Colorado might be the only state in the country where folks value a Pro Bowl quarterback more than a world-class governor.
What do you think, Gov. Bill Owens? Should we take a poll?
For Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer, playing football comes naturally. Playing politics has never been his game.
Plummer made beating New England look easy Sunday in a 28-20 victory against the defending NFL champions.
But, after the win, as Plummer stood with his back against a wall in the Denver locker room, with TV cameras aimed at his head, words uttered by Denver’s quarterback before the interview were most revealing.
“Firing squad,” sighed Plummer, facing an inquisition from point-blank range.
He has a tendency to throw and speak without thinking.
“I’m an honest man, a true man,” said Plummer, transparent to a fault. “And there’s obviously some things that happened that you have to live with.”
He is one quarterback who needs to be under 24/7 supervision by a spin doctor.
Broncos coach Mike Shanahan raised two fine children, and here’s a hunch neither kid wore him out nearly the way Plummer does.
Bringing up Plummer, this town’s favorite 30-year-old adolescent, is like breaking rocks in the hot sun.
“I think it’s a process,” said Shanahan, after removing the shackles from Plummer for the first time all season. The results were spectacular.
“Hopefully, he can keep it up,” Shanahan said.
When Jake is good, he can be very, very good, as his 262 passing yards and two strikes for touchdowns against the Patriots attest.
When Jake is bad, however, he’s horrid.
Since arriving in town, Plummer has carelessly flung a pass with his non-throwing hand, flipped the bird at hecklers in his own stadium, canceled a wedding while the organist was warming up to play “Here Comes the Bride,” twice bickered with the league about a decal on his helmet and created gossip by dating a Broncos cheerleader.
Controversy seems to follow Plummer like a stray dog. Frankly, some of this stuff has nothing to do with football and is none of our darn business.
But it’s politics as usual in Broncos Nation, where all the sunsets are orange and the scrutiny never sets on a quarterback.
Sometimes, Plummer does not seem to love his job nearly as much as Broncomaniacs love the home team.
That’s why I asked Plummer if he ever gets used to all the prodding, staring and second-guessing that comes with the duty.
“Get used to it? Oh, you can deal with it. I’ve been in the league for nine years, almost nine full years, and you learn how to deal with it,” Plummer said.
Plummer, however, still does not get it.
In a town that will forever walk in lock step with John Elway’s swagger, a quarterback who dresses like a teenager who borrowed Dad’s car for the Green Day concert comes off looking like a slacker.
Anybody who believes wins and losses are the only way Denver evaluates a quarterback does not know the political score.
It’s easy to admire the way Plummer dusts off dirt when falling on his duff.
What’s disconcerting, however, is the way all the small things keep tripping up Plummer after all these years.
Angered when Rocky Mountain News columnist Penny Parker revealed the Denver quarterback and a cheerleader were an item, a peeved Plummer reportedly picked up his telephone and responded with words that should be left in the locker room with the dirty jocks.
For years, Parker sat within shouting distance of me in The Post’s newsroom. If you can’t get along with her, you probably don’t like Sara Lee and would cut off Mother Teresa in traffic.
Plummer was a bigger football hero than New England golden boy Tom Brady, if just for one day.
On the road to the Super Bowl, however, would you trust a dude wearing a stocking cap and three-day stubble to drive? Don’t know about you. But for a control freak like Shanahan, it’s destined to be a white-knuckle ride.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
