Chocolate Milk

since alvarez took over, they've been recruiting kids that fit their system. they realize they probably won't get a lot of gulf kids or california kids to fill skill positions so they get the big road-graders up front and base their team on size and strength. doing this probably won't allow them to compete with the faster SEC schools for the national championship year in and year out, but it will allow them to compete for the Big Ten title perrenially. If I'm not mistaken, the only Big Ten school that spends less money recruiting than Wisconsin , is Northwestern. makes sense. i don't think that either school really leaves the midwest very much in terms of recruiting. Wiscy gets the occational player from NJ but other than that, they don't leave the midwest for much.

since alvarez took over, they've been recruiting kids that fit their system. they realize they probably won't get a lot of gulf kids or california kids to fill skill positions so they get the big road-graders up front and base their team on size and strength. doing this probably won't allow them to compete with the faster SEC schools for the national championship year in and year out, but it will allow them to compete for the Big Ten title perrenially. If I'm not mistaken, the only Big Ten school that spends less money recruiting than Wisconsin , is Northwestern.

Is he going to run out onto the field with little American flags?

From an outside perspective, it seems to me the Cowboys really like Garrett and were looking for more of a place holder to coach until they felt Garrett was ready. Am I right or totally off here?

I think the conclusion you should draw from those guys is that they turned out to be crappy QB's not that it's hard to increase completion %. It is probably hard to increase completion % when you are a crappy QB. Hopefully that doesn't turn out to be the case with Rex.

your strange and pointless micro-analysis does little to shed light on the issue, here. I think the reason that most QB's don't have a performace jump in their 5th year is clear and it doesn't apply to Grossman. By the 4th year, most QB's have played enough games to see what they have to offer and most development will probably have occured by then. Not the case with Grossman. That's why I tried to show a page ago about QB's who came in during their 3rd season or so for the first time. Those QB's had more success then either Grossman or a QB who starts from his rookie year. All I'm saying is that Grossman is behind the curve. He doesn't have the same amount of success that normally a player who is just starting for the first time in his 3rd or 4th season usually does. That certainly could be because of his injuries though. As I said also, one of the reasons that I'm skeptical of Grossman's development is completion percentage. Here are the QB's with under 57 percent completion percentage since 2002: 2002: Blake, Vick, Brooks, Plummer, Carr, Matthews, Ramsey, Hutchinson, Harrington 2003: Collins, Blake, Carr, Johnson, Harrington, Gannon, Ramsey, Boller, Stewart 2004: Bledsoe, Vick, Collins, Harrington, Boller, Dorsey, Feeley, Brunell 2005: Bollinger, Brooks, Collins, Eli Manning, Ferotte, Orton, Losman 2006: Leinhart, Hasselbeck, Favre, Plummer, Grossman, Gradkowski, Walter, Vick, Young There are some good names on this list that were good prospects. In 2002, Brooks was in his 3rd year and having a good year except for a bad completion percentage. Carr, Ramsey, and Harrington were in their rookie years. 2003-the 3 rookies appear again, and Boller is a rookie. 2004-Feeley is being developed in this year, along with Harrington, Boller, and Vick 2005-Eli appears, along with Losman, who only threw 228 passes that year. 2006-Leinhart and Grossman appear in their first year starting. There's one big thing on this list-nobody who started out with such a bad completion percentage is developing, with the possible exception of Losman (who was only in for a few games the year he made the list). Brooks, Carr, Ramsey, Harrington, Boller, Feeley, Eli, Vick-all supposed to be great QB's, none could improve their completion percentages. It's not easy to do, which is why you see very few here who appear on this list and then develop. That's the other big reason why Grossman is in trouble unless he can break the mold. Why just take those few years? That's hardly a signifigant sample size. In any event, many QB's have had poor completion % and have improved them over the course of their careers. Matt Hassleback had a 54.8 completion % in his first year starting. Alex Smith had a 50% completion % in his first year and a 58.1% this year. Quite an improvement. McNabb had a 58% and a 57% in his first 2 years starting. Delhomme had a 59.2% his first year with the Panthers and a 58.2 the next year. He had a 61% last year. Drew Bledsoe had a 49.9% in his first year starting. Troy Aikman 52.9% and a 56%, before posting a 65.3% in his third year. Carr went from 52.5% to 56% the 61% and has improved to a 68% this year Trent Green had a 54.6% his first year a 60% his second year and a 56% his third year Jesus man, even Peyton Manning had a 56.7 completion % his first year starting. Do I need to keep going? What tend does Grossman have to buck here exactly?

I'd even venture to say that the games he played in his first two years have almost no value. Played under a different system, with a largely different team, and before two season ending leg injuries.

your strange and pointless micro-analysis does little to shed light on the issue, here. I think the reason that most QB's don't have a performace jump in their 5th year is clear and it doesn't apply to Grossman. By the 4th year, most QB's have played enough games to see what they have to offer and most development will probably have occured by then. Not the case with Grossman.

he's on par with those QB's, all of whom except losman have played in a pro-bowl or will do so soon. that's what your stats show. or mcnair? (whom i don't see how he's not anywhere close to) but i won't do anything of the sort until you address the point that grossman couldn't rely on 1 or 2 receivers and had to spread the ball around. i'd bet that his top 2 recievers had a lesser percentage of his total yardage than any of those other QBs. that's not exactly the "best situation". Well, first for McNair, one has to put the almost 700 yards rushing and 8 TD's into the equation-that changes it significantly, which is why I give McNair the edge there. Several other of these QB's had to spread the ball around as well-I'll use the Chargers for example-they spread the ball around about as much as the Bears did this year. Top 2 receivers statistically for the Bears: 51.3% of Grossman's yards Top 2 for the Chargers: 46.7% of Rivers yards That's the first one I looked up, so there definitely could be more. i think the bears should cut rex for not having the best offensive player in the game lining up behind him. Tomlinson's both a great thing and a bad thing for Rivers-he gets plenty of yardage for him, but he also took a lot of the easy TD's away from Rivers-many more than the Bears RB's did. now you're just reaching. I don't have to reach-Rivers had much better numbers. You were reaching that it was because of Tomlinson that he did have it when I pointed out there were both positives and negatives to that. Grossman had a hot start to the season-the opponents mostly adjusted to take away the bomb, and Grossman simply has not proven that he can keep from turning the ball over conistently against a defense that is preventing the bomb. He has had a few good games since then with many bad. As I said, since week 5 he has had 13 TDs and turned the ball over 27 times. Can he develop into throwing the short pass consistantly ? I hope so, but history says that I should be skeptical of that. nobody is arguing that rex had a great year. but arguing that he cannot develop is the dumbest thing i've ever heard. maybe i just don't understand the parallels you are making, other than pointing out that he appears similar to many other young QB's at his stage of development what are you trying to say, either apparentky or inadvertantly? how does history say that you should "be skeptical of that"? All I'm saying is that it is very rare for a QB to develop into a good QB in year 5 or later. By the end of 4 years, if that QB has played all 4 years or sat on the bench for 1, 2, or 3 of those years-at the end of the 4th year it is known if the QB will develop or not. Maybe with Rex's injury history that will give him to the end of year 5-maybe. It's also possible that some QB's are simply given up on too soon. It's just true that it's not likely that a QB will suddenly break through so late into their career (yes, just 4 years in that sounds strange, but it's true), no matter how many years experience they have actually playing. It's happened to a few, but for most it doesn't. I doubt there is anywhere near a signifigant sample size for you to draw this conclusion. Especially considering that Rex doesn't really fit the criteria your using. Of course QB's that haven't developed by year 4 are unlikely to do so in most cases. How many of those QB's spent almost 2 enitre years rehabing from major injuries and not playing? I'm not really sure how you can draw any conclusions from that data set.

he's on par with those QB's, all of whom except losman have played in a pro-bowl or will do so soon. that's what your stats show. or mcnair? (whom i don't see how he's not anywhere close to) but i won't do anything of the sort until you address the point that grossman couldn't rely on 1 or 2 receivers and had to spread the ball around. i'd bet that his top 2 recievers had a lesser percentage of his total yardage than any of those other QBs. that's not exactly the "best situation". Well, first for McNair, one has to put the almost 700 yards rushing and 8 TD's into the equation-that changes it significantly, which is why I give McNair the edge there. Several other of these QB's had to spread the ball around as well-I'll use the Chargers for example-they spread the ball around about as much as the Bears did this year. Top 2 receivers statistically for the Bears: 51.3% of Grossman's yards Top 2 for the Chargers: 46.7% of Rivers yards That's the first one I looked up, so there definitely could be more. i think the bears should cut rex for not having the best offensive player in the game lining up behind him. Tomlinson's both a great thing and a bad thing for Rivers-he gets plenty of yardage for him, but he also took a lot of the easy TD's away from Rivers-many more than the Bears RB's did. now you're just reaching. I don't have to reach-Rivers had much better numbers. You were reaching that it was because of Tomlinson that he did have it when I pointed out there were both positives and negatives to that. Grossman had a hot start to the season-the opponents mostly adjusted to take away the bomb, and Grossman simply has not proven that he can keep from turning the ball over conistently against a defense that is preventing the bomb. He has had a few good games since then with many bad. As I said, since week 5 he has had 13 TDs and turned the ball over 27 times. Can he develop into throwing the short pass consistantly ? I hope so, but history says that I should be skeptical of that. This is an oversimplification. Grossman isn't a bomb only quarterback. He has not had trouble with teams that "take away the bomb." He has had a number of games where he has hit there intermediate routes efficiently. The Giants game comes to mind, specifically, as does the Rams game and Bucs game. While not his strong suit, I think it is incorrect to say that he isn't capable of hitting the intermediate throw. Grossman has had trouble with teams that have good passing defenses, not teams that "shut down the bomb". That much is abundantly clear. He generally shreads teams that have suspect passing defenses. I'm not really sure what to make of that, other than he has the ability to take advantage of overmatched defenses. I'm not really sure what you think "history" is telling you. Plenty of QB's have had similar or worse first season's than Grossman and have devloped into very good quarterbacks. Also, I don't think anyone is expecting Grossman to develop into an MVP QB. Most are expecting him to build on this year. Even with his inconsistancies this year, the Bears went to the superbowl. If Grossman makes any sort of progress (and I think it more likely for him to get better than get worse), the Bears will be in good shape.

I have no real interest in Jeff Garcia. Just thought I would bring it up.

IMO it's not going to happen. The Bears aren't going to shell out FA money for Garcia unless they dump Griese.

The new radio talk is about Jeff Garcia and his reported desire to play for the Bears.

Who are you playing?

Wow. What an idiot.

Listening to the Score and just heard Ted Phillips say that Grossman taking the Bears to the Superbowl in his first season starting is a great acheivement, Grossman isn't going anywhere, and he's happy that Rex is the Bears' QB. Sounds like fans have to hope he's going to develop.

LOL @ jumping all over this guy for asking who the emergency catcher is.

Great news.

Good to see that I may have started a David Carr Bandwagon here.

I love David Carr. I think he's a great talent. I'd love him on the Bears, but I would never in a million years pay him that salary and trade the talent it would take to get him. Seems like a 3rd or 4th rounder might be all it takes, which isn't that steep (though JA's 3rd rounders are gold). Trade a 3rd rounder for Carr, then ship off Rex or Griese for a late draft pick to make up for it. Rex would probably be easier to ship off, with Griese's contract lasting 4 more years and Grossman's just one. Plus, we'd have to open up #8 for Carr ;) I'd take Boller over Carr for a 3rd rounder IMO. ugh.

I'd say he's more of a F or P but not a V.

Not it isn't. Ben is much much much much better than Grossman. It's really not even remotely close. Even in this, Ben's worst year, he was signifigantly better than Rex. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/qb.php

Looks like Noel Devine is heading to WVU assuming he qualifies academically. Otherwise he's going to JUCO for a year.

I'm afraid of what we'd have to give up for him. Would he be worth 2 firsts? I doubt he's on the block but I'd probably make that deal.

[WishfullThinking]We could also go balls to the wall for McNabb[/WishfulThinking]