rawaction

Exactly what I was thinking. Colts 9-7 with Peyton. The lack of a run game and a defense that can shut team down has to catch up with them eventually. They barely won 10 last year, escaping the Raiders and Titans by a combined 8 points in the last 2 weeks. I was picking the Texans anyway, because I figured they could win 10. And even if they didn't, they would win 9 and sweep the Colts in the division for the tiebreakers. As for the Titans, I really like them bringing in Hasselbeck. He won't win a playoff game or anything, but he will at least put the team in position to make a run at 7-9 wins if he's healthy. Their pass D might kill them, but I wanted to go out on the limb for 1 playoff spot.

I think they could very easily be much, much better offensively. They're not running a hyper-conservative offensive system that castrates the team's QB and top receiver. They have added significant speed at all the skill positions. My biggest question mark is really the offensive line (particularly the right side...what were these morons thinking by signing Marc Columbo, let alone starting him, let alone moving a 7-year starting tackle to guard to start him?!), but it's a huge one. If it holds up, there's room for a massive jump. If it doesn't, it could just as easily fall apart. I think the Dolphins defense will be terrific, though, and has a legit shot at #1 in the league. What Bush having a good year doesn't mean the Dolphins will be good. Go ask Frank Gore.

My 10 bold predictions and final standings for the 2011 NFL season. 1. Houston Texans finally live up to the hype, dethrone the Colts. Doesn't seem as bold with Peyton likely to miss a lot of time, but the writing's been on the wall. Top passing game was joined by great run game last year. Get anything on D and they are a strong team. Even if they aren't good on D, change to 3-4 will be enough to at least change the culture. Enough to win the AFC South. 2. Reggie Bush finally lives up to the hype. 1500 total yards from scrimmage in Miami. 3. Out with the Old, Part I. At least 2 of the perennial playoff teams in the AFC will miss the playoffs this year (Pats, Colts, Steelers, Ravens). 4. Out with the Old, Part II. None of Peyton Manning, Brady, Rivers, Brees, or Schaub will win the passing yards title this year. 5. The Cleveland Browns will win 8 games. Blew out NE and NO last year in consecutive weeks, and lost 7 games by 7 or fewer points last year. Strong OL, solid youth on D, strong leader/winner at QB. Add in one of the easiest schedules. Recipe for turnaround in Cleveland. 6. One of the bottom 1/3 teams in power rankings (Bills, Titans, or Redskins) will win 9 games this year. 7. There will be NO coaches fired during the season for the first time in a long time. 8. Josh McDaniels does it again. After being record setting OC in NE a few years ago, making Orton a significant passing QB, he will make Sam Bradford a 4000 yard passer this year. 9. Every NFL team will win at least 4 games this year.....except the Cincinnati Bengals 10. NFL will have a record low for kickoff return TDs, including NONE in the first month of the season. AFC East- NY Jets, Patriots, Bills, Dolphins AFC North- Steelers, Ravens, Browns, Bengals AFC South- Texans, Titans, Colts, Jaguars AFC West- Chargers, Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos NFC East- Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Redskins NFC North- Packers, Bears, Lions, Vikings NFC South- Saints, Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers NFC West- Rams, Cardinals, Seahawks, 49ers *wildcard teams in red

Yeah, I think they miss it as well. But I'm holding out hope. I'm concerned. But you know me. I'm always concerned. Right now I'm just damn happy to have football back. I'm just going to take it one week at a time, see where it all leads. I think the Bears get in. But it's going to be tough. Green Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Philly are all expected to get in, plus an NFC West team has to get in by rule. That leaves only 1 spot assuming no major dropoff from the first 4. I'd like to think the Bears get in in the race between Chicago, Tampa, Giants, Cowboys and Lions. Tampa won 10 last year, but 0 vs good teams. The Giants keep losing guys and the season hasn't started yet. The Cowboys have the talent, but no more so than the talent that won 6 last year. And the Lions....are the Lions.

That'd be silly. He has no leverage and is far more valuable to the team than he would be on the trade market. I don't know about that. If the Bears could get a 3rd or high 4th for Briggs, I'd trade him in a heartbeat. A 3rd rounder for a 31-year old LB would be awesome.....which is probably why it won't happen. Basically my point is, if you get a good draft pick for him, do it. If not, keep him. If he wants to hold out, let him. But I wouldn't extend his contract or pay him an additional dime at all.

Belicheck took issue to Meriweather's work ethic and his attitude, along with his off-field problems. NE tried to trade them, but nobody would give up a draft pick of note for him. He only made the probowl last year because Troy Polamalu (Superbowl) and Ed Reed (injury) could not go. In 2010, Jairus Byrd and Antoine Bethea didn't play in the pro bowl. And Brian Dawkins made it as a SS for some reason. Still he's easily in the top 1/3 of NFL safeties.

Well, that's an interesting pick up. Oh, and yet another former #1 draft pick. I'm guessing he replaces Venable on the roster. I'd rather him replace Steltz. Kinda already know what we have in Steltz, and it's below average backup. Been that for 4 years. Might as well see if Venable can develop at this point. This is a very good pickup. Lights a fire under Major Wright. I don't think Meriweather goes Week 1, but after that I think the Bears go back to a 3-man rotation at S with Harris, Wright and Meriweather.

Pretty good depth at every position other than LB though. I don't understand that article saying we're thin at cornerback. Tillman, Jennings, Bowman, Graham, D.J. Moore, Josh Moore. More quantity than quality, but it still shouldn't be considered "thin". Yeah, 5 of those guys have significant experience. Graham has started 10 games in his career. DJ Moore played like 1/2 the downs last year. Granted it's probably the weakest position on the team, but they are not short of capable bodies.

Disagree. They're wonderful. Helmets are ugly, but uniforms are great. BTW, IU is going to lose to freaking Ball State.

Joe Adams is one of my favorite players in the 2012 draft. I think he will be one of the 5 fastest WRs, and he's a great route runner. As a WR, he reminds me of Devin Hester.....if Hester was as good as everyone hoped he could be.

Interesting cuts out there. Tavarres Gooden- LB cut by Baltimore. Fast LB that could play SLB or possibly MLB if necessary Brandon Meriweather- S cut by NE. 2-time probowler, I think he's overrated, but he's a solid player. Would allow the Bears to cut both Venable and Steltz and have a Plan B for Major Wright Jason Ford- DE cut by Titans. Not a big DE, but had 7 sacks as a rookie in 2008. Would give the Bears some experience and allow them to cut both Reed and Addison, though both have looked good.

I thought Horn played pretty well in preseason. He played RG and RT. I thought he played both well enough to be valuable depth. Figured they'd either keep 9 OL or that he'd make it over Edwin Williams. Oh and I really don't like the Dom DeCicco is the Bears 5th and last LB. Roach and Briggs both missed games last year and we all know about Urlacher. Scary LB corps with just 1 injury.

Everytime the Bears were brought up in that podcast, the refrain was "everything went right for them last year, weak schedule, third string QBs, no injuries" That's all they think about the Bears. They don't talk about how much we improved after the bye week. They don't talk about how we beat the Eagles rather handily (final score closer than game) back when Vick and the Eagles were considered unbeatable and expected to destroy us, beat the Lions in Detroit the week before Detroit started their 4 game winning streak to end the season, put up 34 points on the Jets defense in a win, beat the Packers in a primetime game and were seemingly the only team to make Aaron Rodgers look rather pedestrian at times in all 3 games. That's the problem with national pundits. They can't sit and watch all 32 teams and make impressions, so teams get labeled, and with few exceptions, groupthink takes over and everyone says the same thing. As a national fan, when they think of the Bears they probably think "jackass quitting QB throwing interceptions like crazy, awful offensive line (from watching the Giants game), no named receivers, aging defense, no way are they going to be good". Whatever, if there's one thing we've learned about the "experts" is that they are rarely ever accurate. Exactly. And I can't really fault analysts for for saying the Bears are not a playoff team this year. Can't even fault them for the perceptions they have of the 2010 team and the 2011 offseason. The Bears season was symbolized by Calvin Johnson not getting credit for what would have been a game-winning TD, a late fumble by James Jones that happened to hang on the sidelines for a Bears recovery, a record breaking 9 sacks allowed in 1 half with a concussed QB to go with it, a record breaking 4 INT game by DeAngelo Hall against Cutler, wins over injury riddled teams like Miami, Detroit, and Minnesota, a blowout loss at home vs. the Patriots, a late season loss to the Packers, and Cutler sitting on the sidelines as the Packers make their way to the Superbowl. Those lowlights and "lucky" moments far outweigh the Eagles and Jets wins. But while those things gathered the headlines, lost in the shuffle were: - The Bears completely dominated Detroit in Week 1 to the tune of 463 yards to 168. - Julius Peppers dominated the Packers Week 3 causing about 5 holding penalties on his own and Cutler led comebacks down 10-0 early and down 3 with under 6 minutues to go in the game. - While not much positive came out of the Giants game, the Bears still were only down 3 at halftime and just 7 with 5 minutes to go in the game in what was the worst offensive game in NFL history - The Bears still win the Redskins game if Lovie knew how to challenge plays - The Bears were clearly better teams than Miami, Detroit and Minnesota, who didn't do all that well when they were healthy. - The gameplan was vanilla vs. the Packers in the season finale and they had a chance to tie late against a team in full-on desperation mode. - The Bears had a chance to tie late with their 3rd string QB in the NFC championship game The fact is, the Bears did have their share of luck, but they were also a damn good team that didn't get any worse this offseason. There was not enough that happened since last season to think the Bears go from hosting the NFCC to having the #1 draft pick the next year. Their QB didn't go to jail or retire. They didn't lose any free agents of severe consequence. They didn't age rapidly. Predicting them to miss the playoffs is fine, but worst team in the league is a freaking joke.

Don't understand how anyone could pick the Bears as the worst team. Also don't understand the "easy schedule" stuff from last year. GB isn't going to be any tougher Detroit may be tougher, but Minnesota isn't as good as they were last year Play Carolina again. Play Seattle again. Play the Eagles again. All should be about the same as last year in "difficulty" Replace: Giants, Cowboys, Redskins (lost 2 of 3) with Saints, Falcons, Buccaneers. Ok, probably tougher on paper in the NFC schedule. But also replace: Patriots, Jets, Dolphins (on short week), Bills with Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos. Pats and Jets better last year than any of AFC West will be this year. The Bears have 7 games vs. 10-win teams from last year on the schedule this year. All other teams had .500 or worse records. Last year, the Bears went into the season with 7 games vs. 10-win teams from 2009 on the schedule. Also, played the Jets who won 9 in 2009. The schedule isn't much tougher than last year, especially when the Bears went to Dallas early enough that they were still a shoe-in playoff pick. Can talk about the Bears getting an injured Dolphins team, but they still had to travel to Miami on a short week.

I'm feeling pretty good about this game. The Falcons have not been able to run the ball either of the last couple times they have played. Both teams are mostly the same (Falcons add Julio Jones, lost Dahl; Bears have Peppers and different safeties) from the last time they played 2 seasons ago. That makes the Falcons 1-dimensional. From what I've seen this preseason, the Falcons D looks just like it did in the playoffs last year. The Steelers really lit them up in Week 3, which is the telling week of the preseason. Not that I'm putting a ton of stock into that, but the last 2 times they've gameplanned, the Falcons have given up 580 passing yards in 6 quarters. Plus, the Bears usually come out pretty strong defensively to start the season when everyone is healthy. I think the Bears take this one. Not sure about the 2 after that.

My guess is they don't have an opinion on the matter, and Lovie is more than happy to use the "disrespect" card. I definitely think the Bears have managed to never be overrated in the Lovie era. It suits him well. When the Bears brought in Cutler and Pace, plenty of people thought they were a potential SuperBowl team. Actually, I think Peter King had them in it vs. the Steelers. I know SI did, but not sure if it was King specifically.

I'm making a bold prediction that Jay Cutler will throw for 3800 yards this year. Looking at the shape he's in, and the improved footwork and accuracy that he's displayed this preseason, I think he's ready to make that next step into stardom.

About the Chester Taylor situation. I think I'd actually keep him at this point. With Khalil Bell playing special teams and Marion Barber's history of violence and always a risk for injury, Taylor may be necessary. Harvey Unga missing all but a week of camp/preseason pretty much rules him out as even the 4th RB. So, given the choice of Chester vs. only carrying 3 RBs, the Bears probably gotta keep Taylor. Chester does provide some pretty good pass blocking (Forte is pretty bad when faced vs. anything other than a CB) so he does have some value in a 1 or 2-back set on 3rd down. As for this game, I'd really like to see some guys step up. Really worried about this team's depth on defense. Haven't been impressed with any of the backup CBs (not counting DJ Moore, who is the starting nickel). Bowman, Graham, and J Moore need to show something. Haven't been impressed with the backup LBs. JT Thomas makes the team as the 5th LB because of just being drafted, but he'd be better as a 6th. 4th DE stepping up would be nice, but may have to go outside the organization for help here.

Don't care about the score. Cutler went 12-21 with 8.1 ypa. I don't like that the Bears were not able to establish a rhythm offensively, but that was 100% due to dropped passes. Of his 9 incompletions: Williams dropped a sure 1st down. Davis dropped a decent gainer. Hester fell down on a would-be TD. Hester got interfered with on a possible TD. Williams short-armed a slant. Even if you take away 1 of the Hester plays (2nd one wouldn't have happened if 1st play was a TD) and put the slant on Cutler for throwing the ball too hard.....you're still looking at 15-20 for probably 200 yards and a TD.

Could have been worse. I thought the OL was pretty strong in pass protection. Very good job by Garza, Williams, and Louis in particular at recognizing and picking up blitzes and stunts. Last year and last week, it seemed like they didn't really know where the rushers were coming from....while I was able to pick them out at home before the play even started. Webb was the weaklink of the OL by far, but he has played worse.

Stinchcomb was a fan favorite and leader in New Orleans. For them to cut him, he had to have been pretty bad. He was hurt all last year and was bad. SAck numbers don't show because Brees is pretty much amazing. Same with Peyton in Indy. I think he may be done in the league.

Williams was fine in the game. I didn't see him make any terrible mistakes. He got out on the 2nd level in the run game also. Garza was the one who whiffed on Merriman when he stunted inside from Webb. Louis was terrible. On the Webb holding play, Louis gave up pressure right up the middle and Cutler couldn't step up. He also gave up 2 sacks on Hanie.

Brett Jackson is 2-3 with 2 singles to RF.

Yeah, all the comparisons I have read have been "he's like ___, BUT". - I don't think he has Swisher's power and I think Swisher has a much better batting eye. Jackson is also going to be a lot better baserunner. - I've heard Drew Stubbs, but I think Jackson will make more contact than Stubbs. And for some odd reason, Stubbs has hit for HR power in the majors, but doesn't get much else in the way of XBH. I'd like to think of Grady Sizemore as a good comparison, but that's probably a little much. They are similar size. Jackson actually has better numbers in the minors than Sizemore did, especially in the power department. But I doubt Jackson will ever hit for Sizemore's power in the majors. He won't steal Sizemore's bases. And he probably won't have any 90+ BB seasons like Sizemore did twice. But Grady's career .270/.360/.475 line shouldn't be too far out of reach.

I don't think the problem is pitch recognition at all. I haven't seen much of him other than highlight videos, but I don't imagine he's chasing a lot of bad pitches, with his strike zone discipline. I definitely think his swing is a little long. I just recently watched some video of him in college and some as a professional, and he really chopped at the ball a lot more in college trying to be a true leadoff hitter. As he's hit for more power, his swing has gotten longer and he has a few more holes in his swing. He seems like kind of a tweener right now. Not quite a stud power hitter (30 HR + power) and definitely not a slap hitter. Maybe he needs to cut down his swing with 2-strikes, but I'd imagine he's been told to stay aggressive.