CBS4 Sports

DENVER (CBS4) ― Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler delivered one of his best performances of the season mostly because he took what the Jets' defense was giving him rather than forcing his throws down the field.

Broadcaster Rich Gannon aptly described the problem late in the 3rd quarter when Cutler scrambled to his right and then threw a completion about 20 yards down the field into a crowd of green jerseys. Fortunately, it was caught by Broncos tight end Tony Scheffler, but Gannon said, "Jay Cutler has a tough time giving up on a play because of his arm strength and his athleticism, but he shouldn't have made this throw. This is a crazy throw … This is one of those 'don't throw it, don't throw it, oh, good throw.'"

For weeks, Cutler has been launching balls down the field to receivers who are well covered, while ignoring open running backs and tight ends underneath. The worst example was the game against the Raiders last week when Cutler completed only 43 percent of his passes and kept going long when he should have been throwing short.

This is a common malady for talented young quarterbacks. When you're a kid dreaming about becoming an NFL signal caller, you don't visualize yourself throwing 5-yard check-down passes to running backs.

When you dream, you dream about making passes that require every bit of your athletic ability, and they're throws that only a handful of people on the planet are capable of making. If you think about Tiger Woods in golf, one of the characteristics that makes him so dominating is that he is capable of putting his aggression in the bag and just play conservatively when he has a lead. He'll put the ball in the fairway and make safe shot after safe shot.

That's a very difficult thing for talented athletes to do, and Cutler has struggled with that this season. He loves to thread the needle between defenders to make impossible plays. He loves to launch a back-shoulder pass to a covered receiver streaking down the sideline with the safety closing in on him. Those are the passes that really challenge Cutler's ability, and those are the throws that give him the emotional satisfaction of making plays.

But Cutler has to learn that he can't swing for the fences every time. In order to be great, he has to be willing to make the simple short throws that don't require great ability. It doesn't take much talent to dump the ball off to a back or tight end -- the average high school quarterback can make the throw -- but takes an incredible amount of discipline for an NFL quarterback to settle for this easy completion.

Proven stars like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have mastered this skill, and Cutler showed great improvement in this area Sunday. He made good use of his tight ends in the short passing game: Tony Scheffler led the Broncos with 7 catches for 90 yards and Daniel Graham finished with 6 catches for 59 yards.

In fact, the only time Cutler showed a lack of discipline, it cost him. In the third quarter, he was scrambling in the red zone on a 3rd and 13 play, but rather than throwing the ball away and bringing on Matt Prater to kick the field goal, Cutler tried to make the heroic throw, across his body, into traffic and it was picked off by the Jets in the end zone.

There's no doubt about Cutler's ability -- he is a remarkable talent with a rocket arm and incredible vision. But he won't become a great NFL quarterback until he proves that he has mastered the discipline of simply taking take the easy throws that the defense is giving rather than trying to force plays down the field.

Sunday was a much better effort. Cutler connected on 63 percent of his passes for 357 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was an impressive performance that he needs to replicate week after week.

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