Monday, November 27, 2006

The next Romo? No, he went to Vanderbilt...

The Denver Broncos have given up on their season. They have pulled Jake “The Snake” Plummer in favor for heralded rookie Jay Cutler. With the success of so many young quarterbacks this year in the NFL (Tony Romo, Vince Young), it seems Denver’s head coach Mike Shannahan has decided that the way to lead his Broncos into the playoffs will be with the sterling play of Cutler, while the seasoned vet site on the bench.

There’s just one flaw in this theory – Jay Cutler played football at Vanderbilt. A great school for engineers, lawyers, and socialites looking for great coed Greek parties, but not exactly what Mel Kiper would call a professional football players factory.

This is Vanderbilt. The laughing stock of the football obsessed Southeastern Conference. The Commodores were 5-6 in the final season with Cutler at the helm. He threw for 3073 yards and 21 TDs. Do these sound like numbers of a future NFL playoff winning quarterback? Compare those numbers to Eli Manning’s final season at Ole Miss, also of the SEC. Manning totaled more yards (3600) and TDs (29) than Cutler. Look at Manning in the NFL now. The “star” of the New York football Giants spends each week finding ways for New York to choke away games in the waning minutes. Since he came into the league in 2004, no one has a worse passer rating in the league. That list includes Kerry Collins!!!

Cutler isn’t the answer, and the reason is clear. He doesn’t have what it takes to succeed at Vanderbilt and in the SEC, and the boys in the big leagues will eat him up. Denver will be lucky to win two more games as the season plays on. The worst part for Bronco fans? Cutler is here to stay – moves like this are not made one week and reversed the next. It seems Denver just can’t seem to let the legend of John Elway die.

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