BearFan2000

when they first announced the numbers they'd be wearing my first thought was back to Wilson, Singletary, and Marshall. It is cool to see 55, 50, and 58 on the field now if they can play like that trio from the 80's that would be great.

It sure was, not only was it long enough that it could have been good from 65 like Simms and Nantz said it was dead center just a perfect kick. What a great asset to have in Gould. I remember the years searching for a competent kicker let alone a good one.

Agree and something else to consider is their age. With two rookies starting from day 1, Bushrod and Slauson still fairly young with Garza the oldest of the lot. We could see this line gel and grow for the foreseeable future. Find the next young center and we could be set. Taking an area of glaring weakness for almost a decade and turning it into a team strength. Look ahead to next year when Long and Mills have a season under their belt and we enter camp with the line settled. Continuity spanning season after season is what makes great offensive lines. Bushrod - 29 Garza - 34 Long - 24 Mills - 22 Slauson - 27 That said we can now perhaps focus next offseason on improving other areas, adding depth, and maybe finding that next dominant D lineman.

reading this thread, a better thread title would be "overreaction theater" We have to keep things in perspective here. This game had some good things, and some bad things. The bad Tackling... we did a poor job of wrapping up, making open field stops, and taking bad angles. I found myself yelling at the screen begging them to tackle someone. It was frustrating to watch over and over short completions that should have been tackled immediately turn into 10-15 yard gains for first downs. Ball carriers breaking arm tackles. Even Briggs who should know better thinking he can just hit someone to the ground by leaving his feet on one play. Getting burned repeatedly by AJ Green and Eifert. Sans Eifert teams have been getting torched by Green since he came in. He has sick talent and hands. Look at the diving catches he made. He's their primary offensive weapon for a reason. I've watched Eifert play at ND and he is one tough SOB to bring down with great hands. Point is we weren't being burned or beaten by scrubs Green is a stud and Eifert is going to develop into one. And by the way Dalton is no slouch either. The last few years the Bengals have been doing a superb job at building an excellent football team on both sides of the ball. The pick, while I haven't gone back and re-watched it. It's clear there was a miscommunication there whether it's Jay's fault or Bushes doesn't matter they weren't on the same page on that play. Time outs - First half timeout usage was bad no question there were things that forced us to burn timeouts particularly the two quick ones in the first quarter. Installing a new offense and executing it early in the season had it's hickups. The good No sacks.... seriously against that front 7 is quite a feat. And with 4 brand new O-Lineman (two of which are rookies). Last years line would have gotten Jay killed or carted off against these guys. It's been a Long time (pun intended ) since I've actually been optimistic about our Line going forward. As they gel, this could become a strength of our team. This after years of watching a revolving door of scrubs. I do think that the work Trestman has done with Jay is helping the line as well as he is not holding onto the ball like he has in the past. Getting the ball out quicker = less time for the linemen to hold their blocks. I'll bring up the talking and the D here as I believe these are correctable issues we saw today. While it was maddening to watch repeated missed tackles, often times we had defenders in the right place to make the play but they just didn't finish the play. If we wrap up, take better closing angles, and play more fundamentally sound, their offense would have been much less effective, outside of a few big plays to Green (which will happen to a lot of good teams). I'm sure Tucker is not pleased by this and it will be a point of emphasis. We as fans expect better and so do the players and coaches. The time out thing I don't think will be an ongoing issue. This week 1 in a new offense there will be hickups, and bumps in the road. It's one thing to install an offense in training camp, and preseason, it's another thing to execute when the games count and you are going against a top tier D. This isn't the Bungles of 3-4 years ago, this is a damn good Bengals team we faced today, a team that some are talking about them making a deep playoff push this year. Things on offense were a little up and down at first but I like that we came out in the second half and saw improvement, and adjustments that included a better usage of TO's in the second half. Honestly I would rather see us burn a TO than run a play with confusion.. And how about a TE that actually catches the ball? That was great hands on that TD to maintain control. As sloppy as the first half looked Jay finished the day 21/33, 242, 2TD 1 INT and a 93.2 QB Rating. 4 Bears had no less than 3 receptions. Halftime adjustments. We gave up 245 yards in the first half, in the second we held them to under 100 yards, first half we had less than 100 in the second we had 230 yards. They had 11 first downs in the first half and 7 in the second, we had 5 in the first and 12 in the second. The Players and coaches didn't panic and kept fighting even when we went down by 11. They stayed focused and we knocked off a very good Benglals team. After week 1 - Bears and Lions are 1-0, GB and Minny are 0-1.

OUCH though I can understand the logic going in he's an unknown with potential, I'm sure most people didn't figure he'd blow up last night. That said I'd be ticked at myself for not starting him. I ended up declining the trade, and stated that I felt it would weaken my RB's for a marginal upgrade at TE. I may still revisit this and make a multi player trade involving a swap of Mathews for McFadden. I'm also looking at other trade options with other teams to boost my RB and TE depth.

That's how it goes sometimes, can't always get the FA or Waiver wire Gold. I had seen and read about him but didn't make a move before the game, no one else did either. It's a long season there will be other guys who step up. I should handily win my week 1 matchup so no worries. Usually takes a game or two to see how the ball distribution works in an offense. Denver is going to be tough to defend so many weapons.

I agree, while the temptation to "tinker" with my roster is there, it's generally best to stand pat the first week or two to see how your players perform. I do agree on Finley, it's a bit like a broken record, every year thy hype him and say "this is the year he breaks out" and all he ever seems to do is underperform. He's had a good preseason and supposedly good camp but I'm not sold. Julius Thomas is making a name for himself and sadly I have waiver priority #7. I put a waiver claim on him and I'd drop Woodhead, but I highly doubt I'll get him.

Here are our rosters mine is on top highlighted in light blue He proposed a trade involving me sending him Ryan Mathews for Finley. IMO this weakens my RB's for a potential marginal upgrade at TE. While I don't mind dealing Matthews, it would leave me with 1 starting RB (and a temporary one at that) in Williams outside Forte and Lynch. I'm considering countering by including him giving me McFadden and I add someone like DeSean Jackson. Question is would you do it as is, counter with something similar to what I was thinking, or decline and shop elsewhere? I'd really like to have a third solid RB that could be a good RB2/flex. Though Trading Mathews for McFadden is probably a wash there are question marks on both of them. though both if they answer those questions positively could be exactly what I'm looking for.

things got off the rails early in our draft and it became hard to predict rather quickly I made some choices that I'd have done differently in hindsight. I do agree that below Forte and Lynch my backs are a little eh... Mathews has potential IF he can stay healthy, DeAngelo is esentially a rental due to Steward's injury he will have larger role though Cam will steal some of his thunder. Woodhead is somewhat of a crutch for Mathews. My hope is that both Mathews and DeAngelo play very well early and I can then sell high on them to get more dependable guys. I took Lynch in round 1, Forte in round 2, Cobb in round 3, Kapernick in round 4 (he was the best available at that point I was hoping Mat Ryan would drop to 4 or 5 but the run on QB's was earlier and more severe than I'd expected.), round 5 is where I made my first mistake taking Colston when Gore, Murrey, Wilson, Miller, and McFadden were still on the board. I was hoping one of them would drop to 6... and so on. I probably focused too much on WR's after Forte. I'll see how the first game or two goes, I should win my week one matchup handily. but I may look to trade to upgrade areas of weakness.

I think it will be a good test of how good our Bears really are. Bengals have a good offense and a good defense. I do like that it is the first game of the season and we have them in our house. There is very little on tape on the Trestman Bears offense which I feel gives us an advantage because we'll be doing things no one's seen us do even in preseason. To me the x factor is Cutler. If he plays sharp and under control as he did in the 3rd Preseason game where his footwork, accuracy, and ability to get the ball out quickly will be key to our offense against a stout D. This will be a good test for the Rookies Long and Mills, Cincy is a team that does a good job of creating pressure, if our Line can hold their own and Give Jay time I think we can hurt that D in the secondary especially in the middle of the field. A good quick start will be imperative. We need to dictate the tempo of the game on both sides of the ball. If we're able to move the ball well early they will have to pick their poison, stack the box to stop the run and get beat with the pass or cover the pass and we'll grind it out on the ground. Defense will have it's hands full with their weapons in the passing game, BGE doesn't scare me and Bernard is untested yet. I think we can force them to become one dimensional. We must get pressure on Dalton and there should be opportunities for turnovers. This will be a tough matchup but one I believe we can win.

We had our fantasy league draft yesterday, 10 team PPR 16 round draft. I drafted 4th Start - 1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (RB/WR/TE), 1 Def/st, 1 Kicker, 7 bench spots. Below is my full draft, current starters for week 1 are in bold. What do you think? I like my backs, I think I'm a little weak on WR and TE. QBs went early so I ended up taking Kapernick, but the early rush on QB allowed me to nab Forte in the second. I'm considering trading James Jones, DeSean Jackson or maybe even Cobb and or a RB to upgrade either WR or TE. All in all I feel like it's a solid team. Far better than last years draft. QB1 - Colin Kaepernick vs GB QB2 - Cutler vs Cincy RB1 - Lynch @ Car RB2 - Forte vs Cincy RB3 - Daryl Richardson vs AZ RB4 - Ryan Mathews vs Texans RB5 - DeAngelo Williams vs Sea RB6 - Danny Woodhead vs Texans WR1 - Randall Cobb @ SF WR2 - Marques Colston vs ATL WR2 - Piere Garcon vs Philly WR3 - DeSean Jackson @wash WR4 -James Jones @ SF TE - Fred Davis vs Philly Def/st - Bears vs Cincy K - Josh Brown @ Dalas

but now we'll never again hear that trademark phrase "False start, #73 of the offense, 5 yard penalty, repeat down"

QB's seem to go a bit too high in my league too it's not like our scoring makes them too overpowered but I think people get caught up in having their QB that they reach when they wouldn't really have to. Between those two I'd have picked Cam too. The injury/recovery for RG3 is one thing and the other is I have to think they will reign him in in the running department which was a big part of his game last year. I just don't think RG3's body is built to take that kind of punishment.

Looks good, I like your RB's the best Cam would worry me a little at QB not sure how well he'll do this year. WRs are solid, and I like your bench players there's some sleepers in there Kendrell Thompkins could be really good this year. I also like Alshon I think he's taken a big step this offeseason. Bernard I think will take over the starting spot from BGE, I think it's just a matter of time. My league drafts Sept 3rd it's a 10 team PPR been spending a lot of my evenings doing mocks can't wait for the draft. It's our leagues 3rd season, my second as League Manager. I wonder if it would be possible to add a Fantasy Football forum here.

looks good to me I do agree on the QB's but that's how it shakes out sometimes. Eli and the Giants in general are inconsistent. But if he has a good year your set, and even if he doesn't I think the rest of your team is pretty strong.

I agree, and I think that also helps Jay feel more comfortable when things aren't so rushed and yes it is nice to have those timeouts rather than having to burn them cause the play isn't getting in to jay in time. Gives him more time to look over the defense pre-snap, and more time to make adjustments or audible.

Yep the Raiders are garbage but, at the same time a good team should clobber them, we've seen the Bears play down to the level of an opponent. I don't see this team doing that which is good. Also like the variety of plays, personnel packages, etc. we aren't seeing the boring predictable crap we've seen in the past.

I'm impressed with both the pass blocking and the run blocking thus far. Good job by the rookies picking up that blitz on the 3rd and long conversion!

another benefit of big receivers they are good blockers.

already looking heaps better than last couple weeks. poor coverage on the ford kick return though

Maybe Bostic should pull a McMahon and wear a Goodell headband LOL

Soo true lol

When you consider where they were taken in the draft Forte's comments make perfect sense, He has been impressed with both Long and Mills, and understandably more impressed by Mills considering he was a 6th round pick vs Long who was a first round pick and thus shouldn't be as surprising that he's doing well. I do like we see guys like Forte and Cutler publicly giving them props. If these guys both pan out, how crazy is it that Emery would have hit on two rookie OL showing they belong in the starting lineup. Compare that to Angelo's failure to hit on an OL. It is preseason yet but the arrow is pointing up on these guys.

I think his personality is good for our locker room. Adds a good element to the mix and it is much more entertaining listening to him answer questions than just the usual cliche answers. Look back at the 85 team there was tons of personality there.

The part in bold here is the heart of the issue here. Every moment broken down and taken out of context under a microscope. They take a moment, a hit, a tackle, a play, whatever and use that footage how ever it suits them in the moment. One moment they are glorifying it and the next they use it to punish the player. Badell wants to have it both ways, make money off the hits, then fine the players who make the hit in the name of "player safety" Taking something that in reality happens in a split second and analyzing it to death from a distance.