Jay Cutlers interceptions and the media

Easy to say from your photoshopped couch, my friend. Funny how many INTs were thrown by even the smartest of QBs.

Just like I’m allowed to point out that for all the harm his INTs do, he also throws TDs. I hope I can do this without immediately being referred to as a fanboy or apologist.

But Cutler does not exist in a vacuum, so the other QBs are needed to create a point by which to evaluate. Are we not allowed to point out the facts?

Your facts are relative, and that point is one that seems to evade your grasp. You are ignoring mitigating factors in those stats, and I find that very “fanboyish” as well as an affront to the facts you claim to like.

The one thing I know for certain about QBs is that without a stable system, they are destined to fail. It is a fact that is far to often overlooked with young QBs. Look at the majority of you 1st round success stories vs you 1st round failures.

Many high picks are taken by distressed clubs that are going through change at the administrative level, and a good number of those QBs will fail due to imstability in the coaches offices and the systems implemented. See Alex Smith, Akili Smith and David Carr for three good examples of players who had all of the tools and would have benefited from a tumble in the draft because of this very problem.

Then you look at players like Rivers, Roethlisberger, Manning and Favre and note that all have done very well, though they still had some growing pains (though not as many as the players who fell into unstable situations) and all have been in the same system, or spent the vast majority of their early careers in the same system.

One of the most telling things to me is that the only modern QB I can find in the Hall of Fame or that a consensus would say was a great QB that dealt with multiple system changes early in their career was Dan Fouts, and Fouts was truly terrible his first 6 years (as he dealt with a Chargers Organization in chaos that guided Fouts through four head coaches in his first 6 seasons. It wasn’t til Coryell took over in the middle of Fouts’ 6th season and stabilized the offense for a decade to come that Dan got on track.

Here’s what I’m talking about.

Fouts first 5 years in average per season.
three systems
117 Cmp, 219 Att, 53.5 Cmp%, 7 TDs, 11 INTs, 1351 Yards and a 64.5 QBR

Fouts final 10 years under Coryell.
one system
271 Cmp, 451 Att, 60.1 Cmp%, 22 TDs, 18 INTs, 3538 Yards and an 84.1 QBR (How is Coryell not in the HOF yet?)

I honestly am not a big fan of Mike Martz, but I am honestly afraid of Angelo (or whoever replaces him in the event of his departure) wasting all that was spent on Cutler just to set him up to fail with his 4th different system in 4 years in 2011.

This is a shortened version of the fanpost I am writing later this week on this very subject.

In essence, I’ll have enough data on Cutler when he has spent significant time in a system that not only won’t is stable, but there is little threat of departure from. Remember that Shanahan was on the hot seat for over a year before his departure over the Denver Defense that had repeatedly failed the offense that Cutler was running. Right now, we are trying to judge a QB on his decision making process with a history steeped in instability and ineptitude from his coaching department.

“But he spent three years in Shanahan’s system!” you say?

I say that he spent three year learning a mentality that if he didn’t do something to win the game on every drive, then his defense would lose it for him and watching a coach grasp feebly onto a job he had lost through defensive mismanagement and fail miserably. He then watches a new offensive “genius” come in and try to push him to the side for a backup QB from NE, ending in one of the most costly trades ever (Two first and a 2nd rounder plus a starting QB for a starting QB and a 5th rounder) with Cutler ending up in a city so offensively inept that it’s fans hope he can unseat a 50’s era relic as the greatest QB the town has seen. His new OC is a mistake so nice that Chicago made it twice who managed to ruin his fair share of QBs and whose play-book failed miserably at the college level after failing miserably in Chicago in his first reign of ignorant bliss. Cutler has the worst season of his career and the Douche is Loose. But nobody legitimate wants the job because there are no viable options that believe working under Lovie to be more than a 1 year gig that places a dark blemish on their resume, so Smith has to settle for someone who is already considered damaged goods. Luckily for him, the damaged OC also happens to have a bright mind and a few trick yet up his sleeve.

But is one year enough? I think not. Honestly, I’d like to see Cutler play in this system at least through the end of 2011 before I will feel comfortable making a honest call on him either way. I see trends, some I like and some I don’t. But, honestly, when we got Cutler, I kind of felt like we got a rookie all over again, because I knew that young QBs struggle when they are forced into too much change too early. And I knew that Dan Fouts was the only field general I have ever seen who managed to work a HOF career out of a chaotic beginning.

Will Cutler end up the way of Fouts or Carr? Time will tell, hopefully, because at this point, I cannot.

The guy so many on here keep clamoring for, Devin Aromashodu is a Colts practice squad wash-out. So, if DA really is the best, most complete receiver on this team, as many here have claimed, then yes, The Colts practice squad members are better than our best receiver, who happens to be a wash-out from that squad.

All kidding aside, of course Cutler shoulders some of the blame, but lets be real. In most of what you read, Cutler shoulders all of the blame. When do people stop sheltering the organization for not providing legitimate receivers, legitimate linemen and a stable offensive system?

I’ll ask you the same question I’ve repeated over and over to others.

Name me one quality modern QB who has had success through 3 different systems in 5 years. In fact, Name me any modern QB who has had success in their early career while sustaining multiple system changes. Just one. That’s all I ask.