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Published on 06/03/2008 at Tue Jun 03 18:03.
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Jay Cutler

[Jay Cutler]
Name: Jay Cutler
Height, Weight: 6’3″, 233
Position: Quarterback
Age, Experience: 25, 3
College: Vanderbilt

Jay Cutler is the latest player to attempt to fill the massive shoes left by Hall of Fame Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway. As his young career has progressed, it’s become apparent that Cutler is trying to avoid such comparisons, and wants to create his own legacy with the Denver Broncos. Drafted 11th overall in 2006, Cutler started his first five games in his rookie season, then followed up by starting all 16 games last year. For his career, he has completed 378 of 604 passes (62.6%) for 4,498 yards, along with 29 touchdowns and 19 interceptions for an overall passer rating of 88.2.

The Good: All signs point to Cutler being the future for the Denver Broncos. And the future is bright. He’s entering his third year with the Broncos, well known to be a huge event under Mike Shanahan. To this point he’s been solid, completing over 60% of his passes and having several games with passer ratings above the 90’s and even 100’s. His diagnosis with Type I Diabetes will only help him this year and beyond, and he’s began to show leadership off the field in various ways.

The Bad: Many fans were looking for Cutler to step up and improve from year one to year two, but he actually finished with an extremely similar (slightly lower) passer rating to his rookie campaign of only five games. From a scouting report standpoint, Cutler still has the tendency to lock onto a target. He also still throws off his back foot from time to time, although this became less frequent as 2007 progressed.

Status: Incumbent starter. Signed through 2011. As every NFL QB, Jay Cutler has a lot of pressure on him entering the season. In Denver, the microscope and expectations are even higher. His third year will be a make or break year in the court of public opinion for Cutler. Jay Cutler was born on April 29, 1983 in Santa Claus, Indiana.

As always, we invite you, the readers, to partake. Is Jay Cutler the quarterback to bring us back to Super Bowl glory, or is the jury still out?

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  • kerry

    lets examine who has tried to take over since Elway. Brian Griese, Jake Plummer. and Cutler has better tools then both of them. if you look at Cutler compared to Elway, they both have the arm, the mobility, accuracy, patience in the pocket, and the ability to improvise. 3,500 yards and 20 TD’s is an excellent statistical season for ANY second year QB. Cutler absolutely can take us back to the super bowl. but, like when Elway played, Cutler needs the players around him to do so. Cutler cant carry a team on his own. last year with all the injuries we had on the O-line Cutler still had a good season. and played without treating his diabetes. the skies the limit for Cutler.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    I agree Kerry, Cutler had the potential.

    But at some point in their careers I was saying the EXACT SAME THING about Griese and Plummer. Just hoping to keep an open mind.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    I say we record the IP addresses of anyone that votes ‘disapprove’ for Cutler and ban them for life.

    …just kidding. lol

  • dan

    Biggest difference between JC,Plummer, and Griese IMO is heart. Griese basically quit in 2002 and was replaced by Buerline (sp) and Plummer showed that he would wilt in big games (AFC Title game). Now JC hasnt been in the playoffs but he has a drive in him Bronco fans have not seen since #7. Remember it took Elway until his 4th season to win a playoff game. I think Cutler could do that this upcoming season.

  • Arden

    I think that the most important thing separating Cutler from Griese and Plummer is the mental toughness to handle media scrutiny, fan expectations, AND diabetes. Lot of people have the physical tools to be successful athletes but can’t keep their mental or off-field business in order.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    Bit of a confession time for me… I hated Jay Cutler when we first drafted him. I was officially a Jake Plummer fan. I didn’t blame Jake as much as most – the defense had just as much of the blame there. The offensive line did poorly. The whole team underwhelmed in the AFCCG.

    I was looking for a big splashy draft choice to “win now” and get back to the Super Bowl… My jaw dropped when Cutler’s name was called.

    Since then obviously Cutler’s grown on me. By preseason I really liked the kid. Midway through the season I was asking for him to start in Plummer’s stead. Just initially had my doubts.

    Glad I was wrong.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    Since we’re confessing, I’ll admit that I was a fan of BOTH Brian Griese and Jake Plummer.

    Brian was a smart player and a precision passer that just took too much of the blame for a couple of BAD injury-ridden seasons. Brian folded under the self-imposed burden of these losses and it cost him dearly.

    Jake was a GREAT locker room leader and a fun QB to watch. I know we all refer to that Championship game and his frustrating tendency to throw the ball to the other team, but he also had a HUGE streak of no interception games. In the end, despite the fact that he won a lot of games, Shanahan had an issue with Jake feeling that football was his job not his passion.

    In essence, we lost one QB because he took too much of the team’s losses onto himself and another because he refused to take the team’s losses personally enough effect him beyond the field.

    In Cutler’s case, I feel like we’ve seen a very stable person that seems like he can handle team’s losses (even when affected by a serious undiagnosed disease) coolly and with out giving up or becoming broken and depressed. He also has proven that we have a QB with a DEEP desire to win in this league. He has done more work than any other player in the locker room in regards to off-season tape research and training and that will certainly show during the season.

    I hope these first couple of years are an indication of how Cutler will develop, but at this point I expect only fantastic years of service from #6.

  • http://broncotalk.net Jon

    hey i LOVED Jake, i HATED Jay when he first played vs. the Seahawks, still kinda concerned about him

  • http://broncotalk.net Jon

    i remember when Marshal had the like 80 TD in that game, if he sticks around he and Jay will be like Peyton and Marvin

  • kerry

    ok who are three morons who disapprove of Jay Cutler? the guy has played 1 and a half seasons. and in his second season he put up better numbers then these Hall of Fame QB’s did in their second season: Brett Favre, Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, Joe Montana. i see no concern over Cutler at all. he has proved he can make the big play and can improvise when he has to. along with Jay’s illness last year we had a bad team. there is no way we can blame Jay for what happened last year. injuries, poor O-line play, bad defensive scheme with Jim Bates and Cutler still put up excellent numbers. with our upgraded O-line, healthy RB’s and better wide receivers to go along with Marshall, and his diabetes under control, Cutler should have a monster year.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    Well, it doesn’t require an IQ check to vote in a poll online, Kerry. :)

    I think the only people that could (with intelligence) voice disapproval of Cutler’s performance would be our rivals!

  • http://denverbroncos.com Jon

    well, i was one of the disaprovers…cause i like him and he is and will get better but i think we put him in 2 soon, i would have let Jake Plummer finish at least the ’06 season, and then let him and Jay fight it out last preseason, but this year i support him. and will, any Bronco(execpt Hamza Lynchs rival!) i will support when they r with us, but if they leave like Ashley Lelie and Javon Walker they become my rivals!

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com E. Halsey Miles

    kerry: It’s probably just that letplummerplay guy =)

    Seriously. I was a fan of Jake Plummer. I still am. I think he’s a great quarterback, and I think he did a great job of giving himself the giant shaft.

    Jay Cutler was behind him; and he looked over his shoulder. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder. All he had to do was go out there and take care of business. And for the most part, he did. The losses two years ago weren’t really on Plummer. They were on the team as a whole. The running game, in particular struggled to do what it needed to do, and we could stretch the field but we couldn’t score in the redzone.

    When Plummer kept looking over his shoulder, there was only one thing to do: take him out. Eventually it was clear that the team wasn’t going to win with Jake and Jay needed his chance. I was never sure if Plummer should come out or not, but I was excited to see Cutler get a chance.

    As much as I’m a fan of Plummer, I’m a giant drooling fanboy for Jay Cutler. I think Cutler is going to be a star in the league for his entire career, short of some horrible injury doing to him what it did to Tim Couch. And by star, I mean 50% of his career, or more, will be at the pro bowl. The guy has skills, and when you study his statistics, they’re actually better than they look. Cutler has extraordinary third down success. He is quick, he has a strong arm and he makes good decisions. Last year he had an odd tendency to underthrow the ball — now we know why — and that was not what was bringing down the team.

    It was the fractured o-line and the “Who’s well enough to play this week” running back corps. We have to hope that this year we don’t get the injury bug again. We need consistency in that O-Line. If we can do it, we want the 5 guys who start game 1 to be the same 5 guys who start game 16, and who started throughout the season. If that tiny little thing happens (which is sadly unlikely) then we should go deep into the playoffs.

    I know what people are saying about the team this year. I know there are some holes, and I know there are some big question marks. But those are question marks, not gaping chasms. When I seriously look at our team, I think we’re better. I think this is a team that can carry us into the playoffs, if not quite to the Superbowl this year.

    I think that if we avoid the injury bug, we’ll see another year like 2005. I still remember the buzz in the stadium after we beat the Patriots in the divisional game. That was amazing. I think we can do that much again.

  • kerry

    i also am a serious Cutler fan. more then any other Bronco since TD and Elway. i remember on draft day Adam Schefter reported that the Broncos were interested in moving up to get Matt Leinart. if that would have happened i would have threw my flatscreen out the damn window!! but when we got Jay i jumped through my roof! we clearly got the best of the QB’s in that draft. Vince Young is RB trying to play QB, (kind of like Michael Vick) Matt Leinart cares more about hollywood then football and has a water pistol for an arm. Cutler is the read deal and will take us back to the top of the NFL.

  • flbronc

    I was a little suprised we made the move up in the draft for him. I was actually headed over to my brothers house, so that we could watch the broncos select together. I left my house at pick 10…

    Anyways, I was a bit unsure about Cutler (having never watched Vandy), but had liked what I had heard. I am a Texas fan, but never bought into the VY hype as an NFL guy, and was pretty sure that Linert would go higher than he did. Cutler was the wild card in my opinion. When my brother called me about the trade he was extatic. He went to an SEC school that continually got carved up by Jay’s accuract and arm strength on the deep pass- and he was pretty confident that he would beat out Plummer in his second year.

    The thing that initially worried me about him is that Shanny never worked him out. We drafted him on another coaches recomendation and scouting notes (wasn’t it Jeff Fisher??). I’m definately over that now!! As a fanbase, we need to drop the Elway comparrisons, and let the kid form his own identity and legacy. Who knows, maybe he can get a couple of rings too. Let’s hope he can at least.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    Anyone who watched the BCS Championship game could tell Leinart didn’t have heart of a top notch QB. After Vince Young played field general and marched down to win the game all Lienart could say was his team didn’t play good enough. Not that Young had the college game of a lifetime. Vince is more than just a RB, but I still think we got the best QB in that draft, and after seeing the pickings in the 2008 draft, probably for 2 or 3 years.