lemonej

What is he supposed to do if he is injured? He is entering Mike Brown territory as far as being an important piece that is limited in practice for various injuries but if he really is injured and Lovie is backing that up along with the GM how is that F-ing around?Evidently he is more seriously injured than they are letting on. So all those reports that said he failed the physical of 10 NFL teams before the draft and he had the knees of a 35 year old man may have merit. WTBS he stilll has been voted to multiple pro bowls and when he is healthy he is one of the quickest Bears DTs I have ever seen in a class of Alan Page and Wally Chambers.

It finally has come out that Tommie Harris has had his knee scoped in March and he is suffering from some problems with that surgically repaired hamstring. So this is not good news.

Who is playing behind all the guys you mentioned? Their biggest problem will be depth and that is why you shouldn't worry too much about Detroit's D. One other thing to keep in mind is that Grady Jackson is a lard arse for hire and basically is doing one and done with a lot of teams he's played with. He can't be counted on to do more than stuff the run.Translation 2 down DT.

When I was at TC Graham looked decent at CB and he was not lined up at nickel DM was with Stelz at FS but as of yesterday it looks like Alfalava has now passed Stelz as the safety in the nickel package.The guys that you should be worried about is Stelz and McBride because Lovie and the coaches are starting to make positive comments about Woody Turenne also.

You should go to TC he is not doing much. When I was there everyone was looking better than he was. The last spot is probably going to be between he and Knox and since Knox has more speed and return ability and will be a cheaper option that is why Davis may lose his spot. Also factor in some of the critical drops Davis had last season. We have gotten just about all he's got and there is no more. Remember like Hester he started off at DB and he hasn't shown improvement like Hester has. Bjock from what I saw at TC the TEs may be in the slot more than WRs this year and thats what is another strike against him.

I want to see the Bears D go up against Arizona.

I think this article like most during slow news times is basically bogus. I have seen not much negativity here about Orton and as far as comparing the two teams talent, they don't have anyone like Matt Forte and I'll take Olsen over Schefler any day and we'll see how good Royal and Marshall do after they have Orton throwing to them. And what a backhanded comment say that our front seven is better but their secondary is better. I'll take 7 over 4 anytime.

I dug up this old post from Aug 4th the day after I went to TC and it seems now since Cutler has been mentioning his name everyone is noticing.

You are so right and with the way he never made anyone miss he would have been injured by the second game. He never was able to be the work horse like Forte was and only did well while he was teamed with Jones. I'll bet he still can't pick up the blitz which is another reason he had limited touches. He also wasn't that that good catching the ball out of the backfield. Benson was a tool when he was here and he is still a tool because its obvious he has a jaded opinion of himself. If anything we might feel we made a mistake by not being able to take Ronnie Brown or maybe taking a chance of trading out of the 4th spot like we done in the past.

This follows the statement Lovie made that Anthony Adams and Dusty were not bemoaning the fact that Harrison wasn't on the field.He also said there was good competition between those two and he better get back out there soon. That was one of the strongest statements I have ever heard Lovie say about any player and during local interviews yesterday he sounded very remorseful and he said he felt embarrassed standing on the sidelines watching his teammates practice.

Nfo something I saw at TC was it looked like they were working a lot on inside running plays and it looked as if they were using trap blocking between the guard and tackle. They were running this with every back taking reps with AP the only one who wasn't getting through the whole quick enough IMO. Sometimes it was from 2 TEs with Olsen sometimes shifting out of the backfield and splitting out wide and they also put 3WRs in this formation. The one common thing that I saw was 1 RB.This may be strictly their plan to attack the 3-4 defenses they will face in the first 2 games.Running outside on the 3-4 is very difficult. I'm just leary of passing downs not having a FB out there when one of the ILB tries to shoot through on a blitz.

I would hope that the fact that one of the players they are really counting on to play an important role in that defense number one draft pick BJ Raji nose tackle not yet being signed will hurt them. The fact that a lot of the players will be learning a new scheme should lead to a few blown assignments in the first game of the season. I can remember when the Bears went from Blache's scheme to the Tampa 2 and we had a few guys blowing assignments the whole year.

It was hard to tell because he was lined up in the backfield a couple of times and would shift out to the slot. Though the Bears were in pads it was still limited contact.

Comcast Sports Net reports that the Bears have named Greg Olsen the starter at TE. From what I saw at TC this is not surprising and its nothing against Des Clark(67 starts in a row) its just that Olsen has improved more each year and looks ready to blossom.

As they always say the first thing that goes is your memory with age. Sorry everyone I forgot to mention that WR Devin Aromashodu looked pretty good yesterday. There are 10 WRs in camp and since they are using some 3 WR sets I could see them keeping 6 or 7. Hester,Bennett,Knox,Iglesias,Rideau and Aromashodo. I can see them keeping 4 TEs Olsen,Clark,Davis and Gaines(Blocking). I'm thinking that the fullback position is where they will limit depth and I wouldn't be surprised if they only kept one and used TEs more in an H-back role as a lead blocker.

One other thing I left out is that everyone that took turns in KR drills looked good and that was Wolfe,Hester and Manning.I didn't see anyone else do any returns. I thought they were going to use Knox and some others as options.

IMO I think this is more an indictment of Josh Bullocks since he has not taken the FS spot that he was acquired for. As for Manning he will never be confused with a Rhodes scholar but this staff completely confuses young WRs and young safeties. I still don't understand why they thought Chris Harris was expendable.It seems that the guys who have the most trouble learning their assignments have the most to learn. Both Hester and Manning are at their best when they are given something simple to do. Last season Manning was at his best when he was doing kick returns. Catch the ball and run with it. Remember Hester playing DB? Pretty brutal right? Last year the way they handled Bennett and to see him now is very confusing.The guy I saw at camp today is the guy who held SEC records at Vandy. This year they drafted Gilbert a DE and are converting him to a DT. This was a guy who some scouts questioned his work ethic which is why he dropped to the third round. So lets take a chnce on this guy. Last year Marcus Harrison was drafted with some character baggage and now he is standing on the sidelines in shorts because he is not in condition. Tank Johnson drafted with some baggage and how did that work for this team? Lets stop trying to convert guys into something that they are not.

What I thought I saw today was a lot of tighter coverage from all the DBs including Vasher. There were a lot of WRs getting behind DBs because they were not opening up fast enough, so thats going to be a work in progress.

I spent my birthday today at TC with my son and the thing that impressed me the most was the amount of speed I saw on the field.Hester, Knox, Bennett, Garrett Wolfe and Daniel Manning looked very quick today in drills.Also they were in pads and did some hitting but no tackling. Highlights Qurterbacks Cutler was workman like today and he seem to have a good rapport with Olsen and Bennett.His arm is as good as advertised especially on deep throws and sideline routes. Hanie was okay and did nothing spectacular. Basanez was bad IMO. He seemed hesitant to throw any passes over the middle and held on to the ball too long. He was sacked a couple of times by the D-line. Running Backs Forte had a bigger work load today and looked very smooth on runs but was having a little trouble catching some of Cutler's passes on checkdowns. Kevin Jones looked very good moving and seems to be all the way back from his knee injury. I think he will be able to spell Forte more this year. Garrett Wolfe looked lighning fast and I hope they can use him a little more this year. AP looks like he may be the odd man out with Wolfe becoming very accomplished on special teams. Fullbacks Hard to evaluate when the offense was in one back sets with 3 WRs and TE. I got a feeling out of the 4 guys they may keep one or two Receivers Bennett looked good and gave everyone a scare when he sold out completely on a catch attempt. When he got up to his feet I started clapping for him because I liked the balls out effort he gave on what was an overthrown pass. Iglesias looked good and caught the ball well. Knox looks very fast and seems to have good hands and runs decent routes. Kinder looked stiff moving but had good hands. Davis made a couple of nice plays but I had the people around me laughing when I called him an all pro practice player and said I would volunteer to drive him to the airport. Rideau made some nice catches in one on one drills but struggled in full team drills. Hester did nothing to make me believe he will be a legit number one because he still lets the ball get close to his body when catching passes. Tight Ends Olsen was the only one to do anything worth mentioning and he looks like he is the Bears number one pass catching target. Keep that in mind when you guys are making fantasy picks. O-line The line looks significantly bigger than when I saw them last TC. Pace is a huge man and was having a little trouble with Alex Brown today. No fumbled snaps today and everyone of the linemen seemed to be moving well. D-line Everyone seemed to be going half speed compared to Alex Brown and Baldwin. Sight seen was Henry Melton fielding a punt and looking like he knew what he was doing. LBs Nothing special to report. Urlacher missed a pick opportunity that hit him right in the hands and wound up in Rideau's hands for a nice grab. DBs Manning lined up at first team safety with Kevin Payne. Zack Bowman does look good and it was great to see Corey Graham at CB and he was playing his usual physical self. Stelz did do anything that made me notice him. Alfalava looked like he has trouble in press coverage and was letting TEs is get by him and there was a big height advantage in the TEs favor so if he was trying the trail technique that wouldn't be effective. I saw what I thought looked like a lot of pass interference from the DBs. At one point a fan next to me said "Are the DBs not supposed to make a play on the ball"? So really not much to say about this group except seeing Rashied Davis and Trumaine McBride getting into a tussle. That was amusing to me since I think both are on the bubble and that proved to me that they are feeling the pressure. Again there was a nice crowd today because a lot of people were in from out of town and the line to get to the practice field was very long. My son and I were in line about 9:30 am an hour and half before they open up the field to the public and two and a half before practice began. So if you go I suggest you get there no later than I did and on the weekend get there even earlier. Anyway I enjoyed myself and was looking forward to trying to report what I saw.Hopefully I can figure out how to use my wife's digital camera one day and add some pics to my reports in the future.

I was at TC today and Harrison was standing on the sidelines in shorts and his jersey and his mid section looked pretty large from my vantage point.

Boy do I feel weird I was in a store looking at a Gayle Sayers jersey 2 days ago.

Well guys after I visited TC last year,I like the experience and want to continue the trend of being able to try and report what I see to you. So here is the plan I will hit TC on Monday Aug 3 my B-day( The Big 50) depending on practice schedule times. I'll keep you posted and I will wear something that will make me easy to recognize. If you plan on being there that day let me know and we can meet and greet. I would feel very guilty if I didn't invite you guys to my Big Five O celebration at my apartment complex at 724 N Villa ave in Villa Park Ill on Sunday Aug 2nd from 12 noon until the 'Ol Man needs a nap. It will be in the courtyard and I have quite a few Brats and sausage and I plan on doing a Turkey and a Ham on the grill so stop by if you are in the area.

I agree with you about Warren Sapp's commentary,especially since he played in this scheme under Marinelli. I just believe the Bears were expecting too much out of Dusty when he was not in either Scott or Tank Johnson's tier of play.With all the new additions on the d-line I believe a favorite of mine last TC Toeina(sp?) might get cut. When I think about Dusty he just reminds me of Chris Zorich after the first couple of years when he was on the field for more snaps than he should have been.

Mongo I'm on the same page and even if we have inexperienced WRs I prefer for Turner to try and create matchup problems. For example line Hester up in the backfield in a 3WR 2 TE set and see who would pick him up coming out of the backfield. I also would be thrilled if the Bears realize the reason they wanted to get him the ball more in the first place is because he is a special kick returner and the only Bear in history that measures up to him is my childhood idol Gayle Sayers who suffered from what you fear Mongo over use.

DFG you have to take into consideration who Denver had in the backfield running the ball which led them to be more pass oriented. Then the fact that last season they were basically a passing team means Marshall was the focus of defenses and he still caught 101passes, that is impressive.Off the field he is an absolute moron but on the field he is a special player along the lines of that moron Chris Henry of the Bengals. Coming out of college (Central Florida) in order for him to be invited to the Combine he had to have shown scouts something that made him standout. If I had to choose between Marshall or Boldin I would choose Boldin because he is more mature off the field than Marshall. If I were to predict a potential fantasy boom for a pass catching Bear its Olsen who I think is much more talented than Tony Schefler. BTW none of the Bears will have that many passes thrown their way because Nov in Chicago is not kind to a passing attack. The only thing that may change this is if there are injuries to Forte and Jones. And still the wind whistling off the lake that time of year is brutal.