Seahawks prepare for ghost
KIRKLAND, Wash. – For all Lofa Tatupu knows, Jay Cutler might as well be Jimmie “J.J.” Walker. Kid Dy-No-Mite. Napoleon Dynamite. Really, it doesn’t matter.
The Denver Broncos are going to start someone at quarterback this Sunday night, and Tatupu hasn’t yet felt the need to dig up any tape of him.
“They’re going to stick with the game plan that they have,” said Seattle’s starting middle linebacker. “I don’t think they’re going to install a whole new set of plays.”
As of late Wednesday afternoon, Tatupu had yet to watch any tape of Cutler, the rookie Broncos quarterback who will make his starting debut Sunday against the Seahawks. At least Tatupu didn’t think so.
“There might have been a couple plays in there that (the coaches) showed us,” he said.
In truth, the Seahawks don’t really know much about Cutler at all. The first-time starter and recent first-round draft pick has yet to play a single snap this season.
“You have to go back to preseason to see what type of quarterback he is,” Seahawks safety Ken Hamlin said.
Not even Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who named Cutler the starter Monday after officially benching struggling veteran Jake Plummer, is certain what he’ll get from his prized rookie.
“You never know if they are ready until they actually get a chance to play,” Shanahan said. “I just like the way he handles himself (in practice). I like what I see.
“There are always growing pains, obviously, with any quarterback as he starts out in the National Football League. But I really believe that this guy gives us the best chance to win.”
Winning was not Cutler’s forte during his college years at Vanderbilt University. He was a four-year starter for the Commodores but won just 11 games there.
Still, he made enough of an impression to be considered by many to be the best quarterback prospect in the 2006 NFL draft – a class that included Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart and the hero of the national championship game, Vince Young.
As Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese mused to a USA Today reporter last spring: “How good would he have been if he had played at Southern California or Texas? And what would Matt Leinart or Vince Young look like at Vanderbilt?”
Cutler was drafted behind both prospects, but the Broncos thought enough of him that they traded up to the 11th spot in the first round to get him.
Cutler, who grew up in Santa Claus, Ind., and got only one offer to play quarterback at a Division I college, became an immediate household name in Denver shortly after the draft.
“When we first got here, everyone knew who a lot of us were,” he said, referring to the passionate Broncos fans. “And it has only gotten worse.”
For most of the first six weeks, the rumors swirled about when Cutler would take Plummer’s starting job. The more Plummer struggled – the veteran ranked 13th out of 16 AFC quarterbacks with a 70.5 rating – the louder the talk became.
Things got so bad that news of Cutler’s start actually surfaced before the Broncos’ last game. The NFL Network reported last Thursday that Cutler would make his starting debut in 10 days, and hours later Plummer struggled in a loss to Kansas City.