Week 13 Official Game Thread (GB at CHI), 12/4, 1200PM CST, FOX, GB -1.5, O/U 42.5

[Mongo3451]

1 hour ago, Stinger226 said:

He was a  ***** star player in college and maybe with him being cut, it will make him more dedicated and aggressive to be better. Live up to his potential. His draft profiles showed him as ending up as a above average player. No pro bowl type compliments but if he ends up being a 8 yr starter, good get for Poles. 

Hell yeah!  That would be great...

[DABEARSDABOMB]

3 hours ago, AZ54 said:

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/bears-pff-grades-best-and-worst-performers-in-week-13-loss-packers/

FWIW Leatherwood graded out well as per the always questionable PFF. 

 

It was 10 snaps split over multiple drives. I hope he looked good - but the sample size is super small.  Lets see how he does over a few games and than can start to assess how it looks like he is doing / what the technique looks like vs. his rookie season. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

When the Bears got EQSB I liked it.  Big body WR with familiarly to the Getsy offense…yadda yadda.  But he’s more a liability than commodity for the team right now. Somewhere else I read that on nearly every catch thins season, dropped or possessed, he’s managed to bobble it.   Even on that big gain yesterday.  Time for more more Harry and Claypool. And then there’s this from Jairire Alexander on St Brown.  
 

 

[BearFan PHX]

1 hour ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

When the Bears got EQSB I liked it.  Big body WR with familiarly to the Getsy offense…yadda yadda.  But he’s more a liability than commodity for the team right now. Somewhere else I read that on nearly every catch thins season, dropped or possessed, he’s managed to bobble it.   Even on that big gain yesterday.  Time for more more Harry and Claypool. And then there’s this from Jairire Alexander on St Brown.

I feel the same way. I thought of the upside when we first got ESB, but he is double clutching everything. Same with Velus Jones Jr. I'm quickly losing trust with that kid too.

Claypool, Harry and Pringle are who I want to see now.

[Stinger226]

The difference is ESB is a vet and V Jones has time to grow. Not all rookies go off in their first year.

[BearFan PHX]

2 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

The difference is ESB is a vet and V Jones has time to grow. Not all rookies go off in their first year.

I still havent seen Velus catch a ball cleanly even once. Learning and perfecting routes etc is one thing, and can take time, but clean catches are something else.

[AZ54]

22 hours ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

When the Bears got EQSB I liked it.  Big body WR with familiarly to the Getsy offense…yadda yadda.  But he’s more a liability than commodity for the team right now. Somewhere else I read that on nearly every catch thins season, dropped or possessed, he’s managed to bobble it.   Even on that big gain yesterday.  Time for more more Harry and Claypool. And then there’s this from Jairire Alexander on St Brown.  
 

 

ESB has actually done more than I expected but my hope was always to see someone rise up and take his snaps as the season progressed.  He fit in well early especially with the run game which we really needed as Fields and the WRs got comfortable in the passing game.  Not to mention the Oline concerns early on.  Looking back on it quarter by quarter I don't have a problem with the way they've brought the offense along.  Injuries to Pringle and then Harry definitely slowed down things.   That we've relied on ESB and Dante Pettis, two guy who are 5th/6th WRs, so much is crazy.  

[AZ54]

I think Leatherwood is already better than Borom.  He might not be ready to start yet but he needs more reps.  Aside from his obvious pass protection concerns, I thought the run game might suffer with Leatherwood having missed so much practice.  Somehow they've been able to get him to improve his pass protection mechanics and have him ready to play, or as Swifty says that part comes to him more naturally.  

 

[Stinger226]

8 hours ago, AZ54 said:

I think Leatherwood is already better than Borom.  He might not be ready to start yet but he needs more reps.  Aside from his obvious pass protection concerns, I thought the run game might suffer with Leatherwood having missed so much practice.  Somehow they've been able to get him to improve his pass protection mechanics and have him ready to play, or as Swifty says that part comes to him more naturally.  

 

I think Leatherwood gets the first shot at RT next yr no matter how he finishes this yr. I think they also bring in a draftee to compete against him. I think Jones stays at LT, Whitehair? there will be a new OC, Jenkins is set. There may only be one new addition to the OL next yr. So is that a good thing, or bad decision?

[AZ54]

3 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

I think Leatherwood gets the first shot at RT next yr no matter how he finishes this yr. I think they also bring in a draftee to compete against him. I think Jones stays at LT, Whitehair? there will be a new OC, Jenkins is set. There may only be one new addition to the OL next yr. So is that a good thing, or bad decision?

We need to see him get more snaps to evaluate the consistency but watching Leatherwood's improvement in such a short practice time gives me more confidence in the coaches.  Getting Braxton Jones ready to play this year is also a huge plus.  We already know they've been kicking around changes at Center a few times this season so something will happen there.  Borom struggled and they moved to Reiff and now working in Leatherwood.  They are not married to the old adages about Oline play and have been creative and successful rotating players in, and making performance based decisions.  For now I trust the decisions they'll make.  

[adam]

On 12/5/2022 at 11:36 PM, Alaskan Grizzly said:

When the Bears got EQSB I liked it.  Big body WR with familiarly to the Getsy offense…yadda yadda.  But he’s more a liability than commodity for the team right now. Somewhere else I read that on nearly every catch thins season, dropped or possessed, he’s managed to bobble it.   Even on that big gain yesterday.  Time for more more Harry and Claypool. And then there’s this from Jairire Alexander on St Brown.  
 

 

That is a not a route he should be running. His frame is not built for quick direction changes. I assume he was moved into that route because of the Mooney injury. Either way, he is definitely not a sure handed receiver and is not someone you want in your top 3/4 WRs. 

[Mongo3451]

5 hours ago, adam said:

That is a not a route he should be running. His frame is not built for quick direction changes. I assume he was moved into that route because of the Mooney injury. Either way, he is definitely not a sure handed receiver and is not someone you want in your top 3/4 WRs.

I've seen better brakes on a sled.  If he can't stop any faster than that, he's not an NFL caliber reciever.  That is a bread and butter route for any player that works the outside.

[adam]

3 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

I've seen better brakes on a sled.  If he can't stop any faster than that, he's not an NFL caliber reciever.  That is a bread and butter route for any player that works the outside.

That was such a terrible break and he telegraphed it. If anything, that should've been a stop and go route. 

Then with the ball in the air, he didn't even come back to the ball, which is what you are taught to do. You never wait for the ball. 

[AZ54]

Saw a clip from Wannstedt where he was talking about how after this game Fields said his shoulder was still sore.   We all saw that Getsy kind of shut things down in the 2nd half and Fields ran a lot less.  We're all talking about how we went conservative on the play calls and sort of shut things down unnecessarily.   Wannstedt speculated  this was intentional and that Fields likely told them he was in pain during halftime.  That drove the play calling change and the guidance to Fields to stay in the pocket.  That scenario makes a lot of sense.  Nobody is going to call out Justin for being tough and staying in the game even if they had to protect him a bit with those play calls.  

The upside Wannstedt pointed to was that by operating more out of the pocket in the 2nd half we got to see a much improved Justin Fields.   His pocket awareness was really good and he was consistently sliding around to move away from pressure, not just taking off and running, and then still completing passes.  

 

[adam]

6 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Saw a clip from Wannstedt where he was talking about how after this game Fields said his shoulder was still sore.   We all saw that Getsy kind of shut things down in the 2nd half and Fields ran a lot less.  We're all talking about how we went conservative on the play calls and sort of shut things down unnecessarily.   Wannstedt speculated  this was intentional and that Fields likely told them he was in pain during halftime.  That drove the play calling change and the guidance to Fields to stay in the pocket.  That scenario makes a lot of sense.  Nobody is going to call out Justin for being tough and staying in the game even if they had to protect him a bit with those play calls.  

The upside Wannstedt pointed to was that by operating more out of the pocket in the 2nd half we got to see a much improved Justin Fields.   His pocket awareness was really good and he was consistently sliding around to move away from pressure, not just taking off and running, and then still completing passes.  

 

That is possible, but play calling still leaves things to be desired. I still see very little if any quick slants and easy passes. 

[Mongo3451]

1 hour ago, adam said:

That is possible, but play calling still leaves things to be desired. I still see very little if any quick slants and easy passes. 

Slants and quick outs are dangerous passes for him because of his arm slot and slow release.  Batted passes and jumped routes increase dramatically.   He spent off season working on it, but it's not there yet.  He needs separated receivers over the DL's mitts.