Jay Mariotti Takes A Month To Think About Cutler Situation and Still Is Wrong

Jay Mariotti has primarily been writing about the NCAA Tournament lately. Though, after his Louisville pick to win the National Championship was wrong, he has moved on to being wrong about other sports that are not college basketball. Today, he decides he wants to write a column that is just wrong about Jay Cutler and the Denver Broncos, a situation everyone is tired of, but I can't completely tire of a situation until Jay Mariotti has chimed in with his (wrong) opinion.

Look, I think the Broncos are to blame for this situation as well, they should have kept this all out of the media and not let it get to the point where it currently is, but if I had to assign blame right now, I would put the blame on Cutler for not taking any steps to end this. He could just go about his business and everyone would think McDaniels and the Broncos are morons who don't know what they are doing, but he hasn't even allowed the Broncos to come crawling back to him, which I think is his mistake. I know everyone doesn't agree with this, including Jay Mariotti, but if I had to assign blame at this point, its on Cutler.

By the way, Jay was writing about 5-6 columns a week when he first started at AOL and now lately he has started writing a column every other day. Pretty soon he will be writing one column a week. I guess he has found writing for an online sports site isn't that much easier than writing for a newspaper.

I don't know about you, but when one of my bosses urgently needs me, he either calls or yanks me by the earlobe into his office.

I want to yank Jay Mariotti by his earlobe into an office. I want to be his boss.

I have been back and forth on this issue and the more this issue drags on it just becomes very clear the Broncos should not have tried to trade Cutler, but my God, Cutler needs to quit being a little bitch and get over it. I think Cutler is a great quarterback but is being a little bitch in this situation.

I am actually fairly tired of writing about this but there are just consistent amounts of bad journalism on this issue, I just can't stop. There is one article I have bookmarked, and thanks to the Anonymous commenter for giving me a heads up on it, that is just a horrible article about Jay Cutler. It's a joy to read...It's worth talking about Cutler more just to cover this article.

Ok, back to Jay...

For a quarter-century, Bowlen has been among the dynamic owners in American sports, a primary reason why the Denver Broncos have been an elite NFL franchise.

Really an elite franchise for a quarter century? They have been above average, I will say that, but elite? If you believe this site (and why would you not, it is a New England Patriots message board...I could not find any other stats, so this was my source), the Steelers have the third best record in football over the last 10 years, as of August 2008. I guess that is elite, so I am wrong. I guess I just never thought of the Broncos as elite.

The message board also has the heading: Patsfans.com: The Best Fans on Earth. I just thought I would share that.

At the start of this year, before a playoff game in Nashville, I ran into Cutler at a local cult bar called Losers -- crack your joke here -- and had a cordial chat with him. He asked who I liked in the game, and I told him Baltimore over Tennessee.

"Good pick," he replied.

So there is a bar in Nashville where people go to watch Titans games and the bar is called "Losers?" I don't have to crack a joke, that is the joke.

You mean to say I can gain a personal audience with Cutler when Bowlen, his superior and a man who might make the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday, can't find a way?

Jay, you stupid crack head (I don't mean to offend crack heads by comparing them to Jay Mariotti), you ran into Jay Cutler at the bar. You did not call him and say, "Come have a beer with me and engage in inane conversation." He just happened to be there and so did you. You are a major sportswriter, he is a NFL player, when he sees you in public he will speak to you. Not to mention this was about a month and a half before the situation that is currently occurring, so its not like he gave you an audience in the middle of this situation.

This is quite possibly the worst example ever of "gaining an audience" with someone. Outside of kidnapping that is.

Instead, he sat back and watched as the Broncos' new coach, 32-year-old Josh McDaniels, played a dangerous game by trying to acquire Matt Cassel to replace Cutler, then had the attempt explode in his face when Cassel was traded to division rival Kansas City.

What has made the Broncos so successful is that Pat Bowlen hired the right people for the right positions and then sat back and let them do their damn job. I can't think of an owner in the league right now who meddles in personnel decisions that also has a good football team. "Good" being defined "making the playoffs this year," and I am looking at both of you Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones.

and the onus fell on Bowlen to soothe the rift between an inexperienced McDaniels and an overemotional Cutler.

(Me getting a headache) That is because Bowlen hired both of these men and they are having a disagreement, so he mediates it. Who else would they go to? The Dalai Lama?

Wrote the owner: "Numerous attempts to contact Jay Cutler in the last 10 days, both by coach Josh McDaniels and myself, have been unsuccessful. A conversation with his agent earlier today clearly communicated and confirmed to us that Jay no longer has any desire to play for the Denver Broncos. We will begin discussions with other teams in an effort to accommodate his request to be traded."

As stupid as McDaniels was for trying to trade Cutler and not giving him a heads up and for not handling the situation a little better, Cutler is at fault for being a big, big baby. At first, the situation was the Broncos fault because Cutler got his feelings hurt and the situation was handled poorly. Along the way though, Cutler has had a chance to get over this and move on with his life and he has chosen not to. He stated he did not want to play for the Broncos anymore...and he was not retiring, so that left one other choice I can think of, and that was to be traded. So that is what the Broncos are doing, so he should be happy, but now he says he didn't want to be traded.

I still think he is a great quarterback...just a sad little man.

According to Cutler, Bowlen never tried to directly reach him. When asked that very question by ESPN, Cutler sent a one-word text message: "No."

Mariotti needs to learn to read and listen. I know its hard, but he can do it. Bowlen said, "numerous attempts to contact Jay Cutler in the last 10 days..." he did not say, "numerous direct attempts to contact Jay Cutler..." Sure, maybe Bowlen should have directly tried to reach Cutler, but if someone gets a phone call saying your boss wants to talk to you, you talk to your boss. That's how it all works in the employee-employer relationship.

I doubt it when a Broncos representative acknowledged Bowlen might set up such a phone call via general manager Brian Xanders or a personal aide, which isn't exactly a direct route.

But Bowlen would have at that point, had there been a phone call, spoken to Jay Cutler. How big of a cry baby do you have to be to want your boss to directly call you? I don't care if Pat Bowlen sent a dog to Jay Cutler with a note in it's mouth requesting Cutler's presence to answer a phone call. He wants to talk to you. If you don't talk to him and pout, then you are not helping to fix the situation and are in the wrong.

At this point, the Broncos have tried to resolve the situation and Cutler is having none of it. Don't tell that to Jay Mariotti though.

Again, why didn't Bowlen call Cutler personally and say something to the effect of, "Look, I'm the boss, you're the employee, and you'd better sit down and talk to me if you don't want your ass in a ringer."

Sure, that would work. Mariotti's solution is to have Pat Bowlen threaten Jay Cutler. If I were Bill Simmons I would make a list of the 10 ways this will never work. Jay Cutler won't talk to Josh McDaniels because he had intentions of trading Cutler, I can only imagine how badly his little feelings would be hurt if he got threatened by Pat Bowlen.

I wish Mariotti could realize that Jay Cutler is not a free agent nor does he have an option over where he gets traded. Pat Bowlen is a millionaire and a generally successful person, he doesn't have to threaten someone, instead he just acts instead of sending out idle threats.

Besides, Cutler would probably not even pick up the phone anyway if Bowlen did call him. I tink we have all learned from this situation a phone call can make everyone happy.

While one can claim fairly that Cutler is a baby of sorts, the classiest organizations privately would try to repair the broken trust and make Cutler feel like he's wanted.

Jay must have a Masters Degree in Being Wrong, because he is an expert at it. If we are to believe the reports, the Broncos have attempted to do this several times. If Cutler is not reporting to camp and won't respond to attempts to contact him they have no way of repairing the broken trust.

The Broncos do need to quit talking about this in the media.

Unless McDaniels acquires an established quarterback in a deal for Cutler -- Jason Campbell from Washington is the only one who fits that bill, and he has made only incremental progress so far -- he'll be stuck with Chris Simms, who was marginal as a Tampa Bay starter before injuries slowed his career.

I think the Redskins should give up Jason Campbell for Jay Cutler, and I would make this trade if I am Denver. The Broncos do have other options if they should trade Jay Cutler and don't get a quarterback, they could trade for another quarterback or draft a quarterback. Josh McDaniels has shown he works with quarterbacks pretty well and can develop their skill set.

I am not a huge Chris Simms fan, but injuries did not slow his career, it was a ruptured spleen that caused him to lose the starting job in Tampa Bay that he never got back. A ruptured spleen...and by the time he had come back, he had no starting job. Such is life with Jon Gruden as your head coach. I actually think Simms could end up being a good fit for the system that McDaniels ran in New England. Call me crazy, but I think he could work for a year or so as the starter. It's not ideal obviously, but it could work...maybe.

Given that the quarterback position is the most important in team sports, heavy panting can be heard from Cleveland to Tampa to New York to Chicago to San Francisco to Detroit to Washington to Charlotte.

Tampa? Cleveland? Charlotte? I don't see Tampa Bay getting another quarterback on their roster, plus I don't think they have the draft picks to do it. As far as Cleveland goes, they could get involved, but I think Brady Quinn/Derek Anderson are their best options at this point. One of those guys could end up being a quality starter...of course they could both fail. Charlotte (Carolina?) doesn't have a first round draft pick and Julius Peppers has no interest in Denver because they don't run a 3-4 defense. Also, it is not happening regardless of whether Peppers wanted to go there and Carolina had a 1st round pick.

Who wants a quarterback who threw for 4,526 yards last season and led a Elway-like comeback on a memorable Thursday night in Cleveland? Oh, everyone.

Who wants a quarterback that has refused to correspond with the team he works for because they did something he did not like, a guy who generally acts like a diva, a guy who threw Brandon Marshall under the bus last year and called him out, and has a habit of throwing a few interceptions every year. Also, in his picture he looks like he just got done crying. He is a great quarterback and a team would be smart to trade for him, but we can't act like Cutler doesn't have some baggage.

...but he did have that one comeback against the powerhouse Cleveland defense last year...and Mariotti thinks that should change my mind and blame the Broncos...so I won't.

Want a roll call of some of the worst NFL quarterbacks ever? They played in Chicago: Chad Hutchinson, Craig Krenzel, Jonathan Quinn, Henry Burris, Cade McNown, Shane Matthews, Moses Moreno, Steve Stenstrom, Rick Mirer, Peter Tom Willis. And that's just since the early 1990s. In the City of Weak Shoulders, journeyman lugs such as Jim Miller and Erik Kramer were considered stars. Kyle Orton actually heard raves last season because he protected the football, even if he wasn't producing much in the way of points.

Jay just can't resist getting a few shots at the Bears in here. It ups the word count and soothes his ego!

Don't hold your breath. Bears management never has placed much importance on the quarterback position, which is akin to a baseball franchise deciding it doesn't need a pitching ace.

I know, they have only spent 2 first round draft picks since 1999 on quarterbacks. That doesn't include drafting Krenzel and Kyle Orton. Sure they were unsuccessful but they have tried to find a quarterback a couple of times. They just happen to suck at it.

Now, the defense has issues, and if Angelo was smart, he'd offer the aging, injury-plagued Brian Urlacher in a Cutler deal.

This just seems so dumb. Just trade your best defensive player for Jay Cutler. Who is Cutler going to throw the ball to? Eddie Royal and Brandon Marshall will not follow him to Chicago. Also, is it me, or does trading the best core player on the Bears' defense, thereby weakening it by a lot, to improve the offense a little bit, seem non-sensical?

I think Chicago would be a good fit for Cutler, provided they found two more receivers and did not ruin the defense in the process of trading for him.

Carolina is interested, and with Julius Peppers available, that could be a sweet deal for the Broncos.

If Carolina is trying to get a new quarterback, they sure have a funny way of doing it. Or Jay Mariotti could be making shit up. Carolina is not interested. Not at all. Stop lying and just randomly making shit up to meet your word count. Julius Peppers also has stated he wants to play in a 3-4 defense and unless he is prone to making things up like Jay is, he is not going to Denver.

Teams such as the Jets and Bucs are in hot pursuit of Cutler, but they have no serious quarterback to offer.

If they had a "serious" quarterback to offer the Broncos, I would think they would just keep this quarterback and the draft picks they may have to get trade to get Cutler.

Washington? Dan Snyder is wacky enough to pull it off. Cleveland might make sense in a three-way deal, with Denver getting Brady Quinn and the Browns keeping Derek Anderson.

Let me look at this interesting three way deal Jay Mariotti has thought through before proposing here:

Washington gets: Jay Cutler
Denver: Brady Quinn
Cleveland: ?????????? (draft picks? a fruit basket? a date with Evangeline Lilly?)

If Cleveland is keeping Derek Anderson, they won't trade for Jason Campbell, so what they are getting in this trade? Usually when a columnist thinks of a trade idea, it makes sense for each team to receive something in the trade. Maybe I am missing something in this trade that Cleveland gets...Jason Campbell to the Browns does not make sense if they are keeping Anderson.

That same night in Nashville, I said something to Cutler about the coach he admired, Shanahan, and how he'd been fired days earlier. There was no response.

I guess we can infer Cutler was angry Shanahan got fired and is pouting right now partially because of that? If so, yet another sign of a lack of maturity for this guy...and a red flag for any team that trades for him. Again, great quarterback, but I think he is at fault here.

All of which might explain why he was hanging out at a bar with a curious name. He worked for Losers, didn't he?

I disagree. How can the Broncos be losers? They are one of the most successful teams over the last 10 years, granted one with a bad defense, and they have attempted multiple times to speak with Jay Cutler and smooth everything over. He has given them no choice but to trade him at this point.

Jay thinks he knows why Cutler was hanging out at a bar called Losers. What I want to know is why Jay was hanging out at a bar called Losers. I think the second review in the link may explain things for me.