Cutler's arm hardly ensures title

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The debate is moot, whether Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler's arm is stronger than John Elway's since at the end of neither of Cutler's arms is a Super Bowl ring, a measurement that has diminished many a strong-armed quarterback, with Dan Marino coming most prominently to mind.Of the qualities that define a quarterback a strong arm was forever reduced by Joe Montana, arguably the greatest ever, but not likely to knock over a milk bottle from the other side of the room.Accuracy, wisdom, patience and decision-making, as well as a willingness to mind the coach, tend to be more prized, not that Cutler seems deficient there.There was one moment in last week's loss to Jacksonville when Cutler created an old Jake Plummer moment, and the interception he threw came from having too strong an arm, or one not quite as strong as he thought it was.That's the downside of arm strength, because it produces overconfidence, the belief that a pass will succeed just because the quarterback believes it will.Brett Favre is clearly the classic in this regard, and when Cutler is compared to Favre it is meant as a compliment.The reason Favre is a Jet and no longer a Packer is not just that he jerked around his bosses, but because for all the thrills that came with Favre, so did the grief.As long as Cutler plays for Mike Shanahan, he will never be as loose or as wayward as Favre, for Shanahan looks at resourcefulness in a quarterback as defiance, which may be why this whole comparison to Elway came up in the first place.However lightly the subject was raised in a Sporting News interview with Cutler, he happily ran with the notion. He has subsequently confirmed it again, implying that what you see is not all that's there.This was not a lapse in judgment, meaning to start a controversy, nor any kind of boast, but the simple belief of a man in his own abilities.Certainly, in a quarterback, confidence is not only necessary, it is indispensable. Every play called will work before it does not. There is no game that cannot be won until it is lost. That sort of thing.Two places on a football field pessimism should not be found. In the quarterback and the kicker.For Cutler to assume that the Broncos will score 30 or so points every game is just the frame of mind to have, and it has been that way often enough this season to require an explanation when it does not. In the last three games, the Broncos have managed to score less than 20.Cutler, who so easily clicked off 300-yard games early on, had less than 200 against Jacksonville. Turnovers, injuries, adjusting defenses (taking away that strong arm of Cutler's for one thing) have limited the Broncos offense, a union of mediocrity on both sides of the ball.All other things being equal, it is better to have a quarterback with arm strength than not, but it is not the same as a power hitter in baseball or slam dunker in basketball, who can be individual show-offs.The Montana model is still preferred, as seen in both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, game managers rather than risk takers. Drew Brees was unwanted by the Chargers because his arm was not as strong as that of Philip Rivers, but either one had to be a relief in San Diego because they were not Ryan Leaf, whose only talent was throwing the ball a long way.Here's another obvious comparison. Leaf and Brian Griese met in the Rose Bowl (Griese won). Who is still playing and who is not? The modestly talented, average-armed Griese.The greatest, most successful quarterback with a strong arm was probably Terry Bradshaw, but examining the 52 quarterbacks who have started Super Bowls, only 14 would be noted as having strong arms and of those, only seven won, if some more than once.Elway, it might be recalled, lost three before he won two and his arm did not get stronger.It would be fun, as in one of those reality TV games, to get Cutler and Elway on the same field and have each throw, oh, a half dozen footballs, three for distance and three for power and if the 25-year-old Cutler could not beat the 48-year-old Elway, no locker would be large enough to hold his shame.Computers could settle the question, measuring Elway then to Cutler now, if the issue really mattered. Even knowing, what difference would it make? More vital might be a face-off between Joe Six Pack and Joe the Plumber. (Contact Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News at lincicomeb(at)rockymountainnews.com.)