Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler warms up before a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders at Soldier Field in Chicago on August 21, 2010. UPI/Brian Kersey
Former Packers guard Greg Koch only missed two games in his 11 seasons in the NFL, so apparently he feels justified for being the latest athlete to call out Jay Cutler for not toughing out his knee injury in the NFC title game. What makes Koch extra special is that he also threw Bears coach Lovie Smith and former Chicago QB Kyle Orton shots as well.
From the Chicago Tribune:
“Nobody would’ve kept Tom Brady off the field if he wanted to play. Nobody would’ve kept Peyton Manning off the field. Then you don’t just sit on the sideline and ride a bike like a little girl. … I’ve never seen anything like it. If that’s the guy leading your team, you deserve a coach named Lovie.”
“This isn’t a normal profession where you go, ‘I’ve got the flu and I’m not coming in today,’ ” Koch said. “There are times you just gotta gut it up, shoot it up and play. It’s the NFC Championship Game. … If it comes out that he needs surgery, then maybe I need to take some of this back. But right now, I’m seeing it as a strained ligament and I’ve seen a lot of guys play with a lot worse.”
“If there’s two guys who do not look like an NFL quarterback, if you just look at their mug, it’s Jay Cutler and Kyle Orton, and they traded these two slobs for each other,” Koch said.
For the millionth time, we don’t know the extent of Cutler’s injury. John Paulsen posted an interesting video this morning about when Cutler may have suffered the injury and there’s reason to believe it happened on the first play of the second quarter. If that’s the case, then Cutler did try to “tough it out” by playing an entire quarter with a MCL tear. Furthermore, he came back out in the second half and tried to play with the injury then, too.
In the end, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t plant on his leg and he was highly inaccurate. I’m sure the layoff at halftime didn’t do him any favors, as his knee probably stiffened up.
Out of all the idiots criticizing Cutler, Koch may be the biggest. What I would like to know from clowns like him is whether or not he really believes Cutler wanted out of the game. This is Jay freaking Cutler were talking about. The man threw four interceptions to DeAngelo Hall in one game and then said in his post-game presser that he would continue to throw at him the next time he faced him. He has an ego the size of Lake Michigan – he’s not going to want come out of the NFC title game unless he’s seriously hurt. He doesn’t care how poorly he was playing – he thinks he can beat anyone on any given Sunday. Isn’t that what we always say about Cutler? That he’s arrogant?
People have the right to express their opinions but I don’t see what making fun of Lovie Smith’s name or Kyle Orton has to do with Jay Cutler’s injury. Koch seems like a former athlete who just wants to make headlines one last time. In reality, he sounds like a moron.
