Projo Sports Blog

Blame Jay Cutler, or blame Josh McDaniels? As the feud between the former Patriots offensive coordinator and the current number-one quarterback in Denver intensifies, so does the blame game. And no side is immune from criticism.

In The Denver Post this morning, most of the fingers are being pointed at Cutler. Mark Kiszla writes that he's had "enough already with the chest- beating, turf-marking and belly- aching in Broncosland," and names three quarterbacks who would make the Broncos a better team than they are with Cutler.

And beat writer Lindsay Jones writes that McDaniels won over many of the players who did show up for his first team meeting with his assertive, take-charge attitude.

But on NFL.com, Solomon Wilcots takes a different view, writing that by seeking Cassel, McDaniels "created a problem in an area where there wasn't a problem."

"You have a coach who came in -- for some reason -- looked at the Broncos roster and decided that the quarterback was the first thing that needed to be fixed. A quarterback who threw 45 touchdown passes over the last two seasons. A quarterback who has evolved and improved his play each season and become a franchise quarterback. A quarterback who made the first of many Pro Bowls." He adds that "Cassel was good last year, but he wouldn't have been 10-5 without Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Bill Belichick as the coach."

Wilcots concludes that the Broncos have no choice but to trade Cutler now, and he sees Brady Quinn as a potential replacement.

Also writing on NFL.com, Thomas George acknowledges that Cutler has been immature about all this trade stuff, but he still points the finger of blame for the current crisis on McDaniels: "No doubt, Cutler is 25 years old and in some ways is as immature as his actions and age indicate. He needs nurturing as a man as much as he needs it at quarterback. That is a given. But the onus is on the head coach in this one, because McDaniels did not accurately gauge who he was dealing with and what the fallout would become from a lack of solid communication from the get-go."

George writes that McDaniels should have called Cutler as soon as Cassel became a topic of conversation in Denver and tried to soothe the quarterback's feelings.

But Mike Florio of profootballtalk.com names another man as the instigator of this whole mess: agent Bus Cook, whom Florio notes was not picked to represent any of the top quarterbacks in this year's draft class. As evidence of Cook's role, Florio points to a report by Peter King that was recently discussed on the Dan Patrick radio show that Cook had asked for Cutler to be traded before the Broncos were named as being interested in Cassel. According to a league source cited by Florio, Cook's idea for solving the dispute between the quarterback and the team was one of two things: a big new contract for Cutler, or a trade out of Denver.

 Tags  Denver Broncos Jay Cutler Josh McDaniels

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.