-
The Perception and Reality of Jay Cutler
http://goo.gl/AuLW6
There is no quarterback in the NFL whose public perception is as far removed from reality as Jay Cutler. Based on my extensive experience, I can say with certainty Cutler is not acknowledged as a top-10 NFL quarterback entering the 2012 season. That assessment is wrong.I remember studying Cutler when he came out of Vanderbilt in the 2006 NFL Draft. It was the same year in which Vince Young and Matt Leinart were the two highly celebrated college quarterbacks, much more so than Cutler. As always, the tape told the story. While Young and Leinart had some passing deficiencies that were blatantly evident, I was wowed by Cutler’s ability to throw the football. He was a big-time arm talent who could drive the ball at the intermediate and deeper levels with velocity. Not many delivered the ball the way Cutler did.
Jay Cutler at Broncos Camp in 2006 (AP)
Let’s drill down a little deeper, separate reality from perception and evaluate Cutler after five full seasons as an NFL starter — focusing solely on the measurables of his play and not subjective observations like body language or press conference demeanor. Cutler is one of the best pure throwers in the NFL. His elite arm strength gives an offense every dimension in the pass game. He throws the deep digs (about 20-22 yards between the numbers) as well as any quarterback in the game. He has deceptive movement skills, with the ability to make throws down the field on the run. There’s little hesitation to his game; he intuitively turns it loose.Cutler is often what I call a “see it, throw it” passer. By that I mean he must see his receiver break open before he pulls the trigger. His powerful arm allows him to do that. He’s not a true anticipation passer, throwing the ball before receivers begin their breaks. He’s capable of it, and there are instances in which he has done it, but that’s not the signature of his play. While accuracy is certainly not a negative, his ball location can be a little imprecise at times. And I mentioned his red-zone struggles in 2009. In fact, in the three years from 2008-10 (2008 was his last season in Denver), Cutler was poor in the red zone. He threw 13 interceptions, easily the highest total in the NFL. That’s unacceptable. In 2011, he started 10 games before injury ended his season. The improvement was evident: He did not throw a single red-zone interception.I remember Cutler’s first playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks in the 2010 season, when the Bears were NFC North champions. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more. He was controlled, disciplined and aware — not turning over the ball once. Seemingly forgettable plays like an eight-yard scramble on third-and-2 on a third-quarter touchdown drive showed his understanding of game situations and his ability to manage them. I don’t hear many people reference that game when discussing Cutler. My sense is it doesn’t fit the pre-determined narrative.Rarely talked about is Cutler’s ability to take over games — the most recent example last year against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. He can do that as a result of his throwing ability. It comes back to a simple point: Cutler can make throws that not many others can. As I’ve stated many times in previous blogs, it’s a function of attributes. Cutler has all the necessary traits to play at a high level. Are there some inconsistencies he must clean up? Absolutely. I have documented those.Don’t lose sight of one other point. The Bears were 7-3 when Cutler got hurt last season. Then they lost five in a row. All the talk had been about Matt Forte, how the offense ran through him, how he was the key. Again, perception suppressing reality.Cutler, in many ways, is still a work in progress as he begins his fourth season in Chicago. He likely will always make some throws that seem ill-advised at best, and just plain foolish at worst. Those throws can’t be defended. They result from the belief and trust he has in his own ability. But make no mistake: Cutler is a “wow” passer with the ability to carry an offense, and a much better player than he’s perceived to be.
-
High Fives / Like - 9 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
-
-
-
Just read this one myself and was gonna post it . Nice find Kegger. I think this is probably on of the most honest articles I've ever read about Cutler. I may the first I've read where the author reality matches my own.
I've had the advantage of watching often when he played in Denver and I was just as awed by some of his throws here as I have been those he's made with the Bears. I hadn't seen a QB capable of fitting a ball into some of the spots he could since Elway's heyday. There's no mistaking the fact that he was THE guy to finally replace him with the kind of play Elway was known for. That same strong arm ability to improvise and throw on the run existed in Cutler just the same as it had in Elway.
We can count ourselves lucky that McDaniels was foolish enough to not appreciate what he had in him and let hid desire for having Sam Cassell overrule his common sense. If Shanny had still been the coach there's no way Elway wouldn't still be wearing Bronco Orange rather than Bears Navy. If there's one positive legacy that Angelo left behind it was having enough guts to pull the trigger on the trade that brought Cutler to the Bears.
No other QB is better equipt to pass in the kind of weather Chicago experiences than Cutler. He's one of the few that can throw a ball that can cut through the wind. I also think Cosell's pointing out that it was the demise of Cutler who costs us the season last year and not the demise of Matt Forte.
If Forte decides not to accept the Bears offer and plays under his tag and we let him move on so be it. I would not spend one dollar of the money and cap space needed to extend Cutler's contract for another 5 years. He'll eventually prove to be the best QB the Bears have ever had.
There was one interesting insight that Cosell shared as well and that has much to do with why Cutler may not have been as comfortable or successful in Martz's offense. Cosell points out that Cutler's style is as a "see and throw" passer. He waits to see the receiver make his break and then uses his arm strength to deliver the ball.
That's just the opposite of the way Martz runs his offense which requires the QB to throw to a spot before the WR makes his break. Typical Martz type arrogance, not using Cutler's best skills to an advantage but rather forcing him away from his typical style of play.
Well the days of Martz and not having decent receivers to throw to are over. Now all we have to hope for is some better pass blocking and an offense that takes the binders off of Cutler and let's him play the game the way he does best. If there's anybody we can pin our SB hopes on it's Jay Cutler. I'm excited to see what he'll be able to do with an offense and tools tailored to his strengths for a change.
Last edited by soulman; 06-05-2012 at 06:43 PM.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. 
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
-
High Fives / Like - 2 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
-
We all knew Martz was a bad hire; and when it happened tried to convense ourselves it could work. For a QB to throw before the break he HAS to have confidence in his WR's....JC doesn't have that here(at least not until now). It's easy when you have a STUD OL, HOF WR's and a HOF RB to keep D's honest, but lets face it, we were lacking all around. We had a shitty OL, garbage WR's, and a STUD RB(not HOF though).
-
High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
-
This season, it's time to Unleash The Beast!
Say... that would make a nice graphic for someone to design.
The site can trademark it.
-
High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
-
Originally Posted by
Riczaj01 
We all knew Martz was a bad hire; and when it happened tried to convense ourselves it could work. For a QB to throw before the break he HAS to have confidence in his WR's....JC doesn't have that here(at least not until now). It's easy when you have a STUD OL, HOF WR's and a HOF RB to keep D's honest, but lets face it, we were lacking all around. We had a shitty OL, garbage WR's, and a STUD RB(not HOF though).
Yet despite that we made the NFCC Game in 2010 and were well on our way there again when Cutler went down. So imagine what he should be able to do with a decent supporting cast. I keep thinking about that play he was injured on. If he'd been able to hold that ball just a second longer until Knox made his break that ball would never have been thrown. Knox would have been on his way to the ground and Cutler would have thrown elsewhere.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
-
Originally Posted by
Riczaj01 We all knew Martz was a bad hire; and when it happened tried to convense ourselves it could work. For a QB to throw before the break he HAS to have confidence in his WR's....JC doesn't have that here(at least not until now). It's easy when you have a STUD OL, HOF WR's and a HOF RB to keep D's honest, but lets face it, we were lacking all around. We had a shitty OL, garbage WR's, and a STUD RB(not HOF though).
Makes the new OC look good just by undoing the over-complexity, lack of TE, 7 step drops, no rollouts, SG, etc. Should be a whole new swing in the better direction but hard to be objective evaluating Tice and Bates at least to some degree. But I sure ain't complaining.
Arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics, even if you win your still messed up.
Restore the roar!
-
Originally Posted by
short faced bear Makes the new OC look good just by undoing the over-complexity, lack of TE, 7 step drops, no rollouts, SG, etc. Should be a whole new swing in the better direction but hard to be objective evaluating Tice and Bates at least to some degree. But I sure ain't complaining.
Shorty, I think as far as rating Bates is concerned we can look back to those two years in Denver where he had both Cutler and Marshall together. They were one of the top passer/receiver combos in the league and they're both better players, and more mature players than they were then.
Tice is a little harder to call. He had some great offenses when he was HC in Minny but he also had Scott Linehan as his OC and play caller. I have a feeling that if Tice will hand over at least some of that responsibility to Bates then we should be fine. If not then it's may be harder to predict but the way things seem to be going it looks like there's a pretty good degree of cooperation between the offensive coaching staff.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
-
Cutler has the best arm in the NFL, PERIOD. The only person I've seen with a better arm is Chuck Norris. And Chuck never got a chance to play in the NFL because his Hollywood career went global. I've seen Cutler make some throws that just blow my mind. And he throws one of the nicest deep balls I've ever seen.
-
You know when he first came to Denver and all the sportswriters were comparing him to Elway one of them did ask him about his arm strength and he actually said he thought he had a better arm than Elway. Well you can imagine how well that went over and as much as anything that was the beginning of people describing him as arrogant and conceited.
But the funny thing is he went out right away and proved that he had at least as good an arm as Elway and it was more accurate. There's very few guys ever who could fit a throw into some of the windows he finds. The problem sometimes is that when he misses by just a little bit he can get picked. I think he learned to be a little more selective about that last year.
But now that he's got the "aircraft carriers" with big reaches and great hands he should do even better at just putting it out there. The passing game went from very mediocre to top flight in one year.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
-
High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
__
