"I've got the best young quarterback and the best old quarterback in Football," said the sports agent, who will have a plum vantage point to watch both high-profile clients Sunday at the Meadowlands when the Broncos (6-5) visit the New York Jets (8-3).

On one side, there'll be Jay Cutler, the kid whom Cook first saw helping out at Steve McNair's Football camp a few years ago and whose personality and demeanor (and later, his skills) immediately struck him as comparable to his, um, most senior client.

On the other side will be the gray-speckled Brett Favre, the biggest thing to hit Broadway since The Lion King and a player with whom Cook forged a relationship nearly two decades ago on a golf course, where the then-college prospect said he might want to give this NFL thing a try.

"Jay's Jay and Brett's Brett," Cook said Wednesday. "And it's been fun to watch them both."

In some ways, it has been like watching history repeat itself.

As a young buck, Favre would scramble out of impossible situations and make improbable - some would say ill-advised - throws.

Since Favre arrived in the NFL, coaches have tried to rein him in, starting with Mike Holmgren in Green Bay and going all the way to the Jets' Eric Mangini, who, a few weeks back, used a blackjack analogy in telling the future Hall of Famer he couldn't always "hit on 20."

Gambles often hit jackpot

But his high-stakes style has worked well enough to allow Favre to become the NFL's all-time leader in touchdown passes (462), completions (5,622), attempts (9,105), yards (64,122) and wins (168). But he's also the career leader in interceptions (301).

Along the way, he inspired a new generation of quarterbacks that includes the likes of Cutler.

Like Favre, he hails from a small town, went to a middle-tier college Football school and then hit the big time.

And, like Favre, the third-year Broncos quarterback can make all the throws and isn't afraid, sometimes to his detriment, to jam them into tight spots.

The Broncos coaching staff alternately smiles and sighs at his growing pains because the upside is so apparent.

"Jay Cutler's got 'it,' " Cook said. "He's got that leading attitude, the confidence factor that, 'I can make all the throws,' that, 'I can win ballgames' and 'I'm not worried about passing titles. All I'm worried about is one thing, and that's winning a Football game.' He and Brett share those same things. They've both got gunslinger attitudes. They're both feisty. . . . They're both so alike. They're both down-to-earth guys. There's nothing pretentious about either one of them."

All Cutler needs now to reach his quarterbacking elder is a minimum of 232 more consecutive starts, a Super Bowl ring and three Most Valuable Player awards.

Both players said Wednesday they understand comparisons between Cutler now and Favre in his younger days, though the veteran quarterback admitted Cutler's "probably a little more advanced as far as being in a passing offense when he came into the league than I was."

"From a physical standpoint, I see us doing a lot of the same things at that age."

Cutler has 'right mentality'

Because of Cook's involvement, Favre followed Cutler back to his days at Vanderbilt and through his Broncos career.

"I know him a little bit. . . . I think the guy can be pretty darned good," Favre said. "He has been good up to this point. I think he'll continue to get better. He has the right mentality, has all the physical tools you need, got a real strong arm. He moves around well. I think, you know, barring some injury, he'll have a great career."

The two were matched against each other last season, before a series of much-publicized events prompted Favre to change shades of green.

During a Monday Night Football matchup, with Broncos fans almost certainly believing it would be their last chance to watch the now 39-year-old Favre in person, Cutler gave Cook his pregame wish - leading the Broncos down the field to a last-second field goal and a tie.

The deadlock, though, would be broken on the first play of overtime, when Favre hit Packers receiver Greg Jennings in stride down the left sideline for an 82-yard touchdown, which the quarterback later would say was one of the top passes of his career.

Favre's season with the Jets has had its share of lows (seven interceptions in three games) and remarkable highs (a current five-game winning streak, including back-to-back road victories at New England and previously unbeaten Tennessee).

He has completed 245-of-347 passes - a 70.6 completion rate - for 2,461 yards, with 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

And lately, Favre has been content to work the underneath routes instead of going deep.

Go with what works

That doesn't mean Favre, in his 18th pro season, won't resort to old habits.

He did it Sunday against Tennessee, and with positive results, when he threw a pass from the right side of the field, across his body to the left side, through a triangle of Titans defenders. It landed in the hands of Jets receiver Laveranues Coles for a 2-yard touchdown.

"Jay hasn't quite gotten into that as much as I've seen Brett gotten into that," said Bob Slowik, Denver's defensive coordinator, who coached against Favre with Chicago in the 1990s and was part of Green Bay's staff before joining the Broncos. "The across-the-body, falling backwards hook shoots or the behind-the-back tosses. We haven't quite seen that here, thank goodness. Because those didn't always end well."

"Maybe in the years to come," Cutler shot back, jokingly.

It has been difficult enough lately just getting the pedestrian hooks, crosses and go routes coordinated.

When the Broncos quarterback is on, Denver wins. He has had a passer rating of at least 93.3 in six victories. When he's not - such as his career-low 43.8 completion percentage against Oakland on Sunday - the Broncos have struggled. Nine of his 12 interceptions have come in losses.

But Cutler did surpass 3,000 passing yards for the second straight season. And he's one short of last year's touchdown total of 20, with five games remaining.

"He's been very good, overall," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "He's in his third year. He has a good feel for defenses. He knows when he plays well and when he plays poorly. The decisions that he makes are an ongoing process for a quarterback. The thing I love about him is that he's a great competitor. . . . And when you have a competitor on your hands, you have a chance to do something special."

And that's the major difference between Favre and Cutler in the big picture: time.

Favre is trying to squeeze one more Super Bowl season out of his prodigious right arm. Cutler is just scratching the surface of his physical gifts.

"He's calm and cool," Broncos center Casey Wiegmann said of his quarterback. "He knows what he has to get done, calls the play and slings it."

INFOBOX 1

Few and Favre between

Jay Cutler believes he compares with former Broncos great John Elway - he has a "stronger arm than John, hands down," and he'd "bet on it against anybody's in the league" - so it was inevitable he'd be asked to compare himself with Brett Favre, left.

And just as when he was asked the Elway question in October, Cutler didn't go into scramble mode Wednesday when prodded in joking fashion about how he stacks up to Favre: "Is Brett 40 yet? Thirty-nine? I think he'd give me a run for the money back in his 20s. But I think I've got him now."

As for being compared to a younger Favre, Cutler said he sees parallels in playing style and confidence.

But Cutler expressed amazement at what Favre is now doing and said he doubts whether, at a similar age, he'll still be tossing the Football around:

"No way."

INFOBOX 2

Three musketeers

How Jay Cutler, Brett Favre and John Elway fared in their first 32 regular-season starts: Com. Quarterback Team Span Com. Att. pct. Yards TD Int. W-L

Jay Cutler Broncos Dec. 3, 2006 to Nov. 23, 2008 624 1,010 61.8 7,534 48 31 15-17

Brett Favre Packers Sept. 20, 1992 to Jan. 8, 1993 667 1,072 62.2 6,990 39 39 18-14

John Elway Broncos Sept. 4, 1983 to Oct. 20, 1985 479 891 53.8 6,016 36 28 22-10