But, if you are going to throw there, it's a 2-second play. The guy either breaks wide open or you immediately throw it in the stands. I assume Cutler had been coached as such. If not, it is Trestman's fault but as Tresty describes it there, it seems that is what he also believed the play should be.

Probably nothing, but thought it was worth posting anyway:



http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/fo ... full.story

This is Trestman responding to a question about the goal line interception. I thought it was interesting that he blames Cutler for the throw and not, even perfunctorily, the play-call. My initial reaction at the time of the play was one of indifference because the receiver was open, but I can definitely reason with those who said they should have ran the ball from the one yard line instead of trying to get too cute.

Since you could go either way with the pass vs run choice in that scenario, I just found it interesting that Trestman did not use his post-game interview to deflect blame away from Cutler for the play; in fact, he indirectly tries to vindicate himself by repeatedly saying that Jay would like to have the throw back, and that there's "not much more" to say about, essentially, Cutler being the one to blame for the turnover. I thought there was definitely more to say about the play, such as the obvious counterpoint about simply running the ball behind your shiny new offensive line, the same one you trusted to get one yard on a crucial fourth down last week.

Again this is probably nothing, but I was struck that Trestman passed on deflecting blame away from Cutler when most coaches/players use similar opportunities to deliver intentionally vague soundbites like "I've got to do a better job there with the call," or, "I've got to put our players in a better position to succeed," etc.

Hopefully it is a learning experience, but at the same time you'd think a 30 year old QB would recognize a good time to throw it away. Maybe this quote is also an indication of how Trestman seeks to handle Cutler? Total accountability, no catering to his ego or personality...?

One thing seems to be clearer each week: Eric Weems needs to be cut. That crap near the goal line was almost disastrous.

That's a better way of saying what I was trying to say. He needs Cutler to think a certain way and I like that he's putting it on players to make the smart play.

I guess you could argue that Trestman should take blame for calling the play at all but, if executed properly, throw it to wide open guy or throw it away, it's not much more risky than just handing it off and plowing it up the middle.

“The thought process was we’re going to go four downs, and that was the situation. We had already scripted. We were going to throw the ball on first down. It was a play we put in for this game and they did a very good job of covering it. They covered the flat, they covered the corner portion of the route. I think if you asked Jay he’d want to have that one back. Probably would have thrown the ball away and we would have had three downs to score. That’s how I think he would see it. He would want it back, obviously, as we want to come out of there with...it’s a clean touchdown or we’ll throw it way. Other than that there’s not much more you can say about it.”