AZ54

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.

It's unfortunate we have to suffer through this QB battle because I'd like to see Hanie get some more time with the second string offense as the preseason games progress. As it is now I expect we'll have to see Rex/Kyle late into the 3rd quarter.

Not necessarily. What I've read about these operations is that physical therapy/rehab can begin as little as 4 weeks out depending on what type of surgery. It appears as if Williams operation is among the simpler less risky types for herniated discs. So if he starts rehabbing between weeks 4-6 he'd be getting about 6 weeks on the weights to get back in shape. I just prefer that the team be cautious with him and not try to rush him back on the field if he's not ready.

Pennington signed with Miami for 2 years 11.5 million. Far more money that I would have ever wanted to give him to wear a Bears uniform.

I agree that at this point we keep Tait at RT and at least have continuity on the right side of the Oline. I believe Tait battled an ankle injury last year missing some games and it hurt his mobility when he got back (St Clair then moved to OG). St Clair was ok at LT until he met the faster speed rushers. I watched Beekman via DVR and he did alright last night. Although he was a bit slow reading it, he picked up some stunts and blitzes effective enough to keep the players off the QB. He played a lot last night well into the fourth quarter. Barton seems to do ok in pass protection but his blocking on run plays was weak.

Bazuin did the same move from the LDE spot later in the game and got free up the middle. Both plays resulted in the QB hurrying the pass for an incompletion. Watching with the DVR it was clear Bazuin doesn't have the burst of our other guys but he got around the edge a few times. On run D he held his own and did a good job anchoring the corner forcing plays back inside. Of course that's all against 2/3 string Oline. Against the same competition Idonije didn't do much inside and seemed to get moved around a lot. Given that Harrison is playing well, Adams did ok at times too and will be on the team, Harris, and then we have Dusty who needs to get back in the mix. If Dusty returns to form does Idonije make the team? Williams injury, if the team keeps him on the roster and adds one more Oine for depth may force a tough roster decision.

It's a preseason game, maybe the coaches wanted to see how the personnel in the game at that time executed that play? Not all plays are called in the preseason based on what should be done to win the game. Right now it's about figuring out who should be on the team. If Turner and Lovie wanted to win the game they could have kept the first string out there.

I thought Orton did well, not great. If anything he helped his chances until that stupid fumble. I was surprised by how well the Oline held up, I definitely expected to see more pressure on pass plays. The Chiefs often had 8 in the box too.

Worked great for me in Phoenix and my brother in Delaware and my Dad in Tucson. Other than struggling through some of those Decatur commercials it was enjoyable. Thanks for the tip.

This is a kid everyone wanted to put on the practice squad. Yes he did all those nice plays against a 3rd string defense and he did them all with a 3rd string offense. Did he even have an Oline in front of him? Every time we ran the ball while Hanie as in there it seemed there were at least 3 Chiefs in the backfield, sometimes 4 or 5. Pass blocking was also poor and he had to move around and make quite a few plays. I really liked what he did tonight.

I'd rather have Ruben back on the roster with one arm.

If I was afraid of getting laughed at I would have never put up this thread. You simply said that I wanted Hass over Booker and that's not the case at all. Booker has been pretty quiet at camp so far and I really haven't heard much positive on him, not much negative either. Given the competition at WR that makes me a bit concerned. Add that to the fact that he sat on the market for some time before the Bears signed him so there wasn't a lot of interest in him. Hass has never seen the field for a reason so I'm not in love with the guy but I know he's a very tough receiver who just finds a way to get to the ball. I'm more than ready to watch the game tomorrow night (if I can find a place) and I certainly hope Booker steps up as many veterans do when the real action starts. I suppose you could flip all this around and say that since Booker hasn't clearly stood out maybe the other WR are stepping up more than we thought they would.

Pennington is no better than Rex or Kyle but he might be a good option as a 3rd QB for us. Since our QB situation is so fluid he might look at that as giving him a good chance to get more playing time in the future.

At some point you gotta read what's written. For the record I liked it when we resigned Booker and I never said I want Hass over Booker at this point in time. I said what will happen if Hass is outplayiing Booker? I'm not in love with players just because of what they've done in the past (neither are the Packers for that matter). I simply want the best players on the field to help this team win. I'd prefer that it's Booker over Hass and I also said I like having his leadership abilities on the roster. IMO that is the most likely scenario. However, I didn't see Booker play much last year so I really don't know what he can do on the field at this point in his career. I'm disappointed to hear very little about Booker during camp and quite honestly I'm surprised that given his level of competition he hasn't clearly won a starting role as shown on our depth chart. All I can really tell from that depth chart is that nobody has really stood out among the WRs. It seems clear who the top 7 are and it also seems likely we're keeping 6 WR. I won't downplay how much experience helps when the real season starts but what if Hass demonstrates better move-the-chains capability than Booker? Will you still go with experience? Or do you cut Bradley because we have 3 other guys with the downfield speed and keep Hass, Booker, Bennett as your underneath move-the-chain WRs and keeping Hester, Davis, and Lloyd who are more athletic downfield threats. At this point it's safe to say Hass is near his peak in ability in this offense. If Hass is outplaying Booker do you assume Booker gets better as the season goes on and he becomes more comfortable in the offense and cut Hass. Or do you look at Bradley who is also had more than enough time to learn this offense and cut him? Nfo, you might be right and Bradley could be gone. Last year Hass was told he had to learn every WR position if he wanted to be on the roster. He never made it obviously but he's added a year of practice and should be better at knowing those routes. Bradley seems to struggle running the correct routes for the one position he was supposed to know much less knowing all 3 or 4 roles. Plus last year Bradley blocked like a matador. If that doesn't change in preseason and Hass can block better he might win the spot.

I totally agree our Oline won't be able to hold their blocks for 3 sec much less a 4 or 5 sec route to develop. However, we can call a short to intermediate passing game and still have the safeties respect the deep threat IF our WR can demonstrate the ability to get YAC. You won't get that with Booker but I hope we get it with at least two of the following: Hester, Davis, Bradley, Bennett, or Lloyd, and I'll add one more guy Olsen.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that we can find a couple guys among this group that can block. It would be nice to see Barton and Beekman perform reasonably well.