Maddux Sports Blog

I’m not sure that anyone out there is still cutting Jay Cutler any slack, but anyone who still is needs to stop it immediately after last night. There are a lot of excuses for why he is struggling – the team has no running game of note, their offensive line is deeply troubled, and they can’t seem to consistently snap the ball. None of those can account for why Cutler is leading the league in interceptions, though, or why the Chicago offense no longer seems to exist. A couple of Cutler’s interceptions yesterday weren’t entirely his fault, but at least two – including the last one – definitely were. Cutler insists on trying to force his passes into places where he should know better than to try anymore, and he is getting locked n on a receiver and not looking past him – even when clearly better options exist elsewhere. We knew that there was going to be an adjustment period for Cutler in Chicago, but this is way beyond acceptable. This year is lost, and next year he very likely will have to get comfortable with a new coach and a new system. The guy already clearly doesn’t seem to adjust well to change, so it’s hard to be optimistic about next year, either. It’s obviously way too early to say that the Cutler trade was a mistake, or that it won’t work out, but you definitely could look at this as a warning against elevating a player to a level that he isn’t deserving of. The interceptions have reached a new level of ridiculousness this year, but Cutler has always forced his passes and turned it over way too much, so why did people assume that he would suddenly be a superstar when you put him on a team with a weaker offense line and significantly worse receivers?

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The sports world is always good at producing news that makes you go ‘huh?!?’. There is lots to choose from that fits into that category today:

- Jay Cutler has spent a fairly long interview finding all sorts of ways to tell the world how much be respects Josh McDaniel. Among the head scratching quotes: “Just the brief amount of time I was able to spend with him, he’s impressive. He knows a lot about offenses, he knows a lot about getting guys open and scoring points, as everyone’s seen when he was in New England”. Remind me again why Cutler fought so hard and like such a baby to get away from the team? By the sounds of that quote t sounds like the right thing to do would have been to suck it up and be a part of things there. It’s not like he landed in a significantly better place offensively in Chicago. Bizarre.

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1. Matt Cassel – I was very impressed by Cassel last year, and I am fully in favor of the Chiefs’ decision to make him their QB of the future. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have more than a few concerns about his immediate future, though. His team is monumentally short of real talent around him, and there are real concerns about whether the offensive line will give him the time he needs, or the time he became used to last year. I am optimistic in the long term, but this year could be a real problem. The Chiefs weren’t a good team last year, and they have a lot of work left to do until they become a good team again.

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The Giants are, quite obviously, on crack. I understand why they would want to get the Eli Manning contract situation dealt with so it isn’t a distraction. I just don’t understand why they had to break the bank like they did to do it. Just think about it for a second – Eli Manning is now the highest paid player in the league! Albert Haynesworth got a bit more guaranteed cash, but Eli annually makes the most. Do you believe for a single second that he deserves that? I admit to having a few problems with Eli that might color my opinion slightly, but come on. This Manning is hard pressed to be legitimately called a top ten QB in the league, so there is no question that he is overpaid with this deal. I wish them luck and all, but I have absolutely no faith in Manning, or that this deal is going to turn out well for the team. Frankly, I think it could all turn out badly.

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Well, it’s been an interesting day in professional football. The hallmark story involves the legendary Brett Favre, who, at 39 years old, turned down the starting spot with Minnesota today. Additionally, QB Michael Vick is certainly a person of interest these days and there are a few other guys who are worth considering.

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We’re obviously going to talk about Jay Cutler today, but before we do I just want to briefly revisit yesterday’s topic – Tim Floyd. Floyd came to his senses today and turned down the Arizona job to stay at USC. As we talked about yesterday that’s the best outcome for both sides. Arizona now gets another chance to not screw things up, and Floyd is in a place that is a much better fit for him.

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Jay Cutler is the biggest baby I have ever seen. The latest news on the Broncos’ QB front is that the team has given up and is going to trade their pivot before the draft. That news has apparently been confirmed by owner Pat Bowlen as well, so it is past the point of just being a rumor. The impetus for this latest move is that apparently neither Bowlen nor coach Josh McDaniels has apparently been able to get Cutler to return a phone call for the last 10 days. Seriously? Not returning phone calls is what you do when you are in grade school and you are having a fight with your friend. It’s not what you do when you are a highly paid and well respected professional who has yet to prove that they can actually do their job – lead the team to playoff success. I don’t think that there is a quarterback in the league that could justify this kind of immature, prima donna behaviour, but at the very least you should have to have a winning record before you do it. Teams will line up for Cutler, and he’s probably an upgrade for at least half the teams in the league, but this whole episode has convinced me that Cutler doesn’t have what it takes to go all the way. I mean, can you imagine Tom Brady not returning Robert Kraft’s calls? Or Peyton Manning screening out Tony Dungy? Ridiculous.

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