AZ54

Orton...did nothing that thrilled me but probably wins job by default. Forte...runs well, even makes great moves at times. He knows how to get skinny in the hole to squeeze through for a few yards and has the balance and vision to find holes on the backside of the play. Needs to learn who to block and when he does block he needs to not get run over. Lloyd ...did good things as a WR but matador-style run blocking sucks Bennett...gotta stop dropping 3rd down passes. Harrison...kids gonna be good if he stays out of trouble. Idonije...totally proved me wrong. He's been nothing but average at DE/DT for years why did it take this staff so long to tell him to bulk up to play DT? Graham did well but nothing that really stands out. Steltz played poorly, late in pass coverage, very late in run support and doesn't hit well. His speed is second rate. K. Davis is going to be a big part of our offense for years to come. Grossman...I don't think he played as poorly as sh*t. Overall he was decent and it would have been nice if he had the same time to throw that Orton had. He didn't do enough to win the QB job IMO. Bazuin...why is he absolutely useless? He made a nice inside move and got pressure on the QB in the endzone and the end result of the play was a TD by Graham. He had other plays where he got pressure on the QB and had at least one tackle for a loss on a running play shedding the OT block to get inside. He is not a great outside speed rusher but he has enough speed to get around the end if he learns how to use his strength to turn the corner. In the goal line stands late in the game he was the only player on the backup Dline who didn't get pushed backwards and actually had a nice push upfield. From game 1 to game 2 he showed improvement and seemed more comfortable in the scheme than last week flowing better to the ball. OTOH Ervin Baldwin got pushed around all day even though he got one uncontested sack. Bazuin makes the team as our 4th DE. Bradley...he's breathing because he stays away from contact. Seems to stay away from the football too. Give me Hass, a football player, over Bradley. DManning...I didn't see him do much at all neither good nor bad. He was out there and in on tackles and had a couple decent special teams plays. LG...the guy you want to replace got beat once that I could see and that was on a stunt and he still recovered well enough to slow the guy down. Why do you want to replace him? I'll say right now that he is going to be our starter and Metcalf goes back to the bench. It's also interesting how Beekman has the same physical stats 6'2" 310 lbs as Garza yet the coaches don't complain about Garza's stature. Beekman played better than Garza too. LT...never saw St Clair get beat by his man and that's watching plays in slo-mo. I will say that his man got around the edge deep a few times but St Clair remained in contact with him. Normally the QB steps up and nobody thinks anything of this, happens to our DEs all the time. Instead Grossman backpedaled due to pressure up front. Why do you want to replace him? RT...Tait got beat several times early but looked better heading into the second quarter. One one play Tait was completely turned around by the DE and was blocking with his back. Not sure what that technique is called. RT part 2...I didn't see Barton get beat and again when his man made an outside rush he stayed in contact pushing him behind the pocket. He doesn't have great push on run blocks but he holds his ground. He's a good prospect for us. RG...Garza did not look good, got moved back off the LOS several times and got beat on several pass rush moves. The right side of our line was not good yesterday. Other Oline...Oakley he's ok. Reed can't block anyone, looks alot like Metcalf does when he reaches out and touches nothing but air. Balogh...bad at LT. Gets pushed all over the field, can't pass protect either.

After watching the game via DVR the left side of our Oline was far BETTER than the right side. St Clair and Beekman both held up well on their individual blocks, as did Kreutz. The right side, in particular Tait early in the game, was poor. Garza didn't look good either. Seattle often brought extra guys and did a great job mixing up where they were coming from. Our line didn't handle the stunts well and when they did the RB (Forte) failed to make the block needed to give the QB time to get rid of the ball. As bad as it looked during the game (I was pretty upset myself) after rewatching it I don't think it's a total disaster and many things can be corrected. In fact, if Forte picks up a couple of blocks in the middle as is his responsibility Grossman would have the time needed to complete a pass. It was often that pressure up the middle that forced Grossman to stay deep in the pocket as pressure came around from the outside. Forte did look better as the game went along and I hope as he gets experience he'll get better. Here's my biggest gripe. When do our WRs break off their route when a blitz is on? On several of these plays Grossman had to wait for WR to run routes as deep as 15 yards. Remember the one where he lofted the ball for Davis way down field? I didn't see anyone run a short route on that play. When there's a blitz, especially 6 guys rushing the passer, the entire offense should adjust not just the Oline. Now on to Rex, on a couple of these plays he had guys underneath and didn't make the quick throw. On another play or two he didn't step into the throw even though pressure was coming up the middle the guy was blocked and he room to step into the throw. Same old Rex. I'll agree that Rex had to win the starting job and he didn't IMO. He wasn't as bad as he's been in the past but he didn't stand head and shoulders above Orton. Orton didn't stand out either but the tie goes to the QB with less experience and the arrow pointing up (I hope).

After watching the game via DVR among those three Bradley is going to go and the reason why may not be his route running (although I suspect it isn't great) his run blocking absolutely sucks. He makes no effort and seems to play this game while trying not to get hurt. He doesn't do much on special teams either (did block a punt when unblocked but who can't). For the record Lloyd's run blocking sucks too but he has been more productive in the receiving game.

We ran a lot of two TE sets yesterday. I'm going to give you all one more steal in this draft...Kirk Barton. Ok I can't call him a steal yet because I have no idea if he can develop into a starter in the league. However, he looked good playing against the backups yesterday and he has more mobility than I thought. He holds up well at the point of attack too but didn't really drive his guy off the ball. A year with Rusty can help that. I don't think I saw a play where his man beat him. I'll keep an eye on him the next couple games.

Forte's blocking improved as the game went on but he's not very stout and gets moved around a lot. Mostly it appears he uncertain of who to block. Seattle was bringing guys from all directions with stunts all over the place so that's not really a shock. This is only his second game in the NFL if anything it's good Forte got to see this now. Aside from that his ability to make something out of nothing is very good to see.

The nOline played as if they wanted Grossman to get hurt back there.

I know our offense gets off the bus running but this time I think they just stayed on the bus. Tomorrow morning I record the game and replay in slo mo to see what was going on. What I know now is that Matt Forte cannot block so any thoughts of him being a 3 down RB might have to be held up awhile. Hopefully he learns and improves over the next few weeks. Lance Briggs is still capable of missing tackles. I'm sure he feels bad that lousy Bears organization paid him so much money upfront. Kellen Davis may well end up our TE of the future and not Greg Olsen along with Clark makes this our one and only deep position on offense. Let's hope that didn't change too much in the first quarter tonight. I like DT Harrison. Idonije showed alot of good things tonight too.

You have to go to the WMOE link and type in password: stoogetv.com

Jones is definitely out. Haven't heard anything about Dusty. Booker and Hester start at WR.

I got this: "and Booker, while looking every bit of 32, has proved himself a reliable receiver and should get the benefit of the doubt. Can a team so thin on the offensive line keep six receivers?" The implication here is that a guy hasn't really earned a roster spot but should get one out of respect. Booker knows preseason games 2 and 3 is where he needs to flash some good things and, like most veterans, I hope he turns it up a notch tomorrow.

I didn't mean to imply he'd be on the roster solely to practice. He'd be on the roster only if he's a viable backup. Without him we drop all the way down to Barton as our backup at OT. That might be a bit painful at RT but would be Qasimesque at LT. I was trying to make the case that there is likely no intent that he take over for St Clair at midseason just because he's healthy. I think that would be a good decision.

What a thread...started with Chris Williams migrated to Mark Hatley and all the way back to fire Lovie or fire JA. Silly me I thought Shoop was still to blame for our offensive problems.

Clayton is the master of the obvious. Realistically I think the Bears are keeping him on the roster in the event we have an injury late in the season. Despite what many think, St Clair isn't going to totally bomb at LT. He was adequate there last year, nothing like famous Bears LTs Qasim Mitchell and Mike Gandy. He did struggle with the better speed rushers but there's a lot of guys that do. If the right side of our line is solid as we expect with Tait/Garza/Kreutz then we should be able to slide protection over to the left to help him out. Given the fact St Clair has been practicing all summer at LT and has a few games under his belt I don't see why he'd be worse than last year. Barring an injury I don't see Williams coming back midseason and unseating St Clair but I wouldn't mind having him as insurance in case either starting OT goes down. There's an added benefit to this as well. I believe if a player is on injured reserve he cannot practice with the team. reference: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3408450 "Ross Tucker, a former offensive lineman who played for five teams in a seven-year NFL career, reiterated Thursday that he believes that New England used players on the injured reserve list in practices, which violates league rules." Keeping Williams on the roster means he'll be able to practice this season and that will help him as we head into next year.

I know nothing about the guy but in no way would I trade for him but if he's cut soon enough he's worth bringing in for a look. I'll take back the trade clause because if we were to offer a conditional late-round pick pending him making our final roster it might be worth a look. If he's cut and we keep Hanie then we lose nothing. If Parcells wants to cut Beck (that seems likely considering the early draft pick on a QB and now Pennington) he'll hold him for as long as possible to see what he can get.

If we're drafting that high can I choose Bill Cowher?

The next Tom Brady because nobody will know his name until the end of next season.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...1,6929232.story Wolfe can't afford to let injury keep him off field By Vaughn McClure | Tribune staff reporter 7:46 PM CDT, August 10, 2008 BOURBONNAIS - The pain in Garrett Wolfe's left hamstring continues to throb. The Bears running back feels it when he dips through the hole. He feels it after catching a short pass over the middle. "I'd say I'm about 80 percent,'' Wolfe said. "It's gotten better from when I first hurt it, but I'm still not where I need to be. It's really starting to get on my nerves.'' He sure fooled the 50,000-plus fans attending last Thursday's exhibition against Kansas City. Wolfe, who rushed for a team-high 64 yards on seven carries, turned a short pass from Rex Grossman into a 25-yard touchdown. He also sprinted down the sideline for a 42-yard pickup. "We'd like to think that the 42-yarder would have been a touchdown had I been fully healthy,'' Wolfe said with a laugh. Although he missed a few days of camp when the injury first occurred, Wolfe has no plans to nurse the injury now--not with so much to prove. "I haven't done anything in this league, so every opportunity I have to show something, I need to be out there,'' he said. "Those days off are for guys who have done something in the NFL." "My injury is just one of those things I can fight through. It's not a broken foot.'' It is easy to understand Wolfe's sense of urgency. The Bears drafted an every-down back in rookie Matt Forte. New acquisition Kevin Jones, who finished his second day of practice Sunday, was once a 1,000-yard rusher with the Detroit Lions. Add Adrian Peterson to the equation and the result is a suddenly loaded backfield. The coaching staff views Wolfe as a third-down back capable of making big plays, particularly off screens. But his unproductive rookie season and diminutive size (5 feet 7 inches, 186 pounds) cast some doubt. "It bugs me that people just automatically write you off,'' said Wolfe, who carried the ball 31 times for just 85 yards as a rookie last season. "They say, 'He's not going to be here. He's not going to play.' "Even though we try not to read things or watch television, you can't help but hear those things. ... For me, being a Chicago kid � Even though those opinions don't matter, they still affect you. ... It can bother me and it does bother me.'' Running backs coach Tim Spencer said Wolfe has no reason to worry. "Garrett Wolfe will be on our team for sure,'' Spencer said. "And he'll be making plays.''

I totally agree and there's always been a lack of creativity under Lovie. With the athletes we have on our Dline we should be taking advantage of them by using stunts and more inside moves from the DEs. Harris is fast enough to stunt to the outside. We've had this discussion for years now. Remember when we never used a safety or corner blitz? We saw a bit more of that last year. Remember when Urlacher's blitzes always came straight up the middle.

Typically the DEs are supposed to take away the outside lane. Yes I'd like to see more moves out of Bazuin especially some effort at a bull rush and I only saw him do one counter move to the inside, which worked for him. He got the corner often but doesn't havet enough ability to really turn back upfield. On running plays he held his ground against the OT and then got off the block and went upfield outside the play forcing the RB back inside. I believe that is his responsibility in our scheme but I can't say for sure. I never once saw Bazuin get pushed backwards on a run play but I didn't watch for him specifically on every defensive play.

I too would think Idonije would be a lock but given the fact we selected Harrison and he's playing well it might not be such a sure thing. Don't we normally keep 9 Dline (5 DT, 4 DE)?

What exactly did Bazuin do that was so bad? I didn't see him do anything that was great but i didn't see him getting blown off the line either (like Anderson was last year).

Cleared to practice isn't necessarily the same as being cleared to play in a game. The Bears don't tackle to the ground in practice. They may hold Jones back until game 3 so they can give Wolfe a better look this next game. Of course Forte will get his carries as well.

The Bears will be drafting another QB next year, or bringing in a FA. If Hanie plays well throughout the preseason, and assuming Rex/Orton continue their average performance, my guess is they'll grab someone in the draft but not in Rd 1. In other words they'll take the less expensive route.

With all the chatter about how he played against 3rd string opponents, a valid point, you have to consider how complex it is for a young QB to come in and learn and entirely new system. It always takes an offense longer to come together because of the timing aspect and defenses usually look stronger early in the preseason. Given just a couple weeks of practice and the jitters these rookies must have, especially an undrafted FA whose job is far from guaranteed, and I think he played well beyond my expectations.

As I watched the game via the DVR in slo mo at times I noticed Hass was out on the field playing special teams, both coverage units and returns. He got in on a couple plays and once was the first man downfield making a diving attempt at a tackle. He's doing everything he can do to make the team.