Jake Plummer has been one of the worst QBs in the league this year. I thought he shouldn't have been pulled after
week two, and he saved himself with a great performance against the Pats.
But he's not turning this one around. At some point, you have to recognize that a guy has been really bad for six games, and you're not going to get worse play out of Cutler.
Plummer has now thrown as many INTs this year in six games as he did all of last year, and he's averaging a miserable 5.82 Y/A, and 4.20 adjusted Y/A.
I absolutely agree. At this stage, it is clear that Plummer's not in a funk, he's clearly regressed as a QB. He's had funks before, but none that lasted this long.With that said... I still don't think going to Cutler is the right move. You are saying the Broncos should go to Cutler because he can't be any worse, but I beg to differ... he could be worse. He could be much, much, much worse. He could be Alex Smith, or Kyle Orton, or J.P. Losman, or Charlie Frye. He could certainly be worse. And even though Plummer's clearly regressed as a QB, I think there's more hope that Plummer finishes the season playing at a mediocre or better level than there is that Cutler does. Even if he looks like Matt Leinart vs. Chicago one week, he could look like Matt Leinart vs. Oakland the next. Heck, even Ben Roethlisberger, super-rookie extraordinaire, still hit the rookie wall in the playoffs.
Also, here's another big point that NEEDS to be made- when Shanahan switches to Cutler, the switch has to be permanant. There's no switching to Cutler, then seeing him struggle worse than Jake, and then going back to Plummer. Not only would that kill Plummer this year, that would kill Cutler's development. If Shanahan is going to switch to Cutler, he has to be absolutely CERTAIN that it's the right move, because he can't take it back afterwards. It's the regular season- he has plenty of time to switch to Cutler, if he decides later it needs to be done. He won't have plenty of time to UNSWITCH to Cutler if he does it too early, though. Switching to the rookie is like buying a house- you could rush into it as soon as you felt like it might be a good idea, but you're much better off doing your due dilligence first, because you can't unbuy a house once it's been bought.
Does anyone think that with the loss of Lepsis combined with Plummer's ineffectiveness, that Shanny would make the switch to Cutler to make him even more prepared for next year? Not that I am saying he would give up on a season where they are 5-1, but he might figure Plummer is not going to get any better, and if Cutler can somehow have a Roethlisberger-like impact, it could benefit them this year, too.
I think the loss of Lepsis would make Shanny want to stick with the vet. Playing a rookie with the weakened OL could stump his normal learning progression - Hard to learn when you are running for your life.Also you have to wonder if Shanny even thinks the loss of Lepsis is that big of a deal.
was thinking the exact same thing - Lepsis out means Shannie is more likely to keep the QB who knows how to bootleg.That said, he's thrown as many INTs in 6 games as he threw in 16 last year.
INTs are unacceptable.
That's an unfair comparison. Last year was a historic year, as far as Plummer was concerned. Saying that Shanny should bench Plummer because he's throwing a lot more Ints than last year is sort of like saying that Dungy should bench Manning because he's not throwing as many TDs as he did in 2004.Another thing that bears mentioning... Shanahan believes that he misplayed the Brister/Greise situation. He believes that he put Griese in too early, and that it cost him the locker room. He believes that the QB who most helps his team win isn't necessarily the guy who does the most on the field, but it's the guy who keeps his entire team playing at his best, and he believes that his team sort of gave up a little bit when he put Griese in over Brister (and basically signalled that 1999 was going to be a rebuilding year). He's said all of this before, and it goes a long way towards explaining exactly why he's not going to rush Cutler in until he's SURE that Cutler is going to do better than Plummer.
Edit to add: No Hagan prediction?
