Bears quarterback Jay Cutler touched on the Baltimore Ravens defense, "communication" problems with receivers and the status of offensive coordinator Ron Turner during his weekly news conference today.Here are the highlights:
On the Ravens defense: "They're good. Ray Lewis has been playing for a very long time and is still playing at a very high level. Ed Reed, any time you put those two guys on the same team, defensively they are going to be tough to match up against."
On Lewis and Reed specifically: "It doesn't really matter what defense they're in, what coverage they're in, they are going to react differently than the other guys. They are going to see things differently, they're going to see things a little bit quicker. They get to the ball in a hurry."
Photo: Jay Cutler addressed the Bears' offense today. (Jose M. Osorio/Tribune)
On why it's difficult to get Devin Aromashodu more playing time: "Those other guys, they haven't done anything wrong for their jobs to be taken from them.... It's hard to just put another guy in there and take another guy out when they're playing well. I was just happy to see him get an opportunity and make the most of it."
On communication problems with receivers: "Those guys are doing everything they can. I don't want to say we are working out issues. It's just one of those things where some things happened. We had some different protections going. Some of it worked, some of it didn't work. That's how it goes. Ultimately, it just boils down to me and not putting those guys in a position like that and throwing the ball away or taking a sack."
On if he had the same kinds of issues with then-rookie Eddie Royal in Denver last year: "No.... Different player, different system. Every player is different. The way we attacked defenses was a little different."
On if part of his job is to cover mistakes of others: "The quarterback is going to take the blame. We're going to take the blame and then we'll figure it out in-house."
On keeping his confidence up: "It's tough with as many as struggles and interceptions, it's tough to throw the ball 20, 30, 40 times and be confident on every one. There is definitely a part of me that wants to scale it back and be more careful. But in the flow of the game I'm still going to take some shots and take some chances."
On whether he has confidence in the offense: "I believe in what we're doing offensively. I believe in the scheme. I believe in the system. It's very similar to some other stuff I've run in the past."
On finishing out the season: "It's not our motto to be a spoiler I don't think. We want to go out and do our job and win football games. Even though we are out of it, there is a lot of character in that room, there are a lot of professionals, there are a lot of veterans who have been successful and who have been in situations like this. I think most of us know how to handle it. We're going to go to Baltimore with every intention to win the game."
On his relationship with Ron Turner: "It's been good. There is an open line of communication. We've both been honest with each other. There has been some give and take on both ends."
On if he has learned from him: "Yeah."
On if he would talk with team management about Turner if asked for his opinion: "I'd tell them how I feel, absolutely. But by no means am I going to march up there and tell them what should happen. That's up to them."
On what he would say: "At this point I'm not going to start going down that road. That's not my job."
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VandyCutler --
Jeez, I can't tell who has a larger ManCrush on Cutler -- you or Creighton.
But thanks for all those important stats about Jay Cutler.
However, you missed one.
Jay Cutler has never led an NFL team to a winning record.
Until that changes, he is simply a FF pick and nothing more.
Does Lovie Smith think having a cup that's half full is the same as a head coach being half awake? As he's been half awake the last few years in Chicago?
So let me get this straight, you idiots would keep Stomach Turner, the coach who constantly has 2 receivers in the same area over a Pro Bowl QB...IT'S THE COACHES YOU MUCKING FORONS !!!!
It really bothers me to hear all the Cutler supporters. Here we have this great coaching staff with a world class offensive coordinator, great offensive talent on the O-Line and wide receiver, and then we trade for this punk QB who comes in and ruins a potentially great offense.
Vandycutler, I love you assessment of Jay's performance last year and it's safe to say he hasn't had much to work with this season. I place 75% of the blame on Ron Turner's offense after watching every play of every game since he's been here. I know quite a bit about playcalling, offensive formations and personnel groupings. He has no clue how to make adjustments and fool a defense. Every team has athletes on defense that can stop the opposing team. The key is to implement new plays and formations in order to keep the defense off balance.
Ron Turner runs I-Form seemingly 40-50% of the time. Rarely does it involve strong-i or weak-i, usually just base. Last week against the Packers he lined up in base and motioned Forte out to the left several times. Forte maybe runs a 4.5 forty at best. He won't be a threat at WR position because he doesn't possess those skills. Yet, Turner continued to give Jay just two targets when he put Forte in motion. Not once did Jay even look his way and the majority of the time Cutler didn't find an open receiver.
The I-form is meant mostly for runs or play-action passes on run downs. It rarely works as a primary throwing formation, especially if you can't run the ball. I see teams doing more with the running game like the three-back power formations Green Bay ran. Also, Turner appears to call the same plays multiple times a game. This is the NFL, not high school. The Bears should be able to line-up and run about 30 different formations and about 100 different plays (give or take). It's the same game plan every week and like Hester said, defenses watch film know exactly what's coming.
See ya Turner, don't let the door at Halas Hall knock ya in the ***.
Jay lost one game in High School. Only 1!
So that rules out the theory everywhere Jay goes he is bad. I work at Vanderbilt. We are ALWAYS Bad in Football!
I will tell you what Jay did here at Vanderbilt.
Jay took Vandy to UT and beat UT at their stadium for the first time since 1974!
Jay also took Vandy to Florida and played at the Swamp. Jay led Vandy to Double OT. Vandy should have won, we got a bad call. Florida was ranked 4th in the country. Vandy had not beaten Florida since 1948!
Last year at Denver jay did this
He guided the second-ranked offense in the NFL.
» He was No. 1 in fewest percentage of sacks, with 11 in 627 pass plays. That equates to one sack every 57 pass attempts.
» He was No. 3 in the NFL in third-down efficiency, the "money" down. The average NFL team converted 39.5 percent of its third downs; Cutler converted 47.5 percent.
» He was No. 3 in the AFC in yards per pass play (7.3).
» He threw for more yards than Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Donovan McNabb, Philip Rivers, Tony Romo and Ben Roethlisberger, to name a few.
» He had just two 100-yard rushing days from a running back all season: Peyton Hillis (129 against the Jets) and Michael Pittman (109 against the Jacksonville Jaguars).
» He had eight games of 300-plus passing yards (five of those at 350 or more), connecting for 15 touchdowns in those contests.
» Sure, he threw 18 interceptions, which is unacceptable, but his ratio of picks to attempts was 1:34, which tells a slightly different story. Last season, Brees had an interception every 37 pass attempts. Favre's ratio was 1:23, and Roethlisberger's was 1:31. Cutler's career ratio is 1:33.
» Only Jacksonville's David Garrard threw more passes in the fourth quarter of games than Cutler, who completed 100 of 167 passes for 1,212 yards and 11 touchdowns with just four interceptions.
I think we all can agree the bears need to improve the offensive line, i hope the bears front office does that over the off season, then lets see if Cutler can run the offense, Forte can run the ball and see if he receiving core is adequate. I do noto care who is the running back or the quarterback is with this line ,, no one would succeed.
Here's a thought trade Hester and Olsen (as i do not think either one of them is way better than the others we have)they may still have some marketablility. we need to think of 2-3 years ahead we are not good this year, most likely we will not be good next year, but with a solid plan we might be ready to compete in three years
I think that all the Jay haters think that winning and losing in on one guy. The biggest team sport there is. So quick to blame one guy for all our losses. Hell you same guys who want orton back wanted him gone. If you guys cant see the problmes with this team then you may want to watch table tennis or something that is a one man sport.
Wow Jay sucked last year? Throwing for 4500 yards suckes well I would like to see what is great. Denvers D sucked last year. Listen if you guys watch games with good recievers on there teams they make plays, our receivers drop so many balls, have trouble getting seperation, run bad routes as well as wrong routes. Matt two step forte is never hits a hole with power and has been tackled so many times with one arm it makes me sick. One more thing if I see that damn bubble screen to hester one more time I am going to throw the football through the TV.
I love reading all these comments. Half of you guys no nothing about football. I am not going to say Cutler has been perfect (far from it). Lets look at this: Our coacking staff is unable to make changes on the fly in games, turner has no idea how to utilize his weapons on offense and Lovie is lost on the defense side as well as coaching. If you watch the games with a sense of paying attention to the coaches calls you will see we are predictable and being out coached every game. Cutler will bring us back to the super bowl and we will win. We need to revamp our coaches and schemes. Devin hester should be a slot recieve not a number one. Devin H. should be our number one with Bennet our number two. We need to redo the o line as well as the d line. We will be back just relax guys.
Cutler has thrown for more yards and more TD's than Orton and their completion percentages are within a point of each other, you remember Orton don't you? He was the guy most of you badmouthed last year. He's also the guy that most of you would blow given the opportunity. Cutler has done this in an offense that is run by Ron Turner who is ALMOST as effing stupid as most of you Cutler haters are, and behind an almost useless OL with a running game that gets about 3 YPC. Further Lovies "cover who" defense is about worthless and Cutler knows that he will have to take risks and outscore the other team to have any chance of winning. Orton's throwing to pro-bowlers and Cutlers three best receivers (Knox, D.A. and Bennett) have zero starts prior to this year. You all should learn something about football before you write in and embarrass yourselves.
So this is the "whining, JayBaby"? My god you people are stupid, no wonder good QBs never come to Chicago, they get chased out by the dumbest sports fans ever.
"He loses EVERYWHERE he goes for a reason"
In Denver their defense was always towards the bottom of the league
Vanderbilt? They haven't won..ever..that team is always at the bottom of the SEC.
Wins and losses are a horrible metric to evaluate QB's. My god you fans really are dumb...like REALLY DUMB..some full blown rere's in here.
blah, blah, blah, Cutler sucks..nevermind statiscally, his first three seasons in the NFL been on par with some of the great QB's in the league. Never mind the horrible offensive line, WR's and U of I reject Ron Turner masquarding around as on offensive coordinator...let's run Cutler out of town before he ever has a chance to right the ship.
Pathetic meatball Chicago Bear fan mentallity, which again proves this is the dumbest, most ignorant fanbase in the NFL
You first three commenters are idiots! The sooner we build around Jay, the better! Bring in a new coordinator and Brandon Marshall and we'll be set for the next decade!
Cutler sucks so badly... You Cutler apologists are so pathetic. WAKE UP! This below average loser turns a medicore team into a train wreck. I can't help but watch! And then he pouts and cries and yells. He is a below average leader and a below average quarterback, and the Bears mortgaged their future for him. The Bears fans who insist on defending him just don't want to admit they were wrong... But you were wrong. Horribly and completely wrong.
"
I bet Jon gets up early looking for the Easter Bunny every Easter."
I do..right after I find my pants in your Mom's bed.
Love all the Cutler haters..what a bunch of morons you all are.