Jay Cutler is a good quarterback. The interesting part will be to see if he ever becomes a great one.
It isn’t just Barry Bonds. Every comment on Cutler ought to have an asterisk, too. As in, he’s a good quarterback.* (* Very good considering he has played 15 NFL games.)
In retrospect, maybe we expected too much from Cutler. Maybe we assumed Mike Shanahan and Mike Heimerdinger would help him cut a quicker swath through the learning curve for quarterbacks. But in the end, Cutler’s performance has been solid, at times spectacular.
He has won seven of his 15 starts, certainly not where he or anyone else had hoped. But his surrounding cast has been beat up, with Tom Nalen, Ben Hamilton, Rod Smith and Javon Walker having missed all or most of the season.
Factoring injuries into the equation, which you have to do in the NFL, Cutler has played well in his dress rehearsal. His touchdown-to-interception numbers, in fact, are better than a young John Elway’s.
Now for the numbers that matter just as much, if not more than TDs and INTs: The ones Cutler has generated on third down.
“For his second year, Jay had done an unbelievable job on third down,” says Shanahan.
Cutler has been one of the league’s most efficient quarterbacks at moving the chains. He ranks third in the league in third-down passer rating (120.5) and third-down completion percentage (71.8). He has completed 56 of 78 throws on third down for 717 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.
Two NFL quarterbacks have higher or equal third down yards-per-attempt numbers than Cutler’s 9.2. Their names? Ben Roethlisberger (9.2) and Tony Romo (9.7).
Obviously, the Broncos need to score more points. They have been held to 15 or fewer five times in 10 games. But you get the impression they’re evolving, having scored 61 points in their past two games.
Even in the tough times, Cutler was moving the chains. Fact: The Broncos have a 47.6 efficiency percentage on third down. That’s second in franchise history behind the ’96 team that finished at 48.9.
You wonder how good the kid will be in the Broncos’ final six games. The real fun, though, is in wondering how good he’ll be in the next six seasons.
Follow Jim Armstrong’s daily Broncos commentaries on The Jimmy Page at 7 a.m. and noon, and read his columns on Sundays and the day after Broncos games at .
He can be reached at 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
