Belichick calls Cutler, Moore ‘outstanding’
DAVIE — The Dolphins are 20th in the NFL in passing offense, 30th in total offense and 31st in scoring offense.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick declared Wednesday the Dolphins have two “outstanding” quarterbacks, in Jay Cutler and Matt Moore.
“The Dolphins have very good depth at quarterback,” Belichick said Wednesday on a conference call with Miami media. “Both players are outstanding players that can throw the ball well. They’re smart. They can handle the different looks that coach (Adam) Gase gives them to make the defense declare what they’re in and attack it. So they have a very good and healthy quarterback situation, two guys that can come in and play at a high level and move the ball and score points for their team. So, it’s a good position the Dolphins put themselves in.”
Healthy is a delicate word to use around the Dolphins these days, actually.
Consider starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill went down with a torn ACL in the preseason. And Cutler was in concussion protocol, at least as of Monday, unable to finish Sunday’s loss to the Bucs.
Cutler is 25th in the NFL in passer rating, 28th in yards and 33rd in average gain.
Cutler has a higher passer rating (82.7) than Moore (77.6) because Moore struggled in a shutout loss at Baltimore.
Other tidbits from Belichick:
■ “Miami can play fast with Damien Williams and Kenyan Drake at running back. Williams has good vision, elusiveness and quickness. Both guys are hard to tackle.”
■ “We just try to do what’s best for the football team and win games. That’s what we try to do.”
■ “Other than Jason Taylor, nobody has given us more problems than Cam Wake. He’s hard to block. He’s instinctive. He’s got good speed, good power. He’s nifty and crafty. He’s very disruptive. He’s been a hard guy over the years.”
■ “The most important statistic is points. Then turnovers. I mean, look, everything is important. There isn’t anything that’s not important. But the top is points. The Dolphins have won so many close games. Come from behind. Until Oakland beat them they won a lot of close games. That’s the most important thing is the points. On a daily basis we try to coach them on fundamentals in execution and those things on Sunday.”
■ “I’m not thinking about divisional titles.”