Recently, I saw a comparison of Jay Cutler to the NFL greats at the Quarterback position… Montana, Elway, Marino, Fouts, Johnny Unitas, etc. Those are some enormous shoes to fill. And I don’t really think it’s fair to compare a guy that’s played 37 games in the NFL, to guys that have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Is this really how people are going to measure Jay Cutler right now? Come on…
For one, some of those guys played in very different eras. I fully believe that trying to compare a guy that played in the 1980s, to a guy that is playing now, is not a fair comparison. Let alone comparing Jay Cutler to Johnny Unitas. I mean, that’s just ridiculous. And another thing, their careers are over. They played a full career. They weren’t judged on their first 2 1/2 seasons of work. They had an opportunity to learn, mature, grow, and of course, flourish as a QB in the NFL. Has Jay Cutler had the opportunity to do all that in 37 games? No. These comparisons should never be made. Not for any QB.
All of this was certainly thought provoking, though. And it got me thinking about how Jay Cutler stacks up to current NFL QB superstars and how they started their careers. That’s a fair comparison, in my opinion. To me, the 3 best QBs in the league today are Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees. It wouldn’t really be fair to compare them and Jay Cutler straight up. So I did some research and some number crunching on the first 37 games of their careers. So without further ado, here are the passing stats of Jay Cutler, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees in their first 37 games.
Jay Cutler – 37 games
762 comp / 1220 att = 62.5%
9024 yards = 7.4 avg
54 TDs(4.4%), 37 INT(3.0%)
87.1 QB rating
Tom Brady – 37 games
739 comp / 1183 att = 62.5%
7680 yards = 6.5 avg
52 TDs(4.4%) / 33 INT(2.8%)
84.2 QB rating
Peyton Manning – 37 games
782 comp / 1305 att = 60%
9475 yards = 7.3 avg
63 TDs(4.8%) / 50 INT(3.8%)
82.4 QB rating
Drew Brees – 37 games
700 comp / 1151 att = 61%
7467 = 6.5 avg
47 TDs(4.1%) / 34 INT(3.0%)
81.1 QB rating
Now, I’m not going to tell anyone what to think. I’m not going to say that based on these numbers, that it’s clear that Jay Cutler is on his way to having a better career. I’m not that much of a Chicago Bears homer. But what I will tell you, is to form your own opinion. It’s clear that Cutler’s overall numbers are slightly better than Brady’s, Manning’s, and Brees’ over their first 37 games. And what does that mean? Probably not a whole lot. But it means just as much as comparing Cutler to HOFers. With the exception that this comparison is actually relevant. Surely you agree with this assessment… right!?
With all that being said, why do I never hear the talking head analysts make comparisons like this? Hmmmm? Probably because most of the talking head analyst types half-ass their job. And it’s more important to talk about angles and storylines, rather than actually discuss what’s going on. Everything is a soap opera. Even football. What can you do?
1 Response to “Jay Cutler vs. the world”
Nice post. I had the same thoughts upon hearing those comments about Cutler. It’s absolutely unfair to judge a player so early in his career and to put that sort of pressure on him. The comparisons to the first 37 games of the elite QBs in the NFL certainly isn’t a guarantee by any means, but it’s definitely a very interesting thing to see and does shine a positive light upon Cutler. It’s clear that he’s a great talent, and it’s even better to see that he’s still developing, that he can only get better with experience. …as long as no one compares him to Unitas again. That was a little much, to say the least. and now he might be tempted to make his god-awful haircut even more unflattering to try and live up to the legend of Johhny U.
As for the talking heads, I can agree with you on that, too. Remember what your television looked like when Brett Favre signed with the Vikings? His face was everywhere. All day long. Or when the Eagles took a chance by picking up Vick, it was the same old story. But these two recent events are typical of what our sports media has become; a never ending slew of over-dramatized hype. And what happens when the build-up to a story ends up going nowhere? When a player DOESN’T sign with a different team (i.e. Brandon Marshall)? Well, the story fizzles out and they pretend like it never happened. And after hearing about it every day for weeks on end, on every page of sports news on televsion, in the newspaper, on the internet, we’ll just accept it as the most annoying bit of nostalgia and lie in anticipation of the next big thing being absolutely forced on us.