Injuries mount, but Cutler looks ready
Jay Cutler’s return from retirement to the field is nearly complete.
Miami Dolphins coach Adam Gase said of his new quarterback that “right now, everything looks like Jay is going to go” in Thursday night’s pre-season matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.
It’s a glimmer of potentially good news in what has been an otherwise difficult training camp. Miami was a surprise wild-card team last year in Gase’s first season, but its quest for a post-season return has already hit several obstacles.
For the fourth time in two weeks, the team lost a projected starter to a season-ending injury after Gase confirmed that cornerback Tony Lippett tore an Achilles. Lippett will undergo surgery that will cost him the entire season.
He joins rookie second-round linebacker Raekwon McMillan, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament in Thursday’s pre-season opener against the Atlanta Falcons, and starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who elected to have reconstructive surgery to repair damage to ligaments in his left knee after reinjuring it in practice Aug. 3. Guard Ted Larson tore his biceps and is also expected to miss several months. And there’s more. A lingering neck injury forced linebacker Koa Misi into retirement. Workhorse running back Jay Ajayi suffered a concussion in practice earlier this month and missed the pre-season opener. He just cleared concussion protocol, but the Dolphins are exercising caution with his return, Gase saying he’s “still thinking about” whether Ajayi will play Thursday. Given how much the offence may rely on him while Cutler settles in, it might be prudent to rest Ajayi anyway.
Miami has a talented, young roster, but are all these injuries too much to overcome? Losing McMillan and Misi weakens an already suspect linebacking corps, while the injury to Lippett will force someone to step into the nickelback role.
But, without question, the Cutler experiment is the most important.