By de facto, I became a San Diego Chargers fan. I will state that right away. Over the years, though, they have grown on me, and I would say they are my second favorite team, losing out to the Chicago Bears as favorite. That being said, it would be understandable that I would defend Philip Rivers in a conversation of who's the better the quarterback: Rivers or Jay Cutler. The fact is, even if I wasn't a fan of the Chargers, Rivers would be my winner every time. And this was before I even looked at the season and career stats of each quarterback.
The reason I'm putting this out there today is that because I'm tired of watching the Denver Broncos on television and always hearing what a great quarterback Jay Cutler is and what a hothead Philip Rivers is. I have watched many Denver Bronco games over the past two years (not by choice but because of "regional action"), and Cutler is one of the biggest cry babies I've seen to play the game in recent years. Every time something goes wrong the "man" is immediately whining to the refs or the sidelines. Yet, announcers and fans alike love his passion and athleticism just the same. Now, I've seen Rivers get fired up after a bad call or after a touchdown, and the announcers usually reform to a complete opposite viewpoint. They call him a childish football player and he needs to learn some respect for the game. Is this the same thing about Brett Favre, another passionate football player who would pull out the same kind of antics?
Not to mention, Cutler pretty much stated he was better than John Elway. Sure, he tried to retract it by saying that he can throw the ball farther than John Elway, but we all know what Cutler meant. Has Rivers said that yet? No. He simply goes out and does his job, like playing hurt during last years AFC Championship game. Sure, the Chargers lost, but they wouldn't have even been close if Rivers didn't play.
As far as this blog goes, here's a few stats that I'd like you all to see. First, we have this season's stats:
- RIVERS: 64.8% completion rate with 32 TD's, 11 INT, and 3802 yards
- CUTLER: 61.9% completion rate with 24 TD's, 16 INT, and 4210 yards
So, looking at those numbers, I bet it's easy to figure out who's the Pro Bowl Quarterback. Well, you'd be wrong. Rivers will be at home while Cutler will be in Hawaii.
I also keep hearing that Cutler is doing all this without a running game. Well, let me throw these numbers at you. The Denver Broncos, as a team, have 377 attempts for 1772 yards. That's an average of 118.1 yards per game, which ranks twelfth in the NFL. The Chargers have carried the ball 379 times for 1477 yards. That's an average of 95.8 yards again on basically the same amount of attempts, which is good for 28th in the league. There goes that theory right out the window. Denver also has the better offensive line, which has only allowed 11 sacks this year, while San Diego has allowed 23.
So, Cutler has the better running attack, a better offensive line, and a star receiver, yet he still can't put up better numbers than Rivers. Cutler has a career record of 17-19 while Rivers is 31-16. Rivers does have on more season under his belt, but Jay Cutler hasn't proved anything yet. The Chargers made it to the AFC Divisional Playoff and AFC Conference Championship in each of Rivers' first two seasons. Cutler is scraping buy in an attempt to barely eke out a playoff spot. All I'm simply asking is that Rivers start to get the respect he deserves. And come Sunday, that respect will be rightfully deserved.
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