Bucs coach on preparing for Jay Cutler in Week 1: 'He's Joe Namath to us'

Dirk Koetter is leaving nothing to chance as his team faces Cutler and the Dolphins on Sunday

The Buccaneers host the Dolphins in the regular-season opener on Sunday, and while it's unclear where the game will be played as Hurricane Irma approaches Florida, Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter is concerned about Miami's new quarterback.

That would be 34-year-old Jay Cutler, who came out of retirement in early August after Ryan Tannehill's season ended before it started.

And while Cutler is probably still one of the NFL's most physically gifted passers, he remains frustratingly unpredictable. Which means a four-interception afternoon is just as likely as a 400-yard performance. Koetter, ahead of Sunday's matchup, is working from the assumption that Cutler can do no wrong.

"He's a strong-armed, quick-release guy, stand in the pocket (passer)," Koetter said Monday, via the Tampa Bay Times' Greg Auman. "He's been a little streaky in his career, and when he's hot, he's red-hot. I've seen him light teams up. This week, he's Joe Namath to us. He's the greatest quarterback, whoever your greatest quarterback is, because he's the one we're playing this week."

We get what Koetter's trying to do -- it's important not to underestimate the opponent. But Cutler wasn't even a replacement-level quarterback last season on a team that won just three games. Of course, he's been reunited with Adam Gase, the Dolphins coach who was Cutler's offensive coordinator in Chicago in 2015, arguably Cutler's best season.

At one point during the 2014 season, a year before Gase arrived in Chicago, Cutler was benched for Jimmy Clausen. (Let that sink in for a moment.) And from 2012-14, Cutler never finished higher than 16th in total QB value, according to Football Outsiders' metrics. In 2015, Gase's first and only year in Chicago, Cutler finished 10th, just behind Kirk Cousins, Philip Rivers and Matthew Stafford. He threw for 3,659 yards with 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, a completion percentage of 64.4 and a passer rating of 92.3.

Cutler set career bests in passer rating and career lows in interceptions, and his 244 passing yards per game was No. 2 behind only his 2008 season in Denver. And Cutler's one year with Gase shares a lot of similarities with what Tannehill and Gase accomplished in their first year together in 2016.

Whether that continues is another story. Cutler is 4-1 against the Bucs, though his first loss against them came last season when he was just 16 of 30 for 182 yards with a touchdowns, two interceptions, two fumbles and four sacks.