Plummer Out With A Whimper

He went 25 for 39 for 216 yards with a touchdown and a pick. Respectable numbers, one would think. But, as is so often the case with passing stats, they don't tell the story of what reportedly was Jake Plummer's final start this season for the Broncos.

The Broncos lost to Kansas City, 19-10 tonight and Plummer gave enough evidence - coupled with his ongoing string of ineffectiveness - to make Mike Shanahan's move to Jay Cutler make sense. Amid the avalanche of checkdown throws Plummer made that had no prayer of gaining significant yards (but counted as completions!) came two plays in particular help make the point.

On a third-and-8 from the KC 12 with Denver trailing 10-0 late in the first half, the Broncos set up a wide receiver screen to the right to Rod Smith. But Plummer took his eyes off the shotgun snap, had it hit him in the belly then - with an awkward grip - flung a quacker out to Smith who (to his discredit) dropped it.

The other messed up play was a third-and-5 from the Denver 41 when they were trailing 16-10 and absolutely needed a first down. Flushed, Plummer had tight end Steven Alexander open but threw short and wide, basically salting the game away since Larry Johnson was running like a diesel for Kansas City.

There were plenty of drops for Denver tonight - running back Damien Nash had a key one on Denver's second-to-last drive when he inexplicably kept his hands low while running a checkdown route and didn't get them up in time to make a catch - but Plummer played edgy. And he acted edgy, getting into it on at least two occasions with Shanahan on the sidelines.

Going forward, you have to wonder how helpful the palpably pissed-off Plummer is going to be for Cutler. It looks like a poisoned environment in Denver and the Broncos suddenly look like the most dysfunctional "good" team in the AFC. Their NFC kindred would be the Giants, of course.