Third-quarter thoughts …
3:14 P.M. PST: For the moment, at least, the bounces that went against the Broncos for the first 30 minutes of the game have gone in their favor for the five-plus that have followed — and in the midst of all that, Jay Cutler directed his most impressive drive as Denver’s starting quarterback. A strip of the football from Antonio Cromartie on a kickoff return and a bounce of the ball off Terrence Kiel later, the Broncos are back in this game after leaving the field at intermission with their biggest halftime deficit in the last two seasons.
3:21 P.M. PST: Pressure … exactly what the Broncos needed on Philip Rivers, exactly what they got to send the Bolts backwards on a second down and into an incompletion on third-and-7. But Denver will begin its next drive at its 6-yard-line after Darrent Williams lost yardage backtracking on a punt return.
3:23 P.M. PST: A timely pass-interference call gets the Broncos to their 15-yard-line and out of field-position purgatory. Cutler then zings a football to Javon Walker for 17 yards, and the Broncos are moving once again.
3:27 P.M. PST: Cutler seems to have been blessed with a blaster for an arm and the cool accuracy of Han Solo to go along with it — at least that’s what he showed finding Scheffler across the middle to move Denver into San Diego territory for the third time this quarter.
3:28 P.M. PST: San Diego’s crowd, sensing their hometowners need a boost, reaches its loudest point of the half. Denver still gets a first down at the San Diego 13, though, after Drayton Florence yanks Rod Smith for a pass-interference penalty.
3:29 P.M. PST: Full blitz, and Stephen Cooper pushes Cutler and the Broncos back eight yards with the sack.
3:33 P.M. PST: In the span of less than 10 minutes, the Broncos have turned a 25-point, four-score deficit into an eight-point, one-score hole.
Tags: San Diego Chargers
well could Jake plummer score 17 points in the 3rd quarter in such a fashion as Jay did?
AH, HELLO!!!!!! Jake Plummer scored 24 points in the first half against SD. I cannot believe people are still thinking this was a good decision.
http://www.LetPlummerPlay.com
lets do the math?
17 points = 1 qtr?
24 pts- 2 qtrs?
umh, yeah, just because the broncos aren’t winning, doesn’t mean Jay isn’t doing a bad job. he is a rookie after all, what else can you expect? a magic fix?
Nor can I LPP… nor can I.
Im just pissed at Shanahan and no one else. We lost mike anderson a leader and trevor pryce who is dominating in Baltimore. I admit Plummer would not have won today either but it would have been closer and they would have beaten Seattle with Jake at QB…..
34-35 and counting without Jake since 1999
“Being so right hurts”
Sometimes it hurts being so right. The San Diego
Chargers just finished steamrolling the Broncos in a
game that not even the demonic clone of John Elway,
Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and Brett Favre could have
changed much. Yes, “Johnny Joe Favrino” would have
been just as hard pressed to handle the worst regular
season defensive performance of the Shanahan Era. Cam
I just make it offical? Okay, it’s official: for
better or for worse, Jake Plummer took the fall for
the failings of a mediocre team. I don’t know how
they beat New England and Baltimore, but then, it was
early in the season and even the Titans have won four
in a row now…it’s essentially the weirdest NFL
season since the Rams suddenly became a powerhouse
back in 2000.
The team seems to have thrown in the towel. Why not?
Their coach already did. Cutler had a few “oopsie”
moments around the 3rd quarter where he didn’t look
horrible, but even the TV crew picked up several
problems. One thing is that that Cutler currently has
a hitch in his release which prolongs his throwing
time and could potentially be a “tuck rule” problem
since he has such a big pullback to his delivery.
This is something that could easily be corrected over
a few months or so, of course. Same goes for his
overthrowing, which is a fixable problem as well.
However, mechanical adjustments are supposed to be
worked on in practice or in the offseason–not against
division rivals late in the season!
For Shanahan to truly believe that Cutler really gave
the Broncos the best chance to win RIGHT NOW is
absurd. Maybe after a year of correcting his
mechanics and learning the system, sure. Two years
would have been better. Now he has to learn on the
fly, and a lot of young QB’s have suffered when thrown
to the wolves too early in their careers. Jeff George
never matured after a bad start in Indy–a million
dollar arm and a ten-cent head. Todd Marinovich came
into the league a spoiled child and went out of the
league pretty much the same, except he’d picked up a
drug habit to boot. Tommy Maddox had to step in for
an injured local legend, struggled early despite
trying his best under immense pressure, and when he
didn’t get a second chance, wasn’t given the attention
of a prospect but was instead treated like the
lifetime journeyman he became from pretty much his
third year onward. Kerry Collins was immensely
talented, but, thrown out there as a rookie, never had
time to learn from observation and study, and so he
remained a strong armed chucker from his rookie year
to this very day and completely unreliable as a
franchise QB–a stern warning to anyone who still
wants Cutler starting. Rick Mirer, Tim Couch (oof,
what an example,) even Michael Vick and yes, Jake
Plummer might have benefited from the Steve Young/Tony
Romo route of at least 2-3 years of seasoning, be it
behind a legend or just Drew Bledsoe. Granted, you
just don’t know who’s going to be good right out of
the gate and who’s going to stink. Take Peyton
Manning and Ryan Leaf, drafted #1 and #2 in 1998.
Granted, Leaf was a grade-A moron, but fact is, Peyton
did reasonably well out of the gate and Leaf did not.
The jury’s still out on Peyton’s brother Eli Either
Eli becomes a Brady or he becomes a Bledsoe, which is
an odd thing to say because both had good numbers for
a young player. But one became a franchise QB, and
the other one became the guy who makes way for the
franchise QB.
Why am I rambling about this? Because despite what
one of my co-conspirators on this website would have
you believe, LetPlummerPlay.com really does not have
it in for Jay Cutler. Okay, LPP himself does, but the
rest of us really don’t. Jay Cutler’s career is now
threatened by his coach’s ego and poor decision
making.
Mr. Shanahan, the attempt to “spark” an offense that
simply wasn’t meshing all-around (especially when a
spark was needed on defense as well) did not justify
risking the confidence and development of a guy that
you’ve already designated as the future of Denver
football. Now you’re in a pickle. You’ve identified
what Jay needs to work on in real game situations,
sure. You’ve also rattled his confidence by serving
him up for slaughter against two of the best teams in
the NFL. You’ve given your other players the
impression that you’re fully capable of throwing in
the towel on an entire season when you’re actually
still 7-3 (the decision to bench Plummer actually came
after loss #3 in week 11 at Mile High to the Chargers,
but it was a short week and Shanahan wanted Cutler to
have more practice time.) Cutler isn’t going to get
another season to get a feel for how you call a
16-game season in an observational position…he’ll be
trying to remember what’s going on as 11 guys on the
other side of the ball are driving his face into the
turf for 30 minutes every Sunday. Shanahan just
suffered his worst defeat since the Colts buried the
Broncos’ postseason at the RCA Dome two years ago.
1998 gets further away with every tick of the clock,
doesn’t it?
Our support of The Snake aside, the Broncos aren’t
just screwing themselves by throwing the rook out
there, there’s a very good chance that they could
screw up Cutler too, and then the rebuilding plan gets
extended by about five years as the franchise reboots
and recovers. Meanwhile, the losses pile up and
Denver fans could very well become as bitter as Boston
Red Sox fans used to be. As the glory years fade
further and further away into the sunset, each
successive replacement under center will become less
and less like the beloved John Elway, whose legend
will only grow as the years go by and people come to
remember only his great accomplishments, and not the
lean years in between. Years in which even Elway
himself once found himself on a hotseat. I do not
want this for my Broncos. Rather, I did not want this
for my Broncos, but we may be seeing its ugly
beginnings. So maybe, even if you didn’t like him,
even if it meant a first round bounce in the playoffs
and not a Super Bowl against a superior AFC, maybe
even the Cutler lovers and the Jake haters can all
agree that the Broncos simply should have done right
by the franchise in the long term and…
LET PLUMMER PLAY!!!
In protest I am officially rooting for the Saints for the remainder of the season.
In 19 years of being a bronco fan I have never seen a coach bench a winning QB and ruin his chances to make the playoffs.. To me he quit the season so I quit the Broncos for the SEASON…
The Saints are Coming
The Saints Are coming
Sing it BONO!!!
I wanted coach Shannahan to put Cutler in…the team is on a four game losing streak and only two of those have been with Cutler at the helm. Which means Jake was losing as well and probably would not have done much better today against the Chargers. In addition, Plummer has more interceptions than touchdowns. His quarter back rating the past three games have been 76.4, 53.1, and 66, whereas his overal rating is a mere 70.5. He was averaging around 166 yards a game and was not averaging even one touchdown a game, yet he averaged one fumble a game. Something had to be done. He averaged 26.25 passing attempts a game and completed an average of 14.58 passes. Those are not very good stats for a veteran quarterback. Plus, if you watched those games there were many times Plummer had guys open, even once I say a receiver waving his hands because he was wide open, yet did not throw to them. Something was wrong with Plummer, he just did not seem to be the same guy out there. He was hardly ever able to administer a come back when the team was trailing. He had, going into the KC game, the worst QB rating in the NFL. With all of that, no one can convince me that Jake deserved to continue starting. It was time to give someone else a chance. Now, let’s look at Cutler’s stats for two games, which are almost identical to Plummer’s (and this is Cutler’s first two game every played in the NFL). His first QB rating was 62.3, I don’t have one for todays game yet. He averaged 25.5 attempts and average completions is 13.5. He is averaging 165.5 yards per game, 2 touchdowns a game, and one interception per game. Face the facts, Jake Plummer was playing like a Rookie Quarterback this year. I don’t care what his overall record with the team is…this year he is struggling and it was time a fresh quarterback was given the chance to show his talents. Plummer would have done no better than Cutler did today. Look at the stats, and you will be able to see that for yourself.
I have seen several people blame this loss on Cutler’s four fumbles…well, if they would look at the game log, they would see that only one of those fumbles were turned over to the other team. So, this loss can not be blamed on those fumbles. ONly one of the Charger’s scores were due to a Jay Cutler fumble. Let the guy be and let’s see what he’s got in him!!!
I can’t believe what I’m reading. You say “Let Plummer Play”? Shanahan himself said that if he made the switch to Cutler he wouldn’t turn back. You say Shanahan could have very well screwed up Cutler’s young career as an NFL quartback, how do you think Cutler would feel if Shanahan put Plummer back in? A failure. Aside from some major mistakes last week verses the Seahawks I think Cutler is doing a pretty damn good job considering the fact this was his 2nd start as an NFL quarterback. Also, Shanahan said that it’s not about the playoffs anymore, it’s about the superbowl. Not this years superbowl mind you, but in the years to come. From what I saw how Cutler played tonight I think with a little work and alot of patience we can, and will make it to the superbowl again.
Another thing that gets me is if we lose everyone looks at Cutler like it’s his fault. “Oh look, the Chargers smoked us… way to go Cutler” There are ALOT of other problems with this team that need to be addressed, so lay off Cutler. How about our defense huh? At the start of this season no one could score a touchdown against us. Well, look at us now, we just allowed our division rivals to score 48 points against us. My point is there are alot more people on this team than just Cutler, so stop complaining, support your team and your team’s decisions and Let Cutler Play!
I think LPP is really Kizla, who we all know is an idiot whiner.
It soundslike some of you are Cutler’s mother and father….
He’s 0-2 as a starter 0 wins 0 wins……..
Ive seen Plummer play here for 4 years. He’s a competitor who never gives up. He might not be very talented but he’s alot like a Doug Flutie, with more height.
The Saints are Coming
The Saints are coming
Brees Bush McAllister now thats an offense
Colston, Horn
Go Saints
Plummer’s combined four losses at KC, at STL, INDY, SD, a combined 27 points.
Yesterday’s loss 28 points
“Cutler gives us a better chance to win” I think Shanahan meant ” He gives us a better chance to win in 10 years when Jake will be retired……
What’s done is done. Cutler is going to be the Broncos quarterback, that is obvious. I understand exactly what LPP is saying, though these are facts that should have been considered before the decisiont to play Cutler.
As for Plummer, his numbers have never bothered me. It is his drive to win games that I have always appreciated so much. The guy just wants to win, even if it means 5 INTs, the ‘W’ is all thats ever mattered. Thanks again Plummer, definitely gonna miss you buddy!
The Broncos lost yesterday, not just Jay Cutler. I don’t know how some of you consider yourself fans. Switching teams when your Broncos need you the most. Whining and crying about Shanahan making a “bad” decision when he has taken us all the way, more than once. How sad.
Forgive my whining bronco freak but I hate it when a player gets a bad wrap when he does everything to win for the team…I believe that Plummer did everything he could…..Like he said he played his ass off!!!
and still get benched this reminds me of Doug Flutie / Rod Johnson and remeber what happened to Johnson…….
I also appreciate Plummer’s Grace…He has a lot more grace than I do…But all I wanted is for Shanahan to admit he screwed up…..To me thats the injustice…….
Go Saints
Let Plummer Play? Come on, how about we fire our Defensive Coordinator? Cutler’s put up better numbers so far in two games than Plummers averages. 4TD to 2INT..or..11TD to 12INT? Our problem is with the defense! They couldn’t stop a pop warner team, much less an NFL team. The Broncos probably would have scored more points if they weren’t forced to go for so many 4th downs. If the defense could play as well as they have earlier in the season then the Broncos would be winning easily. Plummer is a good guy and a leader on this team, but he will make no difference in comparison to Cutler. The defense just plain sucks!
Now it’s Jay’s team and all we need is to regroup , arriving is the game against the cards , we NEED this game and i think we’ll gonna bring back home the W , after , the clutch game will be Cincy , if we’re able to find the early momentum and beat em , we’re in the wildcard and then , be it , at least it’ll give Cutler good expérience . The season is not yet over and now well find out if Mike’s decision was really good , i truely believe Jake would have stay for the remainder of the season but don’t forget , the coaches have and inside point of view and have elements we don’t . Still a broncofan , forever .
“As for Plummer, his numbers have never bothered me. It is his drive to win games that I have always appreciated so much. The guy just wants to win, even if it means 5 INTs, the ‘W’ is all thats ever mattered. Thanks again Plummer, definitely gonna miss you buddy!” per denvrbrncs100885
This was the most smartest thing I read on this blog. Everyone wants to blame our season on different things. I personally blame everyone from cutler to plummer, from offense to defense. The difference though lies from my first paragraph, Jake wanted to WIN. He didnt care about the stats or the controversies. He just wanted the wins. This Cutler guy, who by the way has never had a winning season, sucks right now. I am willing to accept the fact that he is our future, but putting him right now was not a good choice.
I am equally sympathetic to LEEBOV as i am to Bronco freak. I feel like I want to quit being a fan just as well I want to support Cutler. But how can I when Shananhan throws the season away. Culter is not a leader right now. For example, after all the offensive possessions, when the camera panns to Cutler, not once did I ever see him firing up the guys. Hes just sits on the freakin bench and puts his head down like a high school quarterback who used to losing. He’s not a stand up guy at all. Nor is passing. My 3 year old son could be in the game and knock down his passes. Brute strengh does not make you a good quarterback . What makes you good quarterback (in my opinion) is a quality arm, leadership, finesse passsing, and the desire to win. Plummer my friends had all that except the finesse passing.
I admit the defense is struggling too but they need the offense’s helps. Football is a game of momentum.
I agree with LEEBOV, It would be nice to hear Shananhan jsut admit that he made a bad decision. But guess what, IT’ll never happen.
BRONCO fans less just get ready for next year…..
By the way, tell the CLEVELAND BROWNS to keep their players to themselves next time.
I can’t even begin to believe half the junk I’m reading on here. How the heck do you bash Cutler for this game!? Look at the season…he’s done no worse than Plummer. You can spout all you want about Plummer’s record and how winning of a QB he is with us, but look at THIS SEASON. We didn’t win because of him earlier, we won IN SPITE of him.
I agree he doesn’t deserve all the blame. And some of you who are dogging on Shanahan and spouting off about Plummer getting the blame need to go back and watch some of the video interviews on the main site. Everyone including Plummer has been a class act about this move. No on in the Broncos is blaming Plummer. Shanahan is making a COACHING decision. Players get beat up and lose a step over time, but coaching isn’t the same…he’s one of the greatest coaching minds out there. He won us 2 superbowls. His system…his decisions. Have a little bit of backbone when your team is down.
Let’s set something straight…switching teams isn’t protesting, its just letting your team down. I don’t know how long some of you have been Bronco fans, but I was cheering our team in the Elway era the whole way, win or lose (and there were some pretty poor seasons back then) and talking about switching teams is just silly. Bronco up!
Game thoughts: Wow this defense needs work. Pressure is essential to a good defense. Coyer doesn’t seem to want to put pressure on the opposing offense. It seems to me that he thinks that he can just put our very talented linebackers and D backs on the opponent’s receivers and tight-ends for 8-10 seconds and that our soft zone schemes will win the day. That worked early in the season because teams weren’t really warmed up (and our D-Line WAS able to get pressure because of it). Now that offenses have some reps in, it isn’t working.
Suggestion for this season: incorporate more complex stunting and blitzing packages.
Suggestion for next season: Get bigger, more dominant defensive linemen (keep Dumervil though…he’s the real deal!).
Special Teams: At this point in the season, I don’t know what you can do. Next season Shanahan MUST get a better ST coach and system. They are flat-out failing.
To get the record straight, I never bashed Cutler, the only one to blame is Shanahan. He let go of Trevor pryce who is having a great season, Mike Anderson and Jeb Putzier where also key guys and no one has stepped up since. Shanahan’s even keel demeanor is what gets to me. You need a rara coach during these times who will chew people out. He should just stay as an offensive coordinator and find someone else doing the motivation and player evaluations……
The Saints are coming………Sing it Bono
I think everyone should read this: http://www.denverbroncos.com/page.php?id=334&storyID=6353
That’s an excellent comparison of Cutler’s first two starts as a rookie to Vince Young’s, and Matt Leinart’s starts. Cutler’s on the right track.
I have to say leebov you are not a true fan if you can’t back your team when they are down. We are definately down but not out yet! A true fan would be looking at the positive things about the team. How about this Plummer is handling like we knew he would like a class act. Sure he has won a lot of games for us in the past but lets face it he was having a horrid season. We put up a total of 17 points agains the worst team in the NFL the Oakland raiders not once but twice we scored less than 20 points agains the worst team in the NFL. Cutler is playing well. We knew he wasn’t going to come out in his first game and throw for 300 yards and 5 td’s but lets see he has thrown more TD’s in his first two games than Plummer did this season. He also has half as many int’s as touchdowns plummer has more int’s than td’s so yeah i think Cutler gives us the best chance to win. Plummer is a great QB and awesome guy but he was not performing well. Cutler is not to blame for our loss to SD. When your Defense gives up 28 points in a half not even P. Manning, or D. Brees was going to come back agains the Chargers after that. He made an effort and got no support from the D. The Special Teams even came up with a TO and the D couldn’t even make them punt come on now. Shanny was forced to go for it on 4th and 2 because he didn’t trust his defense to get the ball back without giving up points. So I say Plummer was great but his time is done and he knows it and is handling it well. He still wants to win and he knows the best way to help is to help Cutler so why don’t we help Cutler and give him the support he has erned and deserves as the STARTING QB for THE DENVER BRONCOS!!!!! Go Broncos, Go Cutler, and by the way The Saints will fall apart in the Playoffs so good luck with that leebov!!!!!!!
Oh ya one more thing leebov a total of 27 points vs 28 to the Chargers in Qualcomm it doesn’t matter if you lose by 1 point or 30 points a L is a L and W is a W. Plummer scored a total of 19 points in his first two starts this season and how many did Cutler score, yep that would be 40 so I’ll take an average of 20 points a game vs the 17.7 that Plummer was putting up. Go Broncos, Go Cutler, and yep you guessed it The Saints are going to crumble!!!!
THE CHICAGO BEARS ARE A REAL TEAM!
Rex Grossman just bounced back from a pretty horrible stretch where his defense had to carry him–though they did lose a game to a pretty good New England team. This included one of the worst games by any quarterback all year; 3 INTs, 0 TDs, 34 passing yards, and 6-19 completions–a QB rating of 1.3. But through it all, Lovie Smith and indeed the entire Bears team backed him…”Rex Grossman is our starting quarterback.”
So last night against the Rams, Grossman answered the out-and-out confidence of his coaches and teammates by playing a very good game; 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 200 yards on 13-23 passing. His teammates pumped fists, cheered loudly, and patted Rex on the back with every positive gain and the Bears re-established themselves as THE team to beat in the NFC. Quarterback controversy? Please.
Compare this to the Broncos, who feebly backed Jake Plummer for about 1/4 of a season while they “secretly” hinted towards Jay Cutler. It caused a ripple of uncertainty that now looks to keep the Broncos home during the playoffs for the first time since before the Plummer Era. No playoff money. No chance to step up and shine. Nothing but a mid-level draft pick.
So you say, “Well, the Bears have terrible backups.” Sure, 3rd-stringer Kyle Orton is in no way an improvement, but Brian Griese is a 9-year NFL veteran who, despite what you may think, has indeed had several successful seasons, throwing 20 TDs against 11 INTs in Tampa only 2 years ago and even in DENVER in 2000, when he threw 19 TDs against only 4 INTs in just 10 games.
You think Brian Griese, underwhelming as his overall career has been, is really a worse choice than an untested rookie from a weaker college program like Jay Cutler? No, he isn’t. And Grossman’s teammates still wanted Rex in there, despite having a couple of games that would have gotten Jake Plummer killed in Denver. I don’t mean booed–I mean KILLED, like shot from a bell tower with a rifle.
How do you think the Broncos felt (or at least, if they’re really a TEAM and not just a roster SHOULD HAVE felt) about the season-long QB controversy that ended with a desperation move by the head coach when the division still seemed winnable? The probably didn’t feel too confident in their coach’s strategies anymore. They probably felt like they’d wasted their season trying to do something they were now being told they weren’t capable of without the help of their magical rookie–who turned out to be depressingly average.
The Bears gave Rex Grossman their unanimous vote of confidence in the face of adversity and it’s looking more and more like the right choice. Consequently, it’s making Shanahan look like the Emperor who had no clothes.
But that’s just one little horsie’s opinion.
Let the future dictate the truth. I won’t bash Shanahan anymore. Im done with my comments. Now I will sit back a couple of years and see what happens with the Broncos…..
There is a house in new Orleans they call the rising sun
I spoke to my daddy on the telephone, how long now
The Saints are coming
The Saints are coming…….Sing it Bono
Another thing that gets me is if we lose everyone looks at Cutler like it’s his fault. “Oh look, the Chargers smoked us… way to go Cutler” There are ALOT of other problems with this team that need to be addressed, so lay off Cutler. How about our defense huh? At the start of this season no one could score a touchdown against us. Well, look at us now, we just allowed our division rivals to score 48 points against us. My point is there are alot more people on this team than just Cutler, so stop complaining, support your team and your team’s decisions and Let Cutler Play!
Chargers tickets
one more thing leebov a total of 27 points vs 28 to the Chargers in Qualcomm it doesn’t matter if you lose by 1 point or 30 points a L is a L and W is a W. Plummer scored a total of 19 points in his first two starts this season and how many did Cutler score, yep that would be 40 so I’ll take an average of 20 points a game vs the 17.7 that Plummer was putting up. Go Broncos, Go Cutler, and yep you guessed it The Saints are going to crumble!!!!