Dear Josh McDaniels,

As you may know the sad looking man to the right is the extremely talented quarterback in Denver named Jay Cutler. Don’t let his sad face fool you, this 25 year old has an arm to be reckoned with and you should just see him fit the ball into tight spots. This QB is a leader, who is willing to take the whole game on his shoulders run game or not.

In 2008 he threw the ball 616 times on the year and completed 62.3% of them for 4,526 yards. Now you see there is a problem… he kind of likes to you know… turn the ball over… a lot. What I mean by a lot is 18 times. I saw that you took this kid who hadn’t started since high school and had him put up some pretty solid stats and going 10-5 as a starter. I know he threw the ball exactly 100 less times than Cutler but he did throw only 11 INTs and scored only 4 less TDs.

Basically what I’m saying is… please teach this gun slinging prodigy the ways of proper footwork and the checkdown. Also if you could bond with him and become best friends with him sort of like the whole Shanahan-Elway thing that would be awesome too. I mean no pressure! With all that being said I can not wait to see what you do with the staff as well as the draft. I hope to see you at training camp, making my spine tingle with your authority.

Sincerely,

Mr. East

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Okay okay, I’ll put all the facetious remarks aside. If McDaniel’s history means anything then Jay Cutler has something amazing to look forward to in the 2009 season. It is hard not to resist the temptation to compare Matt Cassel and Jay Cutler now that this 32-year-old offensive genius is at the helm.

Matt Cassel

Comp	Att	Pct	Att/G	Yds	Avg	Yds/G	TD	INT	1st	1st%	Lng	20+	40+	Sck	Rate
327	516	63.4	32.2	3,693	7.2	230.8	21	11	182	35.3	76T	37	6	47	89.4

 

Jay Cutler

Comp	Att	Pct	Att/G	Yds	Avg	Yds/G	TD	INT	1st	1st%	Lng	20+	40+	Sck	Rate
384	616	62.3	38.5	4,526	7.3	232.9	25	18	222	36.0	93T	55	7	11	86.0

 

Say what you want but the fact is that McDaniels was very successful with Cassel who is considered to be less talented than Cutler. Cassel kept close to or was better than Cutler’s statistics on many areas, especially ones that count such as TDs, INTs, Pct, and Rate. Yes, Cassel had the 6th ranked run offense on his side, but McDaniels also ran that. The bottom line is Cassel was on of the top quarterbacks of the season due to McDaniels.

If history is a factor in anything then it bodes well for Cutler. In my opinion it is not history but talent that makes McDaniels the “wunderkind” he is.

Denver fans, will McDaniels elevate Cutler’s performance? Will he put Cutler in the same sentence as Tom Brady? Let it fly.