Bears game 2: Sunday, Sep 18 @ NO, noon on Fox

[jersey cubs fan]

This week's FO AGS article is Bears over Falcons: http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6965723/nfl-atlanta-falcons-pick-right-where-left-last-season (insider only). Any Given Sunday is an article they write every week about the week's perceived biggest upset.

 

Highlights for those who don't have insider:

- Atlanta had more big plays than last year (5 plays of 20 yds or more), but didn't get many of those to translate to points.

- Atlanta's biggest new addition (Julio Jones) didn't do much to help until the game was already decided.

 

What does more big plays than last year mean?

It should be expected that a rookie WR would fail to do a whole lot in his first game.

[Banedon]

What does more big plays than last year mean?

 

It says that they had 44 plays over 20 yds all of last season, and had 5 in this game.

 

It should be expected that a rookie WR would fail to do a whole lot in his first game.

 

And yeah, it should be expected, and they said it's rare for a WR to produce highly in his first season, but with ATL giving up so many picks for him, they wanted to point out that he didn't help the Falcons be much more "explosive" on Sunday.

[Magnetic Curses]

This week's FO AGS article is Bears over Falcons: http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6965723/nfl-atlanta-falcons-pick-right-where-left-last-season (insider only). Any Given Sunday is an article they write every week about the week's perceived biggest upset.

 

Highlights for those who don't have insider:

- Atlanta had more big plays than last year (5 plays of 20 yds or more), but didn't get many of those to translate to points.

- Atlanta's biggest new addition (Julio Jones) didn't do much to help until the game was already decided.

- Bears' offensive strategy was to spread targets out to all receivers, sacks and INTs be damned. All receivers had 4-6 targets each.

- Forte was doing his best Marshall Faulk impression.

- Henry Melton was awesome.

huh. Salfino said basically the same thing, too

 

Matt Forte(notes) is a poor-man’s Marshall Faulk – nowhere near Faulk’s class as a runner but as a receiver he even can beat defensive backs one-on-one outsider the numbers, as Faulk could.

 

if he would have utilized a little high step, he may have broken the 27-yard run for a TD.

[rawaction]

Here's an interesting stat. Jay Cutler in his career is 10-4 in September with a 94.1 QB rating. Indoors, Cutler is only 5-3, but has a 103.2 QB rating with 16 TDs and 6 INTs.

[UMFan83]

The line has already shifted to Bears +7. I'd take the Bears and a TD.

[BCVM22]

http://www.csnchicago.com/09/13/11/Urlacher-leaves-town-Sundays-status-unce/landing_bears_loud3r.html?blockID=563566&feedID=626

 

Urlacher is questionable for Sunday's game on account of a sudden family emergency.

[Banedon]

Buck and Aikman will be assigned to this game on Sunday.

[OleMissCub]

Buck and Aikman will be assigned to this game on Sunday.

 

Just our luck

[Soul]

The line has already shifted to Bears +7. I'd take the Bears and a TD.

 

I would have, but now with Urlacher possibly not playing it makes it less clear for me.

[BleacherBadger]

Heard rumblings that his mom passed. Obviously not good, from both a personal and football perspective.

[UMFan83]

Ulracher is the kind of player that I think will ultimiately decide to play and have a monster game because of it.

 

That said, it is obviously completely understandable if he doesn't feel like he can play this weekend.

[UMFan83]

In comparably unimportant Urlacher news, he was named NFC player of the week today.

[BleacherBadger]

(may God have mercy on my soul)

 

There's obviously a better chance of him playing because it happened earlier in the week.

[Banedon]

"You can't replace a guy like that. You can't find a guy like that in the league," Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said. "He's the heart and soul of this organization. We all know he's going through a tough time right now. But we're going to respect his privacy. And when he gets back, we'll be here for him."

[bcl412]

Obviously there are more important things than this but I do remember two years ago, when Urlacher was out for the season, the Bears defense didn't look the same as normal. That could be an issue against the Saints. Then again their line does look better than I remember being a couple years ago too.

[Banedon]

Jason LaCanfora tweets a quote from Urlacher:

 

"My first priority right now is to be with my family as we mourn her loss."

[Guest]

He'll play. I don't believe it will even be a game time decision. He has all week to be with his family and catch a plane to New Orleans to take out his sadness on the opposing offense.

[UMFan83]

Jason LaCanfora tweets a quote from Urlacher:

 

"My first priority right now is to be with my family as we mourn her loss."

 

I really hope people weren't trying to call him and get a quote out of him. This is one of the situations in life where you just leave a guy alone.

[Banedon]

Jason LaCanfora tweets a quote from Urlacher:

 

"My first priority right now is to be with my family as we mourn her loss."

 

I really hope people weren't trying to call him and get a quote out of him. This is one of the situations in life where you just leave a guy alone.

 

Probably texted, but still. Def should leave the guy alone.

 

 

 

 

Roy Williams sat out practice today. Status for Sunday uncertain.

[CubmanPi]

(may God have mercy on my soul)

 

There's obviously a better chance of him playing because it happened earlier in the week.

(mine too)

 

Typical Bears luck.

 

*runs*

[Butterscup1679666578]

Jason LaCanfora tweets a quote from Urlacher:

 

"My first priority right now is to be with my family as we mourn her loss."

 

I really hope people weren't trying to call him and get a quote out of him. This is one of the situations in life where you just leave a guy alone.

 

Probably texted, but still. Def should leave the guy alone.

 

 

 

 

Roy Williams sat out practice today. Status for Sunday uncertain.

 

It was probably something made up by the Bears PR people. Biggs tweeted it and said:

 

Brian Urlacher thru team: "My 1st priority right now is to be with my family as we mourn her loss & make arrangements to lay her to rest."

[OleMissCub]

I'm sure he'll play

[JonJayCutler]

Obviously there are more important things than this but I do remember two years ago, when Urlacher was out for the season, the Bears defense didn't look the same as normal. That could be an issue against the Saints.

 

Um...tell us something we don't know.

[OleMissCub]

If for some reason Drew Brees doesn't play, the offense might not work as well.

[Guest]

Teams that score the most points in a game usually win.