Cutler, ex-Jets target, struggles

Had it not been for a touchdown in the waning seconds of garbage time, Miami quarterback Jay Cutler would have produced the same amount of points Sunday as his would-be colleagues in the FOX broadcast booth: Zero.

After last season, Cutler retired from the NFL and arranged to become a television analyst for FOX Sports, only to abandon those plans when Ryan Tannehill went down with a knee injury in training camp. Miami signed him to a one-year deal worth $10 million, showing the immense amount of trust they had in the 12-year veteran.

That trust was not rewarded this week, as Cutler was ineffective in a 20-6 loss to a Jets team some speculated would go 0-16 and gave up 45 points to Oakland in its previous outing.

The Jets actually explored the possibility of signing Cutler this summer, but it didn’t work out.

“We were just feeling each other out,” Cutler said last week. “It wasn’t aggressive.”

With the way Cutler struggled Sunday, Gang Green may be thankful they opted for Josh McCown instead.

While he finished the game with 220 yards and a touchdown, much of that production came in garbage time. Through three quarters, Cut- ler had just 75 yards on 12 completions. The Dolphins offense barely moved the ball at all prior to the fourth, going 0-for-8 on third downs.

“I think early on we were in a lot of third-and-longs, which is tough against this defense with the multiple fronts and coverages they were showing us,” Cutler said.

And though he was able to rack up some yardage before time ran out, Cutler also threw an interception to cornerback Terrence Brooks in the final minutes.

Dolphins coach Adam Gase, who was the offensive coordinator when Cutler was with the Bears in 2015, was not ready to break down what went wrong for his quarterback during a postgame interview.

“It’s hard for me to tell when you’re watching it and you just see an incompletion. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on, whether he was pressured or just wasn’t aligned right, feet weren’t right, or had good throwing mechanics. I’ve got to look at it on tape before I say anything like that,” Gase said.

After putting the keys to the offense in his hands, Gase and the Dolphins better hope that Cutler can rebound.

“I think that game was a wake-up call for us,” Cutler said.