There’s no telling when Jay Cutler will be ready to play again. It may be as soon as Friday afternoon for practice at Halas Hall. Or it may be five Fridays from now.
With that in mind, defensive tackle Henry Melton and linebacker Brian Urlacher both voiced their disapproval for Houston Texans linebacker Tim Dobbins’ helmet-to-helmet hit on Cutler, which caused his concussion.
“He could have really made a hard, clean hit on him, but it wasn’t clean at all,” Melton said. “He did have a chance to take a huge shot on him. If you do hurt the quarterback, you know, so be it.
“But you’re not trying to go out there and end anybody’s career, but if you have a chance to take your shot, you’ve got to take it, but that wasn’t the opportunity for him.”
Urlacher said he would have led with this shoulder. Dobbins was fined $30,000 for the hit and has said he will appeal.
“I would try to hit him with my shoulder or hit him somewhere where it wouldn’t be helmet-to-helmet,” Urlacher said. “It’s a big play in the game because it did take out our quarterback. There’s just so many rules now; they can suspend you. Someone got suspended from Denver a couple weeks ago for hitting somebody.
“You’ve just got to be careful. You’ve got think about it and be mindful about it. But I would try not to hit him with my helmet, that’s for sure. They may say it’s a big hit anyway and you might still get a penalty for it, but they may not fine you for it.”
