rawaction

How do you differentiate his physical ability from his ability to read a scheme and correctly guess/jump a route? The key to me is pass deflections and safety results when it comes to pass coverage. Urlacher isn't getting deep enough anymore to knock deep passes into the air for his safeties to pick off and return (Briggs is actually doing a decent job of this). And the safeties have been a disaster since Urlacher's brilliant 2006 and 2007 seasons. The only year the safeties have played at an acceptable level since 2007 was 2010, when Urlacher had a really good comeback year after a year off with no wear-and-tear on his legs. in 11 healthy years, urlacher has 105 PDs + INTs, that's 9.5 per year average. he had 10 last year. he hasn't declined. Pro Football reference has him with 6 last year after 4 straight healthy years of at least 9.

You're nuts. Harris was a beast and Tank Johnson was actually quite good for a year. You are honestly the only person I've heard suggest anything other than Urlacher isn't as good as he was at his peak. The team doesn't even pretend that is the case. Lovies system has played a bigger role in Urlachers perceived decline then his physical age. His physical decline is completely overblown It's the same system he was in when he was at his best. Urlacher put up next to career 16-game season lows in tackles, passes defensed, and had no sacks. Urlacher was pretty consistent 125+ tackles, 5 sacks, 3 INT player in Lovie's system in his prime. He clearly does not have that ability anymore. His decline in range could be a reason the safety play has been so bad the last few years. Granted, Mike Brown was a beast too, but he was often out of the lineup without much dropoff as the last few years have had. Where the hell did you get the average of 5 sacks thing? He hast averaged that since before the Lovie regime. And his ints have ticked up recently. His only real decline came in the tackles column, and that can be explained by teams running far less against the Bears ( see pass happy Detroit and GB) He hasn't been the super-freak we saw fly all around the field since the pre-Lovie days. That's due to a scheme change I didn't say the word "average" I said he was consistent 5 sacks a year in his prime. The first 4 years under Lovie he had 5.5, 6, 5 sacks in years 1, 2, and 4. The 3rd year he had none but that was the SB year and the front 4 had 34 sacks between them and he wasn't needed to rush the passer.

You're nuts. Harris was a beast and Tank Johnson was actually quite good for a year. You are honestly the only person I've heard suggest anything other than Urlacher isn't as good as he was at his peak. The team doesn't even pretend that is the case. prove it then, and how is the team "not pretending" that that is the case? saying that they're not pretending that's the case doesn't mean anything, it's literally empty conjecture. his stats haven't suffered and he's done what he's done all of his career in coverage, so there's no real proof that he's lost a step. i'd wager that most of it is perception because he's 34 years old. harris was a 3-technique interior lineman. he didn't play the same position as paea. tank johnson was ok. The team isn't pretending, or else he would be re-signed to a contract beyond this year. His stats have suffered. He doesn't get as many pass deflections as in the past. He doesn't rush the passer as well. He doesn't force fumbles like he used to. He doesn't make plays behind the line of scrimmage like he used to. The overall ranking/performance of the pass D has suffered. all that tells me is that the team is anticipating decline in the years after the age of 35. there is no proof of immediate decline. The first sentence could tell you that, but the rest are the stats you asked for that are declining. What else do you want? That's goony's point. Even if you think our reasoning is simply because he's 34....since when is that not a valid reason for assumption that a football player has lost a step?

How do you differentiate his physical ability from his ability to read a scheme and correctly guess/jump a route? The key to me is pass deflections and safety results when it comes to pass coverage. Urlacher isn't getting deep enough anymore to knock deep passes into the air for his safeties to pick off and return (Briggs is actually doing a decent job of this). And the safeties have been a disaster since Urlacher's brilliant 2006 and 2007 seasons. The only year the safeties have played at an acceptable level since 2007 was 2010, when Urlacher had a really good comeback year after a year off with no wear-and-tear on his legs.

You're nuts. Harris was a beast and Tank Johnson was actually quite good for a year. You are honestly the only person I've heard suggest anything other than Urlacher isn't as good as he was at his peak. The team doesn't even pretend that is the case. prove it then, and how is the team "not pretending" that that is the case? saying that they're not pretending that's the case doesn't mean anything, it's literally empty conjecture. his stats haven't suffered and he's done what he's done all of his career in coverage, so there's no real proof that he's lost a step. i'd wager that most of it is perception because he's 34 years old. harris was a 3-technique interior lineman. he didn't play the same position as paea. tank johnson was ok. The team isn't pretending, or else he would be re-signed to a contract beyond this year. His stats have suffered. He doesn't get as many pass deflections as in the past. He doesn't rush the passer as well. He doesn't force fumbles like he used to. He doesn't make plays behind the line of scrimmage like he used to. The overall ranking/performance of the pass D has suffered.

You're nuts. Harris was a beast and Tank Johnson was actually quite good for a year. You are honestly the only person I've heard suggest anything other than Urlacher isn't as good as he was at his peak. The team doesn't even pretend that is the case. Lovies system has played a bigger role in Urlachers perceived decline then his physical age. His physical decline is completely overblown It's the same system he was in when he was at his best. Urlacher put up next to career 16-game season lows in tackles, passes defensed, and had no sacks. Urlacher was pretty consistent 125+ tackles, 5 sacks, 3 INT player in Lovie's system in his prime. He clearly does not have that ability anymore. His decline in range could be a reason the safety play has been so bad the last few years. Granted, Mike Brown was a beast too, but he was often out of the lineup without much dropoff as the last few years have had.

The fact that they may still be good does not say anything about whether they are as good as ever. That is just simply not the case. They aren't as good as they were at their best, both the individuals discussed and the group as a whole. i know you have a striking distaste for anything older and believe that age in-and-of-itself is a mark of decline, but you can't make the case that there has been an appreciable, significant, or noticeable decline in urlacher, briggs, or peppers, although i can see you trying. Yeah you can for Urlacher. He used to be a better pass rusher, better pass defender, and a better run defender. He's still a very good player, but he's not the best player every time he takes the field anymore like he was in and around the Superbowl season. Will agree that Peppers and Briggs haven't had any significant decline. And I will say again that I don't think Melton is filler. He has a big role in the defense. On the 2006 defense, Tommie Harris was the 3rd of the Big 3 (with Urlacher and Briggs), but Ogunleye played a huge role along with Alex Brown. Melton is at least the Ogunleye of this defense, but plays a more pivotal position.

good piece. That's just not true. Hmmm....3/7ths of it might I was going to try to make an argument that the front 7 could be good for the scheme, but that's not the case either. Urlacher fits/fit the scheme great as a MLB that could both drop back into deep coverage and play the run (or rarely rush the passer) if needed. Peppers will fit every scheme, same with Briggs for the most part. There is no true three technique guy on the line, which I understand to be one of the most important things to have for Lovie's Cover 2 scheme. I don't see anyone on the roster that seems capable of filling that role either. The other DL's can play the run pretty well (talking Izzy, Melton, etc), but obviously there won't be enough pass rush unless someone like Paea or Wootten step up. No pass rush means LB's need to cover more ground and safeties need to make the right decisions every time so there are not blown assignments leading to wide open WRs. Also, I am by no means a football strategy savant so if any of that sounds wrong, feel free to call me out, but after almost 9 years of watching this defense, that's what I understand of it. Melton's a much better pass rusher than run defender. I believe he was at or near the league lead with 7 sacks from the DT position last year. The key for the 3-technique is to be quick off the ball and kind of make himself "skinny" to get thru the gap and wreak havoc in the backfield. I agree that someone will have to step up between Paea, Wootton, or McClellin in order to make the pass rush successful, but there's no reason Melton can't be a reliable part of it. He's shown plenty of signs.

I thought both Williamses did an excellent job at LG. Chris was one of the top 5-10 OGs in football when he was healthy last year. Edwin saw very little dropoff, especially in run blocking.

Problem for Hayden is that Jennings is having a really good camp too. Lovie came out and said that both Tillman and Jennings have been impressive. I wonder if we might see both on the field at times to either give the aging Tillman a rest or give a different look at nickel from DJ Moore. Also, by all indications Chris Williams is losing out at LT. The team has come out and said to "not read anything into this", but he hasn't played a snap there in 2 days, instead playing RT with the 2s (and with 1s, with Carimi getting some rest), while James Brown playing LT with the 2's. If it is also true what the team is saying that the loser of the LT battle will be the swing OT, then that means Chris Williams is on the bench. My point is, why isn't Edwin Williams then getting more of a chance to run with the 1s at LG....or even RG? At this point, I think I'd take him over any of Spencer, Rachal, or Louis. I'd take him over Garza at C, but that's not happening. At least 1 of the Williamses should be in the lineup at LG.

Breaking down by position isn't that telling, as the key is the difference between the 2 positions and who has the biggest advantage overall. That being said, the Bears and Lions are probably about as even as they can be at this point. If not for the Bears injuries, both teams probably make the playoffs last year. Head-to-head was 1-1. The Lions won a home game that was almost impossible for the Bears to win (first MNF game in Detroit in a decade). The Lions got blown out in a road game that was an anomaly for the season (Stafford implosion). The Bears probably upgraded more simply by bringing in Marshall and getting healthy. The Lions have a young core of players that can possibly improve as individuals. I think the biggest thing is that the Bears improved one of their biggest weaknesses by getting Brandon Marshall. They're gambling on the increase of bodies and for improvement on OL, DL, DBs. The Lions didn't really do a lot to upgrade their biggest weakness (pass D), but again have young players that could improve. I'd probably give the edge to the Bears based on the fact that I feel they were the slightly better team last year when healthy, and the fact that I think they upgraded more than Detroit this offseason.

That's geared toward Twitter. He seems to think that Lake is a decent enough prospect, but fans get a bit over excited about him last year and early this year. Eventually he started making a joke out of it and fans have been trolling him about Lake ever since. I think he comped him to Wilson Betemit at one point, which sounds about right. Betemit has had a crazy career. His OPS by team: 2005 ATL- .794 2006 ATL- .842 2006 LAD- .742 2007 LAD- .834 2007 NYY- .694 2009 CWS- .591 2010 KCR- .889 2011 KCR- .750 2011 DET- .871 2012 BAL- .752 He's been in and out of the majors, and he's been pretty good at times, OK at times, and terrible at times. His numbers in the minors are all over the place too. At his peak, he was the 8th rated overall prospect in baseball.

Who many? Seriously?

It should happen for every away game. Agreed. I especially like the white-on-white during indoor games. Looks so clean, and has no chance of getting dirty. Plus, I believe Devin Hester returned 2 kickoffs for TDs in the all-white in St. Louis.

Disaster is pretty crazy to say. First of all, Peppers is one of the top 3 players at his position. That's a pretty good start. Not even sure what "Melton isn't as good as his stats were last season" even means. He did disappear for several weeks in the early-middle of the season, but you're still talking about a guy that was at or near the league lead in sacks for his position, that was in his 1st year starting at DT after playing DE, FB, LB, etc. in college and his first 3 years in the NFL. I think he's a guy that's going to take a huge step forward this year. As Raisin said, Paea should improve. He's a 2nd round pick, that was a 1st round talent, just drafted last year. Brian Price was also a borderline 1st round talent, as he was drafted 35 overall just 3 years ago. Still very young. Don't put too much stock into a guy's first practice when he barely was able to pass the physical. It might take him right up to the season to get into shape, but the ability is still there, and still we're talking about the 4th DT here. As for DE, I don't have much hope for McClellin to be a huge contributor this season, but by all accounts Corey Wootton has had a really good camp so far. Chauncey Davis has also done some positive things. The DL definitely has some question marks, but they have 1 superstar player, and several developing talents (McClellin, Paea, Price, Melton), 3 of whom were top 50 selections within the last 3 years. The worry is that all these guys seem to have prior health concerns, but all were healthy for the most part last year, though none probably truly at 100%.

Freaked me out when I turned on MLBN and saw Jerome Williams pitching this year. I thought I was watching ESPN classic.

Reading between the lines it doesnt sound like Chris Williams is doing that well at LT. My guess is they still want him on the field and a move back to LG is still in play. Probably want to get Brown reps at LT to secure the 3rd OT spot so there is no shuffle in case of injury.

My God. Do you guys realize how amazing of a throw that is?

I have very high hopes, I just don't have very high expectations. Exactly. I'm expecting a Paea-like rookie year from him. I think he will have trouble getting on the field early in the year, but then get into some action after the bye week. Hopefully, though with a couple games against weak competition early (Indy, STL, Jags) he does surprise me and get on the field (blowouts?). But at this point, he doesn't appear ready, even if it's just to rush the passer on 3rd and long. Of course, "this point" is only 4 days into training camp, so plenty of time to go.

Marshall was apparently beasting last night in practice. Cant believe Bears got bot Cutler and Marshall....nfl should be ashamed for allowing this.

Cant copy and paste from my phone but Heyman tweeted that if Garza doesnt go this week, he will get traded in winter.

I think Lake is a good candidate to repeat AA next year at least to start the year. He missed the first month of the year and went through a decent sized slump at one point. Even if Alcantara is there Lake can get time at 3B full time if necessary. Kinda the same path as Ronny Cedeno back in the day minus the reps at 3rd

Sorry. I was illegal I picked up Lowrie to stash him on DL then Desmond went to DL so I had to pick up another SS and I thought I had the space to DL Desmond. Cut Lowrie and pickup a player

Damn didnt even know big J Collier was dead. Knew about Gladness, but forgot

At least the third former Hoosier from the 90s to die. Really sad. Who else has died?