raw

Yeah, I watched the JT O'Sullivan breakdown and he pointed out the Dolphins definitely clamped up the coverage after that first drive. He blamed lack of talent on the outside, but I honestly think it's tough in the NFL to get open just running straight against non-press coverage that you don't completely beat off the line. The Bears need to run rub routes and crossers to get guys open (everyone does) and it seems like there aren't enough of guys just beating their man.

Mentioned this in the Bears thread but I have Lamar Jackson and Justin Fields as my QB in one of my money leagues. PPR, 12 teams. Rest of the team is: RB- Aaron Jones, Cordarrelle Patterson, Rhamondre Stevenson, Josh Jacobs (board dictated RB heavy) WR- Devante Adams, Brandon Aiyuk, Amon Ra St. Brown,, Devin Duvernay, Alec Pierce TE- Kyle Pitts, Mike Gesicki Def/K- who cares Obviously, WR is my weak spot. Fields has been QB1 the last 4-5 weeks. I am 4-5, and would be in the last playoff spot based on points. But Fields has a final week of regular season bye, then has Buffalo and Philly in the fantasy playoffs. It is a keeper league where we keep 1 player and lose the pick in the round he was picked in previously, so Fields is potentially a great keeper (got him like 11th or 12th round). I want to trade Jackson, but do I actually trade Fields? He probably has more value to a team not in the playoff hunt and it saves me disappointment potentially in the playoffs (Jackson has Cleveland, Atlanta and Pittsburgh). My target right now is Jaylen Waddle, but Tee Higgins is likely also attainable from that same team.

I know, rushing record and all, but this game wasn't all a bunch of improvisational excellence. Fields did some great things as an actual QB, not just as a running QB. - The 11 yard screen to Claypool, looked like a check at the line. Fields saw off man coverage and signaled to Claypool to widen to create more space for him (who probably doesn't know many checks yet), got it to him 1-on-1 and he broke a tackle for a 1st down. Rodgers does this all day if you let him. - The TD to Kmet seems like an easy toss that was blocked well and Kmet made the run after catch. But that play worked because of the fake handoff. It was something they pointed out in camp that Rodgers did very well and Fields actually tried to do it early in the year and got sacked because the fake wasn't good enough. - Obviously the TD throw to Mooney was beautiful, but he read the beautiful route combination and hung in there and threw that ball with a guy in his face. There was another check to Mooney to go deep in the opposite endzone. It was well covered, and a non perfect throw, but loved the recognition. - Threw a dime on the DPI call Claypool did get early in the game. - Then there's the RPO stuff. Fields has misread some reads the last 2 years, actually been disappointing how much he has misread a concept he ran in college at the pro level. But he made the right read all day. That's not a throwing thing, but its something a QB these days has to be able to do well. Tua does it flawlessly which is why he's leading the league in passer rating.

That's just crazyI see what you did here.

Ha. I had assumed there was at least 1 offensive lineman in that group.

It's not really about the Lions. The Patriots game was unexpected and seemed a little fluke-y. Dallas was fun, but loss. Miami was fun, also a loss. But this is as expected a win that's left on the schedule. I want a preview of what a good offensive team should do to teams like the Lions. And that's how they should be bad teams going forward I understand that point, but I also want the Packers coach on the hot seat, their children eaten...etc Well, I do too, but I didn't mention the Packers, ya know....because they are irrelevant to the Bears at Lions gamethread.

It's not really about the Lions. The Patriots game was unexpected and seemed a little fluke-y. Dallas was fun, but loss. Miami was fun, also a loss. But this is as expected a win that's left on the schedule. I want a preview of what a good offensive team should do to teams like the Lions. And that's how they should be bad teams going forward

Not a bad idea. Fields' schedule is pretty friendly too for the rest of the fantasy regular season. Unfortunately the Bears bye comes the last week of the fantasy regular season which might be rough if you are fighting for a playoff spot the last week. Also his fantasy playoff opponents (Philly, Buffalo) are pretty tough Yeah, I saw that as well. Maybe I could trade Fields at his highest point? But it's also a keeper league where we keep 1 player and lose the pick for that round the following year. But Fields will be one of the best keepers there is, even if he isn't QB1 the rest of the way like he's been the last month.

horsefeathers it. I want a win. I want a blowout win. I'm probably setting myself up for disappointment. But I want 30 points again. I want the Lions to be the typical Lions. I want Dan Campbell on the hot seat after this. I want Fields to eat his children.

I'm thinking I'm going to try to make a playoff run with Fields as my FF QB. I have Lamar Jackson as my starter. He had 2 games similar to Fields yesterday in Weeks 2 and 3, but his point output has decreased every week. Going to trade to trade him for Jaylen Waddle on a team with no shot at playoffs.

the offense almost doesnt need to be upgraded at this point. maybe accented, better interior OL perhaps, more time developing Fields/Mooney/Claypool/Kmet it still needs a lot, esp on the OL, and they are absolutely going to have to do a lot, which is what makes this even more exciting Yeah, they can't build the offense around Fields scrambling for 100 yards every week. He wants to throw the ball down the field, but doesn't have the time. The perfect balance would be a line that allows him to hit guys down the field, and then you compliment that with his ability to scramble for 60 yards on any given play.

The whole tiebreaker where teams with harder SOS pick lower is so stupid. On the surface the logic makes sense but it annoys me that you punish a team for playing a disproportionately difficult schedule. I think the logic is opposite. They aren't punishing teams for a difficult schedule, they are pitying teams who couldn't win against a lesser schedule.

It won't be easy. There's just stone cold nothing on the FA market. That's why we paid through the nose for Claypool. I mean there definitely will be capable, above replacement WR in FA. The question is if Poles sees a big-ish FA signing with Mooney and Claypool set for FA in 2024. Does he see three big-ish money WR or are they relegated to draft picks and lotto tickets now that he did the Claypool move. Many of the top offenses really only have 2 big time targets. Hill and Waddle in Miami. Brown and Smith in Philly. Diggs and Davis in Buffalo. Chargers when healthy have Allen and Williams. Chiefs for years had Hill and Kelce. DK and Lockett in Seattle. Teams with 3 really good targets are rare, as there just aren't enough footballs to go around. Cincinnati is the exception more than the rule, and they may only go 2 deep going forward with Chase and Burrow soon to get big paydays. Granted, the Bears 2 aren't nearly as good as any of those 2s with no top 10 level WR. But with Velus (assuming they don't give up on him and find a niche role for him) and if they keep Harry (and he has a solid 2nd half), that along with getting Kmet in the pass game more and not blocking, honestly MAY be enough to field a really respectable offense the way Fields is playing. I definitely don't think you see them spend on a WR. IDK that they'd draft a WR top 10 now either. Seems more of a luxury than a necessity, if today is a glimpse on how much a factor Claypool will be (should have been 2 PI calls). Of course, the wildcard is the 125Mil. If they pay for 2 OL and some pieces on defense, BPA may truly be one of the top WRs in the draft.

It won't be easy. There's just stone cold nothing on the FA market. That's why we paid through the nose for Claypool. I mean there definitely will be capable, above replacement WR in FA. The question is if Poles sees a big-ish FA signing with Mooney and Claypool set for FA in 2024. Does he see three big-ish money WR or are they relegated to draft picks and lotto tickets now that he did the Claypool move. Many of the top offenses really only have 2 big time targets. Hill and Waddle in Miami. Brown and Smith in Philly. Diggs and Davis in Buffalo. Chargers when healthy have Allen and Williams. Chiefs for years had Hill and Kelce. DK and Lockett in Seattle. Teams with 3 really good targets are rare, as there just aren't enough footballs to go around. Cincinnati is the exception more than the rule, and they may only go 2 deep going forward with Chase and Burrow soon to get big paydays. Granted, the Bears 2 aren't nearly as good as any of those 2s with no top 10 level WR. But with Velus (assuming they don't give up on him and find a niche role for him) and if they keep Harry (and he has a solid 2nd half), that along with getting Kmet in the pass game more and not blocking, honestly MAY be enough to field a really respectable offense the way Fields is playing. I definitely don't think you see them spend on a WR. IDK that they'd draft a WR top 10 now either. Seems more of a luxury than a necessity, if today is a glimpse on how much a factor Claypool will be (should have been 2 PI calls). Of course, the wildcard is the 125Mil. If they pay for 2 OL and some pieces on defense, BPA may truly be one of the top WRs in the draft.

This isn't a single game though, it's been 3 straight games of 29 or more points and strong play from Justin. 2 came against really good defensive teams. And last week isn't really a "yeah but" because the Bears were able to come back in that game and it was competitive until a defensive TD, which wasn't Justin's causing (besides not touching the dude). Also, I wanted this win. It's hard to root for a loss when the Bears actually have a chance. I didn't think they would, but the only thing missing from his resume is a GW TD drive. He's now done his part to get one vs. Miami, Washington, Minnesota, and last year in Pittsburgh. At some point, a confidence building win would mean more to the team that a boost in draft slot.

Real ones never waivered

Velus Jones a healthy inactive. LOL. What a horrible draft pick. But to be fair, it's hard to predict a 25 year old WR who's breakout year came at 24, would be a bad pick.

Anyone know of a good streaming site for this one?

Speed is a MF'er. Probably easier to defend if guys are slower and take longer to uncover. Also, the run action slows pass rushers down, but they seem to have a pretty good OL as well. But I wonder how much Tua being left-handed has to do with the success of that play? The direction he showed that play is to Tua's throwing side. I wonder if the defense is used to it being the other way around. Either way, it's hard seeing the Bears having very much success against this offense. The DBs are the strength of the defense, especially now after losing the best 2 front 7 guys. But it's a lot to ask to keep up with Waddle and Hill. The pass rush is non-existent and I'd imagine the run action will still get some overzealous LBs to bite as they know the front 4 isn't that strong. I wonder if Miami is even dressing a punter this week?

Interesting timing on the Borom clearing concussion protocol. No practice in 2 weeks then practice in full today to be removed from injury report. I believe Riley Reiff has a 4.5Mil incentive that activates if he plays 10% of the team's snaps. He played all 79 offensive snaps last week, and if he played them all this week, he'd certainly have hit 10% as the Bears are on pace for 1054 snaps and this would have put him well over 120. I read a tweet that Whitehair "will play". Assuming that means he'll start.

I'm in 3 leagues. 1 for fun, with my son. 1 (money) keeper league I've been in forever. And 1 money league with my current co-workers. And I have Fields in every league. I have Hurts in the fun one. Lamar Jackson in the keeper. And ironically my work league team's name is "Fields of Dreams" with Justin as the logo...but I did NOT draft him in that league. I did, however, just pick him up off waivers before last week's game. I've started Brady every week except once when I started, Marcus Freaking Mariota (who outscored Brady in that and other weeks). I went with Brady last week because I thought Dallas was a rough matchup, but Fields is my guy from now on until his BYE week. He's been QB2 for the last 4 weeks of fantasy play.

If the pick is top 5, it's going to be one of Carter, Anderson or Murphy otherwise, if they manage to stay in the 10-15 range, I think Johnston might be in play. Yea if they manage to stay outside of the top 10, a lot more things end up in play. But unless they are top 5, they kind of just need to plug every hole in FA like they don't know what will be there in the draft, because they really won't know. So whoever they use their 1st on will just be a bonus at that point. Major holes entering the offseason WR3 RB2 C (or G depending how they feel about Patrick/Whitehair) OT (with Borom and Jones competing for the other) DE1 (they actually have okay depth, but need a major talent here) DTx2 (only Jones under contract) LBx2 Not every one of those is gonna be a $10M free agent, but if they can get solid vets at those 9 spots (which could include some resigning), the draft becomes wide open to just add star potential wherever. Ideally: WR3- Draft, first 3 rounds RB2- Draft, end of day 2 at best, early day 3 more likely (really like this RB draft class) C/G- I think Patrick is probably back. Write off this season as injured, give him a shot at C next year. I'd draft a guard top 3 rounds as well as bringing in a cheap (not as cheap as Schofield types) depth piece T- Sign a guy, give him a lot of money. I like Elgton Jenkins. He could play G or T, and allow you to just draft the best guy you can, but if you get a true OT, it's fine. LT, RT, whatever. Get a good blocker. DE- I'd probably use a top 90 pick here. Doesn't make a ton of sense to spend big money here. They just got rid of 2 big money DEs. I'd be fine with getting rid of Muhammad and spending 7-8M/year over his 5Mil or whatever, but I'd draft a guy here for sure. Fix DT, WR, and OL this offseason and I think you can go into 2023 with DE as a 1st round target, as it would hopefully be the biggest need at that point. DT- spend BIG on a FA. Daron Payne obvious target. They were willing to spend big this year on a DT, no reason they shouldn't be willing to again. I actually kind of like Armon Watts, so I wouldn't mind bringing him back. I'd probably spend on a 2nd DT, a big body guy. I saw the Cowboys run D numbers w/ Jonathan Hankins on the field vs. off, and he's a huge difference maker in the run game. Perfect fit to replace Pennel, who is bad. LB- Probably gotta draft a guy. I really like what I've seen from Sanborn and Weatherford, but that was preseason. Ideally, they'd be strong backups and special teamers. Morrow is fine. If not him, there are a million like him. Also, gonna have to draft a guy. If you find one you REALLY like, maybe take in top 3 rounds. If not, 4th is fine. Depends on what you do at DE. IF you keep Muhammad, gotta go DE early. IF you upgrade Muhammad, but don't splurge for a big money guy, then maybe move LB up. Intrigued here because Flus seems to really know LBs, so if he takes one earlier than I'd hope, I'll assume he's a stud.

Yeah, I've always had him in the Mixon/Aaron Jones level. The both signed 4/48 with less than 15Mil guaranteed. I think on paper people would freak out over 12M/year for a RB, but the reality is, if you structure it right, he'd never see a 12M cap hit. I'm leaning more toward them keeping him because he's a 2022 asset to Fields, moreso than him being thought of as a 2023 and beyond asset. Franchise tag for a RB that's not your leading rusher this year (with same number of carries) is not a good look. I think he's gone after the year.

This is the way!

Yeah, grain of salt. I was watching NFL Network when the trade was announced and they were confused why the Bears would make the trade as well. I think the media is looking at it as "Why did a bad team trade for a player when they should be trying to add draft picks?" They are looking at the fact that the Bears are not competing this year, whereas the Packers could compete by adding a WR. They are ignoring the fact that there is 0 in the pending free agency class and that Fields gets 9 games to work with Claypool instead of waiting until the offseason and not get this season with a good WR. Bad teams sell. Good teams buy. It's all black and white to media types.