Ever since that last weekend in February, when the rumors circulated that Cutler was about to be traded, I’ve tried to lie low and simply let this blow over. Here we are three weeks later, with the same problem that only seems to be getting bigger.
When I first heard this, I was furious at Coach McDaniels. The thing that made the Broncos such a great coaching prospect was the fact that we had such a prolithic offense, led by a young and talented quarterback – and somehow McDaniels managed to screw all of that up. He got rid of Offensive Coordinator Jeremy Bates, basically fixing something that wasn’t broken. Then when the opportunity arised to get his coveted pupil Matt Cassel, it became clear that a 32-year-old first-time head coach was going with what was most familiar with him. Stupid? Maybe, but understandable in this case. Nonetheless my blame was on McDaniels for that first day.
Then came Cutler’s reaction, which made me flip-flop and turn my frustration towards him. I understand how initially he felt the way that many fans did, but he has to realize that this is a business, that at one time or another players’ names are brought up in trades. Cutler hasn’t reached that elite untouchable status of Manning. Even Tom Brady, who is always compared to Manning as the best QB, was probably discussed in trades.
Broncos fan-wise, it’s been agonizing to have every trade scenario under the sun that involves your QB – none of them good. If a team’s looking for a QB, they don’t have a good one to offer you.
Peter King offers an excellent recap of the situation. He summarizes Cutler’s predicament the best by writing:
Maybe Cutler can’t take the dissing he feels from McDaniels, or maybe he’s fabricating the dissing to justify in his own mind going somewhere else. I don’t know. But I do know this: If I had the choice of Denver, Tampa Bay, Detroit and the Jets, and the Denver coach has worked successfully with Tom Brady and Matt Cassel, I’d be thinking very hard about not burning a bridge that can’t be reconstructed.
The more I’ve been reading, the more I think the person responsible for this mess is Cutler’s Agent Bus Cook. Read this article and take that into account. Bus Cook has been associated with four words: The Brett Favre Saga – need I say more?
Right now I wish that the NFL was playing games, because winning would likely cure this problem. In the meantime, I just wish owner Pat Bowlen would call Cutler and McDaniels into his offense office, then walk out and lock the door behind him until these grown men can work out their issues.
