San Diego
No more gratuitous 6 and violence, please.
The Broncos and Jay Cutler must stop being wanton and unprovoked and playing like a bad “B” movie right here, right now. To misquote Al Davis, “Just a win, baby.”
The Broncos have lost three in a row. They have to win four in a row. This will be the most difficult. Welcome back to Southern California, where the whales and LaDainian run and the ocean flows and Rivers throws, and the Chargers already have figuratively (and soon literally) clinched the division.
Cutler, with the No. 6 on his uniform and the No. 1 on his forehead, has to come up with a big number instead of coming up like Bubby, No. 6 before.
And Domonique Foxworth – wasn’t he the gentlemanly English host of “Fireside Theatre”? – has to play bigger than his “announced weight” of 180 pounds (try 170 with rolls of quarters in his pockets) at strong safety to occasionally tackle LaDainian Tomlinson, the best running back from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Antonio Gates, the best tight end from Vancouver to Tijuana. And Pears & Foster, a couple of odd tackles, have to occasionally hold off the 3-4 rush.
The trip to San Diego used to be a walk on the beach for the Broncos.
Show up, eat in Old Town, do a little dance, go to the zoo, play at the stadium in front of about 15,000 Chargers followers, about 20,000 Broncophiles who had flown in for the warm weather and about 15,000 empty seats, and go back to Denver with a tidy little victory. The Chargers were always softer than a puppy’s nose and gooey like a Rubio’s fish taco. The San Diego Cocoa Puffs.
A funny thing happened for the Chargers on the way to moving to Los Angeles, though.
The Chargers and Marty Schottenheimer, who briefly sold real estate in Colorado and used to tailgate at Mile High Stadium, got (very) good and (extremely) tough. The people in San Diego aren’t laying back anymore.
Today is a kind of In-N-Out Burger game for the Broncos. Beat the Chargers, and they’ll probably get into the playoffs. Lose, and they’ll probably be out. Ground beef or filet.
Of the five teams with 7-5 records mucking about for the two wild-card spots, the Broncos have the worst situation, considering tiebreakers and such nonsense. It’s that darned BCS poll.
Understand that the New York Jets, those dog-breath Jets, have the easiest schedule in the stretch. The Broncos wouldn’t have wasted myspace.com thinking about the Jets a month ago. The Jacksonville Jaguars – yes, those Jags, my favorite boys – are lurking, but they have Indianapolis (suddenly vulnerable) and Tennessee (suddenly pesky) ahead. Kansas City is up and down, and Cincinnati, who can tell from that mess?
The Broncos still may determine their postseason fate by winning the last four. But if they keep playing as they did in the last four, they’ll never see January.
Which brings us back to Cutler, Kid QB.
Some subscriber wrote – everybody is a columnist and a critic these days – that I was too harsh on Cutler after his first game. Wait until that subscriber sees how harsh San Diego will be on Cutler. And if the rookie performs as he did against Seattle, that subscriber is going to be harsher on Cutler than me and the Chargers.
Cutler didn’t look like a deer in the headlights. He looked like Bambi in front of two of the gigantic Hollywood premiere floodlights. He was tentative and clueless and terrible, traits that aren’t particularly positive for NFL quarterbacks.
This week it’s Cutler vs. Cutlery. And guess who the Chargers’ defensive coordinator is? Wade Phillips, who, when he was the Broncos’ head coach, was storming the sideline while the Chargers’ cannon went off in celebration after a touchdown. Wade reacted like a deer in a cannon’s sights.
Mr. Cutler must be prepared for a cannon named Shawne Merriman, who is rested and ready and irate after his steroid suspension.
Mike Shanahan is singing: “All I need is a miracle.” His brilliance as a coach will be challenged … again. He has been Rudolph in the Christmas lights lately.
No self-respecting predictor can predict a Broncos victory.
I have no self-respect. So Denver will win 20-17.
Young No. 6 must play like old No. 7, please.
Staff writer Woody Paige can be reached at 303-954-1095 or at wpaige@denverpost.com.
