Barkley defends Cutler, says Jones-Drew ‘Looks like an idiot now’

Since a controversy is never really official until Charles Barkley puts down whatever barbecued food item or tasty liquor product he’s inhaling and offers his opinion, we can now put the Jay Cutler brouhaha in the books. Barkley appeared on ESPN radio on Tuesday and called it patently unfair that players should be challenging Culter’s toughness.

From the Huffington Post:

“I was mad at the players, to be honest with you. I think it was inappropriate and wrong to question a guy’s heart,” Barkley said on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000. “Now reporters, they’re going to do what they want to. They’re entitled to their opinion. But as players, I don’t think it’s appropriate to question another guy’s heart.”

Barkley pointed out that Maurice Jones-Drew criticized Cutler’s knee injury after the Jaguars running back missed the final two games of the season “with a bad knee.”

“And he was really the first guy who crucified Jay,” Barkley said of Jones-Drew. “You have to be careful, because in the two most important games of the year, he sat out with a bad knee. And then it really makes him look like an idiot now.”

Of course, Barkley was at the game and was seen schmoozing with Bears players on the sideline prior to kickoff, so it’s no surprise where his loyalties lie. But isn’t it time we put this fake controversy to bed? I’m not sure we’ll ever know what actually went down on the Bears sideline that night … for all we know, Cutler may have refused to leave the game, and was shot with three or four tranquilizer darts before finally being subdued. That would have explained the dazed look on the sideline.

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Charles Barkley On Jay Cutler Injury: It Was Wrong To Question A Guy’s Heart [Huffington Post]