Re: Week 8: Browns at Bears noon on CBS

[Guest]

I'm worried about Cutler surviving the blitz packages that Philly will bring. Not sure he'll even make it to the Vikings.

[Banedon]

I'm worried about Cutler surviving the blitz packages that Philly will bring. Not sure he'll even make it to the Vikings.

 

Great point. That Philly D is tough.

[Soul]

That's right, I was fixated on the Vikes but Philly has the potential to be very ugly as well.

[jersey cubs fan]

The line stinks, but a lot of what happened yesterday was what most referrees are calling late hits in recent years. Fatboy wrapped up and dragged down Cutler well after a pass and they didn't do a thing about it, yet in the "you can't finish the tackle after the pass" era that gets called 90% of the time. It was clear those refs were just going to let everything go outside the blatant shot to the head. Also, on one replay of a sack the booth was ripping into Orlando Pace for getting mauled when nothing of the sort happened. The pressure came from up the middle, Pace kept his guy in front of him, albeit he was moving back, but since Cutler could not step up properly from the middle pressure, they blamed it on the tackles. But neither tackle got burnt on that play.

 

This booth was horrible. Salomon Wilcots is incompetent. These guys miss stuff in live action all the time (calling something a catch when it was clearly not caught, unnecessarily naming the offensive lineman they think did the most blocking on a play during the live playbyplay call) but Wilcots couldn't even see obvious stuff on replays. They drove me nuts all day.

 

I was not happy with the red zone play calling. Why are you doing a play action pass with only one receiver option? Why was Olsen on the sideline for so many of those plays? If you bring in 2 extra fatties to block on the end of the line it doesn't help when your middle 5 get no push at all. You either add backfield blockers or spread everybody out. An extra wide body on the end does nothing. The Bears need to go to the spread in the red zone. Their best play is the 5 yard slant to a WR or out to a TE, get 4 of Bennet, Hester, Knox, Olsen and Clark on the field in tight and run quick pass plays.

 

And it may have been cute to have your TEs shift to the outside with WR going in the slot as a different look, but when that is your standard passing formation, you aren't going to trick the defense into a mismatch in coverage.

[Derwood]

I actually thought there wasn't enough play-action being called in general. A little more might make the blitz calls less easy for opposing DC's. They should also do some designed roll outs or just generally move the pocket more. Cutler is going to get killed back there.

[jersey cubs fan]

I'm worried about Cutler surviving the blitz packages that Philly will bring. Not sure he'll even make it to the Vikings.

 

Great point. That Philly D is tough.

 

They are alright, but they aren't world beaters. They are similar to the Bears. Philly has one win against a non-incompetent team this year, the Giants, and NY has been sliding fast. The other wins are Carolina, Tampa, KC and Washington, and they lost to Oakland. They got dismantled against New Orleans. They've had a lot of turnovers, but they've also played against the worst QB's in the league.

[jersey cubs fan]

I actually thought there wasn't enough play-action being called in general. A little more might make the blitz calls less easy for opposing DC's. They should also do some designed roll outs or just generally move the pocket more. Cutler is going to get killed back there.

 

Play action does nothing when you can't run the ball. And it takes more time for playaction passes to develop, leaving Cutler even more vulnerable to the rush.

[cubweiser03]

I agree the one sack wasnt Pace's fault, the pocket collapsed from the inside and Cutler had no where to go. 2 of the sacks were Forte's fault. One he totally blew the assignment up the middle and went into screen mode too quickly and the other was when he was used as a blocking sled from the LB coming right up the middle.

 

And yes, please go to more of a spread offense inside the 5. The interior of this line can not block people and move them around one on one, we've seen it enough.

[Derwood]

I actually thought there wasn't enough play-action being called in general. A little more might make the blitz calls less easy for opposing DC's. They should also do some designed roll outs or just generally move the pocket more. Cutler is going to get killed back there.

 

Play action does nothing when you can't run the ball. And it takes more time for playaction passes to develop, leaving Cutler even more vulnerable to the rush.

 

The few times they used it on a roll out gave Cutler the most time to pass, though. And just because they weren't successful running the ball doesn't mean they didn't try, meaning it was easy for the defense to recognize run vs. pass right after the ball was snapped.

[jersey cubs fan]

I actually thought there wasn't enough play-action being called in general. A little more might make the blitz calls less easy for opposing DC's. They should also do some designed roll outs or just generally move the pocket more. Cutler is going to get killed back there.

 

Play action does nothing when you can't run the ball. And it takes more time for playaction passes to develop, leaving Cutler even more vulnerable to the rush.

 

The few times they used it on a roll out gave Cutler the most time to pass, though. And just because they weren't successful running the ball doesn't mean they didn't try, meaning it was easy for the defense to recognize run vs. pass right after the ball was snapped.

 

Designed roll outs are a seperate issue than pure play action. The benefit of the play action is very subtle in the NFL, it can give a TE a step on a LB up the middle, however, if the defensive lineman are getting a huge push anyway it just isn't going to help. If they can get to the QB at will, they are going to get their by the time his finishes his fake handoff and turns to throw.

 

The bootlegs worked well and I wouldn't mind seeing more of that.

[Banedon]

The line stinks, but a lot of what happened yesterday was what most referrees are calling late hits in recent years. Fatboy wrapped up and dragged down Cutler well after a pass and they didn't do a thing about it, yet in the "you can't finish the tackle after the pass" era that gets called 90% of the time. It was clear those refs were just going to let everything go outside the blatant shot to the head. Also, on one replay of a sack the booth was ripping into Orlando Pace for getting mauled when nothing of the sort happened. The pressure came from up the middle, Pace kept his guy in front of him, albeit he was moving back, but since Cutler could not step up properly from the middle pressure, they blamed it on the tackles. But neither tackle got burnt on that play.

 

This booth was horrible. Salomon Wilcots is incompetent. These guys miss stuff in live action all the time (calling something a catch when it was clearly not caught, unnecessarily naming the offensive lineman they think did the most blocking on a play during the live playbyplay call) but Wilcots couldn't even see obvious stuff on replays. They drove me nuts all day.

 

I was not happy with the red zone play calling. Why are you doing a play action pass with only one receiver option? Why was Olsen on the sideline for so many of those plays? If you bring in 2 extra fatties to block on the end of the line it doesn't help when your middle 5 get no push at all. You either add backfield blockers or spread everybody out. An extra wide body on the end does nothing. The Bears need to go to the spread in the red zone. Their best play is the 5 yard slant to a WR or out to a TE, get 4 of Bennet, Hester, Knox, Olsen and Clark on the field in tight and run quick pass plays.

 

And it may have been cute to have your TEs shift to the outside with WR going in the slot as a different look, but when that is your standard passing formation, you aren't going to trick the defense into a mismatch in coverage.

 

Wilcots was amazingly bad. I called my wife into the room at one point so I could bitch about him to a live person instead of to my television. Of course the play by play guy was bad too...I think at one point he made it a point to just call every Bears offensive player "Hester" whether it was true or not.

 

Ron Turner is starting to get snippy in postgame interviews...I think he can feel that he's gonna end up being a fall guy for this team after the season, whether it's right or not. I won't be upset about it because is real bad, but it's more than just Turner.

[Soul]

I called my wife into the room at one point so I could bitch about him to a live person instead of to my television.

 

:-)) Poor girl.

 

 

Seriously, he was horrible though.