Jay Cutler has ‘multiple cracked ribs,’ Dolphins coach confirms

A bunch of news came out of Adam Gase’s Monday afternoon news conference — and most specifically, about the Dolphins’ quarterback situation.

▪  Jay Cutler does indeed have “multiple cracked ribs,” and while he did not rule Cutler out for Thursday, Gase’s demeanor suggested what most believe (and what colleague Armando Salguero has reported): That Moore, not Cutler, will start in Baltimore.

“Right now it doesn't look real good,” Gase said of Cutler playing this week. “We're just kind of taking it day to day right now and see where it goes from there."

▪  How much can a quarterback play with cracked ribs?

“It really becomes a pain tolerance thing once you get everything calmed down. It's not an easy injury. It's tough to breathe, let alone throw [and do] what he has to do as a quarterback. That's when, yesterday, just watching him, when he stayed down, I knew it couldn't have been anything good. He's not one to really stay down after getting hit.”

▪  Gase is going to try to put off a quarterback controversy as long as he can, and with Cutler almost certainly not playing Thursday, there is nothing to debate.

When asked if Cutler will get the job back automatically when healthy, regardless of how Moore is performing, Gase responded:

“You’re getting way ahead of me, because with this quick turnaround I’m really focused on this week. When we get through Thursday we’ve got our bye weekend, so then I’m able to sit back and see where we’re at in the total picture and with the health status of a lot of different people. I’m not even ready to go anywhere near anything with quarterback. I know who’s available this week, possibly, and what I’m going to do. After that, I’ll move on from there.”

(The Herald has reported that the job will be Cutler’s, unless Moore has a Dan Marino-like run.)

▪  Cutler was wearing extra protective chest padding when Jordan Jenkins slammed him to the ground in the second half Sunday.

“It didn't matter,” Gase said. “The way he got hit and the way he came down. He has custom-made pads. He had pretty good protection but it just didn't matter. The force of the hit and the ground was a lot."

▪  Gase has now lost two starting quarterbacks in less than three months, which he does not believe he has ever had to deal with before. And yet, he did not allow even a moment of self pity.

"It is what it is."

▪  David Fales is reportedly among the team’s short-term backup options, but Gase said as of Monday afternoon, no roster move had been made.

"We're kind of going through the process right now, so we'll figure out what we're going to do and transition and kind of work through today and figure it out at some point."

▪  There was no big drop-off in play-calling from Cutler to Moore Sunday for two reasons: The Dolphins were in “desperation” mode anyway, and they were already so vanilla on offense, it was tough to draw it back any more.

Gase has been frustrated with how basic he has been forced to make the scheme; his players just cannot execute too much more than the minimum.

“We’re in Year 2 in the offense,” Gase said. “I always feel like it should grow, not shrink. But it is what it is right now, and we’ve just gotta keep getting better. The thing is we do have good players and we do have guys that can get open and they can win one-on-one matchups and we have guys that can get them the ball. When our running game’s going, whatever we’re doing, the play action works. That’s where sometimes I have to lean back and realize we have good players and just let them go win. And those guys do.”

For all other Dolphins news, check out Barry Jackson’s latest.

This story was originally published October 23, 2017 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Jay Cutler has ‘multiple cracked ribs,’ Dolphins coach confirms."