Originally Posted by
Warlock
Cutler probably should have thrown the pass sooner, but he's a risk taker and has ultimate confidence in his arm. Regardless of the details though, I still say it was a good play-call, Marshall beat all 3 of the defenders... if Cutler leads him on the route (i.e. throws sooner but to the same spot) or throws a better ball, it's a TD, one that sets the tone for the game. It was a good play-call, but poor execution.
As for the triple coverage thing... they caught the safety cheating up and Marshall burned him by 5+ yards. The other safety made a good play, but on a better throw, he would have been a complete non-factor. At the time of the release, it was Marshall vs Norman and Marshall had a step on him... I'm not sure about you, but I'm ok with Cutler taking that risk. So technically speaking, it was only double coverage and one of the defenders was beat by a good 5 yards. The third defender merely made a good play, he wasn't actually covering Marshall though, he was playing the ball.
Marshall did have a chance to catch that pass btw, Norman made a hell of a play on the ball... it would have hit Marshall in the hands if Norman doesn't go up and pick it off... maybe #43 gets there in time to break it up if Norman misses it, but maybe he doesn't. Like I said earlier, I'm ok with Cutler taking that shot, it was basically Marshall vs Norman and a little bit better of a ball probably ends up being a TD.