Antonio Cromartie Would Just Prefer That You Not Throw His Way, Mr. Cutler

The Denver Broncos and Jay Cutler have been playing the role of school yard bully the first two weeks of the NFL season, causing two different defensive backs to have awkward, game changing penalties called against them.

Last week, it was DeAngelo Hall who was beaten soundly, time and time again as Eddie Royal did his best Jerry Rice impersonation late Monday night. Hall kept playing the role of, well, DeAngelo Hall (usually reserved for matchups with Steve Smith though).

And today, as Bill Williamson notes, it's Antonio Cromartie's turn.

Cromartie finally drove Marshall out of bounds. Cromartie kept driving and was called for a personal foul. The Broncos ended up taking a 14-3 lead on a Jay Cutler touchdown pass to Tony Scheffler.

On Denver's next drive, Cromartie was charged with another personal foul after tackling Marshall. Cutler then hit Scheffler for another touchdown as Denver jumped up on San Diego, 21-3.

After each penalty, Cromartie, who was questionable with a hip injury, was jumping up and down and clapping his hands.

Somehow, through all of this -- an additional five yard penalty to keep a Broncos drive alive in the middle of the fourth didn't help either -- the Chargers are only down by one point.

This is, of course, no help to Cromartie, who has allowed Brandon Marshall to pick up a whopping 14 catches for 133 yards and a touchdown. Clearly, when I told you to sit Marshall, I had no idea that Cromartie was playing with one leg and one arm today.

Update + Fantasy: As JJ notes via email, it's probably worth noting that Marshall has a franchise record 17 catches, and counting, already. And yeah, he would be a must start every week forever. I apologize.