Cutler won’t make rookie mistakes – like Plummer

William L. Bryan, Special to the News

Published September 18, 2006 at midnight

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After Jake Plummer’s week one debacle in St. Louis, the swarming hordes of national media figures took turns tossing each other the obvious softball: Will the Denver Broncos bench Plummer in favor of rookie Jay Cutler?

And the answer was unanimous. No. Hell, no. What are you, stupid?

Last week all of the arguments against benching Jake Plummer were solid. Plummer led the Broncos to a 13-3 record and the AFC Championship last season in addition to going 32-12 as the Broncos’ starting quarterback. Rookies, particularly at the incredibly delicate quarterback position, are not mentally prepared to play. They make bad decisions and cannot handle the pressure, and the last thing that you want to do is ruin a young guy’s confidence. This is something you just can’t do in the NFL.

Let’s get something straight here. Conventional wisdom be damned, Mike Shanahan can do whatever he wants. He could get drunk at the company Christmas party, set Pat Bowlen’s fur coat on fire, decry the war in Iraq, expose himself to a packed IHOP, mysteriously vanish for a month, and he would still be the head coach when he returned.

After the first two games, the defense has given up only 24 points and zero touchdowns despite the offense turning the ball over within the opponents’ field-goal range five times. The rushing attack is averaging 153 yards per game and 5.0 yards per carry. So if we are to parcel out blame for the Broncos’ sparkling 19 points in 98 some-odd minutes of football, we are left with . . . let’s see . . . carry the 2 . . .

Besides Plummer’s level of play, the difference between this year and last is the quality of his backup. Bradlee Van Pelt was Jake Plummer’s very own Dan Quayle. No matter how many ridiculous, belief-defying decisions Plummer made, you had to sit there and take it because you knew his backup was capable of much scarier things.

We cannot damage Jay Cutler’s psyche. He was a four-year starter at Vanderbilt. He went 11-34 for a school that plays in the SEC without an athletic department. Occasional mistakes are unlikely to crush his spirit.

Rookies may make bad decisions, but worse than throwing left-handed passes while in the grasp of two defensive linemen? Throwing southpaw in a Denver uniform, Plummer is now 1-for-3 for 1 yard and an interception. I am neither a Broncos insider nor the Amazing Kreskin, but I would bet Shanahan has told Plummer 18 bazillion times to never, ever do that again. I would also bet that Cutler finds this intuitively obvious and will never have to be told.

Not only is a change at quarterback not as bad an idea as it sounded like last week, but it looks imminent. Shanahan’s play-calling against the Chiefs spoke more clearly than words that he has no further confidence in Plummer, and many of Plummer’s throws justified Shanahan’s trepidation.

So bring on the media hordes. Let’s see what difference a week makes.