jackie hayes

That's the thing. It was such a small thing to flag someone for. With everyone in a pile, pushing, diving, punching...hey, look, Peanut's grabbing a guy and pulling him -- oh, now the other stuff is perfectly okay, but THAT'S worth a flag. Bullshit, piss-poor officiating.

Williams was a 3rd rounder, fwiw. As for Manning, this is his third year. He's played in the same defense since he arrived. If he doesn't have the hang of it yet, it's not happening. I'm not saying that IS his problem, btw. Just saying, "if" that's it.

Has there been some disastrous news about Loadholt that I missed? He was considered a high pick if he came out last year (maybe first round, maybe not, but very likely a first or second rounder, certainly top 3). Now the seniors in that group are gone, Bradford is embarrassing opponents, and Loadholt...drops?

You proposed these or got them proposed to you? If these are offers made to you, I take the Welker deal. And run. And hide. Morris is a fine back, but so is Maroney, so is Jordan. Noone stands out, imo. And while Cassel won't be Brady, Welker is exactly the type of receiver he can lean on. That's a steal, imo. Stuckey has to deal with Coles and Cotchery, both very good receivers, and Lewis is an unquestioned starter. Bad deal. Welkaaaaaah. Easy.

I don't know if you're comparing Orton to Brady's first two games this year (which he didn't play) or Brady's first two starts ever (next to Orton's 19th and 20th starts). Either way, that is...wow. I award you no points, may God have mercy on your soul, etc, etc.

Tom Brady? You are comparing Kyle Orton to Tom Brady? Tom Brady, the HOFer who was hurt after playing part of about one quarter of one game? That's the Brady you're referring to?

Maybe...but it's a double-edged sword, though. If you're in more trouble, then you need more pieces, so those picks are more valuable to you. KC may be closer to a 'screw it, let's totally rebuild' moment than an 'all we need is a qb' one.

No... Remember that Orton was chosen as the starter. We only let our qbs suck for 4 years now.

Yup.

Not when the Heisman was being decided, and anyway, Jason White WON the Heisman. It doesn't mean much in terms of deep passing ability. Turner should call long passes for Rex, and a FEW for Orton. But damn, enough is enough. I'd be watching him wind up and I'd find myself already halfway to the fridge for another beer. Edit: And considering how many deep passes he threw, that should tell you how I felt the rest of the day.

Not that it adds anything new, but to add to the rantpile. Olsen -- WTF??????? Inexcusable. It wasn't even like he snuck up on you the second time. Unbefnlievable. Orton -- COMPLETE ONE DAMN DOWNFIELD PASS. Don't throw that wr screen for the millionth time when they've already been jumping on it. Play calling -- STOP CALLING DOWNFIELD PASSES FOR A QB WHO CAN NOT -- CAN NOT -- COMPLETE ONE. You want a game manager, you got one. Now how's about using him like that? Hell, Chad Pennington doesn't keep going downfield every drive, and he's better than Orton. Stop it. Stop it. Stop. Stop it. Stop. Please. Stop. Stop it. Stop it. Stop.

It'll cost more than you think to get Quinn, and that's IF he's available. Why would his price go down because of two games where the guy ahead of him didn't look very good? And...I don't think he's available now. Most of the speculation so far is that Anderson could get benched for Quinn, not that Quinn will get moved. Anderson doesn't have a very long contract -- it wouldn't kill them to cut ties after this season (or soon, at least), iirc. My best guess -- wait a couple games, Anderson will improve. (He had a TOUGH weather situation in the last game. Don't underestimate how bad the wind will make you look.) Then, hopefully, the Browns start thinking about dealing Quinn (probably in the offseason, though). Maybe the price drops, but I've always been a fan, and I think he's worth a 1st. If you can get him for less, hallelujah.

He acknowledged Kreutz's greeting. The only other one I saw was a coach (Lovie, iirc) -- and you don't really slap a coach on the ass back. When a qb's had a bad day, his teammates often just leave him be. I wouldn't make too much of that today. Though obviously the fans love to hate him.

For one preseason game? Basically one quarter? It would surprise the hell out of me. Don't get me wrong -- if Orton hadn't clearly won the job before (imo, they were about even), he clearly did tonight. And Grossman was wretched. But I'd be shocked if they cut him for that, as bad as he was.

The Onion reports on the Bears' offensive strategy: Bears Unveil New-Look-Like-Shit Offense http://www.theonion.com/content/news_brief...l_new_look_like The plan begins to come together...

David?

Well, everybody wants to see those two start "assuming they deserve it". But I don't see how either one can possibly deserve it over Booker at this point. Going by the recent past, we'd say Booker is not explosive, but he's got everything else -- runs good routes, good hands, good blocker. Also going by the recent past, we'd say Hester can't do any of those three, though he is explosive, and Lloyd has just sucked every which way. If they win the jobs after training camp, okay, but based on minicamp and OTAs? Hell, no. Plus, I'd like to have at least one wr capable of blocking seeing the field regularly.

AND in real life. You wrote this, right? These things are always fun reads. Who's the lowest-ranked player these days? (On the Bears and in the whole game.)

No, seriously. Rotoworld: So...I guess we'll be running between the tackles, then.

No, I just didn't understand what you meant. The site's not presented very well. Even now, the Williams story is on the fp, but not on the Bears page. Naturally.

You quoted from the article. How could you have not found it? Now I'm confused... If you mean that you can't find it on the Trib website, just go to the sports front page: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/ It's right below the stuff on Favre (for now -- obviously that'll change).

Bears and Williams reportedly close. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...1,7067675.story

That's the distribution I'm hoping for (except that I'm hoping Wolfe gets a few).

I just couldn't disagree more with this sentiment. I believe the Bears have spent almost every penny of cap money for years, now. If that's true, the choice comes down to doing what's good for the team, in terms of actual production on the field, and rewarding a player for what he's done in the past. One always comes at the cost of the other if you are spending all your cap money. I have nothing against Urlacher, nor any player who threatens to hold out or actually does so. But if I have to choose between a better Bears team without Urlacher and a worse team with him, I don't hesitate a moment in taking the better team. This is a very strange article. It dismisses every argument against giving in to Urlachers demands as "MBA" reasoning, then argues for giving in using only business arguments (jersey sales, icon status, etc). Very poorly thought out.

Okay, thanks. I knew the rookie cap had those sort of loopholes, but I wasn't sure exactly what everyone was asking for.