SpongeWorthy

Early in the game we'll come out with some exotic shift and formation change and then never do it the rest of the game. It really does seem like the play calls are pretty static once Cutler breaks the huddle. How often do you ever see him walk up to a lineman or a skill player to say something presnap? He's rarely pointing at LBs or DBs to alert the other guys on offense about certain things. These days a QB needs freedom at the LOS.

I'm also really high on Jamie Dixon. He doesn't get tremendous talent at Pitt but he focuses like hell on defense and they seem to always over perform a lot of the time, especially last year. A few years ago I would've put Howland up there too but I'm not sure what the hell is going on at UCLA.

I'd say those guys know what they're doing strategically, for the most part. Rick Barnes has proved all the talent in the world can't get you anywhere. Plus I think there are a lot of guys at 2nd tier programs who get decent talent and coach it up into conference and even Final 4 type teams...happens every year. Izzo is definitely in the top 4.

Classy. I wouldn't count on Purdue going back to mediocrity anytime soon. Oh, has Painter been recruiting another super class that nobody knows about? Because otherwise, yeah they are in for a bit of a slide. If by 'super class' you mean four star recruit after four star recruit, then yes. Purdue will have the same number of four star recruits on the roster next year as they did last year. Maybe it's more about coaching ability? Could be? In college basketball it's all about talent, not coaching ability. Also accrording to Rivals since your big 3 showed up in '07 Painter has had 10 3 star recruits and 5 4 stars. Not exactly 4 star after 4 star. All about talent? I don't agree with that. Coaches are important in any sport but I'd put a college basketball coaches importance 2nd behind a football coach.

I think the expression that if you're stuck in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging is apt here. The most we can do for the offensive line without pulling a miraculous trade out of our butt is for Martz to stop calling so many damn deep drops. We have two good pass catching backs that we're not using as safety valves. Almost every pass play takes a long time to develop with no dump offs available to Jay. I know Forte is a good receiver but it seems like he's downfield almost as often as Knox when he's not getting a hand off. Plus after the first few games the screen game has been non existant. And because we can't/won't run there's no play action or bootleg element either. Why don't we get Cutler out on the perimeter to throw? Or at least get him in the shotgun so has a better look at those blindside rushing DBs. Martz is so stubborn it's unbelievable. Also something needs to be done to get in 3rd and manageable instead of 3rd and 10+. I'd use wildcat on 1st and 2nd down more often. We probably won't get any big hitters out of it but we can at least fall forward for a yard or two. It makes a big difference. Plus it'd be another way for our dumb receivers to get their hands on the ball without running some complicated Martz route. How many times can a DB blitz unblocked before you call a quick hitter into his vacated area? These are basic adjustments we're talking about. Martz just wants to keep attacking at all times. I respect it to a degree but it's just dumb sometimes.

That was anticlimactic.

Neckbeard with 3 timeouts and about a minute left. CAN HE DO IT

Wow, Denver just gave up a huge PI on 4th and 6 to set the Jets up near the goal line and now New York has taken the lead.

Which Viking will Romo throw a crippling interception to on this drive???

I'm watching some stream of the Vikings game and it's actually an English channel broadcasting the Fox feed. Every so often some Englishman will come on and give his analysis of the game and all I can think is "aww look at the Englishman giving his analysis of football!" This must be what Englishmen think when some American is analyzing soccer.

Tony Romo is a loser.

I wish they'd throw to Miles Austin more. His buttocks are sublime.

Nice pass by Romo there.

I think Mizzou would be a decided under dog to all of those teams. Probably at least a touchdown in all cases. Of course polling shouldn't be based on that.

Dang Matt Prater just drilled a 59 yard FG. Of course it's Denver but still.

Briggs would've made a big difference.

I would like an explanation on how so many DBs can come straight to the QB with no one in sight.

let me guess, he talked about how he spent time with him a few years ago and how he is just such a great kid? He actually did use the phrase "great kid."

To be fair, we played a lot of press coverage today and we still had our usual A gap blitzes that did nothing. I don't think that qualifies as bend don't break. For example, Carroll runs the same defensive scheme as Lovie and we couldn't get convert a 3rd down to save our lives. It's an execution problem.

Timmy boy just scored his first NFL touchdown.

Yes, that is probably my biggest gripe about the bend don't break philosophy. You let teams settle into a drive and you lose TOP and field position. There were several times where it would've been nice to squeeze Seattle and get some field position.

What am I supposed to concede? That you aren't a complete idiot and they aren't completely incompetent? Okay, you aren't a complete idiot and the Bears defense occasionally makes a play. But they had a really bad day against a disturbingly mediocre offense that sucks on the road and has for multiple years and they have been a bad defense for 4 years now. What else do you want me to concede? Dammit you bastard you are sucking me back in. They gave up 353 yards on 71 plays.....4.9 yards per play. Seattles defense gave up 307 yards on 59 plays....5.20 yards per play. If the Bears gave up 4.9 yards per play thoughout the season, do you know where that would rank in the league? Tied for 9th in the NFL with Philly and Miami. That's a bad day? The defense is fine when they don't have to be on the field for 71 plays in a game. per play? You are making me rethink my first concession. They never stopped seattle which is why they allowed so many plays to happen. Yeah 4.9 yards per play. The best defenses in the league give up something like 4.3 yards per play. The worst this year around 6.5 yards per play. The Giants are at the top at 4.1 per play. I wonder why?

Being on the field for a lot of defensive plays is a consequence of not being able to stop 3rd downs and having your offense not sustain drives. In today's case it was both...Seattle was 7/12 on 3rd downs at one point, IIRC, until they started playing keep away.

Oh and lol at the Packers being a perennial powerhouse. A team that has two playoff wins in 13 years is a powerhouse? Compared to the Lions, yeah.