I was getting ready to do something similar after seeing all the man-love being dished Carson Palmer’s way by a couple of sportswriters. One article was titled “Palmer Can’t Be Stopped.”

I found myself thinking, but we stopped him. :D

very nice observation! Yes, we indeed stopped him

Orton as a Pro Bowl QB for the AFC in 2009 is still debateable. Peyton Manning certainly locks down one spot and Big Ben likely has another. I still think Brady will continue to improve as more of the rust comes off and he regains confidence in his knee. If those aren’t the three guys elected to the Pro Bowl, I’d honestly be shocked. After those three, Orton is in a group with Rivers and Matt Schaub. Hey, there’s no shame in saying Kyle’s right up there in the top five…

You don’t list Cutler’s INTs. The 10 TDs you show are actually his INTs. He has 11 TDs. You also don’t show Manning’s INTs. (He has 4.) Finally, I notice you’re listing yards per catch rather than the more usual yards per attempt. Is that deliberate? (Not saying it’s a bad choice, just a surprising one.) Cutler certainly suffers in comparison to Orton. He’s got 10.7 versus Orton’s 11.8 yards per catch and 6.9 versus Orton’s 7.6 yards per attempt, but the big discrepancy, which I doubt surprises any of us, is in their TD/INT ratios, 11-10 versus 9-1.

I was on Cleveland’s SBC site yesterday and there were a few Chicago fans there. At least one of them thinks Cutler’s way overrated and says he was never for the trade in the first place. But another professes to be really happy with him and offers the usual rationalizations, including the familiar one that sure he throws “some picks” but he’s trying to make plays, etc. What strikes me is that last year Orton, behind a pass-blocking line that was probably slightly worse than the one Cutler’s working behind now, had a TD to INT ratio of 18-12, slightly better (1.5 vs. 1.39) than Cutler’s 25-18. So Kyle, working with a grossly inferior line and set of receivers, had a TD/INT ratio that was as good as Jay’s, and now that the situation is reversed has a dramatically better one, 9-1 versus 11-10.

When you compare how each has done with equivalent resources Orton is clearly the more effective QB, yet the guy argued Cutler’s doing good considering the line and receivers and mediocre defense Chicago has, that they’d be 1-5 without him. (Guess he’s assuming Orton would have thrown multiple picks against Green Bay and Atlanta, too.) Strange that fans like him didn’t excuse Orton when he was dealing with exactly the same situation, only more effectively. Excuses follow Cutler around like a cloud of flies. His fans are so mesmerized by
his physical skills they can’t see the bottom line.