McDaniels’ Antics With Cutler Jersey Could Backfire

Look, we’d like to give Broncos coach Josh McDaniels the benefit of the doubt. He’s still only 32 years old, and he has one of the 32 most stressful and demanding jobs in all of sports. But we’re concerned that maybe he doesn’t get it. If the goal (and, frankly, we’re not sure it is) is to find a way to mend fences with quarterback Jay Cutler, poking fun at the situation by flipping a throwback jersey to show Cutler’s name isn’t the way to do it. The assembled media thought it was hilarious, but will the most important member of the audience -- Cutler -- agree? The reality is that, when one party to a relationship is hell bent on ending it, anything that the other party says or does will be scrutinized for any evidence to support the first party’s pre-existing view. In this specific case, we don’t think that Cutler will get the joke. Instead, we think that Cutler will regard McDaniels’ antics as an attempt to trivialize the serious concerns that Cutler has articulated, via agent Bus Cook. And it will only harden Cutler’s position. Especially if Cook has anything to do with it.