Madden doesn't get Denver impasse
Hall of Fame coach and NBC analyst John Madden was asked about the Josh McDaniels-Jay Cutler imbroglio.

“My take is, it’s a surprise to me it’s gotten to this because I can’t figure out what it’s all about,” said Madden. “I like Jay Cutler. I like him as a person and as a player and I think he’s one of the top quarterbacks in football. But analyzing it as an outsider you say, ‘He has a contract so he has to play.’ So it has to be about feelings. Someone hurt someone’s feelings one way or another. That’s miniscule. I know people will want to know who’s right, who’s wrong but it doesn’t make any difference. This is so simple. If you were talking age or injury or contract, you could make sense (of the agitation) but there’s nothing. It boils down to feelings. And fixing that should be easy.”

Madden, like McDaniels, was 32 when he was hired as head coach by the Raiders back in 1969. Addressing whether age is an issue here, Madden said that the greater lesson is, “Never get into a pissing contest with your star player. You never do that as a coach. I understand the whole thing with (Bill) Parcells and (Bill) Belichick and (McDaniels emulating them), but those guys knew how to (deal with star players). It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’m going to show Lawrence Taylor now.’ It’s a little hypocritical but you do special things for special players and you don’t antagonize them. You don’t get on the other side of them. And I’m not saying he did. I'm just saying as a rule you don’t want to be that way with a star player.”

• A fire alarm sounded in the lobby of the St. Regis Sunday morning. After a few minutes, a voice came on the loudspeaker and said, “A security team has determined that there is no cause for alarm.” Standing nearby, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis put out his arms and exclaimed, “That’s what I try to tell everyone every week.”
• Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, walking with a limp through the lobby at the St. Regis, was approached Sunday morning and asked about the Josh McDaniels-Jay Cutler standoff. Before the question was completed, Bowlen said, “I am answering noooo questions this morning. I won’t have anything to say until I talk to my people.”
• Contrary to a report in the Denver Post on Saturday, there is no offer on the table from New England to former Broncos backup Patrick Ramsey. The Saturday Post said that Ramsey was weighing offers from the Patriots and Titans.

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