Who has better arm than Elway? Cutler says he does

Jay Cutler has been busy lately, his omnipresence approaching that of some political ads.The Denver Broncos quarterback, coming off his September award as the NFL's offensive player of the month, since has appeared on an ESPN pre-game segment about his diabetes battle and was the subject of a lengthy "Pardon The Interruption" segment.He was called the league's top quarterback after his hot start in a USA Today article. He soon will be the subject of columns by prominent writers Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Rick Reilly of ESPN, The Magazine.He sat down with Marshall Faulk for NFL Network and will appear on "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" Thursday.But all those words in all those interviews combined didn't have the eye-popping quality of a story appearing in the current Sporting News in which Cutler is asked point-blank about his arm strength compared with Broncos measuring stick John Elway.Cutler didn't hem or haw or try to escape like he's under pressure on a typical Sunday. He took the inquiry head on and shot back he had a "stronger arm than John, hands down," and he'd "bet on it against anybody's in the league."Ever since, various outlets around the country have bandied about the subject, while Cutler has taken it all in, with some wide-eyed wonder at how much play his comments have received."It was hit or miss," Cutler said. "Some people agreed, some people didn't agree and some people were upset with it. It caused a little stir."But, Cutler stressed Wednesday, there are no regrets over the statement itself."No, not at all," Cutler said after his weekly news conference in which he'd largely deflected the topic. "I didn't know it was going to be quite this much, and I can't be 100 percent sure that I have a stronger arm than him."But I'm not going to say I don't."Cutler sticking by his gun, and guns, is part of what endears him to the organization and his teammates. Many players faced with strong reaction might shrink from the fallout. Cutler won't.And the fact he's even comparing himself at all to such a sacrosanct figure as Elway speaks volumes to his teammates and the front office."He's got inner confidence," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "But it's not arrogance.""Playing with him, guys like that," Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley added.Still, Stokley had extensive experience around Peyton Manning, whose national profile might be bigger than any current NFL quarterback. There was a post-playoff meltdown a couple years ago when Manning seemed to call out his offensive line, but he never compared himself to Johnny Unitas, either."All the good ones have that sense about themselves, even if they don't come out to the media and say it. You have to," Stokley said. "You've got to believe you're best and will get it done no matter what. What happened the game before, the good ones can just let it go and perform the next week."Right now, Cutler and the Broncos offense are going through something of a lull heading into Monday night's game at New England against the Patriots (3-2).Cutler ranks No. 3 in the NFL with 1,694 passing yards and fourth with 12 touchdown passes, but during the past two weeks, he's thrown for 227 and 192 yards after four consecutive 300-yard games.The Broncos have been limited to an average of 17.3 points a game since a 3-0 season start in which they put up 41, 39 and 34 on the scoreboard, drawing all that attention to Cutler."Turnovers," Cutler said simply, dismissing any defensive adjustments as a potential root cause for the dropoff. "Seven turnovers in two losses. That takes away from the time we have the ball, chances we get and opportunities to score."The Broncos (4-2), from early in the second quarter of Sunday's loss to Jacksonville, were without their second-, third- and fourth- leading receivers, leading Cutler to fixate some, and perhaps understandably so, on Brandon Marshall.Nonetheless, Cutler's bravado remains noteworthy in that it was straight forward in its unfiltered honesty.And evidently, part of Cutler's DNA."We were joking around and stuff, sitting around. But I'm not going to take it back," Cutler said of his Elway statement, which the Hall of Famer himself didn't dismiss out of hand. "I'm going to say that I do. I'm confident in my arm. And so that's how it's going to go."(Contact Lee Rasizer of the Rocky Mountain News at rasizerl(at)rockymountainnews.com.)