I think... that if Jay Cutler had not had his shoulder ruined in 2016, and had come to Miami in 2017 with functional arm strength, we would have had MUCH different results this season. MUCH different.
Because what I saw when I looked at the Dolphins offense this season, was a quarterback who could competently run the entire playbook, understood where everyone was supposed to be and could orchestrate the offense at the line of scrimmage, made good coverage reads and adjustments... and just couldn't throw the damn football. But if he could have still thrown that rock? Man, I have to tell you something, I think there's a chance Miami would still be playing right now.
Just my two cents.
I agree somewhat. I understand his personality to a degree and give him credit for being him. I respect a person playing within their abilities and I changed my mind about him with a few moments of guilt he carried off the field and showed accountability.
I think Cutler showed us, in yet another way, why he has teased coaches in the past. And for that reason, thinking we could create the perfect environment for him to succeed when we can barely achieve success, he was not a good fit for us. There's always an "if" or "but" with him. I hold Gase accountable.
I know he is young, but Gase has now put himself in a win or walk situation. For all of Gase's promise, there comes a time when you have to stop measuring potential and look at results.
He has mismanaged the D and relied on coaches that have failed to deliver. As such, he has missed out on 2 years of Suh. Two years we desperately needed to see a return (wins) from Suh's presence.
Regardless of blame, he is the guy where the buck stops. He has mismanaged the RT injury situation with Moore and Cutler. In some sense, I think he lost the locker room to a degree by side stepping the Matt Moore situation and loyalty to him on the team.
He has had to cut players mid-season in consecutive years to make a point. He is now overhauling his entire offensive staff.
So, where do we stand?
What has Gase done foundationally to change the course of the Dolphins? What new building blocks, that are real starters, has he developed?
Or are we still reliant on the veterans to win us games?
Sadly, we are closer to rebuilding than we are building. We are saddled with bad contracts and still have the same holes on our team that we had when he got here.
I don't think even a good arm in Cutler could have saved this season. I think we are seeing the cracking of the foundation that will collapse. Placing all the hope in Cutler to have saved our season is reflective of the real underlying problem: Gase has not improved our team by coaching.
