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By John Fontana

With a 3-0 start at his back, Denver Broncos quarterback, Jay Cutler, looks good as an early front-runner for league MVP.  (If you don’t agree, who is your pick?  And don’t forget to show your work – defend your player!)  Here’s my case for Cutler:

Sure, critics can argue that the Broncos have been gifted their last two wins. But Cutler is the engineer of an offense that leads the league in point production (114 or a 38 per game average) and is ranked second in total offense behind Dallas.

Cutler’s passing success has also opened the door for the young backs carrying Denver’s running game. The team is averaging 4.8 yards per carry, just slightly under coach Mike Shanahan’s hope for 5 yards per when the season started.

Cutler, in his third year, leads an offense that looks too good to stop. And Shanahan still has pages in his playbook Cutler has not touched. Not since the days of John Elway has a Denver QB scored such high marks on Shanahan’s confidence index.

Cutler’s other numbers speak volumes: second in passing yards (914) behind New Orleans’s QB Drew Brees (980), who benefitted by playing Sunday against the Broncos defense (ranked last in pass defense at a whopping 315.7 yards allowed per game); second in completions; second in yards per game at 304.7; second in TD tosses (8) against only two interceptions and 12 completions of 20 yards or better, which ranks third in the league.  The young quarterback stands third in passer rating at 110.6 and third in passes attempted and passing percentage.

As Cutler embraces the enormity of being the starting quarterback in Denver, I suspect he will continue to flourish – and his numbers to rise higher still.

While still early in the season – with plenty of hot dogs still to cook on those tailgate grills – Denver fans sense there’s something different about their quarterback.  If Cutler can fashion any measure of consistency to his production, he’ll be the one roasting all the others in the race for NFL MVP.

Who do you think is worthy to challenge him?