ONLY JAKE PLUMMER CAN STOP TOM BRADY IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  It’s going to be the Patriots and Colts in the AFC title game, after both teams were largely slept on while LT and San Diego got all the press hype.  The funny thing is the Colts won largely because of Adam Vinateri, and don’t think that storyline won’t be pummeled into the ground over the next six days.  You’ll see the clips of Vinateri’s game-winners.  You’ll see the clips of Mike Vanderjagt’s shanks.  You’ll see the “idiot kicker” soundbite and Peyton Manning’s “loser face” plastered all over the pregame shows.  You’ll also hear about how the Colts’ defense magically showed up and thumped down Larry Johnson and Steve McNair.  You’ll hear about Tom Brady, the Golden Boy QB; the best quarterback in the league since Joe Montana (and it may be true.)  You’ll hear about how Rex Grossman overcame his jitters and played a consistent good game.  And you will hear no end about how the Saints are the new “America’s Team” and are playing for destiny.

What you won’t hear (unless you’re here now) is the thoughts of LetPlummerPlay.com.  We freely admit we were bamboozled by the LaDainian Train.  We forgot that Belichek and Brady in the playoffs can beat anyone except Jake Plummer.  We also forgot that Marty Schottenheimer is a playoff loser and will never shake that rep.  We knew the Colts would beat the Ravens, because the Ravens D was obviously not as good as their Super Bowl team (when “The Accessory” Ray Lewis was in his prime) and the Ravens offense was nowhere near Super Bowl-quality this year.  Peyton Manning didn’t have to take risks because after one quarter it was obvious that all he had to do was get close enough for field goals all day because somehow, Tony Dungy had figured out an opposing offense for two weeks straight.  We really didn’t think the Seahawks were good enough for the NFC title game, but it all came down to “would Grossman suck or not?” and it turned out to be the ultimate difference.  And the Saints do seem like a team of destiny, though going to Soldier Field might be a sobering wake-up call.

So what’s going to happen next week?  Well, in the NFC, we really hope the Bears don’t make it.  Not because we like the Saints all that much, but because Da Bears have been boring and unlikable pretty much since the day Mike Ditka retired…and they weren’t that likable back then either outside of Walter Payton and the Fridge.  The Saints, win or lose, would at least be something interesting that could add to the drama of a Super Bowl.  They’d have dynamic young players like Marques Colston, Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, and Deuce McAllister.  The Bears, meanwhile, have Rex “50/50” Grossman and Devin Hester--a kick returner.  Whoopee.

In the AFC, well, it’s so hard not to just pick the Patriots yet again.  Sure, the game’s in the RCA dome in Indy, but…until he proves us all wrong, Peyton Manning is just the Dan Marino to Tom Brady’s Joe Montana.  We’ll need to see something really special out of that “rocket, laser arm” to reverse the trend of “Pats beat Colts” in the playoffs.  A lot of people will hold up Vinateri as the ultimate game-breaker, and it’s hard to argue that.  But then it’s hard to argue that (in their various primes of course) John Carney, Jason Elam, Jason Hanson, and Morten Anderson couldn’t have done what Vinateri did if they hadn’t found themselves on a team that could give a kicker a chance to win championships.  Vinateri is only as good as the team that gets him within 50 yards of the uprights, and that will be the real test this weekend.  Still, maybe the psychological edge of having stolen Belichek’s “Stone Cold Stunner” will be enough to finally give Manning enough motivation to shake that handsome 3-ring-wearing monkey off his back.  We can only wait and see.  If Stephen Gostkowski of the Patriots shanks the winning kick, then Vinateri is Manning’s Excalibur.  Otherwise, one simply must point to Manning’s playoff woes of the past and the 11-1 Brady/Belichek record when making weekend picks.  We haven’t seen the line yet, but if the Colts are favored by more than 3 ½ points--history says TAKE THE PATRIOTS.

We see a Patriots-Saints Super Bowl, and it will be the sappiest, sentimental All-American corporate B.S. fest you’ve ever seen.  Prepare to O.D. on “America,” or at least the commercialized version of it, should these two teams meet in the big game.  John Mellencamp will probably play that god-awful “Our Country” song at halftime.  We hate that song and outside of “Jack & Diane” we largely hate John Mellencamp, who basically re-wrote “Pink Houses” with feel-good, truck sellin’ lyrics and hurled it at the heartland with visions of nostalgic album-buyers wandering the aisles of Wal-Mart in his head.  You’ll see uplifting stories of Katrina victims and brave American soldiers; you’ll see NFL players visiting Army bases and community centers.  You will see the world through red-white-and-blue glasses for HOURS.  And there’s nothing wrong with that if you take it all in perspective.  Thanks to the Saints, a little more attention is being paid to New Orleans, so that we don’t forget what happened there and how it’s still heavily affecting millions of citizens.  It’s great to remember that despite the idiotic logic that put us there, that a lot of unfortunate men and women in the armed forces are doing their best to not get blown to smithereens by angry Middle Easterners who don’t care what an individual American thinks about the Iraq “war”--they just want to kill an American, ANY American, for the perceived crimes of the U.S. government.  But what we don’t like is sentimental bullshit.  Because sentimental bullshit is what the media uses to sell beer, trucks, soda, and burgers.  Sentimental bullshit fools people into emotionally over-attaching themselves to things like FOOTBALL GAMES, as if you’re a better American for wasting an entire Sunday afternoon and evening watching grown men play with a ball in a game that’s technically only supposed to be an hour long.  Don’t get us wrong; watch the game, love the game, and be glad you’re free and secure enough to be able to do so.  But remember to keep it all in perspective.  Don’t buy into hype.  This is OURRRRR COUNTRY, and we love it, but we also realize it’s a mess right now, so we don’t want Chevrolet, CBS, Budweiser, and Johnny Cougar Mellencamp telling us otherwise just because it’s been at least a year since a building blew up or a city drowned.  You know, it almost makes us wish for the who-gives-a-crap-snooze-fest that would be a Bears/Colts Super Bowl.  God that would suck.  Either way…ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???

As for Snake Watch 2007, it appears that the Jacksonville Jaguars have a slight interest in the Snake.  NFL Network says that the Jag’s new O-Coordinator Dirk Koetter likes what he sees in Jake.  Well, so do we, Dirk.  But it’s still looking more and more like Jake could end up in Houston, at least that’s what they think over at the Houston Chronicle.  As usual, we shall wait and see how the Broncos off-season unfolds, although thanks to Shanahan, the Broncos off-season started earlier than usual this year.  But that’s okay Mike, as long as you win the AFC title next year, we won’t assume you’ve lost your edge.  No one’s going to talk about it for a few months because of the Darrent Williams situation, so the reality of how badly the season unraveled will be largely numbed by springtime when Denver fans start making excuses for 2006 and thinking that somehow 2007 is going to be radically different.  Either way, we’re going to be happy to see someone…

LET PLUMMER PLAY!!!

A WIN IS A WIN--EVEN AGAINST ARIZONA

Well, the Broncos finally won again Sunday.  I have to admit Jay Cutler looked pretty good out there, especially in that first series.  He seems to be comfortable when he actually has time to throw and the defense even held together pretty well yesterday.  Jacksonville and Kansas City lost, so it seems like the Broncos will be able to avoid sliding out of the playoffs by the skin of their teeth after leading the AFC West for most of the first half of the season under Jake Plummer.  Hard to say whether it will be enough to actually make some postseason noise.  The Broncos would definitely be a lesser playoff team if they held on to their spot.

Still, Indianapolis is giving up huge ground numbers.  New England has degenerated into an odd cousin to the 80’s-era Broncos where their only standout is the superstar quarterback, the defense is just above average…and if Brady has a bad night, they lose.  Baltimore has a blistering defense, but the offense is suspect.  Vice versa for Cincinnati.  The rest of the pack—Jacksonville, KC, the Jets, Tennessee…all have just as many holes as Denver if not more.  So it really comes down to San Diego and the legs of LaDanian Tomlinson.  LT has been the Juggernaut this year (though much too classy to yell “I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!” in the end zone) but San Diego is not a franchise that is well-known for any sort of playoff dominance and if LT turns an ankle or (God forbid) has an off night, they are vulnerable.

Could the Broncos pull off a Cinderella situation?  That’s exactly what would happen if Jay Cutler puts them into a second-round game.  The league loves feel good stories.  In the NFC, it’s New Orleans this year, but in the AFC it’s going to be either Cutler or Vince Young if the Titans miraculously make it (and believe me, if the Titans somehow make the playoffs you will be absolutely sick of the media coverage Vince Young is going to receive.)  The Broncos have a shot on “any given Sunday,” just like any other team who happens to have everything go their way against an opponent having an off night.  Well, good luck to them in achieving that.  Quarterbacks aside, the Broncos are full of holes and not necessarily playing on all cylinders every game.  Even when they do play on all cylinders, it’s obvious that there are simply better teams in the AFC and that it’s going to take a heaping spoonful of plain old-fashioned luck to get by.

Do I think that the season would be different with Plummer starting?  Well, maybe.  I still think the Seattle game was winnable with Jake at QB, though I couldn’t tell you if that win would have made a difference other than team confidence (which is still important.)  However, if the Broncos miss the playoffs I’m going to point to that game as the turning point of the season. 

Cutler’s having a great start to his career, but the team is still 1-2 with him and only still in playoff position because of the 7-4 start that got Jake Plummer fired.  And as professional as Cutler looked yesterday; as much as it provided highlight footage; as much as the Broncos needed that win…it was still only Arizona.  The Broncos would have no excuse to lose to Arizona even with Bradlee Van Pelt starting.  Point to the Cardinals’ upsets of Seattle and St. Louis if you like (two teams that thoroughly beat the Broncos, coincidentally) but even with those two back-to-back wins, Arizona is still a bottom-5 NFL team.  Great win for Cutler and the Broncos, but remember, it came against a 4-9 Cards team that had lost to the Raiders by 13 points. That 2-11 Oakland team currently has my vote for worst in the league and is perhaps the worst Raiders squad of all time.  In the NFL win is a win no matter what, but this one was hardly cause for whooping and shouting.

Here’s hoping that the Broncos don’t get embarrassed in the Wild Card game.  I’m going to assume they make the playoffs--I’m picking the Colts to deal a shot across the knees to the Bengals tonight after last week’s “wake-up call” loss to the Jags--a team that had its own crushing blow to deal with yesterday.  If Cutler can keep making throws and the defense can hang in there, anything can happen.  Still, the O-Line has been allowing heavy pressure to teams that aren’t as sorry as the pathetic Cardinals defense.  Cutler and the Bells seem capable enough to at least put up double digit scores, so if they can avoid the Colts and Chargers (which seems impossible) they’ve got an outside shot. 

Still, one has to wonder what might have been if there had been a little more confidence in this site’s favorite player since day one.  Make all the assumptions you want about how he would have sucked or not sucked—the season would have simply been different if the Broncos had--

LET PLUMMER PLAY!!!

Well it’s time to play Monday morning quarterback.  I was pretty disappointed in Jake because he did make a couple of bad plays, but overall I became even more disappointed to realize that the Broncos season is D-U-N (done.)  Jake maybe could have taken the game to overtime if he hadn’t thrown the last interception but it was obvious to everyone that once LaDadanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates got over their Mile High jitters in the first half, Denver’s D was further exposed as simply an average unit with one great player (the mighty Champ Bailey.)  Luckily, San Diego hadn’t tried using Gates all that much in the first half or they might have run up 50 points.  Seriously, if you put Champ on any team, you’re going to cut TD passes in half--he’s that good.  If he goes down today, Denver finishes 8-8, because no matter what the offense does, without Champ they can’t beat anyone on the remaining schedule except Arizona—and that’s a ROAD GAME so I wouldn’t bet my life savings on it. 

If I sound like I’m being hard on the defense, well…TOO BAD.  They were absolutely masterful against KC and New England.  They did about what you expect against Baltimore, Oakland, and Cleveland—below average offenses all.  They mustered up a decent game against a seriously flawed and inconsistent Steelers attack.  Then figure in the two best offensive players in the league—Peyton Manning and L.T.—and the Denver quite simply crapped their pants when it counted (and don’t forget, Jake actually played a great game against Indy and it wasn’t enough.)  Hey, there are teams who got beaten up a lot worse than Denver did, but you have to admit that against the Colts and Chargers there was a certain turning point in each game where Denver fans had to say “we just ain’t on their level.”  Put it this way:  The Indianapolis loss was probably the best game they’re going to play all year barring a miracle upset in San Diego in 3 weeks. 

 On the other side of that, I got some e-mails and messages saying I’m too hard on Jay Cutler and on this subject maybe they’re right.  I just got overly defensive about Jake considering the Broncos were still winning while he was playing so “terribly.”  But this Chargers game was just depressing…if the loss had completely been Jake’s fault, I’d be embarrassed and mad.  If Jake played well and it was the defense’s fault, I’d be pissed but at least satisfied with my boy Jake.  But both Jake and the rest of the team completely folded in the second half.  It was like that Bears-Cardinals game from earlier in the year where Leinart and the Cardinals looked to have a win in the bag on the surface but fans all over America were simply waiting for the real Cardinals to show up and lose, which they did.  As Bronco fans, we aren’t used to that so it was a sinking feeling.  And I hate to say it but maybe it’s time for an overhaul.

So I suggest two things:

FIRE SHANAHAN.  Now, hold on before you get your nuts in a bunch.  I’m not calling for his head right this minute because of the Chargers loss.  I’m just being reasonable.  Shanahan just seems to have lost his edge as far as Denver goes.  The “anyone can do it” running game doesn’t work anymore, whether it’s because the league has finally figured out Denver’s schemes or simply because even Reuben Droughns and Olandis Gary were better than--Tatum Bell and Mike Bell.  Even on the Broncos, they don’t seem to be worthy of a starter’s slot and that’s a long fall from the days of Mike Anderson grinding out 1500 yards and 15 touchdowns.  It seems more and more like Terrell Davis was the only really “special” running back to play for the team.  Shanahan always wanted to have a good defense, but he’s not a defensive minded coach.  Even Mike Ditka, who needed Buddy Ryan to coordinate the D, was still a defensive minded coach—he just wasn’t good at drawing up the plays himself.  Denver’s defense is well-plotted, but Shanahan doesn’t have the instinct to put his stamp on it and make the Broncos a complete team.

This is a tough call to make of course because Shanahan helped Elway get to the Promised Land way back when (with the help of Terrell Davis) and he usually gets the most out of his talent, such as with the running game.  Also, as a Jake fan, Mike has been one of Jake’s biggest supporters.  But even guys like Don Shula have occasionally stuck around a little too long.  Until the rise of Tony Romo (in his second year, Cutler fans) Bill Parcells was at the top of this list.  I don’t hate Shanahan and I still think he’s a good coach, but he isn’t one of those “lifer” coaches like Bill Cowher or Tom Landry.  He’s one of those “quick-fix” guys who can come into an underachieving organization and improve them, but he’s not the torch-bearer.  Shanahan is simply a guy who should never coach the same team for more than 6-7 years.  Kind of like Larry Brown in the NBA…I wonder when Shanahan will melt down like that?  I respect Shanahan for keeping the Broncos competitive and for winning the two Super Bowls, but he’s hung on too long here and it’s time to try his thing with another team.

I don’t mean fire him RIGHT NOW.  Let him finish out the season.  Give him the option of playing out his contract, which ends after the ’08 season.  If he felt like he wouldn’t be given another contract, he might even agree to resign after ’07.  Then you can bring in a QB-minded coach and Jay Cutler can get his chance, whether he turns out to be Tom Brady or Tom Tupa.  Obviously, I think Jay Cutler should get his chance, because the other thing I think the Broncos should do is:

TRADE JAKE.  Yeah I said it, so?  Again, you can’t sit him down now unless you decide to give up on the season entirely—of course, a loss against KC would kind of make it a no-brainer.  But I don’t see the city of Denver being satisfied with anyone but Cutler starting next year and  damn it, I want to see Jake play somewhere next season.  Broncos fans all seemed to dislike him even before he flipped off Mile High.  Just because he’d had minor success with Arizona, Jake wasn’t going to be the next John Elway even if he’d won a Super Bowl, kind of like the Joe Montana diehards in San Francisco who dismissed Steve Young’s Super Bowl win as a product of a great offensive system and Jerry Rice’s greatness, even though Steve Young is one of the most gifted QBs in the history of the game.   

Send Jake to another team, any team where he’d start.  He deserves a last shot at redemption with a coach who will let him run-and-gun a little.  Notice Jake was kind of forced to play “standard pocket” QB Sunday?  The O-line was cracking like a bowl of Rice Krispies and he had to run for his life half the time.  Sure he fumbled after the hit, but considering he had about a second to read his receivers before the San Diego front line jumped all over him, you think maybe Shanahan might consider calling a play that doesn’t require 5 seconds of pocket protection?  Forget Jake Plummer—since the Indy game, the O-Line couldn’t keep ink off of a dress shirt. 

I don’t care who it is, even the Raiders.  Trade Jake straight up for Randy Moss, why not?  I’d love to see Jake face Denver twice a year just to see what happens.  If Denver fans continue to say such ugly things about the Snake while ignoring the fact that this whole team seems to be full of holes, I might give up on the Broncos altogether. 

“Yeah, ha ha ha, good riddance.”  I can already hear haters giving me the Jake finger.  Well you know what, I’m above criticizing my critics from here.  So I won’t say anything more about how “great” college QBs are still a 40-60 prospect in the pros at best.  I won’t say anything more about how many so-called Denver “fans” are picky shits about Jake when the Broncos have put up one of the absolute best records in the league since his arrival despite having his best pass options (Rod Smith and Shannon Sharpe) on the downside of their careers, a constant game of musical chairs at running back, and a defense that’s scared no one since John Lynch was about 30—not to mention that the Broncos have never been better than the 2^nd or 3rd best team in the AFC since 1998.  I won’t even say anything bad about people who directly criticize me and my site, even if they simply put up plain-looking, unfunny blogs like 50 million other people in the world do instead of actually trying to design something distinctive (I’m no art major and I never took computer classes, what do you expect, NFL.com?) and instead of presenting facts in a level-headed manner, simply use vulgar insults and generalizations to force their point across, like somehow they’re going to seem intimidating in 12-pt Arial font on a 15-inch monitor (oh okay, calling me stupid and gay is a good argument.  I concede to your wisdom, Socrates.  Why don’t you go home and get your shinebox?)  And I won’t say anything more about how Jake “the Snake” Plummer is still an exciting player and a guy who I’ll love to watch until he retires.

At least not for the rest of today.

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