Cutler played the entire first half against Oakland on Friday night {photo courtesy of Google}.
OAKLAND- Jay Cutler was a man on a mission in last night’s preseason victory over the Oakland Raiders. Even though he only played a total of eight series’, no.6 made quite the impact and shut the mouth’s {temporarily at least} of his critics and doubters. He completed 12-of-21 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown. He finished the game with a 93.8 passer rating.
He can ran the ball twice for 13 yards, he averaged 6.5 yards per carry and the best part is that he wasn’t sacked at all last night. As much as we can easily credit his performance to the rebuilt offensive line and the corps of receivers, we must also give credit to Cutler himself. After putting up some below-average performances in the first two preseason games, Cutler looked like a much improved player against the Raiders.
He spread the ball to six different receivers {Alshon Jeffery led all receivers with seven catches}, including his tight end Martellus Bennett {his first preseason catch} and he got the running backs {Matt Forte and Michael Bush} involved in the passing game as well. He also made wise choices such as throwing the ball away when needed, and made plays with his feet when necessary.
He didn’t force throws, he threw the ball accurately, he finally showed his ability to release the ball quickly and he proved Marc Trestman right for a change. He finally took all of the positives that we saw in practice and used them in a live game. Now we can only hope that he can do this on a consistent basis during the regular season.
Next week, Cutler will get the night off in the preseason finale against Cleveland. As will Josh McCown for recent signees Trent Edwards and Jordan Palmer will get all of the snaps in that game. For now, it’s good to see that Cutler appears to finally be getting his act together.
Follow me on Twitter @GabeSalgado82
The Bears Make Their Initial Cut Downs
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10 Comments
I really like what I saw out of Cutler last night. From a management stand point he did a great job. He plays best when he throws the ball around 25 times a game. For a 4 quarter game that leaves allot of room for Forte to excel. Matt has been under used and under rated in his career and I expect to see him do big things this season. Looked good for my Bears and I expect to see more of the same come regular season play. Trestman and Emery are obviously on the same page and I like what Tucker is doing in cont. a Bears traditional D and not trying to “fix what ain’t broke”.
My hope is that Cutler can continue to play like that on a weekly basis. If he can, he’ll get his contract. If he can’t, the Bears will look elsewhere for a quarterback in 2014.
i completely agree with you gabe!! if jay play’s consistently then he will get his 100 million bucks… it come’s down to the big guys up front if they protect him then we could have a great season.. its amazing how good he play’s when he has 3 seconds to complete a throwing motion…
If the line holds up, let’s hope he doesn’t fall back into the habit of holding the ball for too long.
i agree with you too a point but i think a lot of that was due too mike tice and his vanilla offense and the lack of a 2nd receiver.. I think and can only hope that marc with a actual offense that includes a real TE and jeffries making big strides this year that he doesnt have to hold onto the ball till marshall gets open…I do agree with you though that he tries to make that big play and will hold onto the ball sometimes but hopefully the west coast system will limit that too a degree..
i know it was the raiders but the play calling and the formations that were on display was pretty impressive for a preseason game!! I think we will see a completely different QB this year!! cutler will always throw a pick hear and there cause that’s his gunslinger mentality..
For me it wasn’t about the game as a whole, it was about the fundamental improvements they made.
Lovie Smith should have kept Tice as the o-line coach and had somebody who knows offense in and out to be the coordinator.
i agree with you the fundamental improvements was a blessing too see..I loved Lovie but his decision making regarding coaches was just plain awful. He would make a great defensive coordinator!!
I think Lovie could have stuck around if he was given a better and more credible offensive coordinator.