon as we had that first fumble, we got away from that, and it was our downfall on offense.

word

This problem has a lot to do with his coaching staff. Shanny and Bates should be getting on him for this crap. They should be mentors, not friends. Instead Shanny seems to think he can't get pissed at Jay because Jay might throw a tempter tantrum and give him the silent treatment. I haven't once seen Shanny get in Jay's face after a bad play like he used to with Bubby, Brian, and Jake. He just let's Jay go sulk on the bench with his head hung.

I think Bates is just too young to really know how to handle Jay.

IMO Jay's inconsistancies fall squarely in Shanny's lap. He needs to get this kid's head on straight and teach him how to handle himself like a PROFESSIONAL...because that is what he is. This isn't backyard football where you can take your ball and go home if things dont go your way.

Time to act like a professional...that should start with proper mentors. Once Jay learns how to carry himself, it will go a long way to him getting better from his mistakes, rather than letting them get into his head.

You would think the kid would be mature enough to handle losses and deal with the media after losses.

He sure lost enough games at Vandy................he should be used to dealing with losses...

And yes.....I know ther is more media with the broncos than when he was at Vandy.....but he was under the spotlight......esp. his senior year....

The article is true, except for what it omits. Yes, Cutler should develop more
of an "even keel." The players around him also should pick up their own
performance. And the coaches have to get smarter.

Dropped passes aren't Cutler's fault. The Raiders had more constant pressure
on him than any other team so far this year. That wasn't Cutler's fault. It is
my understanding that Cutler doesn't call his own plays, except for an
occasional check off. Calling deep passes time after time after time is not
Cutler's fault.

Remember when Favre came to town with the Packers and beat the Broncos
with two deep passes? How many deep passes did Favre throw in that game?
Two. At least, there weren't many more than that.

The Broncos have great receivers in the slot and at TE, and the outside
receivers are good short and long. And Hillis is a terrific receiver. So where
were the slants, the hooks, the dumps out of the backfield? Where was the
West Coast?

Cutler did not have his best game. Neither did the receivers or the linemen.
But what really stunk up the joint was the play calling. Whoever calls the
plays (we can never seem to get that straight) should lose his voice.

I'm not making excuses for Cutler. Yes, he stunk it up yesterday. I'm just
saying the problems range beyond him . . . far beyond him.

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Good article.

I also think it's unfortunate for a 25 year old kid to bear that kind of burden.

"We don't have a chance of winning, unless you play exceptionally well. Be a robot."

It's Shanahan's job to develop a team around him, and he's been very poor at doing that right now, specifically on the defensive side of the ball.

Originally Posted by topscribe

Remember when Favre came to town with the Packers and beat the Broncos
with two deep passes? How many deep passes did Favre throw in that game?
Two. At least, there weren't many more than that.

That could change this week.