Cut bait. The Broncos fished long enough with Jake and didn’t catch the big one.
This time, Mike “Formerly Known as the Mastermind” Shanahan made the right choice. This season nearly had been lost. This game can’t be lost.
This change had to be made. This kid Jay gives the Broncos their best chance, today and tomorrow. This isn’t Steve Tensi, Steve Ramsey or Steve DeBerg.
This is that.
Jay for J. What’s the worst that could happen?
(Answer: The Broncos could wind up as a wild-card team and lose in the playoffs to Baltimore or Indianapolis. We’ve seen that happen before.)
The Rookie for The Ssssss. What’s the best that could happen?
(Answer: The Broncos finish 12-4 and go to the Super Bowl. We’ve seen that happen before.)
Cutler bait.
I’ve seen them all since 1974. They come and go, pass and pass away.
Only one rose above, and, oddly enough, in the same week it’s announced that Jake Plummer’s name is being replaced in the starting lineup, it’s announced that John Elway’s name is being replaced at the car dealerships.
Where have you gone, Joe
DiVito?
John Hufnagel was drafted in 1973 and slipped into darkness two years later. Craig Penrose was brought in as a rookie in 1976 and had been discarded in 1979. Mark Herrmann was selected in 1981 and became an also-ran in the Elway deal in 1983. Tommy Maddox was a heralded first-round pick in 1992 and lasted two seasons. Brian Griese appeared in 1998 and disappeared in 2002. The Broncos drafted a quarterback in 1983 – not the one you are thinking of – and Gary Kubiak hung about until 1991 as a backup.
Then there was The Duke. Five Super Bowls. Two victories.
The Bubbies and Briscoes and Bradlees passed through.
And Jay “Commodore” Cutler is No. 60 in 43 seasons.
He possesses a strong arm, an intelligent mind, a good attitude and serious potential. But does he possess the right stuff to be a successful quarterback in the NFL?
The Broncos will start him Sunday night against Seattle to find out, and we will start to find out Sunday night. Tom Brady or Tony Romo, Ryan Leaf or Tim Couch, John Elway or Brian Griese?
Let the latest fun begin.
Prior to last season, my argument adversary on ESPN, Skip Bayless, said Cutler would be the greatest thing since the invention of Post-it notes. That was a Vandy man talking about a Vandy kid. But after Vanderbilt beat Tennessee for the first time in around 462 years, I believed. Some others, such as the Oakland Raiders, didn’t.
Shanahan pulled off the greatest sleight-of-hand for a college quarterback since a forgotten Broncos owner who didn’t know a quarterback from a quarter horse, Edgar Kaiser Jr., acquired Elway.
Cutler fared well in exhibitions, but they are called exhibitions for a reason, and he was performing against a lot of fellows who are currently driving UPS trucks.
Plummer was the Broncos’ best hope, given an MVP-type season in 2005, and despite given a finger and a bumper-car incident and a meltdown in the AFC championship and a peculiar misunderstanding of people in Colorado.
Then the new Plummer became the old Plummer, and he crumbled (mostly) as the Broncos became regularly showcased on Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights. I watched the Broncos from various venues – on the beach in South Carolina, in the French Quarter in New Orleans and in a sports bar in New York City, and the Broncos’ best hope became their worst liability.
The Snake had to win in the grass on Thanksgiving.
He didn’t.
Defenses had figured him out, and so had the Broncos, and so had we.
I had been wrong. Plummer had taken the Broncos as far as he could, and that is not quite far enough. They are not 9-2, and they are not Super Bowl contenders, and they are not your father’s Broncos who will muddle through with Tensi, Ramsey or DeBerg. Dan Reeves suffered with Elway early, but returned to him, and the Broncos rode him like the Pony Express (the mail deliverers, not the cheerleaders). Reeves brought in a young assistant named Shanahan, the same Shanahan who has not gotten the glory back with Griese or Plummer.
Shanahan said the other day that Plummer can return next season as a reserve. Happy face is all that is. Plummer won’t be back. He is finished in Denver. It was a nice ride, Jake. Take your act somewhere else.
Give peace a chance. Give Cutler a chance.
Go fish.
Woody Paige’s column will appear in The Denver Post four times weekly.
