broncos

Hopefully the last Cutler post ever

Jeromey Balderrama

The picture of Cutler showing his Bear excitement was too classic to wait for a post, but I have plenty of thoughts over what transpired last weekend in Denver. Rather than rehash the whole scenario, I just wanted to offer a few random thoughts.

cutler2

First off, Cutler had to go.  He could talk about feeling snubbed by McDaniels all he wants – but when he stops taking call from the guy who signs his checks, Cutler becomes just another disgruntled employee who should be shown the door.  The nerve that he had to claim that he never received any calls, and never wanted to be traded said all that you needed to know about his character.  Despite what really happened – and we may never know – this situation was beyond repair.

Now the Bears, that was definitely a team I didn’t expect to be vying for Cutler, but it all made sense. I think this was a good move by both teams.  People can debate who got the better of the deal, but only time will tell.  It’s up to the Broncos to make smart decisions with these picks, which they’ve honestly could have done better with our First Round track record.  I still think Mark Sanchez may end up in Orange and Blue before we know it.

I like Kyle Orton.  He’s obviously not as talented at Cutler, but is a winning quarterback who did throw for 3,000 yards last year.  When you considered the other quarterbacks on the trading block (Jason Campbell, Brady Quinn), Orton is was probably the most consistent of all.

While the dust settles, it’s still frustrating to think that Bronco fans have endured all of this drama.  After being known as one of the more stable and quiet organizations in the NFL, to have this kind of circus is very Dallas-like.  I’m sick of hearing about Cutlergate every time I turned on ESPN.

Cutler-Gate

Jeromey Balderrama

Ever since that last weekend in February, when the rumors circulated that Cutler was about to be traded, I’ve tried to lie low and simply let this blow over.  Here we are three weeks later, with the same problem that only seems to be getting bigger.

 jaycutler

When I first heard this, I was furious at Coach McDaniels.  The thing that made the Broncos such a great coaching prospect was the fact that we had such a prolithic offense, led by a young and talented quarterback – and somehow McDaniels managed to screw all of that up.  He got rid of Offensive Coordinator Jeremy Bates, basically fixing something that wasn’t broken.  Then when the opportunity arised to get his coveted pupil Matt Cassel, it became clear that a 32-year-old first-time head coach was going with what was most familiar with him.  Stupid? Maybe, but understandable in this case. Nonetheless my blame was on McDaniels for that first day.

Then came Cutler’s reaction, which made me flip-flop and turn my frustration towards him.  I understand how initially he felt the way that many fans did, but he has to realize that this is a business, that at one time or another players’ names are brought up in trades.  Cutler hasn’t reached that elite untouchable status of Manning. Even Tom Brady, who is always compared to Manning as the best QB, was probably discussed in trades.

Broncos fan-wise, it’s been agonizing to have every trade scenario under the sun that involves your QB – none of them good.  If a team’s looking for a QB, they don’t have a good one to offer you.

Peter King offers an excellent recap of the situation.  He summarizes Cutler’s predicament the best by writing:

Maybe Cutler can’t take the dissing he feels from McDaniels, or maybe he’s fabricating the dissing to justify in his own mind going somewhere else. I don’t know. But I do know this: If I had the choice of Denver, Tampa Bay, Detroit and the Jets, and the Denver coach has worked successfully with Tom Brady and Matt Cassel, I’d be thinking very hard about not burning a bridge that can’t be reconstructed.

The more I’ve been reading, the more I think the person responsible for this mess is Cutler’s Agent Bus Cook.  Read this article and take that into account.  Bus Cook has been associated with four words: The Brett Favre Saga – need I say more?

Right now I wish that the NFL was playing games, because winning would likely cure this problem.  In the meantime, I just wish owner Pat Bowlen would call Cutler and McDaniels into his offense office, then walk out and lock the door behind him until these grown men can work out their issues.

Sharpe & the Hall

Jeromey Balderrama

I’m hoping to find time to send some pre-Super Bowl football thoughts, but I wanted to put this out there before this year’s Hall of Fame class was announced.

I just wanted to send some positive thoughts to one of the greatest players to wear the Orange & Blue.  Sharpe deserves to go in as a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.

There’s been a lot of debate in the sports world over whether Sharpe deserves to go in during his first year of consideration.  There has been a lot of resistance against Shannon.  Their justification is that they don’t consider him a Tight End, but rather a Wide Receiver.  Totally disregarding his position, they examine his stats against other Wide Receivers not in the Hall – namely Cris Carter – and justify a vote against Sharpe.  That logic is complete crap to me, as Sharpe helped revolutionize the tight end position to become a major offensive weapon.  The fact that the position has evolved to incorporate receiving does not mean that all Tight Ends are now wide receivers.  Sharpe has been considered a Tight End throughout all of his career, to now be considered a Wide Receiver is pretty shady.  I’m also a big fan of Cris Carter, and want to see him in the hall – but not at the expense of Shannon Sharpe.

The other argument against Sharpe is that because he is amongst the first receiving Tight Ends to be considered, he may set a low bar that Tony Gonzalez and other Tight Ends may easily hurdle.  Again this fails to realize that Sharpe revolutionized the position and still was the most politic Tight End when he played.  Gonzalez may be shattering more of Sharpe’s records, but he’s following down a path that Sharpe blazed.  At the end of the day, it comes down to the Rings: Sharpe has 3, Gonzalez has 0. 

I’m not a conspiracy theorist that believes that the HoF voters have something against the Broncos, but I do think that it’s an insult to look at Sharpe the way they are.  I hope Sharpe gets in this year, but it’s only a matter of time before he’s recognized for his accomplishments.

More on Shanahan

Jeromey Balderrama

After digesting the news coverage for a few hours, I have a few more random thoughts on the firing of Shanahan, and where that ultimately leaves the Broncos.

  • The word is that Bowlen wanted Shanahan to fire Defensive Coordinator Bob Slowik and Shanahan’s refusal to do so prompted his own firing.  Shanahan’s had a pretty rocky relationship with defensive coordinators, but at least Shanahan didn’t sacrifice his convictions and took a bullet for one of his guys.  The end result is now they’re both gone
  • Driving around this evening, I unplugged my iPod and turned on Talk Radio.  You have all of the hacks calling in and saying they should make John Elway or Dave Logan the coach of the Broncos.  Give me a break! That makes as much sense as naming Barak Obama head coach of the Broncos
  • Speaking of head coaching candidates, the Broncos have a pretty attractive coaching opportunity when compared to other teams: A Franchise QB (unlike the Jets), a good corp of receivers (unlike the Browns), a good outlook (unlike the Lions) and an owner that’s supportive without being too crazy (unlike the Raiders).  This may lure some of the prospective coaches that were looking for a good opportunity. Bill Cowher Cowler would be the blockbuster of the off-season.  Peter King says that Cowher Cowler won’t consider coaching until this daughter graduates high school this spring, so it’s still a long-shot.  Steve Mariucci is also a coveted coach that is reluctant to leave his NFL Network job – I’d like him as well.  There are also some really good coaching prospects from the Pats and Giants.
  • One coach I’d be really disappointed with – Brian Billick. He may be a damn good coach, but he loves the camera a little too much.
  • Shanahan’s going to be back in the league coaching this year. My money says the Jets, but he may have to swallow his pride and accept less power.
  • I heard another long-shot perspective for Shanahan: The Dallas Cowboys. How funny would it be if Wade Phllips got fired AGAIN in favor of Mike Shanahan. One thing’s for certain: this off-season has gotten a lot more interesting.