lemonej
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Posts posted by lemonej
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What has been over-looked as part of Idonije's value to this team has been his knack for blocking kicks which has become a lost art in the NFL.Since his arrival as an undrafted free agent he has worked his way into being a key contributor on defense and special teams.On a lot of Hester's runs you can see Idonije's number throwing a key block.I would put Idonije's value on special teams right behind Hester,Gould,Maynard,Mannely and AP. This along with his ability to swing between tackle and end may make a couple of guys expendable.
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Why wouldn't we IR Bazuin? He's not fully recovered from his knee injury, and at best, he's the #4 defensive end. Heck, he might be behind Idonije.
You'd rather just cut him then keep him on the injury list for another year? He's a 2nd round pick. Why would you do that?
It would be hard for them to justify putting Bazuin on IR because he has played significant time in the last two games and he seemed to be moving well in both IMO.Dusty OTOH has had just a cup of coffee on the field so far.Right now Idonije is probably the 3rd down tackle in obvious passing situations alongside Harris with Ogunleye and Anderson at end.
Don't be surprised if the Bears did cut him.They have cut 3 first rounders and 1 2nd rounder in Angelo's tenure.Remember Michael Haynes, Marc Columbo and Roosevelt Williams?
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I've watched every PS game and the only impact D.Manning has had has been in the return game.He is supposedly being tried at the Nickel which I haven't seen him on the field much in that capacity.For that matter I haven't seen Ricky Manning Jr. that much either.The back ups at safety have been Payne and Steltz. What I meant about Tillman was prior to the Niner game he looked decent with a pick and a couple of pass breakups in two games.He also seems to be doing the best job of tackling of anyone on defense IMO.Its really troublesome when the best tackle of the PS was made by your starting RB(Forte) on an INT return.
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The NFL has had a history of going after these guys who have held the title of world's fastest human.Bob Hayes had a HOF career with the Cowboys and won the gold in 64. Jimmy Hines the gold medalist in 68 had a tryout with the Dolphins but couldn't catch the ball. World class hurdler Renaldo Neamiah(Sp?) had a short undistinguished career with the 49ers.Little known to a lot of people but,Bo Jackson,Herschel Walker,Butch Woolfolk all Nfl running backs were top NCAA sprinters. Then there were guys like Johnny "Lam" Jones,Mel Latany(SP?) and most recently John Capel a Bear draft pick have had absolutley no impact in the NFL.Since the Olympics have started allowing professional athletes to compete it has been easier for sprinters and runners to declare their earnings and still compete on the world stage. As was stated their earning potential from endorsments can be very lucrative and the appearance fees that they may receive from the various sponsors of track meets mirrors some of what happens on the PGA Tour.Taking this option versus putting your body through the rigors of an NFL camp would seem more attractive.That is why this hasn't been debated too much recently.
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You expect pessimism from me, so I don't want to disappoint you:)
First, before you just trash me for not being capable of enjoying anything, I have really been praising Orton, and other aspects of the offense. The offense was a shining light. But....
I've got to believe this D will come around. I refuse to believe they got old and can't do it. They looked that way last night as they made J.T. look like Elway. I expect they'll bring it when the season starts.
First, I would say no one is saying our D suddenly got old. The issue on the D is nothing close to the OL.
W/ that said, how many of the problems we are seeing are the same ones we have seen for some time, and the same some of us have been talking about for a while now?
- Rivera/Babich - We can blame injuries for last year, but the one other significant change between 2006 and 2007 was the change at DC. Many here choose to believe our problems on D were just about injuries, and coaching was not a factor. Some felt it was. But now we are healthy, and through 3 preseason games, our D has not looked good. Not only are our backups, who we all consider starter quality, getting beaten, but our starters are getting hammered like a nail. Worse, backups are hammering our starters. In Seattle, I don't recall Hasselbeck being in the game. And O'Sullivan? This defense is healthy, and I think it is time to start wondering if the problems are not greater than simply health.
- tackling - Even the broadcaster talked about this last night. Our tackling is getting pathetic. Now they also talked about how hard it is to work on at this level, but I think the true point is, this is such an issue that it is seen in every game, and being called out on a weekly basis. It isn't just the young players, but the veterans as well. For the 3rd game in a row, veterans like Briggs, urlacher and even Mike Brown have been looking quite poor in tackling. Missed tackles are really hurting us as we are allowing a would be 2 or 3 yard gain to become a 12 or 13 yard gain and first down. This is a big reason why our defense is allowing sustained drives through 3 preseason games.
- Cover 2 - I have seen arguments both ways, but has our cover 2 simply been figured out? Yes, I realize a few other teams use the cover 2, but do they use exactly as we do? Do they not mix it up more, like we did back when Rivera was our DC? Last night, I watched our zone coverage getting picked apart. No name WRs were finding HUGE holes in the zone, and a no name QB was easily hitting them.
What scares me even more is how quickly it seemed they were able to find these holes. Its one thing when a QB sits in the pocket and has all day. But WRs seemed like they were very quickly finding and getting into holes in our zone. Our DL was getting pretty solid push/penetration last night, but WRs were getting open too quickly, and though our DL was capable of getting pressure, they were not able to finish as the QB had openings to throw the ball.
- Tillman - Man, he has looked pretty bad. His coverage this preseason has been just bad. He did make one GREAT play against the run on the goal line, but also was partially the cause of a TD. Do you all remember when he blitzed, and was chasing Sullivan toward the sideline? Then Tillman either dove or tripped. Once Sully no longer had Tillman chasing, he stopped and was able to step into a pass downfield for a score. If Tillman keeps his feet, there is absolutely no chance Sullivan can pull up and step into his throw as he did. Maybe he can try to sling it downfield, but he would have to do it on the run and throwing sideways.
- Thus far, our safeties suck in coverage, and that included Mike Brown. W/ Brown, I still have some blind hope, but McGowan is freaking awful. On that one TD, McGowan was standing in the back of the endzone, and I couldn't figure out what the hell he was doing. From where he was standing, it was just too easy for a receiver to run to the goal line and turn for the catch. McGowan was simply out of position to make a play on most any route run, and was also late in running to the receiver that did enter the endzone. We may have veterans in the secondary, but right now, they are looking pretty darn bad.
- Once again, we are getting gashed by cut back runs, as well as the QB moving outside the pocket. This just doesn't make sense to me as we always seem to harp on staying in your lanes and gap control, but it seems like we are exposing ourselves to cut backs and roll outs every down.
Look, there is no question we are loaded w/ talent on defense. I have said this before, but if we go off the depth chart on paper, we have maybe the #1 D in the league. But what i have seen thus far, and I have to think its Babich/Lovie, this is not a top defense and may not be much better than above average.
Nfo I agree that the main problem with this defense is poor tackling and the safeties constantly being out of position.When I visited TC one thing that was eveident to me was that they weren't tackling.Now I don't believe they should be pounding each other into the ground but,I do recall in the past when Rivera ran the D Urlacher and Mike Brown put Benson out of commission with some tough hits in TC.Now the practices seem to be glorified walk throughs.How can you get acclimated to the physical nature of this game without tackling a little.
As for McGowan and Brown at safety,they both may be able to knock your block off if they are in the right position but that has been the problem.They have been fooled a few times already.Nate Vasher has also looked medioctre.The only guy who has looked decent in the secondary is Tillman and of the backups Corey Graham.
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Gattis looked lost in the game Thurs-nite so his departure was expected.I think the toughest cuts will come from the d-line and backup LB positions.
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There are quite a few guys that are omitted from the list with the most glaring one being Tebow. Then there is Chase Daniels at Mizzou who is a little short.Wells from OSU at RB is also another.We could do this for days but it would be futile if the Bears continue to do things the way the have and put the focus on the defense first.I also think that Cinci's Ben Mauck who doesn't have any college eligibility left wouldn't be a bad QB choice to look at.He would come in probably older than Hanie is now.
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He was drafted by the Texans and was 3rd string behind David Carr and I think Sage Rosenfeld(sp?)
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Since I have followed every one one of the drafts listed the one thing I noticed is that the Bears have have had some extreme bad luck drafting offensive tackles in the first round starting with Lionel Antoine who came out of SIU with the profile of being athletic enough to play TE well his knee injury limited his playing days. This trend continued with the likes of Dennis Lick,Ted Albrecht,Jim Covert,Stan Thomas,Marc Columbo and now Chris Williams.The only exception to this trend was Keith Van Horne who actually stayed with the Bears over ten years with just a few nagging injuries.
The other thing that I noticed is the bad luck that they have had with QBs they have drafted from Virgil Carter and Gary Huff(The Rex Grossman of his day) to the two present draft picks at QB now on the roster. Also they have failed miserably on the two times they have traded first round draft picks for QBs Mike Phipps and Rick Mirer.
In summary whether it was Ol' Man Halas,Jim Finks,Jerry Vanisi,Mikey and Wannie ,Mark Hatley or Jerry Angelo OT and QB have always been difficult positions for this team to evaluate.
I left out Rufus Mayes who ranks right at the top of Bears' draft busts.
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That kinda surprises me in light of the showing Hanie had last Thursday. I do not see us carrying 4 QBs, I doubt Hanie would be left untouched if placed on our Practice Squad, I do not want to lose a promising QB prospect in Hanie who might develop in a few years into a solid starter. Man, I still like Simms, but this situation sucks. It could be they are looking but just in case of an injury situation. Looking around the league after just 1 preseason game, Injuries are mounting already.
Pix this doesn't surprise me since it was rumored that when he was in the draft the Bears had some interest. His name and Dave Ragone of Louisville were supposedly on the Bears' radar.
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I agree. When in his 1st year he was aggressive and was a good scrambler out of the pocket. His first injury, if I am not mistaken, came when he tried to dive and get a TD, I believe against MIN. He then went through some tough times with injuries and since returning from that series of injuries I have yet to see the same type of willingness to run with the ball, even when there was a huge lane in front of him to take off and gain a 1st down.
I think he is definitely a bit "gun shy" and you may be exactly right as to how this is also effecting his mechanics when he throws off his back foot.
The first injury was actually in his rookie season against the Redskins when he hit his throwing hand on someones helmet when he rolled out to one sideline.I think it was the very last game of the season and he played just the first half. The injury against Minn was the very next year in game 3 a week after Mike Brown got injured(Achilles) against Green Bay. The next injury came in the preseason against St.Louis in Orton's rookie year. The Super Bowl year he took every snap and the following year he stayed healthy.Then the injury bug hit again last year.
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There has been times when healthy the Bears did not utilize him that much.
I really feel that this guy has been unjustly crucified for his injuries. Obviously, this is not something he wants to have happen any more than us. If he had been able to stay healthy since drafted, he would have been in a position to get a contract similar to Berrian when his contract ends. I think when healthy, he is a better receiver than Berrian. I pray he is able to shake the "injury bug" this year along with Mike Brown. If Brown on D and Bradley on O can stay healthy, we will be a MUCH better team.
Yeah I agree Pix but this staff maybe punishing him for not playing through a couple of his nagging injuries.You also have to take stock in the fact that whoever was the QB would prefer to have certain WRs on the field.Mark Bradley got most of his playing time as a result of Rex Grossman campaigning for the coaches to put Bradley on the field.
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Since I have followed every one one of the drafts listed the one thing I noticed is that the Bears have have had some extreme bad luck drafting offensive tackles in the first round starting with Lionel Antoine who came out of SIU with the profile of being athletic enough to play TE well his knee injury limited his playing days. This trend continued with the likes of Dennis Lick,Ted Albrecht,Jim Covert,Stan Thomas,Marc Columbo and now Chris Williams.The only exception to this trend was Keith Van Horne who actually stayed with the Bears over ten years with just a few nagging injuries.
The other thing that I noticed is the bad luck that they have had with QBs they have drafted from Virgil Carter and Gary Huff(The Rex Grossman of his day) to the two present draft picks at QB now on the roster. Also they have failed miserably on the two times they have traded first round draft picks for QBs Mike Phipps and Rick Mirer.
In summary whether it was Ol' Man Halas,Jim Finks,Jerry Vanisi,Mikey and Wannie ,Mark Hatley or Jerry Angelo OT and QB have always been difficult positions for this team to evaluate.
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They make him sit on the bench more than any other WR on the team. And for no reason. Give him a chance to actually get some plays in and watch him roll down the sidelines.
Is this Mark Bradley you are talking about? He is not sitting on the bench because of coach's decision.Its because of doctor's decision due to numerous injuries.
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The fact that Tank echoed the obvious about Grossman is not news with Rex's injury history.My real concern is if Grossman is gun shy.From all the times he has been injured while trying to play QB for this team makes me believe that he is throwing off that back foot because he is afraid of getting hit.In last Thurs Nites game he did that very same thing when the pressure got in his face. His biggest flaw is that his first step is back when under pressure and he throws the ball with all arm. I hope that if he doesn't get the starting nod that the Bears do us and themselves a favor and release him.With the o-line in patchwork mode he wouldn't be able to succeed here anyway.This is very simple for all of us to realize.The Bears are going to play defense first,special teams second and ball control offense.If that is the case Orton and Hanie can hand the ball off and throw short passes.
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Clayton said Orton has looked better. I trust him.
Well not to dispute Clayton or who you trust but when I was at TC yesterday there was no clear cut leader IMO.I also didn't see Clayton standing anywhere around the practice field yesterday.
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What I saw at camp was the same basic difference I saw from both since they have been here and that is the speed of the pass to the sideline.Orton seemed to throw his more on a line while Grossman put a little more air under his.Why is that important? The new rule change that says receivers have to have both feet inbounds even if pushed by the defender will factor in when you throw passes up in the air on the sidelines.Orton seems to be doing all the reads while in the pocket but has been throwing a few passes nose down which is a little more difficult for the receivers to catch. Grossman has been stepping up in the pocket to make throws and even taking off on scrambles but what I have noticed from him in the past is that he will do this in the TC practices but when the season starts he goes back to trying to force throws when he could pick up first downs by occassionally running.Orton OTOH reminds me of former Bear backup QB Steve Fuller a conservative close to the vest type QB that takes few chances.
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Lemon your surprised at Bennett?? IO he could be the best receiver we have
Flea it is surprising if you see a first year WR come in to Bears' camp and look like he can make an immediate contribution. I can't remember the last one that came in with his type of skill set to a Bears' TC.
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With all the new starters on offense they really can move forward and not dwell on last year's dismal showing.If I was on the Bears offense last yr I would be embarassed. They had no excuse for their pathetic play. At least the defense can point to the major injuries they suffered. The offense flat out sucked.Peace
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They have their own but they still get on mine when I'm asleep thinking that I would'nt notice.Especially if you don't shut it down.
Marcus Harrison on the D-line looked a little lost on a couple of snaps but,Anthony Adams and Toeana(sp?) look like that could be an interesting battle shapping up for the starting nod next to Tommie Harris who blew past Beekman on one play with a swim move and got pancaked by Garza on the next snap. He had a huge brace on his knee but seemed to be moving well. I could see the possibilty of a really swift 3rd down defense with Anderson taking one of the end spots and Idonije lining up at tackle. Of the DEs it seemed that Alex Brown was the only one that was going hard and even seemed to take exception to whoever was trying to block him by shoving the blocker of at the whistle.I liked that. A pissed off Alex Brown is a force to be reckoned with.
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Did you see him in any blitz coverage drills? I am hoping he is as good in this area as he has been reported to be coming out of college. On one of the videos on the Bears site Orton was saying Forte looked great catching screen passes. NICE!
Actually I did see some drills where the front seven plus two safeties on defense brought pressure against the O-line and TE with the QB and 2RBs. This was when I noticed that Forte looked hard to bring down and I also was surprised to see Grossman actually step up to throw amide pressure and take off and run when a big lane opened up. Forte blocking on a couple of plays looked like he got in the defenders way more than used good technique.This is still a far cry from both A-Train and Benson who couldn't even get in defenders way.evn during the season last year Benson was the reason both Grossman and Griese got tattooed a couple of times. As usual the Bears again looked awkward trying to run screen passes with the line and the qb pretty much telegraphing the play from the snap. The one screen pass that looked good had Garrett Wolfe as the receiver.
I watched Forte during Senior Bowl practice not only block well but also show great hands. He kind of reminded me of Joseph Addai.He also seems tall and slender compared to the other backs.
While walking on the sideline Kevin Jones appeared to be limping or favoring one of his legs,which I imagine has to be the surgically repaired one. During interviews he said he was close to being ready to go and that they were easing him in slowly.If yesterday was any indication IMO he is a little further away than he thinks.
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Aside from the obvious concern over who will be the number one signal caller,I am a bit concerned about the O-line. With my visit to TC yesterday I couldn't help but feel a little concerned about the fact that our pro bowl center and our number one draft pick OT were not in pads even though its early in TC.This not only hurts the lines cohesiveness but also strains the depth with guys taking additional reps in some extremely humid conditions with last night being an exception as the temp seemed to be pretty comfortable once the sun went down. With that being said there were only 5 OTs on the roster to begin TC and now one is down.2 are 9 and 10 year veterans respectively leaving 3 rookies to handle the bulk of the reps during preseason games.As I stated already one of the rookies is down right now so that leaves 2 to take the bulk of the reps.Lets also facter in the fact that Tait will be moving back to the RT position and there will be a new LG this year.This totals 3 new starters on the O-line with two of them standing on the side right now.Of all the new starters on offense this is the group that cannot afford to have a slow start.They will be important to establishing the identity of this offense and will go a long way into determining how successful this team will be. Should I be concerned or am I just a worry wart?
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Thanks Pix I have to fight two teenage grandsons for computer time so I usually just watch tv for my football fix. Of course with the players back in pads I ready to talk football.LOL
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Pix that guy looked like he is going to be tough to bring down also. He seems to keep his legs moving while in the grasp of the defender. He could be a good yardage after contact runner as opposed to Benson's one hit and go down runs the last couple of years.
We are 14 days away from the Colts
in Bearstalk
Posted
I think this could be the projected cut list:
Chester Adams
Atterbury
Baldwin
Balogh
Booker*
Bowman
Trey Brown
Clermond Gafford
Haas
La Rocque
Mines
Osborn
Peters
Poles
Polite
Pope
Rideau
Stone
Toeina