ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Jay Cutler thought he had ditched the option when he left Vanderbilt.
The Broncos ran three such plays at Buffalo and judging by their success won’t be in any hurry to eliminate it from the playbook
“I thought I was done with that,” the second-year quarterback said.
Not so.
The first time Cutler pitched out was on second-and-9 from his own 2 and it was good for a 33-yard gain before Travis Henry was finally collared by 273-pound defensive end Chris Kelsay, who saved what would have otherwise been a 98-yard touchdown.
“It’s amazing to me to (see) a defensive end … have the hustle to make the play 30-some yards downfield. That was one of the best defensive plays I’ve seen since I’ve been in the NFL,” coach Mike Shanahan said.
Shanahan said he usually won’t run the option unless the quarterback did it in college, “and Jay’s first two years at Vanderbilt, that’s what they ran.”
Still, the Broncos don’t plan on doing it too often because it exposes Cutler to some possible big hits.
“You don’t want to make a living doing it if you want to have your quarterback for a long time,” Shanahan said. “Usually they won’t last. But Vince Young’s been doing it at Tennessee. He’s done a great job doing it.”
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MIXED GRADES:@ Shanahan gave his team mixed grades in an opener in which the Broncos outgained Buffalo 470 yards to 184 but didn’t lead until the clock hit all zeros on Jason Elam’s 42-yard field goal.
“Anytime you hold a team to under 200 yards, I think your defense played pretty good,” Shanahan said. “Anytime you get 470 yards of offense, you moved the ball quite well. Obviously, we didn’t get the point production because with 470 yards, you should have about 40 points. So, we’ve got some work to do.”
Eight of the Broncos’ 10 drives ended in Buffalo territory, yet they managed just one touchdown and three field goals.
“And special teams they didn’t play very well with the exception of that (last) field goal, so we’ve got some work to do in that area,” Shanahan added. “But the good part of it is we found a way to win the football game. We’ve got a lot of film to look at, a lot of mistakes made but we did so good things, as well.”
The Broncos gave up a touchdown on a punt return and Champ Bailey saved another with a great open-field tackle.
Shanahan said he has no hesitation keeping the perennial Pro Bowl cornerback on kick coverage duty.
“No, the great players want to play special teams,” Shanahan said. “We had him there and he made a couple big plays. That’s why we have him there.”
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YOUNG AND SMART:@ The best heads-up play of Week 1 came from rookie running back Selvin Young in his NFL debut.
On Denver’s final drive, Cutler blindly pitched a lateral to his left, over Young’s head. The ball was live until Young smartly punched it out of bounds, putting the Broncos in a deep hole, facing third-and-23 but allowing them to stay alive for another play.
“Well, he’s a sharp kid, one of the reason’s he’s our second-team running back,” Shanahan said. “He’s got some awareness about him, he’s an extremely bright kid and the game’s not too big for him. He’s had preseason games. He has a great understanding of what’s going on around him and he proved that in his first game.”
Cutler’s play wasn’t a poor decision, just a bad throw, Shanahan argued.
“Well, he didn’t do the wrong thing. He did the right thing,” Shanahan said. “He needed to make a play there. He scrambled to the right through the strong safety blitz. They had a zone-dog (blitz) on. It was a heck of a call by them in that down-and-distance situation. So, Jay had to pull up. The only thing he did was throw it a little too far.
“He had a great feel. That was his second receiver with the blitz; he didn’t have a chance to go to his first one and he had the presence to throw it to him or at least dump it to him,” Shanahan said. “If he does dump it to him and it doesn’t go over his head, he probably has 20 or 30 yards. Obviously, he threw it a little bit over his head. Selvin had the presence to knock it out of bounds.
“You’ve got to make plays as a quarterback. You can’t be afraid to make a play.”
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NEWLOOK LINE:@ Pass-rusher Simeon Rice showed enough in his 17 snaps to supplant Elvis Dumervil as the Broncos’ starter at right defensive end.
Rice made two big plays in his Denver debut, batting down a pass and making a tackle for loss.
“I was happy with him,” Shanahan said. “Tim Crowder couldn’t play because of his (sprained) ankle. I asked Simeon to come in and play between 15 and 20 plays. He came in there and … made a couple of big-time plays, that one on a reverse and I just got a good feel, so I think he’ll really help us down the line.”
Crowder, a rookie, has been dealing with a high ankle sprain for more than a month.
Shanahan also was pleased with his offensive line, where left tackle Matt Lepsis returned to the lineup after missing most of last season with a knee injury and Erik Pears made his first start at right tackle. Both of the guards—Chris Myers on the left and Montrae Holland on the right—made their Broncos debut.
“I thought they did great,” Shanahan said. “I was pretty pleased with how they handled themselves.”
The loss of Lepsis last year had a domino effect that stalled the offense.
“It was good to get Matt back. He’s got a lot of confidence in that knee,” Shanahan said.
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EXTRA POINTS:@ CB Domonique Foxworth is nursing a sprained ankle and LB Louis Green is recovering from a blow to the head. … K Jason Elam missed just twice last year when Jake Plummer was his holder. With Todd Sauerbrun holding, he missed twice on Sunday. “I think there’s always an adjustment,” Shanahan said. “But Jason would be the first person not to blame it on the holder, that’s for sure.” … New MLB D.J. Williams led the Broncos with nine tackles. “It’s going to be a growing experience, he’s going to get better each game,” Shanahan said. “I thought for his first game he played well.”
