# Time to start a "Jay Cutler is so tough..." meme **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 25, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851 "2011-01-25T00:11:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/41 "2011-01-26T04:57:12Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Still waiting for the demonstration about how an outsider could easily make Schlereth look like a wuss. It certainly can’t be the second quoted paragraph, which is embarassingly retarded. You still mad at me about something else, Dee? I have a hard time my previous post is the ONLY reason you’d call my thinking “embarrassingly retarded.” No matter- it’s not as if your approval ever meant anything to me in the first place. Mark Schlereth was quick to jump on Cutler for not playing in a big game, but the record shows that Schlereth was hurt constantly and missed a lot of games himself. Do I seriously think Schlereth was “soft” or “fragile”? Of course not. There’s a REASON guys get hurt a lot in football: it’s a violent game. But a guy who was constantly missing games due to knee injuries should think twice before calling somebody ELSE a wimp for sitting out a game with knee pain. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/42 "2011-01-26T05:01:39Z")
Duke, where’d you get your stats? Lance Moore had 8 TDs this year and 22 in his career. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/43 "2011-01-26T06:10:33Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Cancer patients walk right by Jay Cutler as they get off the airplane. Touchdown! ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/44 "2011-01-26T06:12:16Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > Oh bullshit. The standard of toughness for an NFL player is different from that of say, an accountant, for obvious and valid reasons. Of course Jay cutler is probably tougher than most of his fans. That’s not the point. These guys make a commitment to sacrifice their body and health for the game. It’s not only a matter of the money, it’s integrity. You owe it to your teammates to play so that they don’t have to put themselves at even greater risk so you can sit out. You also owe it to your teammates to take yourself out of the game when you become a detriment to the team. And thinking injured players should play to protect against injuries is just silly. > [@](#): > > Cutler seemed indifferent to the whole thing. Just because someone looks like they don’t care, doesn’t mean they don’t care. Not everyone expresses all their emotions on their face. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/45 "2011-01-26T07:08:32Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Do I seriously think Schlereth was “soft” or “fragile”? Of course not. There’s a REASON guys get hurt a lot in football: it’s a violent game. But a guy who was constantly missing games due to knee injuries should think twice before calling somebody ELSE a wimp for sitting out a game with knee pain. From [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Schlereth) > [@](#): > > Before ending his playing career, Schlereth endured 29 surgeries, 20 on his knees (15 left, 5 right). After the 13th procedure on his left knee on July 24, 2000, Denver head coach Mike Shanahan stated, “He has a great pain threshold. I think the doctors said that it was the worst knee that they’ve ever seen.” Schlereth would have two more procedures on his left knee during the 2000 season, his last in the NFL. Mark Schelereth is so tough he has a free pass to make fun of Jay Cutler whenever he wants. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/46 "2011-01-26T09:09:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > You still mad at me about something else, Dee? I have a hard time my previous post is the ONLY reason you’d call my thinking “embarrassingly retarded.” No, it’s all about that one post. It’s just that stupid. > [@](#): > > Do I seriously think Schlereth was “soft” or “fragile”? Of course not. There’s a REASON guys get hurt a lot in football: it’s a violent game. But a guy who was constantly missing games due to knee injuries should think twice before calling somebody ELSE a wimp for sitting out a game with knee pain. Mark Schlereth played more games while injured than Jay Cutler has played any games (injured or not) in his entire career. Possibly including his time at Vanderbilt. The stupidity of your post is that having surgery could be seen as a sign of not being tough. You understand how embarassingly retarded that very idea is, right? Jay Cutler isn’t getting surgery. He just needs to rest up for a few weeks and he’ll be fine. He was walkinga round on the friggin’ sideline without crutches or even a limp, fer chrissakes. To compare that to Mark Schlereth, who repeatedly opted to wait on surgery so he could finish out the season despite being injured, and then think you’ve made some kind of debating point? Embarassing. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/47 "2011-01-26T17:28:02Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Jay Cutler isn’t getting surgery. He just needs to rest up for a few weeks and he’ll be fine. He was walkinga round on the friggin’ sideline without crutches or even a limp, fer chrissakes. Not that I disagree with your point, but this isn’t an indicator of anything. I completely tore my ACL in a pickup game a few years ago (no trainers or even particularly intelligent people were involved), and I was walking around on the sideline and testing it to see if I could keep playing. Adrenaline’s an amazing thing. It was the stability, not pain, that kept me out of the game. But my injury was a lot worse than Cutler’s, and I could do the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/48 "2011-01-26T17:40:38Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > The stupidity of your post is that having surgery could be seen as a sign of not being tough. You understand how embarassingly retarded that very idea is, right? You could always ask Chris “Crystal Chandelier” Chandler or Fred “Fragile Fred” Taylor whether or not frequent injuries might create a negative perception in fans’ minds. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/49 "2011-01-26T18:32:01Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Still waiting for the demonstration about how an outsider could easily make Schlereth look like a wuss. It certainly can’t be the second quoted paragraph, which is embarassingly retarded. A description that I’d apply to probably half of what Schlereth and most the others at ESPN say. The only way you get that job is if you’re willing to pop off strong opinions without reflection. If you’re inclined to say things like “well, I don’t have enough information to say” or any idea too complex to fit on Twitter, you aren’t given prime airtime. Schlereth has his job precisely because he’s the kind of meathead who will happily give soundbite answers to idiotic questions. The fact that he played in the NFL doesn’t change that. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/50 "2011-01-26T23:01:37Z")
None of the critcism of Jay Cutler came from ESPN; it was all players and ex-players tweeting on their own time. This is starting to feel like a No True Scotsman thing. Fans can’t criticize Cutler because we’re all fat, lazy couch potatoes. Sportwriters and pundits can’t criticize Cutler because they’re all pencil-neck geeks. Current and former athletes can’t criticize him because they’re meathead jocks. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/51 "2011-01-27T00:54:17Z")
Jay Cutler is so tough,he doesn’t laugh at Derek Anderson’s jokes. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/52 "2011-01-27T01:26:47Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > None of the critcism of Jay Cutler came from ESPN; it was all players and ex-players tweeting on their own time. > > This is starting to feel like a No True Scotsman thing. Fans can’t criticize Cutler because we’re all fat, lazy couch potatoes. Sportwriters and pundits can’t criticize Cutler because they’re all pencil-neck geeks. Current and former athletes can’t criticize him because they’re meathead jocks. Maybe none of the tweets came from ESPN personalities (and I’m sure tweeting is against the ESPN contract), but they have been constantly talking about it for the past 3 days. If you watch any ESPN programming, there are a lot of ex-football players giving their opinions, and they are mostly hammering Cutler. ESPN’s First Take is as guilty of this as anyone, as they discuss it with ex-athletes and morons like Skip Bayless. Kordell Stewart appears on this show, and he of all people shouldn’t have an opinion about anyone. I know what you are saying.. it IS news. ESPN just takes it to another level. I think that’s why I try not to watch them if at all possible. How many times can you stand seeing Rachel Nichols standing on Brett Favre’s lawn? ESPN has the ability to create a story and hang onto it long beyond its expiration date. I know they have a lot of airtime to fill, but I’d like to see them not be the reason the story is still being discussed. Jay Cutler’s so tough, he eats the corn out of my shit. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/53 "2011-01-28T16:34:37Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > None of the critcism of Jay Cutler came from ESPN; it was all players and ex-players tweeting on their own time. > > This is starting to feel like a No True Scotsman thing. Fans can’t criticize Cutler because we’re all fat, lazy couch potatoes. Sportwriters and pundits can’t criticize Cutler because they’re all pencil-neck geeks. Current and former athletes can’t criticize him because they’re meathead jocks. Not at all; I’d have no problem with anyone who either had medical or experiential knowledge of a grade II MCL sprain or similar offering their opinions. For that matter, if someone has plausible evidence that Cutler doesn’t have a grade II MCL sprain, that’s fair game. I think it’s also fair game to point out that even with a bum knee, we could have been cheering guys on, helping coaches, doing something besides just sitting there acting as if he no longer cared. What I have a problem with is idiots like Schlereth and the rest popping off with “he doesn’t look hurt” or “I played with a \_\_\_\_\_, so he can play with whatever he has” without knowing the facts. The fact that Cutler seems to be a self-involved, underachieving douchebag doesn’t mean he’s not injured, any more than J.R. Richard’s aloof diva persona meant he was faking it. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/54 "2011-01-28T16:44:27Z")
> [@furt](#): > > What I have a problem with is idiots like Schlereth and the rest popping off with “he doesn’t look hurt” or “I played with a \_\_\_\_\_, so he can play with whatever he has” without knowing the facts. Schlereth clarified his position Thursday. Asked if his position had changed at all knowing the extent of the injury, his reply was pretty simple: No. He wasn’t killing the guy for not playing hurt. He (and many of the players, one would imagine) was killing him for not fighting to stay in the game. It looked for all intents and purposes like Lovie tapped him on the shoulder, said “You’re out”, and Cutler’s reaction was an immediate “Okay, where’s my coat?” A guy fighting to stay in would get trainers working on him, get the kneee braced or at least wrapped, and be taking practice dropbacks on the sideline to check and see if he could get back in. He didn’t do any of that. Schlereth stands by his criticism, and I continue to agree with it. Jay Cutler didn’t look interested in getting back into the game, nor did he do anything that you’d expect to see of someone interested in doing so. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/55 "2011-01-28T18:21:29Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > He wasn’t killing the guy for not playing hurt. He (and many of the players, one would imagine) was killing him for not fighting to stay in the game. It looked for all intents and purposes like Lovie tapped him on the shoulder, said “You’re out”, and Cutler’s reaction was an immediate “Okay, where’s my coat?” > > A guy fighting to stay in would get trainers working on him, get the kneee braced or at least wrapped, and be taking practice dropbacks on the sideline to check and see if he could get back in. He didn’t do any of that. > > Schlereth stands by his criticism, and I continue to agree with it. Jay Cutler didn’t look interested in getting back into the game, nor did he do anything that you’d expect to see of someone interested in doing so. Unfortunately, I wasn’t at the game, and I wasn’t in the locker room, and all I saw was what the teevee people chose to show me. I kind of imagine that during the 25 minutes in the lockerroom, Cutler and the trainers and coaches went over all of this, and came up with a firm non-negotiable criteria for whether he could go or not. Hell, for all I know, Lovie Smith told him “if I decide you can’t play, do not argue with me and waste my time with histrionics. Sit down and shut up.” Or maybe they didn’t. I don’t know, and neither does Mark Schlereth. I suspect that in time we’ll get a fuller picture (after Todd Collins is released?), and it may well be that Cutler was just as happy to be benched as people are saying. It doesn’t change the fact that their confident opinions were offered based on partial knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/56 "2011-01-29T00:06:40Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Hell, for all I know, Lovie Smith told him “if I decide you can’t play, do not argue with me and waste my time with histrionics. Sit down and shut up.” The kind of guy you want your QB to be would never heed an instruction like this during a Conference Championship game. Note that he DID go in the third quarter, then came out. He basically just threw in the towel. Even if Lovie explained in no uncertain terms during halftime that he’d be pulled if he couldn’t plant on the leg, then after that ineffectual throw Lovie said yep, that’s exactly what we agreed to so now you come out, a fighter doesn’t just grab his coat and sit on the bench. A fighter argues, does everything he can to get back out there. What Jay Cutler did was throw in the towel. That’s what his peers were critcizing him for. ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/57 "2011-01-29T00:12:22Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > The kind of guy you want your QB to be would never heed an instruction like this during a Conference Championship game. So to be a championship caliber quarterback you need to have the maturity of a 12 year old? I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/58 "2011-01-29T01:07:34Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > TNote that he DID go in the third quarter, then came out. He basically just threw in the towel. Even if Lovie explained in no uncertain terms during halftime that he’d be pulled if he couldn’t plant on the leg, then after that ineffectual throw Lovie said yep, that’s exactly what we agreed to so now you come out, a fighter doesn’t just grab his coat and sit on the bench. A fighter argues, does everything he can to get back out there. What Jay Cutler did was throw in the towel. > > That’s what his peers were critcizing him for. I don’t like Jay Cutler, I think he’s a douchebag, and much of the criticism he gets is due, in part, because he’s a horrible communicator, not very bright, and he just doesn’t give a shit. But. He tore his MCL. An injury that knocked Trent Dilfer out for a month, kept Hines Ward out of the AFC Championship, and has sidelined numerous players for weeks at a time. By all accounts, he fought his way out back on the field for the first series in the second half, but couldn’t plant his foot to throw, and was a liability. He was having a shitty game, and would likely have played even worse with the injury. That’s not quitting on your team. That’s realizing that you simply can’t physically do what you need to to succeed. Cutler got fucked over, in large part, because the Bears and Lovie suck out loud and because he refuses to act a part. Had he thrown ice on it, got crutches, hobbled around, gnashed his teeth, and put on sackcloth and ashes, the criticism wouldn’t have been 10% of what he got. Those tough guys wanted a show, and Cutler didn’t give it to them. And Lovie not coming out with the injury truth, trying to play the “smartest guy in the room and I won’t let the Packers know he won’t be back”, and leaving it questionable, really hurt him. To me, it’s all about style of substance. The meatheads wanted the act, the knee brace, the ice, the scrunched face. Cutler didn’t do that. That doesn’t mean that his MCL wasn’t torn or was an injury that made him ineffective. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/59 "2011-01-29T01:29:11Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > To me, it’s all about style of substance. The meatheads wanted the act, the knee brace, the ice, the scrunched face. Cutler didn’t do that. Kind of like how Derek Anderson would have avoided a lot of hassle earlier this season if he would have remembered to keep his big gwumpy face on for every second of the game. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851/60 "2011-01-29T01:34:06Z")
> [@Hawkeyeop](#): > > So to be a championship caliber quarterback you need to have the maturity of a 12 year old? I’ll pass. These guys play a friggin’ _game_ for a living. What maturity level do you expect? > [@Hamlet](#): > > That’s not quitting on your team. That’s realizing that you simply can’t physically do what you need to to succeed. This is very rational, but it’s simply not a professional athlete’s mentality. Not the successful ones. They’re the ones who think they can always contribute, no matter what. They always believe they can beat the guy across from them, even if that guy is a future Hall of Famer in his prime who has schooled them badly every play so far in the game. Because that’s the mentality: I can do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-start-a-jay-cutler-is-so-tough-meme/568851.md?page=4)