DENVER (AP) -From one snap to the next, baby-faced Jay Cutler can go from making a bonehead blunder befitting his youth to showing a poise way beyond his 24 years.
One moment, Denver's second-year signal-caller - and last of the "Big Three" quarterbacks drafted last year behind Vince Young and Matt Leinart - tosses a dangerous backward lob that rookie running back Selvin Young has to chase down and swipe out of bounds to save the day.
The next, he's calmly leading the Broncos down the field for the game-clinching field goal as time expires in Buffalo to win his first NFL season opener.
A week later, Cutler watches an interception returned for a touchdown and gets sacked for a safety as the Broncos blow a big second-half lead against Oakland. Then, he coolly leads Denver to another win at the wire.
"He has a lot of poise," said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who handed Cutler the keys to his offense with five games to go last season. "Like most rookies, he's going to make some mistakes but he doesn't usually repeat the same mistake twice. He enjoys football. He loves his study and I think he has a great future."
And maybe a pretty good present, too.
Asked about the uncommon composure he shows at crunch time on the football field, Cutler displays that same mature-beyond-his-years poise on the podium, too.
"My supporting cast has a lot to do with it," Cutler said. "It helps when you have the big receivers outside, some good receivers running out of the slot and Daniel Graham playing better than ever. And Travis Henry Getting 120 or 150 yards a game. It makes things easy on me."
What Cutler wants to do now is turn that poise into more points.
The Broncos have piled up a league-leading 911 yards so far but they have just three touchdowns to show for it.
Why?
They're working in seven new offensive starters, have committed costly penalties, two of which negated TDs, guard Ben Hamilton has been out for six weeks with a concussion, tight end Tony Scheffler is still working his way back from a broken foot. The list is long.
And Cutler shares some of the blame, too, but he's also a major reason Denver is 2-0.
