Bears week 6 vs Jags in London, Sunday at 8:30am

[gflore34]

1 hour ago, Brian707 said:

They do host Detroit this week which should be a great game

I think the Lions are going to roll over them, losing Hutchinson is big blow.  And, of course, the Vikings have some weapons but, they're the weakest at the most important position - QB.  As we've seen with the Bears - bad QB + great defense < great QB + average defense.

[We Got The Whole 9]

1 hour ago, David said:

 

If only he hit that bomb to Moore. He should have had 80% with 5:0 and 300+.

[David]

Could have easily had a 6th TD too if DJ could've gotten another half a yard or so, haha.

[NotKyle]

1 hour ago, David said:

Could have easily had a 6th TD too if DJ could've gotten another half a yard or so, haha.

Absolutely.

When you have a good one, you don't have to say "Oh man, it would have been fine if not for those one or two plays."  When you have a good one, he's good even with those one or two plays.

[NotKyle]

19 hours ago, BigSlick said:

I was extremely skeptical of Jayden Daniels and will remain a Skeptic until we play them in two weeks. I just wasn’t convinced his game would translate to the NFL or that his body type would survive in the NFL but I do have to admit he’s been super effective to this point. 

of course there’s no rule that says Daniels and Williams cant both be very good, but I am a hater at heart. 

I was a skeptic in the draft, but having seen him in the NFL, I'm sold as long as he stays healthy.  He'll come back to earth a little, as he already did the last two weeks, but he's legit af.  He's hard to pin down in the pocket, has good accuracy, a quick release, and a good deep ball.   


 

[NotKyle]

The Vikings defense is, imo, 100% legit. That's the kind of defense that can take you to a Super Bowl and maybe win it.  Thankfully those tend to be a 1-2 year thing.

They are the trendsetters in the league right now, the best at running the split-field coverage that teams are starting to copy.

The focus is on making everything as difficult as possible to read for the QB.  First, they show blitz almost every play, but sometimes they bring it and sometimes they drop into a cover-3 or cover-4.  So you can almost never throw deep, sometimes you just don't have the time and sometimes you won't have the leverage.   And all those extra men in the box make it hard to run against.

So the QB has to spend the first bit of his drop figuring out if he's hot or not, then he has to read the split-field man-match defense.  The goal of these coverages is to muddy up the middle of the field. You can never be sure if the receiver you see breaking away from his defender is actually open or if he's just being passed off to a guy in the other direction.

Now, I think the good news is, I think with personnel and philosophy, the Bears are in a good position to attack this type of defense.  The weakest part of the field for this defense is the flats and general short perimeter game, so you want:

1) WR and backs who are threats to catch short passes and break runs
2) An offense that is well-practiced in the screen game
3) A QB who has a quick release, strong arm, and is comfortable hitting receivers in the tight intermediate windows that open up when coverage is being passed off
4) Mobile, run-blocking OL that can get to the perimeter on stretch runs

Oh hey, that's *exactly* the offense we've been building with Waldron.

 

Edited October 15, 2024 by NotKyle

[BigSlick]

On that note Kyle, I do have to say two things not talked about enough about this past game: 1. how good the screen game has gotten and how Waldron has already iterated on the screen game with that double fake that turned into the first Kmet TD. I'm so used to Bears being absolutely horrible at running screens and boy howdy the last two weeks they've been excellent at executing them. And 2. the ISO run game has really come along way. The right side of the line was mashing all day against the Jags. I think the shake up of the line has really paid off. Protection is a little sketchy but they are moving folks off the ball. 

Edited October 15, 2024 by BigSlick

[Rob]

7 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

On that note Kyle

He specifically says he's NotKyle.

Rude.

[NotKyle]

17 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

On that note Kyle, I do have to say two things not talked about enough about this past game: 1. how good the screen game has gotten and how Waldron has already iterated on the screen game with that double fake that turned into the first Kmet TD. I'm so used to Bears being absolutely horrible at running screens and boy howdy the last two weeks they've been excellent at executing them. And 2. the ISO run game has really come along way. The right side of the line was mashing all day against the Jags. I think the shake up of the line has really paid off. Protection is a little sketchy but they are moving folks off the ball. 

For real, you can already see Waldron's reputation coming out.  He's known for building variations and iterating on what they've already shown.   He'll run a simple run play and then we'll see five or six different new plays built off selling that run.  He really loves taking a play we've already run, throwing in a fake wrinkle, then actually executing a second wrinkle.

One of the QB youtube guys showed last week that the long TD to Moore was an iteration where first we showed the audible into a Kmet screen we've run a few times, but then we made it look like it was a fake to throw deep right, only to actually be throwing deep left.

Early second quarter on Sunday, we've got 3rd and 6 from the Jacksonville 48.   We run the same double-crosser routes that we got for the first long TD  in week 5, but this time we pair it with Moore motioning into the backfield and then heading out to the flat on the right, so it looks like the crossers are a distraction to get the ball to him.   Except both he *and* the crossers were distractions and we were actually running a little slip screen on the left to Roschon Johnson, who gained 17 yards and probably would have gotten more if he hadn't stumbled a bit.

It's easy to love an offense when you've just lit up two terrible defenses, but I do lowkey love our offense.

And absolutely agree on the line.  The right side of the line was getting insane push in the run game.  I thought Wright had a bad game pass-blocking, but he and Pryor were pushing the line back 3 yards on outside runs.

 

Edited October 15, 2024 by NotKyle

[jumbo]

1 hour ago, NotKyle said:

For real, you can already see Waldron's reputation coming out.  He's known for building variations and iterating on what they've already shown.   He'll run a simple run play and then we'll see five or six different new plays built off selling that run.  He really loves taking a play we've already run, throwing in a fake wrinkle, then actually executing a second wrinkle.
 

Waldron is the kind of OC who will not get hired to be a HC, but he might be a " slightly above average" OC with an excellent QB. I think of him kind of like a Spagnoulo without the failed HC experience. 

Also, I applaud the team finally sitting out Nate Davis. Hard to make a FA splash inactive, but boy ol' Nate forced their hand. Let every position be a competition, every week; keep that edge on every player. 

[NotKyle]

From the guys who brought you the infamous "WTH Is Justin Fields doing?!" video last year, we get 20 minutes of unrelenting Bears offense praise.

Some notes:

1) The Mahomes comps keep on coming, I've seen several of them this week.

2) I suspected this and it's nice to have it confirmed:  The fade to Allen was an alert. The playcall was a duos run to the right, but that playcall comes with an alert where Williams can throw the fade to Allen on the left if the matchup looks juicy. And he did, and it was.  I have been trying to get people to get this for years:  NFL plays are not run a single way dictated by the playcaller, they have multiple options, and the QB decides what happens at least as much as the OC.

It's hard to say any one thing about Caleb Williams is most impressive because he's been so impressive in so many ways, but his command of the offense is *insane* for a rookie.  He's been throwing alerts, calling checks, hitting hots like a 12-year-veteran. Honestly, it reminds me most of Aaron Rodgers.

Edited October 16, 2024 by NotKyle

[David]

55 minutes ago, NotKyle said:

From the guys who brought you the infamous "WTH Is Justin Fields doing?!" video last year, we get 20 minutes of unrelenting Bears offense praise.

Some notes:

1) The Mahomes comps keep on coming, I've seen several of them this week.

2) I suspected this and it's nice to have it confirmed:  The fade to Allen was an alert. The playcall was a duos run to the right, but that playcall comes with an alert where Williams can throw the fade to Allen on the left if the matchup looks juicy. And he did, and it was.  I have been trying to get people to get this for years:  NFL plays are not run a single way dictated by the playcaller, they have multiple options, and the QB decides what happens at least as much as the OC.

It's hard to say any one thing about Caleb Williams is most impressive because he's been so impressive in so many ways, but his command of the offense is *insane* for a rookie.  He's been throwing alerts, calling checks, hitting hots like a 12-year-veteran. Honestly, it reminds me most of Aaron Rodgers.

Credit the Bears for actually doing something cool for once and beginning install at his pro-day and communicating via his QB coach.  Who knows if that plays a role in how well he knows the offense but it couldn't have hurt to have a 2-3ish month head start on the basics.

 

And credit to Caleb for being awesome.

[gflore34]

16 hours ago, NotKyle said:

The Vikings defense is, imo, 100% legit. That's the kind of defense that can take you to a Super Bowl and maybe win it.  Thankfully those tend to be a 1-2 year thing.

They are the trendsetters in the league right now, the best at running the split-field coverage that teams are starting to copy.

The focus is on making everything as difficult as possible to read for the QB.  First, they show blitz almost every play, but sometimes they bring it and sometimes they drop into a cover-3 or cover-4.  So you can almost never throw deep, sometimes you just don't have the time and sometimes you won't have the leverage.   And all those extra men in the box make it hard to run against.

So the QB has to spend the first bit of his drop figuring out if he's hot or not, then he has to read the split-field man-match defense.  The goal of these coverages is to muddy up the middle of the field. You can never be sure if the receiver you see breaking away from his defender is actually open or if he's just being passed off to a guy in the other direction.

Now, I think the good news is, I think with personnel and philosophy, the Bears are in a good position to attack this type of defense.  The weakest part of the field for this defense is the flats and general short perimeter game, so you want:

1) WR and backs who are threats to catch short passes and break runs
2) An offense that is well-practiced in the screen game
3) A QB who has a quick release, strong arm, and is comfortable hitting receivers in the tight intermediate windows that open up when coverage is being passed off
4) Mobile, run-blocking OL that can get to the perimeter on stretch runs

Oh hey, that's *exactly* the offense we've been building with Waldron.

 

Being a lacrosse coach, the above sure reads like a slide, is this correct?

[NotKyle]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

Being a lacrosse coach, the above sure reads like a slide, is this correct?

I don't know anything about lacrosse, so maybe?

[gflore34]

23 minutes ago, NotKyle said:

I don't know anything about lacrosse, so maybe?

A slide happens when a ball carrier beats his defender and another defender comes over or "slides" to cover the ball carrier.

By the way, for shits and giggles, Caleb played lacrosse in HS, makes sense, Maryland, kids are practically born with a stick in their hands. 

Edited October 16, 2024 by gflore34

[David]

Not to speak for Kyle, but I believe he was just talking basic zone coverage stuff with that bolded part.  Offensive player crosses into another zone and is now another guy's responsibility and is passed off to him.  Simple football 101 stuff.

So you don't know if that guy that looks open is actually open in man coverage or if he's just between dudes in zone coverage because of the looks and coverage mixes the defense is presenting.

[Bertz]

 

To Kyle's point about Caleb playing like a vet already

[NotKyle]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

A slide happens when a ball carrier beats his defender and another defender comes over or "slides" to cover the ball carrier.

By the way, for shits and giggles, Caleb played lacrosse in HS, makes sense, Maryland, kids are practically born with a stick in their hands. 

It's more intentional than that sounds.  It's not "oops, he got beat, I better cover for him.". It's "that guy is coming across the middle, my teammate will take his first three steps and then pass him off to me."

So instead of playing one guy no matter what, or sitting in an area of the field, defenses are now doing rules-based coverages.

This video does a good job of explaining it:

Every defender has a set of rules to follow where they decide who to cover based on what routes are run.

So in the most common one, quarters, the nickel starts out on the slot receiver, but he has these rules 

1) if the slot goes to the flat, he's mine and I follow him all the way

2) if the slot goes to the middle, I cover him for a few steps then pass him off to the MLB

3) if the slot goes deep, I cover him for a few steps and keep him from working inside, then pass him off to the safety 

4) once i pass off my guy, I read the QBs eyes and try to rob wherever he's going 

There's lots of complications and changes the defense can call, even after the ball is snapped, but that's the basic idea.

It's hard for the QB to trust middle field reads because guys are being passed off and at the same time defenders are hanging around trying to rob.

 

 

 

[gflore34]

32 minutes ago, NotKyle said:

It's more intentional than that sounds.  It's not "oops, he got beat, I better cover for him.". It's "that guy is coming across the middle, my teammate will take his first three steps and then pass him off to me."

So instead of playing one guy no matter what, or sitting in an area of the field, defenses are now doing rules-based coverages.

This video does a good job of explaining it:

Every defender has a set of rules to follow where they decide who to cover based on what routes are run.

So in the most common one, quarters, the nickel starts out on the slot receiver, but he has these rules 

1) if the slot goes to the flat, he's mine and I follow him all the way

2) if the slot goes to the middle, I cover him for a few steps then pass him off to the MLB

3) if the slot goes deep, I cover him for a few steps and keep him from working inside, then pass him off to the safety 

4) once i pass off my guy, I read the QBs eyes and try to rob wherever he's going 

There's lots of complications and changes the defense can call, even after the ball is snapped, but that's the basic idea.

It's hard for the QB to trust middle field reads because guys are being passed off and at the same time defenders are hanging around trying to rob.

 

 

 

Thanks. Lacrosse, is in some regards, easier, simply because of less bodies - 6 vs 6.

Edited October 16, 2024 by gflore34

[Old Style]

Man, what a fun horsefeathers game to watch. I’m trying not to get too excited for the future as my luck seems to dictate whenever I start getting confident my team seems to almost immediately fall apart but it’s getting harder each week to temper expectations. Admittedly I was one that was unsure about Caleb before the draft and unimpressed with the first few weeks but I’m thrilled that he is already starting to prove me wrong. His progress the last few weeks has been most impressive. 

[gflore34]

42 minutes ago, Old Style said:

Man, what a fun horsefeathers game to watch. I’m trying not to get too excited for the future as my luck seems to dictate whenever I start getting confident my team seems to almost immediately fall apart but it’s getting harder each week to temper expectations. Admittedly I was one that was unsure about Caleb before the draft and unimpressed with the first few weeks but I’m thrilled that he is already starting to prove me wrong. His progress the last few weeks has been most impressive. 

I was in the same boat, however, regardless of whom their playing against we're seeing things from a Bears QB that we haven't seen before.  Looking defenders off, reading progressions, anticipation throws into small windows, these translate no matter the opposition.

[NotKyle]

Cole Kmet becomes first long snapper to win a special teams player of the week award.

 

Not joking 

[David]

And Caleb gets the FedEx Air and Ground player of the week

 

[WrigleyField 22]

1 hour ago, NotKyle said:

Cole Kmet becomes first long snapper to win a special teams player of the week award.

 

Not joking 

Showing up and doing someone else's job unremarkably and winning industry awards for it. Love it.

 

Long snapping officially the most underappreciated job in sports.

[mul21]

On 10/15/2024 at 4:14 PM, NotKyle said:

Early second quarter on Sunday, we've got 3rd and 6 from the Jacksonville 48.   We run the same double-crosser routes that we got for the first long TD  in week 5, but this time we pair it with Moore motioning into the backfield and then heading out to the flat on the right, so it looks like the crossers are a distraction to get the ball to him.   Except both he *and* the crossers were distractions and we were actually running a little slip screen on the left to Roschon Johnson, who gained 17 yards and probably would have gotten more if he hadn't stumbled a bit.

 

This was much less a stumble by Roschon than it was a blocking mistake by the LG/C combo.  Jenkins waves the C by him instead of blocking the guy right in front of him and tries to get further down field for another block.  If he actually blocks that guy and lets the C run, that play is probably 25 yards or longer.

The 2 consecutive runs to get to the 7 and then down to the 2 by Swift, the 2nd play was exactly the same, but the C blocks right (instead of left like he had on the previous play) where the RG and RT already had things under control and Swift gets tripped up in the hole by the unblocked player.  They're getting push but there are still a ton of mental errors that are costing them yards that won't fly against good teams.