3
Apr
2009
Broncos Fans: Welcome Back to the Weeds (Coors Light on sale)
Jay Cutler was a franchise quarterback, or at the very least that was where he was trending. The town thought he was good (he’s no Elway, but he’s better than Jake the Snake); the NFL obviously thought he was very good; and the Broncos could have spent the next 5 years plugging in anybody around him in their quest for the Super Bowl and the fans would have felt all right. For fans, having Cutler as your franchise quarterback felt just like you did as a child sleeping in the back seat while your dad drove through the rain: the car is going to stay on the road, just close your eyes and you might wake up at Uncle Super Bowl’s house. But McDaniels traded that guy away. Not having a franchise guy is like when your oldest friend in high school first gets his license and is passing other guys in one-lane school zones and smoking Parliament Lights and you get the feeling that there is a good chance you are going to end up in a fiery wreck and will soon be watching your arm smolder 10 feet away from your body through the broken windshield.
Sure, Cutler was acting like a wild brat, I get that. But why would Josh McDaniels throw your franchise to the wolves? This is your franchise guy, not some fly-by-night girlfriend. This is your wife, the mother of your children, for rich and for poor. You hold on to your franchise quarterback like you do your wife: you make it work, you get down on your knees as you make promises, you massage their feet, you take them out to dinner, and hang out with their parents, you do everything you can to keep them because if you don’t you know you are going to end up in a one-bedroom apartment surround by beer cans and take-out drinking yourself to death. An NFL team can pretend all they want, but without a QB like Cutler they are out in the NFL borderlands, waist deep in the weeds, while your fans watch you in the distance bumbling through the growth, heading down paths that all lead to the same place: mediocrity. Teams die out there. And they die alone.
Cutler had taken the Broncos away from all that; the Broncos were out of the weeds, they were in that clear, magical space that NFL teams find themselves in when they have their franchise QB. NFL rosters begin and end with the guy under center, and a team without him is like putting a nice stereo in a Chevy Nova– you are not fooling anyone, you still drive a Nova. The Broncos finally had the guy to replace Elway. He was their GUY! If I’m a Bronco’s fan this morning, I feel sick because I know it could take years– decades even– to find that new guy. Ask the Buffalo Bills who are still looking to replace Jim Kelly or the 49er’s who are trying to replace Jeff Garcia (though in fact they are still trying to replace Steve Young). The boys in Dallas aren’t that far removed from Quincy Quarter and they’re not sure if they are sold on Tony Romo. The Browns have been around since 1999 and they haven’t had one single QB their fans can feel good about.
Not having a QB will suck the marrow off a fan’s bones. It will take you and slowly squeeze the life from you as you watch mediocre QB, after mediocre QB toss 4-yard passes on 3 and 8. If I am a Broncos fan I am confused. I am betrayed. I am done with Josh McDaniels who somehow can’t change the mind of a 26-year-old kid who had his feelings hurt over trade rumors, a guy who decides that Kyle Orton and his fabulous neck beard can step into John Elway’s Hall-of-Fame-sized shoes. If I am a Broncos fan, I am taking a day off from work, I am retreating to my basement, I am opening the first of 30 Coors Lights, I am staring into the dark screen of the TV, and I am wondering if it will be worth turning on this year, or next year, or ever again.
2
Apr
2009
Report: Cutler to Bears
Jay Cutler mopes his way into Chicago's heart
ESPN.com is reporting that the Broncos and Bears have agreed on a deal for Jay Cutler.
The Bears apparently gave up Kyle Orton and TWO 1st round draft pics (’09 & ’10) and a 3rd (’09) to get Cutler.
This is a shocking development on a day where rumors were swirling wildly about where Cutler might end up (including reports that a deal with the Redskins was imminent), but very few predicted he’d end up in Chicago.
UPDATE: Fox Sports is now reporting that the Bears have also just signed OT Orlando Pace to protect their new QB. It sure has been a busy day in Chicago!
The sexiness of this trade is undeniable
Dan Snyder must be throwing a tantrum right now.
2
Apr
2009
Cutler floats east in disgrace
The long, dull saga of Jay Cutler’s divorce from the Denver Broncos may soon end with the Washington Redskins sending two high draft picks (and possibly Jason Campbell) to Denver. Washington and Cutler deserve each other. While the Bucs or Vikings (or another NFC team) could enter the mix, it’s the Skins who fit the profile of a team willing to repeatedly sell the farm for a big name.
The league has changed so remarkably over the past 20 years. Perhaps this was always true, but today’s NFL is ruled by greed and selfishness. Over and over, the league is tarnished by the growing disloyalty between the players and their teams. Both are at fault, but it is the fans who go hungry, left in tangled shreds along the roadside. How long will this equation work in an economy that spirals violently downward like a burning meteor toward an unkowing earth? Ticket prices rise while the product on the field is increasingly watered down with more teams and more games added to a schedule that already leaves most “stars” injured by season’s end.
I won’t waste any time rooting for Jay Cutler, or the team that picks him up.
In the past six months, we’ve seen one NFL player destroy a human life in a DUI accident, and another SHOOT HIMSELF in a bar. In both cases, the idea of representing one’s team, one’s city–at the very least, something greater than oneself–means nothing.
We are hard-pressed to find an athlete worth caring about.
Jay Cutler inspires no such feelings–he will be a memory soon enough.
He will float off like we all will–vanishing into the night. His achievements: dust.
As Marty Schottenheimer once said to his defense, in huddled silence along the Browns’ sideline in Cleveland Municipal Stadium–in a far better time than this: “There’s a gleam, men… A gleam… A Let’s get the gleam.”
His message is lost today. Lost on Cutler. Lost on the frothing owners. Lost from city to city, in a widening cloud.
Go quietly.
31
Mar
2009
Tuesday evening notebook
As posted earlier this evening, the Broncos have made the decision to trade their overly dramatic quarterback Jay Cutler (who doesn’t mix well with their seemingly overhwhelmed head coach). Per PFT, interested teams appear to be the Jets, the Browns, the 49′ers, the Bears, the Lions, the Redskins, and the Bucs. Pat Bowlen is fuming.
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/31/six-teams-and-counting-interested-in-cutler/
The Lions obviously have a need. But if they pull the trigger, they’ll most likely be forced to deal the first pick in the draft (what else can they POSSIBLY offer). Recent reports suggest that they’re impressed with Georgia QB Matt Stafford. Would Denver then turn around and pick up Stafford? (Is Stafford honestly worth the number one pick?) (With Chris Simms on the roster, if Denver went a different route in the draft, it could potentially shake up the top five quite considerably.)
Option two: There is a steady stream of whispers suggesting that Brady Quinn will be shipped to Denver for Cutler in a multi-player, or player-picks swap. This seems feasible, especially considering how deeply enamored Mangini was with Cutler when he entered the league. If they join the fray, the Browns will give up much more than Quinn, no doubt. Additional scenarios suggest that a third team would be involved in the trade (one rumor had the Browns giving away Quinn to Denver, the Broncos shipping Cutler to Washington, and the Browns somehow ending up with Jason Campbell and a coffee maker.) (Editor’s note: I will stab myself if the Browns do something like this.)
Instead of Quinn, would the Browns ever ship Derek Anderson in a trade? Would the Broncos ever fall for this? Unlikely. Anderson had a sensational 2007 season, and showed what he can do with a solid offensive line and some weapons on offense, but he was horrid in 2008, and sunk swiftly with the rest of the team. In relief, Quinn showed grit and promise, but ultimately failed to turn the ship around before getting injured. That said, Quinn appears to have more promise–or, at least, we’re not sure he’s a bust.
The question that needs to be asked is whether we view Cutler as a guy ready to lead an NFL team into the future. Physical skills aside, his self-centered behavior, and flashes of immaturity over the past three years, leave you wondering if he can suddenly become a stable and team-oriented presence in a new lockerroom.
31
Mar
2009
Cutler done with Broncos
When children coach children
Breaking News on TV here in Denver. Per CBS 4, Broncos president/CEO Pat Bowlen says that they will accommodate strong-armed but whiny QB Jay Cutler’s request to be traded:
“Numerous attempts to contact Jay Cutler in the last 10 days, both by Head Coach Josh McDaniels and myself, have been unsuccessful,” Bowlen said in the statement. “A conversation with his agent earlier today clearly communicated and confirmed to us that Jay no longer has any desire to play for the Denver Broncos. We will begin discussions with other teams in an effort to accommodate his request to be traded.”
Wow. Now it’s clear that Josh McDaniels came into Denver, wanted to bring in Matt Cassel as “his guy”, and has proved himself to be a pretty big ass since he got there. I mean, the guy is only 32 himself, so he’s going to be younger than some of his players, and let’s just say he’s off to a bad start in the leadership department. But Cutler sure is making it hard to take his side in all of this. He and McDaniels had one meeting for 20 minutes to try to resolve their differences. Twenty Minutes!!! I’ve had longer meetings to figure out what to order for lunch, and these guys can’t put aside their immature BS and talk for a whole half hour to try to figure this out? And how many hundreds of millions are involved here?
And then Cutler just decides to stop returning texts from the CEO of the franchise. R&R has just discovered the contents of Cutler’s last text to Bowlen ten days ago: “Josh iz SOOO LAME! I’m out. L8R!”
Congratulations Jay, you got your wish. Have fun in Detroit.
