Jay Cutler
From Bolts from the Blue
Jay Cutler was the starting QB for the rival Denver Broncos from 2006-2008. During those years the Broncos were the chief competition for the Chargers in the AFC West, which meant the rivalry was at its hottest during that period. Cutler had two famous incidents in games in which he played the Chargers.
Cry Baby Game
December 24, 2007 - On a Monday Night Christmas Eve game in San Diego, the Chargers crushed the Broncos. The events are best described in an article published by Kevin Acee and the San Diego Union Tribune.[1]
After a failed fourth-down pass by Jay Cutler, Rivers was shown going a few steps onto the field to greet linebackers Shaun Phillips and Matt Wilhelm. While doing so, he was looking toward the Broncos. “We get a fourth-down stop,” Rivers recalled yesterday. “I'm not in the game anymore, so I'm way into the defense more than I normally am. . . . Matt Wilhelm and Shaun Phillips, those guys have been jawing the whole game with them. We get a good stop. They are jawing. I'm not anywhere involved. I come out to congratulate them on the stop, and while I'm out there, yeah, there is some eye contact, but I'm saying, 'Atta baby' to Matt Wilhelm and Shaun Phillips. Sure there is eye contact. Maybe there is a smirk. But I am speaking to my guys.”
Cutler could be seen at midfield looking in their direction, and Phillips said yesterday that it was Cutler who started the talking.
“It's funny,” Phillips said. “Philip walked out and told us not to say anything, that we're winning. And Cutler is yelling. . . . Cutler does a lot of talking. I thought it was funny they were talking and losing.”
Phillips said in the fourth quarter Cutler was “just letting us know he wasn't a punk. I respect that. He was letting us know he'd see us next time.”
In the exchange, Wilhelm was seen waving good-bye to the Broncos, and Phillips was pointing at the scoreboard.
But there was immediate reaction from the television commentators and in the ensuing days from fans about how the behavior was unbecoming for Rivers.
Rivers has heard the talk for more than a year that he gets too riled up during games. He has long maintained it's simply how he plays and that it even helps him.
“I'm not going to change,” he said. “ . . . I'm not saying I'm trying to be the guy who goes nuts and acts crazy. That's not who I am. But the thing is there are no bad intentions. It's all in fun.”
Other Chargers defended Rivers.
“What they've got to understand is Philip is a football player,” tight end Antonio Gates said. “If they put him in that category it wouldn't be a problem. But since he's a quarterback, quarterbacks stereotypically shouldn't say or do or act a certain kind of way on the field.
“That's the thing that's not known about him. We know him as a person. He does it in the locker room, in practice, on the field. He plays the game with his heart. That's why he's that way.”
Rivers also explained yesterday another time he was caught talking by ESPN's cameras on Monday. Rivers said after a play in which Broncos linebacker Jamie Winborn had gotten past fullback Andrew Pinnock, Winborn came near the Chargers sideline and yelled, “Where's Lo Neal?”
Rivers said he yelled back, “The ball is over there,” and then yelled to Winborn, “You're glad he ain't playing.”
The Hochuli Game
September 14, 2008 - Jay Cutler was at the center of a controversy in which referee Ed Hochuli made a game-changing mistake. On the play in question Cutler rolled to the right and as he reached back to throw the pass he let go of the ball. By rule this is a fumble, but the play was blown dead by Hochuli who thought he had seen an incomplete pass. Because the players were slow to react to the whistle it was obvious that the Chargers would have recovered the fumble. The timing of the play was such that the Chargers would have won the game on a turnover. After reviewing the play Hochuli changed the call to a fumble, but could not award possession to the Chargers since the play was blown dead. Instead it would be 3rd and 10 and the Broncos would still have the football. Jay Cutler was able to throw a touchdown pass two plays later and the Broncos boldly converted a two point conversion to take a 39-38 lead. The Chargers would get 24 seconds to remedy the situation, but were unable to do so. Amazingly enough, this is probably the biggest win of Jay Cutler's career in spite of the fact that he almost single-handedly blew it for his team.
