Bell Tolls: Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler are so good for each other

Someone asked Brandon Marshall about apparent communication issues on Monday night that fueled a bit of
frustration in his quarterback, Jay Cutler.

Marshall laughed.

"Jay, frustrated?" Marshall said. "Jay's never frustrated or mad."

The room broke up, with the not-so-inside joke.

The Chicago Bears quarterback, like the big-play receiver he has reunited with this season, has quite the reputation for his mood swings and sideline demeanor that contribute to him being such a lightning rod.

That the Bears are headed to Jacksonville this weekend brings to mind the Twitter blasts directed at Cutler when he was knocked out of a 2010 NFC playoff game due to a knee injury. Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew lead the tweet attacks as the most prominent player questioning Cutler's courage -- and this is Cutler's first game against the Jaguars since then.

That incident may have shed light on how little Cutler is liked around a league with players who almost never publicly question a peer's handling of an injury (or contract).

Yet here's another significant statement about Cutler: Marshall, who essentially forced the Miami Dolphins to trade him last spring, couldn't reconnect with him fast enough.

As the Bears head into Sunday's game seeking a victory that would send them into a bye week with a 4-1 record and at least a share of first place in the NFC North, it is so apparent that the trade may go down as one of the biggest heists in years.

Maybe it's a stretch that defensive end Julius Peppers suggested -- after a blowout victory at Dallas on Monday night that was stamped by five interceptions -- the Bears identity will be tied to the offense.

But the sentiment is understood. A dynamic offense, combined with prolific defense and special teams punch, could make the Bears a legitimate Super Bowl threat. And while that offense has an engine in multi-tasking running back Matt Forte, the Cutler-Marshall connection in the passing game adds an impact dimension that has been missing.

Yet this is also about chemistry.

Cutler and Marshall -- teammates for three years in Denver after being in the same Broncos draft class in 2006 -- are combustible personalities who can be easily misunderstood. After the game on Monday night, Cutler was peppered with questions about his actionsmduring a sideline sequence with offensive coordinator Mike Tice.

When the coach took a seat on the bench next to his quarterback, Cutler abruptly ended the quick chat by popping up and walking away, sipping a cup of water. This did not look good on camera, even though Tice insisted this week that there was no issue.

"I don't have to sit by him the whole game, do I?" Cutler said.

No, Jay, that is not a requirement.

"You can't read into everything," he lectured. "I know you've got to sell papers and talk things up. But you can't blow up everything. Things happen in football games."

The latest episode came two weeks after Cutler was shown bumping tackle J'Marcus Webb as part of an in-your-face exchange during a primetime loss at Green Bay.

Marshall seems to understand this ebb and flow with Cutler, maybe better than most.

"I feel like they both need each other," Bears receivers coach Darryl Drake told USA TODAY Sports on Friday. "They feed off each other."

Last week, Cutler got on Marshall about a few things, emphasizing that he needed to stay patient when the football wasn't coming his way. After the 7-catch, 138-yard game at Dallas, Marshall lauded such extra attention.

"We push each other," he said. "We're both passionate about the game."

Drake sees it. He says Marshall and Cutler are like brothers, on and off the field.

"There's a certain amount of love, admiration and respect," Drake says. "But at the same time, they get after each other. It keeps them both in check.

"You know how it is: You can be mad at your brother, but you love him and you know that if he tells you something you don't want to hear, he still has your best interest at heart."

On the field, this connection is still developing. Maybe Cutler and Marshall will be an even more potent duo than they were in Denver, when Marshall caught over 100 passes in their final two years together, 2007 and 2008.

Through four games, Marshall's team-high 23 catches is nearly double the team's next leading receiver (Alshon Jeffery, 12 catches) and he's been targeted for a team-high 33% of Cutler's 117 passes.

Against Dallas, Marshall made a couple of key plays by working back into range as Cutler scrambled from trouble and threw on the run. Cutler has himself a security blanket, with the enormous trust in a target that every quarterback should have.

"When we get one-on-one, he's going to be my guy," Cutler said. "I know he's going to protect me. He's going to get open. He's going to fight for the ball."

And when the other issues pop up, he's also got Cutler's back.

Also in play for Week 5:

► Who's hot: J.J. Watt. Every No. 1-ranked defense needs a difference-making force, and for the Texans that player is the second-year defensive end who seems to have claimed the early lead for Defensive MVP honors. Mario who? Houston's defense proved last year that it could thrive without Mario Williams. This year, it seems bent on proving that it can reach a higher level -- one reason why the perfect record is painted in one blowout after another. Watt leads the NFL with 7 1/2 sacks, and is the first player since Kevin Greene in 1998 to post at least 1 1/2 quarterback traps in each of the first four games of a season. Look out, Mark Sanchez. On Monday night, Jets left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson will have his hands full trying to protect the blind side. Then again, maybe Watt is slipping by one measure. He's deflected five passes this season…but none since Week 2.

► Pressure's on: Matt Cassel. Here's the good news for the turnover-prone Chiefs quarterback: T-Sizzle (aka Terrell Suggs) will be watching from home when the Ravens visit Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. Suggs, rehabbing his torn Achilles, is months away from possibly regaining his reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year form. Now for the bad news: Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Haloti Ngata are still coming. The Ravens defense hasn't been as dominant without Suggs -- the unit ranks 23rd for yards allowed and has just 9 sacks, slightly below the NFL-average 9.2. But Cassel, tied for the AFC lead with 7 interceptions and providing the face for KC's NFL-high 15 giveaways, can help pad the stats. He's trying to rebound from a season-high 3-pick game against the Chargers that surely the Ravens have watched all week….and salivated over.

► On the couch: Rex Ryan. His best player (Darrelle Revis) blew out his knee. He lost the best playmaker on a sagging offense (Santonio Holmes) to a season-ending foot injury. He gets constant questions about the ability, confidence, leadership and you-name-it of his starting quarterback (Mark Sanchez), while another wildly popular guy (Tim Tebow) waits in the wings. He's a defensive guy, yet his unit missed 17 tackles and allowed 245 rushing yards -- most-ever for a Rex D -- in last Sunday's 34-0 rout to the 49ers. And one of the 49ers (Carlos Rogers) even said the Jets quit. Nobody said it was easy being an NFL coach. It's even tougher with the circus, partly created by Ryan himself, that is the Jets. This is the biggest crisis of Ryan's tenure, and the task includes keeping his team motivated through all the devastation. His players had a two-day break after last weekend's debacle, but it will take a lot more to reverse the skid. Is it Tebow time? At this point, anything to shake up the flow might be worth a try. Ryan says he's sticking with Sanchez, but the questions that began last spring about switching quarterbacks will not die now.In the meantime, the undefeated Texans are coming to town. Ryan, who wears unplugged confidence like it's his sweater vest, has been publicly upbeat this week and even cracked a few jokes. He also likened the current injury setbacks to 2009, when the Jets lost D-tackle Kris Jenkins and back-returner Leon Washington to season-ending injuries….and still advanced to the AFC title game. Admirable. Then there are a couple of bright spots amid the gloom: At 2-2, the Jets are tied for first place in the AFC East. And at least, this season, Ryan didn't guarantee that the Jets would be in the Super Bowl.

► Rookie revue: Trent Richardson. The Cleveland Browns' power-slashing running back missed Friday's practice, but it had nothing to do with football. According to The (Cleveland) Plain-Dealer, Richardson took off to attend the birth of his third child -- and coach Pat Shurmur says he'll be all set for Sunday's game at the Giants. A big day from Richardson -- who leads AFC rookie rushers with 222 yards and has scored 4 TDs -- is so crucial to any chances that the winless Browns (0-4) have for springing a big upset. It's why Cleveland traded up in the draft to select the former Alabama star third overall, when experts frown on the notion of drafting a back with a top-10 pick. Although Richardson has averaged just 2.8 yards per carry with a long run of 7 yards in the two games since his only 100-yard affair in Week 2, conditions might be ripe for a breakout game against a 22nd-ranked unit that gave up 123 rushing yards last weekend to LeSean McCoy. The Giants are thin in the middle of the D-line, where Chris Canty still hasn't returned from offseason knee surgery and now Rocky Bernard will be scratched for Sunday's game due to a quadriceps injury. That leaves third-year pro Linval Joseph and rookies Marvin Austin and Markus Kuhn to man the middle. Furthermore, linebacker Michael Boley is questionable with a hip injury. Richardson (5-9, 230) is a different type than the shifty McCoy, bringing a violent style that epitomizes the punishing notion of wearing down a defense.

► Key matchup: Troy Polamalu vs. Michael Vick. Finally, a month into the season, the Steelers defense is at full strength with Polamalu, the all-pro safety, and all-pro linebacker James Harrison returning to the lineup. Harrison, mending a knee injury, hasn't played all season. Polamalu is back after missing two games with a calf injury. Without them, Pittsburgh has still managed to field the league's fifth-ranked defense for yards -- but seemed out of sorts during a fourth-quarter collapse that contributed to a Week 3 loss at Oakland. Now Vick and the Eagles come to Heinz Field, having righted themselves against the Giants last week and posing the problem of speed for any defense (Pittsburgh's?) trying to live down the perception that it is getting old. As for Polamalu, he likely wouldn't be the candidate to exclusively "spy" Vick on every down, but he'll have to know his whereabouts on
every play. And vice-versa. Polamalu can come from anywhere. And that's not just on blitzes. His range and pursuit are so special. That can come in handy against Vick -- just the type of threat to test the full strength of Polamalu's calf.

► Realitycheck: Plaxico Burress told USA TODAY Sports this week that he can come off the couch and help an NFL team (like Rex's Jets). Maybe so, if only as a red-zone target. In his comeback season in 2011, Burress caught 8 TDs for the Jets. But nobody wants Burress anymore. At least not yet, and maybe never again. So he's still on the couch. It's odd that there was much more interest in the unemployed receiver last year when he came out of prison -- remember, the Steelers wanted to sign him to a two-year deal? -- than there is now. Besides his age and lack of speed, Burress has scared off teams as a potential locker room issue. After all that Burress went through to land back in the NFL last year, to have that as the red flag now is a shame on him. Now what? He's 35 and slow, by NFL receiver standards. Hopefully, he's saved wisely and invested a good chunk of his NFL earnings and has developed plans -- and maybe even the skills -- for another career in his life after football.

► My road to Super Bowl XLVIIgoes through…Foxborough. Oh, how Bill Belichick's defenses used to give Peyton Manning fits. I still remember Manning's explanation, after a playoff loss at Gillette Stadium, for throwing an interception: "Bruschi wasn't supposed to be there." Translation: Manning had reviewed the Patriots defense down cold, and whatever linebacker Tedy Bruschi did that day to snag the pass over the middle from whatever look the defense was in, was not something that Manning had seen on film. The home team won that AFC divisional game, 20-3, in gray Patriot weather. Another time, in Indy, Manning was killing the Patriots with the no-huddle, driving for a final score. New England was out of timeouts and the defense was gassed. Then, with the Colts advancing to the 9-yard line, Willie McGinest went down with what the team reported as leg cramps -- the type that Belichick said loosened up quickly. McGinest, incidentally, said he suffered a twisted knee. In any event, the stoppage of play killed the momentum of the no-huddle attack, and with an extra "timeout" the Patriots defense gathered itself and sent in fresh subs. Three plays later, McGinest returned. Then, reading Manning tapping his backside as a tip that it was a run to the left, he stuffed Edgerrin James on 4th-and-goal from the 2, preserving New England's 38-34 victory. Manning never bought that the injury was legit. "Amazing recovery by Willie," Manning said, rolling his eyes. "True hero, to be able to come back." Manning surely extracted some payback in this classic series, leading that big AFC title game comeback en route to a Super Bowl crown. And in 2009, Belichick went for it on 4th-and-2 because he feared what happened: Manning led the Colts to a last-minute TD and victory. Sunday's game is billed as Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning, and that's fitting for the best two quarterbacks of their era. But for years, with Brady surrounded by a better defense, it seemed like it would really come down to the cat-and-mouse games between P-Money and the Pats D. Now it's so different. Manning's with Denver, the team that went to Foxborough in January with Tim Tebow at quarterback and got clobbered in the AFC title game. And can you name a half-dozen starters on the Patriots' defense? When Manning sees No. 54, it won't be Bruschi. It will be linebacker Dont'a Hightower. The world will want to see a shootout, and that's what it may take for Manning to keep pace with Brady and the NFL's No. 1-ranked offense. While Manning is still trying to get into better rhythm, he's been very good in the red zone, with Denver tied for 5th in the NFL for its TD rate inside the 20. The Patriots have given up a bunch of yards, but not like last season. And they have forced turnovers at an even faster pace than 2011, when their AFC-high 34 takeaways answered the question of how a team with a 31st-ranked pass defense can get to a Super Bowl. This season, the Patriots are again leading the AFC in takeaways (11), and are actually on pace to exceed last year's total. But this could hinge on whether the young defense can pass the ultimate test of winning a few chess games against Manning.


► Did you notice? With the regular officials back on the job, NFL games during Week 4 took an average of 3 hours, 6 minutes. That's 7 minutes less than the average for the first three weeks of the season, with replacement refs. As expected, the games were smoother and ran with more efficiency -- and with significantly fewer interruptions by officials -- as the previously-locked out refs demonstrated control and kept the pace of games flowing. Welcome back, zebras.

► Stat's the fact: Drew Brees will set an NFL record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass (48) if he connects for a scoring strike against his former team on Sunday night. The mark that he shares with Johnny Unitas was one of the most storied
in NFL history, standing at 47 games since 1960. No knock on the Saints quarterback, but moving forward in this explosive age of passing-fueled offense -- the 2,986 points and 327 TDs through Week 4 were most in league history at that point in a season -- the mark probably won't be as revered. Tom Brady has a current streak of 36 consecutive games with a TD pass, and on Sunday can break his tie with Brett Favre for the third-longest streak all-time. In any event, Unitas claimed the record in 1958 and owned it for 19,663 days. Who had it before Johnny U? Cecil Isbell.Yeah, him. Isbell, who used to fling passes to Don Hutson with the Packers and was the NFL's first 2,000-yard passer in a season, set the record at 22 games in 1942 -- when he also led the league with a then-record 24 TD passes.

► Last word: Life has interrupted football again, with first-year Colts coach Chuck Pagano undergoing treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia. While Bruce Arians takes over as interim coach, doctors have estimated the recovery rate for this type of cancer of the bone marrow as high as 90%. When attitude and spirit are considered, the odds have to increase with the high-energy Pagano, who was previously the Ravens' D-coordinator. He's packed with a lot of fight. Pagano -- who sent a private e-mail message to his team this week from his hospital bed that we'll guess contains inspirational value -- struck a nerve with me because he has such a way with words. He once described Maurice Jones-Drew as a "rolling ball of butcher knives." When I wrote about him last year, that he had taken the Ravens defense back to its blitz-happy roots, Pagano told me that his approach could be summed up by a simple motto: "They can fire you, but they can't eat you. If we go down, we're going down saying we put it all out there." No doubt, that swagger will transcend football when Pagano needs it most.