rawaction

You forgot about Steltz, who sounded like the most seriously injured on the night from what I'd read. I think Wright should be ok though...even if he has a broken finger, he won't miss a huge amount of time. Forgot about Steltz, you're right. Wright has looked good to my eyes. It would be a shame if a promising young player like that just couldn't stay healthy. And we really need someone to come in and become that guy for us, too. Since Mike Brown's prime we've just needed that position to become OK for us again, and it hasn't happened. Steltz has been insignificant with this team in the 2 years he's been here. As far as I'm concerned, he falls behind Chris Harris, Al Afalava, Major Wright, Josh Bullocks and Danieal Manning on the depth chart anyway. Based on your injury report, I'd say they got off pretty easy for week 1. The biggest concern, however, needs to be how they plan to protect the qb. The problem is that Steltz has played better football than all of the safeties you have him behind. Harris was traded away because he was lackluster before, and isn't great still. Afalava is probably going to be cut and was a failure last year (granted he was a 6th rounder thrown into the fire). Wright, has 1 exhibition game under his belt. Bullocks was a YouTube laughing stop. Manning is fast and stays on the field because he's Lovie's buddy. Steltz is probably the slowest and least talented of the group, but he also probably has the best instincts and is the least out of position. He'll still probably be the 4th safety option at best, but he deserves to be on the team over Afalava and Bullocks at the very least.

Basically, if you pick a QB, you get stats for him and whoever else plays QB for that team that game. So, if Favre gets hurt in the 2nd quarter, you aren't SOL. You also get the points from whatever Tavaris Jackson does.

Yep and there is some buzz that Jeremy Hollowell could follow suit in the coming week. That would be awesome. Finally some good news for IU basketball! I don't know if I can handle 2 more crappy years though. Patterson, Hollowell, and Jerkin would look nice alongside Watford, Hulls, and Creek. The only problem is that if Watford and Creek continue to develop, they won't be around in 2012 anyway. And if they don't, the combo won't look so nice. Of course that is looking way too far ahead. You really don't think this team will continue to improve the next two seasons? If we lose 20 games again then I'll eat my shoe. Barring another critical injury like a Mo Creek repeat then I'm feeling pretty solid about the 2010-2011 team winning at least 15 or 16 games which would get them into NIT territory. I'd expect the incremental improvement to continue in 2011-12. They'll improve, but the conference isn't getting any weaker. I don't see them winning 15-16 this year. Maybe 12-13. Then 15-18 the year after, and 20 or so if Zeller comes in 11'. Edit: Didn't realize they won 10 last year (was thinking more like 7-8). I figured 4-6 games better this year, so 14-16 wins is doable.

Yep and there is some buzz that Jeremy Hollowell could follow suit in the coming week. That would be awesome. Finally some good news for IU basketball! I don't know if I can handle 2 more crappy years though. Patterson, Hollowell, and Jerkin would look nice alongside Watford, Hulls, and Creek. The only problem is that if Watford and Creek continue to develop, they won't be around in 2012 anyway. And if they don't, the combo won't look so nice. Of course that is looking way too far ahead.

I watched up until the Bears TD drive. Beekman and Louis were pretty horrible at C and RG respectively. Beekman in particular was beat on every single play that I saw. I thought Omiyale looked pretty solid. Williams looked good. Those 2 along with Garza were solid in pass protection. All 3 stayed on their blocks in the run game, but got 0 push.

Fukudome doesn't really solve their OF problems. Oh, and I really don't want Papelbon....especially not for 12Mil.

I'm very confident in my fantasy football abilities, but I have been made an offer I'm seriously debating. Basically, I would get the 4th pick overall (in a keeper league) and give up my 2nd and 3rd round picks. My keeper is Ray Rice, in the 4th round, therefore I don't have a 4th rounder this year. I won the league so I pick 12th. So, basically I would have Rice, the #4 pick (likely to be Andre Johnson), and still pick at 12. But I wouldn't pick again until 60th. This is a PPR league, where we start TeamQB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR/TE, K, DEF. Is having Ray Rice, Andre Johnson, and someone like Calvin Johnson worth not having another pick til 60? I think I could still pick up a WR like Garcon, Nicks, or Berrian at 60 and a RB like B Wells, Jacobs, Best, Ronnie Brown at 61. What does everyone think?

Rexy looks damn sexy! Good for him to be able to work with Shanahan to rejuvenate his career.

To be fair, I don't think he had much of a chance to "stack up" the OL, AFTER he got Cutler. Part of the investment for that franchise QB was two #1 picks and a 3rd round pick. By the time the Bears 1st pick came this year, there were no linemen on the board that were worthwhile. The FA class of OL was pretty weak due to no CBA, so no help there either. Additionally, before 2009 he did spend on Omiyale, Pace, and invested heavily in essentially a highly drafted rookie in Chris Williams year and probably thought he had a solid line for at least a couple years. That being said, the Gaines Adams trade was stupid, even when he was alive. And could have been potential OL help in the 2nd round this year (like Beadles or Ducasse). He traded back in 2009 and could have had an OL like Levitre, Vollmer, Beatty, or Loadholt who all started some games as rookies. I think the problem with the Oline is that Angelo basically ignored it from 2005-2008 From 2003-2008 actually.

He does not care about offensive line. When he was with Tampa and that team had a great defense but no offense, every year there were questions about the line. They'd bring in journeymen all the time. It's weird that he spent his first draft pick on Columbo, but it's well documented just how much he ignored the line for most of the rest of the decade. He went hard after it in one year, but it was way too late to build a good line and could only serve to patch holes. The offensive line is the one place where you need 5 players on the field at all time and where your weakest link is easily exploited. You can't treat it like other positions, it has to be constantly upgraded. It's especially bad when you consider what he spent the draft picks on between Columbo and Williams. Devin Hester has done great things for the Bears, but he was drafted in the 2nd round as a return specialist. Danieal Manning went ahead of him in that same draft. The Bazuin pick when DE was not a need. Tank was the 2nd of 2 DTs picked in the 04 draft. Benson wasn't a huge need at RB, but that was not a deep OL draft. Even Olsen when TE wasn't a huge need. Only Bazuin is a bad pick, but at least 2 of those picks should have been on the OL. Beekman (in the 4th) was the only pick before the 7th round the Bears used on the OL between Columbo and Williams. That's disgusting.

I feel ya. I'm 29 and would be considered almost past my prime for professional sports. That's just not right! My birthday is a couple months off from Kerry Wood, so he's been my measure for quite a while now in that regard. I'm a year and a day older than Kerry, so he's been my measuring stick too.

To be fair, I don't think he had much of a chance to "stack up" the OL, AFTER he got Cutler. Part of the investment for that franchise QB was two #1 picks and a 3rd round pick. By the time the Bears 1st pick came this year, there were no linemen on the board that were worthwhile. The FA class of OL was pretty weak due to no CBA, so no help there either. Additionally, before 2009 he did spend on Omiyale, Pace, and invested heavily in essentially a highly drafted rookie in Chris Williams year and probably thought he had a solid line for at least a couple years. That being said, the Gaines Adams trade was stupid, even when he was alive. And could have been potential OL help in the 2nd round this year (like Beadles or Ducasse). He traded back in 2009 and could have had an OL like Levitre, Vollmer, Beatty, or Loadholt who all started some games as rookies.

Which is why the Bears really need a solid backup. Well, that's not going to happen. Even if the Bears had a solid backup, the money goes to Cutler. The two-1sts went for Cutler. The not-so-distant future of the franchise depends on Cutler. If the OL can't show that they can't protect him, the OC has to do so by keeping him out of harm's way. And if your OL isn't good enough, the best thing to do is adjust and get rid of the ball quicker. Martz hasn't shown the willingness to adjust. Not hating on Martz. He is what he is. The Bears will turn the ball over and Cutler will get sacked a lot. But they will probably score 3-5 more ppg than they did last year. I'm ok with the Martz hire. But I would like it a lot more if this was already a good defense without a deadbeat head coach, and was an offense away from championship contention (ala Baltimore). Cutler is probably going to have his 4th OC in 4 years next year, I just hope he is alive to see him.

Yeah thats what I'm saying. The offensive coaches have to have confidence in the O-line if they are comfortable going to the 5 step drop. Or the offensive coordinator has always run a 5-7 step drop offense and isn't able or willing to adjust to fit his personnel, hence why he was available for hire in the offseason. Not saying this is 100% the case, but I think it's off-base to say the team is comfortable with its OL rather than Martz's being Martz. After all, Jon Kitna was sacked....wait for it.....114 times in 2 years! His QBs got sacked 55 more times in SF in 2008. After the Superbowl season w/ the Rams, his QBs got sacked an average of 45 times a year.

Sometimes a young, raw talent like that will flourish when given the chance. We can only hope. I'm glad Martz/Tice are trying it. I think Tommie's (and recall reading the same about Toeina on 1 play in particular) been lighting him up in practice though. I wonder what happened w/ Asiata? Was he that bad? What about Beekman? Though I figured he wouldn't be the starter. Come on now, it's been what? A couple days? Give the kid a chance. A couple days was long enough to put Asiata and Beekman on the 2nd team.

Sometimes a young, raw talent like that will flourish when given the chance. We can only hope. I'm glad Martz/Tice are trying it. I think Tommie's (and recall reading the same about Toeina on 1 play in particular) been lighting him up in practice though. I wonder what happened w/ Asiata? Was he that bad? What about Beekman? Though I figured he wouldn't be the starter.

Not on topic completely, but I didn't feel like starting a new one.... But I REALLY REALLY love keeper leagues w/ my co-workers. My point of advice if you are in a football keeper league, is pay attention to your fellow managers. I can pretty much plan my football draft this year, not because I know who everyone is going to pick....but because I know who certain players WON'T pick. Watch who gets burned by a high pick. Know who each manager hates and will not draft for stupid personal reasons. I know that I can pick Jay Cutler in the 8th or 9th round, because everyone in my league will stay away from him. And w/ 4 QB keepers, there will be reaches for QBs after Brees and Rodgers go (best 2 QBs on the board). I know that the other league managers buy into hype and will overdraft guys who were projected to be sharing touches at this point last year just because they are projected to be "the man" this year. You fit this description if you drafted TJ Houshmanzadeh or Matt Cassel last year or plan to draft Boldin or LeShon McCoy in the top 15 at their position.

Who's out there for us to pursue? The second base free agent market is pretty awful, though I don't know who might be had in a trade. DeWitt is probably the best option at second (or a Fontenot/somebody platoon). Brian Roberts?

Am I? Or are you for knowing what I'm talking about? :twisted:

I'm so pissed about the scheduling of the NY games. Any other week and I would have gone to that one, and anything other than Christmas and I would have gone to the Jets game in Chicago. Yeah, I was alll set to go to Toronto for the Bears/Bills, but that game is the same weekend as my son's 1st birthday. Dallas game was a longshot, but that wouldn't have worked out anyway.

The combination of the names Lincecum and Dempster remind me of a movie I saw once.

In the process of getting tickets to the Bears at NY Giants Sunday night game, Oct 3. :beg: Ironically enough, game I went to last year was a Sunday night game, Week 4 (oct 4, Chargers/Steelers).

HA. I got what he was saying right away.

Yeah, well he's wrong. They can. They won't. But they can.

Dead lift of 625lbs is amazing.