AZ54

Trying to sum this up. Orton played almost a full season as a starter his rookie year yet has never been given a chance to practice with the first string. Never given a chance to prove he could be a starter. Rex sucked at the start of 2007 because teams have him figured out. Get pressure up the middle and he'll float the ball to your DB. Therefore he got benched. Passer rating at time of benching probably just above 50. Griese came in and had a 75.7 passer rating but he was not the answer. Rex comes back in and plays ok with only an 88.8 passer rating but he was not the answer. Orton came in and sucked in his first game back but then settled down and played decently. Passer rating 73.5 and he is the answer. Of course during his three games he didn't get a fair shake from the coaches who did not have him practice with the first string? I only want the best QB to win the competition even if it's Caleb Hanie. I think Grossman has proven more than Orton in terms of boom or bust. Orton has only taken the middle road and I've never seen anything from him that made me say sign him long term and nothing that made me say cut him now (ala Grossman). The way this argument is being setup on either side no matter who wins and starts game 1 the other side is going to cry foul.

Our kicker puts more points on the scoreboard than all our QBs combined. So does Hester.

Don't forget you need to be able to tackle the guy when you get to him (ref: Adam Archuletta and Danieal Manning).

I thought this thread was from last year. Or the year before... Or the year before...

He's using the media in the same his way his head coach did when he wanted a new contract.

Wolfe only had the fastest results in some of the combine tests like the 20 yard shuttle. I don't see how his quickness isn't better than AP. That translates into making people miss but since that might be considered a skill it is something AP is good at while blocking (missing defenders).

Let him sit. I'm tired of athletes who want it both ways..big bonus, long contract, then the ability to renegotiate a few years later when the cap goes up. Let him sit and fine him!

I'd say it's all about the QB but that falls apart when you get to #9 Cleveland and #10 Green Bay. You can't possibly tell me Green Bay's QB situation is better than ours. Folks rail on Rex for being injury prone but what about Rogers?

Angelo did tell him that a few weeks ago when he stated publicly the Bears had given him their final offer. Let Url sit.

Glad to see this. Given our offensive woes Gould and Hester are our two best scoring options. The contract was a bit higher than I expected but it's an extension so over the next 6 years I think it's reasonable.

This is a huge problem for the Patriots because Belicik and company came forward and said there 6 tapes (or something like that) and that was all there was. I heard Goodell was really clear with them that they must come clean with everything and they said they had turned everything over to the league. If these tapes are just copies of those tapes then there's no issue but if they are totally different Goodell will know he was lied to. If Goodell was lied to then what punishment will he dish out? Could we see Belicik expelled from the league? Will they forfeit their entire draft next year?

Discrimination exists in all races shapes and forms. Do I think it's all apsects of our society? Absolutely not. Yet having been kicked out of the Air Force with no severance pay in part because I was a white guy and minorities needed "special considerations" I know it does happen. In my case the Air Force paid up 10 years later but it doesn't erase the feelings of being put on the street like that with 4 kids to take care of. I understand experiences like akshaz had do happen but I've never personally lived through that. I have been pulled over in Louisiana while driving down the interstate at 0200 for doing nothing wrong. The officer said I was tailgating yet it was he who was 10 feet off my bumper for a mile or so. Apparently out of state plates make you a target for tickets there and not knowing why you got pulled over will make that a nerve racking experience. Throw in an obnoxious cop and it gets worse. In this case the fact I was in the military probably got me out of the ticket. Bottom line is that I know there are still people in positions of authority who make judgments and take action based on appearances. If Ced's lawyer feels he has a strong case he's going to take this issue through the court of public opinion, not just keep quiet until it's all in court. He needs to do that in order to protect Ced's reputation and just by reading this thread you can see how quickly people can jump to conclusions. If he was discriminated against, I'm all for Ced getting a fair settlement from the LCRA and that is going to be expensive.

If this boating area is as heavily used as stated in the article then there are a lot more witnesses than the people who were on the boat. The LCRA doesn't pull up to one boat without being noticed and watched by the boaters nearby.

It's going to get interesting. We've got pictures and lots of witnesses, including his mother. It doesn't appear this was any kind of a crazy party since his mother was out there, just a group of friends hanging out on the water. I still haven't seen Benson's blood alcohol level. This girl says he only had a couple drinks that wouldn't be enough to put him over the legal limit. Then the fact the LCRA has boarded his boat 6 times recently gives more credibility to Benson's side that he was being harassed. The fact his mother hasn't spoken out about this tells me there's more to this story than what the LCRA have said.

I don't really see AP as a 3-down RB. We play him on 3rd down like he is but he can't really run a pass route. I don't count little swing routes out of the backfield as a pass route. His blocking also is not very good as he gets pushed around by a lot of LBs (or run over sometimes). Then there's the issue of the first two downs where AP can't really make the unblocked defender miss. He might make a guy miss here and there but he's not very consistent. He's a backup plain and simple and that label comes with the limitations in his performance.

I'm going to wait for the other shoe to drop on this situation. If his mother was there then we're going to get another side to the story at some point. I haven't yet seen Ced's blood alcohol level, anyone know what it was?

A minicamp is enough to evaluate Steltz? How many tackles did he make in those practices at game speed? We know he made one big hit because the coaches got on him for hit, I think against the new TE. These were all rookies running around at their first practice. Bottom line is that Steltz was a warm body and that was good enough to replace Arch, even if Steltz hasn't played a down yet. I though we'd have waited until training camp to make the cut but I guess we move on now.

He only had a lot of carries last year, prior to that he wasn't used as much. That's why he wasn't on the radar for a lot of teams at the start of the college season. Even after all his rushing yards he still wasn't taken very seriously until his performance at the senior bowl and the combine.

I wonder if he's done or if the injury is so bad it will take a full year to recover. Of course that would mean he's not able to play this year at all and in that case you can't cut him unless you come to an agreement on an injury settlement. Would the Bears do that or put him back on IR and see what he's got next year?

I actually like Rex. I'm not sold he can be a starter in the league until he stops the boneheaded mistakes. He needs to improve but the way he played in his last 4 games is what I expected from him after seeing him play in his rookie year. If you took a few seconds to read the full post you'd see that Hanie "has a compact and quick release, throws a tight spiral and has a strong arm. He's a drop back passer and not a scrambler". Doesn't that sound similar to Rex? How is that downplaying his strengths?

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...forte04.article excerpt: "As much as Toledo is going to miss the player, he's going to miss the person. A day after being drafted, Forte attended the Tulane football banquet last Sunday with his parents. ''You know, he didn't have to do that,'' Toledo said. The next day he was at the school to work out -- twice. Forte went through conditioning exercises in the morning and was back in the afternoon to take part in drills with former teammates."

There's not a lot of info about Hanie's abilities so I thought I'd post this from the Bears' website. Sounds a little like the next Rex Grossman but 2in taller. However, despite those INTs, if he did have that much of a lack of talent around him then completing 64% of his passes is pretty good depending of course on the system they ran at Col State. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/ChalkTalkStory.asp?story_id=4660 During the draft I heard Mel Kiper Jr. say that Caleb Hanie had the second strongest arm of the quarterbacks this year next to Joe Flacco. What is the scouting report on Caleb and what were his college statistics? Brent S. Lombard, Illinois Caleb Hanie does have a strong arm and a quick release and he throws a very tight spiral. All of those attributes were certainly evident Friday during the first practice of rookie minicamp. He’s a drop-back passer and not a scrambler, but he’s athletic enough to keep plays alive with his feet. In terms of weaknesses, Hanie has been known to try to force passes into coverage. But that may have to do more with trying to do too much while not having a very strong supporting cast around him at Colorado State. As a senior last year, Hanie completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 2,455 yards with 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

I'm sure that's what Archuletta is thinking. Hopefully Metcalf too.

You can't tell how a guy will run until defenses are trying to tackle him but the fact Forte caught the ball well is a good start. Just one of the pieces needed to be a 3-down RB.

http://www.pinktaco.com/