Nov. 28, 2006
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(Ed Andrieski / AP) |
Denver, Colo. – Former Vanderbilt standout quarterback Jay Cutler will earn his first start for Denver when the Broncos host Seattle in a nationally televised game Sunday night.
Cutler, taken by the Broncos with the 11th pick of the 2006 NFL Draft, will become the first former Commodore quarterback to start a NFL game since Bill Wade finished the 1964 season as the Chicago Bears’ starter. Wade spend 13 years in the NFL, playing for the Los Angeles Rams and Bears. He was a two-time Pro Bowler for the Bears, guiding Chicago to the 1964 league championship.
Cutler learned of the promotion to starter from Denver head coach Mike Shanahan on Monday. Cutler and the coach addressed the Denver media contingent the same day.
The announcement comes 12 games into Cutler’s rookie campaign for a Denver squad contending for the AFC West title. The Broncos are 7-4, two games behind the AFC West-leading San Diego Chargers.
Vanderbilt head coach Bobby Johnson was delighted with the news. “We excited for Jay, and excited about this opportunity for him,” the Commodore coach said. “We know Jay will do a fantastic job for the Broncos.”
Cutler, a native of Santa Claus, Ind., started 45 games in four years at Vanderbilt, concluding his career as the team’s all-time leader in virtually every passing and total offense chart. Cutler is the Commodore career leader with 9,953 yards of total offense, 59 touchdown passes, 8,697 passing yards, 710 completions, 1,695 total plays and 76 combined touchdowns. He also was one of just two players in Vanderbilt history to serve three years as a team captain.
Cutler closed his career with a remarkable senior campaign, becoming the first Commodore to earn unanimous Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Year recognition. He threw for 21 touchdowns and 3,073 yards in 2005, leading Vanderbilt to three SEC victories and a 5-6 record. In his final four games as a senior, Cutler threw for 13 touchdowns and averaged 352.5 passing yards. In his last appearance, he guided the Commodores to a 28-24 win at Tennessee, tossing the game-deciding touchdown to wide receiver Earl Bennett on his final collegiate pass.
A transcript of remarks made Monday by Cutler and Shanahan follows:
Quotes from Broncos’ QB Jay Cutler
On how he felt when he found out he was the new starter
“Excited, a little nervous. But I guess you guys all knew about it before I did, so I’ve have an idea for the last couple days. So I’ve kind of been preparing.”
On whether he’s ready
“I hope so. I think so. Good practice today. We were sharp. I had to get my timing back a little bit, but we’ve got a long week.”
On whether practice felt different as the starter
“Definitely. It’s a whole new responsibility. The last eight, 10, 12 weeks, I’ve just been kind of coming out here and watching and learning. Now I’m on the other side, so it’s going to be fun.”
On how surprised he is to be starting so soon
“You never know what’s going to happen. I knew there was a possibility I might get to play this year. I prepared like I might get to play, so I’m happy. I’m just going to take it one day at a time.”
On facing different expectations as a team than the teams of the other first-round rookie quarterbacks this year
“Yeah, but we’ve got a good team. We’ve got a really good defense. We’ve got a really good offensive line. We’ve got running backs. We’ve got receivers. We’ve got a lot of leadership on this team, so I just need to go out there and do my part.”
On whether his situation is easier than Matt Leinart’s and Vince Young’s
“I think so. I think that Matt and Vince, they have to kind of go out there and really win games. I’m going to take chances and try to put some balls in some spots, but for the most part I’ve just got to manage the game.”
On his teammates’ reaction
“We went about business as normal. A few of the rookies came up to me and said something to me, but for the most part the veterans didn’t miss a beat.”
On whether he talked to Jake Plummer
“Yeah, I talked to Jake a couple times today. Jake’s a good guy. He’s been great since I got here. As soon as he got here today, we kind of talked and said it didn’t change anything between me and him. He’s going to be there for me. It’s good to have him around.”
On whether he could draw on his preseason success
“This is a different animal completely. Preseason’s preseason. I don’t put a lot of stock into it. We’re playing for real now, so I’ve got to be a little more prepared.”
On whether the game plan has to be altered to make up for his inexperience
“The defenses that we’re going to see are a little more complex than in preseason, but I’ve been able to watch a lot and learn so far these first 11 games. So I feel like we can continue doing what we’ve been doing.”
On the biggest difference in preparation aside from increased practice reps
“I want to be sharp. I want to have everything down, so it’s going to be some longer hours and studying a little bit more than I have in the past.”
On the Seahawks blitzing to try to throw him off on Sunday
“They’re going to have a few wrinkles just to try to put me in bad situations. That’s even more reason I have to be more prepared and watch a lot more film and know the game plan backward and forwards.”
On debuting in a prime-time game
“It’s always fun to play Sunday nights, so to make my debut on a nationally televised game like that is going to be fun.”
On whether adrenalin and excitement could be a factor
“No, my pregame’s going to be a little bit different, and I’ll be a little bit more excited. But once I get on the field, I think it’s just going to take over and I’ll be fine.”
On what his family said when he told them the news
“They knew before I did. They called me Friday or Saturday morning and asked me if I heard anything. I’ve had calls all weekend, so it’s been an interesting weekend. I’m glad it’s over.”
On when he got official word that he was starting
“I guess 10 this morning.”
On what Mike Shanahan said to him
“Just sat down and was talking for a little bit. I was like, `What am I doing in here?’ He was like, `We’re going to make the change.’ We talked about it a little bit. It went well.”
On whether he had a tough time sleeping last night
“No.”
On when he would have made the change
“I think the Seattle game’s a great game.”
On what he’s been doing to prepare while getting few reps
“You’ve got to mentally go through the reads and try to stay sharp that way. Physically, I haven’t gotten a lot of reps, and I was a little rusty today on some of the throws. But Jake’s going to sit back and let me get real close and get back into it this week.”
On how he feels like he has practiced over the last several weeks
“Scout team. I just throw wherever they tell me to on the card.”
On whether he spent more time with a playbook this weekend
“I didn’t even have a playbook this weekend. We don’t get it until Wednesday, really.”
On whether he feels like he’s cramming for an exam
“Yeah, a little bit. Luckily, it’s a Sunday night game, which gives us a little bit longer. Those first couple days I might be pressing a little bit and trying to get everything down, but I’ve got to be patient. It’s going to come.”
On how throwing a rookie quarterback into the offense makes things better
“I don’t know; it might make things worse. We’ll have to find out. Hopefully I can give us a little bit of a spark. We’re going to get things turned around. We’ve got too much talent and too much character on this team not to. We had a good meeting today and kind of looked at ourselves, and then I thought we had a really sharp practice today.”
On whether he will talk to John Elway about his situation
“If he calls me.”
On whether he’s talked to anyone about how to handle his situation
“Not really, just kind of been going with the flow, really. We’ve got a great bunch on guys in there – John Lynch and Jake, Al Wilson and Champ (Bailey) and all those guys, they’ve been great so far.”
Quotes from Mike Shanahan, Denver Broncos head coach
Shanahan’s Opening statement
“We did make a change at the quarterback position. Jay Cutler will be our starting quarterback Sunday night. I’ll bet you there are some questions.”
On when he came to this decision
“Well obviously with the extra couple days it does make it much easier, but that wasn’t the deciding factor.”
On what the deciding factor was for moving QB Cutler into the starting roll
“Just like we have talked all along it is a process. You go through your summer camp, you go through your OTA days, you get an evaluation every practice and every game and then you make a decision with what you think is in the best interest of the organization with what you think is the best choice and you make that choice.”
On how much better QB Jay Cutler will make the Broncos
“Well we will let the process take care of itself. Jay has the opportunity to obviously be the guy. We understand that there is always a process involved. I like the way he has practiced, I like the way he handles himself and I think he gives us the best chance to win.”
On how much of this decision is based on the future of the team and how much is based on the present
“I think you know me well enough that I usually work in the present I don’t work in the future. I think that he gives us our best chance to win now, and obviously you have got to go out there and get it done and with Jake (Plummer), I love the way he has handled it. He is a competitor, he is a winner, he has done a lot of great things for this organization and he has won a lot of football games and I really believe that this is for the best interest of our football team.”
On how much the upcoming schedule has factored in the quarterback decision
“Well I think it is a combination of all of those things. Like I said before it is a process, it just doesn’t happen overnight. It happens on the way that Jay (Cutler) is handling himself through OTA days, the way he is handling himself through summer camp. You evaluate the way people practice on a day-to-day basis, week in and week out, and then you have to make some tough decisions and this is a very tough decision considering all the games, obviously, that Jake (Plummer) has won for us.”
On how long the quarterback decision has been brewing
“Well like I said, you think about not only every position on your football team but it is an evaluation process. You don’t just think of it as week six, week seven but through your summer camp, through your first week you have an evaluation process not just of the quarterback position but of every position. Obviously this gets the most notoriety.”
On how he plans to counter rookie QB Cutler’s youth and inexperience
“Well obviously for us to get where we want to we have got to play better as an offense. It is not just the quarterback position that is involved we have got to get better at many positions. Right now we are average on offense and it is not due just to the quarterback it is due to a lot of different segments and we have to get better at those segments.”
On whether he will have to scale down the offense for QB Cutler
“For us to make that decision that we have made, we feel very comfortable that he is got complete knowledge of the offense.”
On when QB Cutler was drafted if he considered the impact it could possibly have on the team
“I think a lot of it has to do with us not being as successful running the football this year compared to previous years. It put a little more pressure on the quarterback I think that has a lot to do with it. I think that there is always pressure involved at every position especially when your back-up is a first round draft choice.”
On QB Jake Plummer’s reaction to the loss of his starting roll
“Class. I don’t think obviously that he likes the move. Any competitor would not like the move, but he is a winner and he is going to do everything that the can to help this football team. He knows that he is one play away from being the starter and he is going to do everything he can to help us win. It surely doesn’t surprise me on how he is handling it.”
On if he had a timeline in mind when QB Cutler was drafted
“Well I was hoping it was going to be at the end of the season. Give him a season to learn and kind of learn the system and get comfortable with it.”
On if he worries that there will be an extra burden on QB Cutler being a rookie
“There is pressure. There is pressure in every position.”
On what Cutler had shown to convince him he could start
“Consistency. We’ve talked about this all along. It’s a continual evaluation process at every position. It just doesn’t happen one week to the next. It happens throughout the offseason program, throughout summer camps, throughout games, game situations, throughout practice situations. And then you go with your gut, what you feel is in the best interest of your football team.”
On what Cutler brings that hasn’t been there
“I’m not going to go into that. We’ll see down the road. As we’ve talked about, you do the thing that you feel gives you the best chance to win. It’s one of the reasons Jay Cutler is our quarterback.”
On what he saw from Cutler in the preseason
“To be honest with you, I think you saw a quarterback operate in a game situation. He wasn’t awed by a preseason game. I think we all know the defenses are much different during the regular season than they are during the preseason. But this guy is a guy that handles himself quite well. There will be growing pains. There will be many mistakes that happen, but he’s going to be our guy. He’s the guy for the future. He’s the guy for the present. I think I explained why.”
On whether he got any indication on whether the locker room was ready for the change
“I can’t tell you exactly, but I did tell you I think that I made a big mistake when I named Brian Griese the quarterback (in 1999) instead of Bubby Brister. Bubby had won four games the year before when John wasn’t the quarterback. Even though I thought it was in the best interest of the football team, I don’t think everybody else thought it was. Is it a 100 percent? I would say definitely not. It never is, especially when a guy has played as hard as Jake has through the years. But that’s why you get paid what you get paid, to make those tough decisions, and you’ve got to do what you think is in the best interesting of the team. That was one of the reasons why we went with Jay.”
On a young quarterbacks’ growing pains
“You don’t have that experience that you’d like a quarterback to have. Everybody’s got to go through it.”
On whether Cutler will see a different side of him in games
“I don’t know. We’ll see as time goes on. Are you saying I’m not a lovable, likable guy?”
On what he has learned about Cutler that couldn’t be learned from a scouting report
“He’s very mature. He’s very confident. He’s a worker. He’s got all the tools that you look for. That’s why he’s getting this opportunity, on how he’s practiced.”
On whether the schedule played a factor on when he would begin starting Cutler
“I don’t think about that. Prime time – what’s the difference between 6:00 or 2:00? A game’s a game. They’re all important to us, and you’ve got to go out there and perform. He’ll handle it well.”
On whether Cutler will show a different side as the starter
“I’m not sure it will be much different than it has been. Jay’s been a class act as well. He’s going to say the right thing at the right time. He’s a very smart individual and understands what it takes to be a team. But I’m sure when you do ask him questions that he’s going to give you a very honest answer. I think he’ll be very forthright.”
