BearFan PHX

I saw this short YouTube video with every one of Dexter's snaps this week and no commentary - and best of all, it's less than 4 minutes long You can easily see that he's only late getting out of his stance on about 15% of his snaps now, and when he's late it's by a much shorter interval. It's clear progress from week one. You can also see that most of the slower starts happened early in the game. He got more comfortable as the day went on, and then as he was in purer pass rush mode, he was right in rhythm with the whole line getting off the ball. And the one time he was late out of his stance in the 2nd half, he ends up two gapping the run for a tackle at the line of scrimmage. That may have something to do with it, schemewise, I dunno. All in all, this is massive improvement. As far as his impact and play, he collapsed the pocket quite a few times. He was never moved backward. he got a few pressures, and knocked the QB down too. I would say he is already playing at a decent average pro starter level now. And if he can improve that dramatically that quickly, there is no reason to predict any particular ceiling on him. I was convinced that he was a nose tackle playing out of position. Now I see what Poles must have. He has nose tackle strength and great size, but he's got still huge untapped potential to be a real impact player at 3T. I wonder if we won't start seeing some notable flashes in the weeks to come from him.

Youre right, I was conflating the two games statistically. My bad! Im just saying, we shouldnt be crowning Fields yet. He still has a long way to go. And it's late. We need to make a decision on him after this year, and Im not comfortable keeping him and signing him to a long term deal for big money on the basis of a few games and the idea that he's still growing. In fact, Im not even comfortable not picking a high first round draft pick QB this year based on incremental growth either. He needs to prove it, and it's getting late.

Yeah but even in his record breaking performance against Washington, completing 16 in a row, he STILL ended up with a 51.7 completion percentage. the rest of that just says he is one of the best scrambling QBs ever. True, he is. But he needs to become a better passer. And he needs to make faster decisions, and he needs to be consistent. If a QB only completes half his passes, is it better if he completes them all in a row in the first half? I'm glad to see a spark around Justin. I truly hope he emerges, but he is nowhere near there yet. he's still 1-4. and a lot of those touchdowns are because DJ Moore is a major stud.

right, and additionally, his poor spacing makes other routes easier to cover too. and when hes out there giving no effort on a block, hes a subtraction. better to have a lesser player who is at least trying. I was right about this turd. I think back to his sweater picture in France. Newsflash Claypool - when you're out of the league no one is going to want you to model their clothes anymore ya turd. It was about football, and you thought it was about YOU.

You're right - he is still late and not throwing with anticipation. Sometimes people are so wide open that it doesnt matter, but that's not a sustainable formula for success. I have been glad to see the Bears put up some points and win a game, but I definitely need to see Fields' internal clock get some sense of urgency. It shouldnt have to take the threat of being fired to make you play with a fire under your butt.

It's always a crapshoot on drafting QBs high int he first round. And it gets even harder to see from there down... This is very true. Moore is extremely underrated. If we were to get Marvin Harrison Jr - imagine Moore as your number 2! He reminds me of Steve Smith. Youre totally right - the broadcast should have shown it. Ive since seen stills that show he was out - but the ends dont justify the means, they still should have looked at it on replay for US and for them.

Yup! Moore's stats in Carolina are all the more impressive since he had no one throwing to him. Watching the film you see Moore get open and STAY OPEN so that these slow processing QBs can find him late. He is a tremendously underrated receiver. Carolina let him go because getting your QB right is worth losing any other player at any other position. Something to remember when we evaluate Fields at the end of the year...

These are all valid points. I thought Fields had been irreparably ruined, but perhaps not all of his own making. It's just that if you put a good QB behind an awful line and with bad receivers, they will look horrible, but if you put a bad one in that situation they will also look bad. So while these are fair excuses, and possibly true, nothing matters until we see it get right on the field consistently. Now we've seen flashes. And that's exciting. I still think Fields is late with most of his throws, but with that much time from an improved OL, they will certainly win their share of games even throwing late. But he still needs to grow in anticipation to become competitive in the league. As to trusting receivers to throw them open, trading Claypool pays dividends here too. If it is just a matter of trust I look forward to Fields shortening his internal clock. But for now, it's still too slow, even as it is getting better. This level won't beat the top 15 defenses. But he is improving - and I wont put a ceiling on it. There is certainly reason for hope, and it would be very gratifying to watch Fields ascend. I still think a lot of this long lasting rust is because we didn't play in preseason. Those first four games may have been necessary for the team to grow, but 4 games is a lot. I can now see a possible scenario where Fields stays but Eberflus goes. Not predicting it, just saying that's now one outcome barely visible in a hazy future. Lastly I'll say this - for everything I've ever said and anything I ever will say about the future in sports or politics etc - no one has a crystal ball. All I can do is say my opinion on where someone is at that moment, and notice the trend line from there. Just like I cant say Caleb Williams will be a true NFL stud until he is one either!

lol He doesnt get an apology yet. But he does get more weeks to make me eat my words. Let's see.

Justin has always had all those extra athletic intangibles. The question is his ability to read defenses and throw with anticipation. We've seen him do a much better job of it the last two weeks, but he has also had excellent protection. Every QB looks awful with only 2 seconds to throw, and all look like hall-of-famers with 5 seconds. Justin has been at the bottom of the league for ball release time. That can be read different ways. It means he wasnt sacked, he did eventually throw the ball, so he had protection, but that could also be because he is mobile and was running for his life. If the light bulb comes on (and stays on!) for Fields as a passer, then all those extras become icing on the cake and he would be a very difficult QB to defend. That's what I thought was going to happen this year. Then we saw the performances we saw. Now I almost feel like the coaches blew the offseason, and it took us 4 games to wake up and get to where some teams are on week 1 or 2. If that's the case, there may be some real upside ahead of us - but that's still a mark against Eberflus. But if Justin keeps balling out consistently - and we beat some good teams - then i will start to believe in Justin's possible future. At that point I still don't know if you take Caleb Williams and get a haul of picks for Justin - for what Caleb may become and for resetting the QB rookie deal window - but at that point we would know that Fields is an actual NFL QB too. The arrow is pointing up now, and weve seen some flashes. Now do it for 5 more weeks. Then 5 more!

Oh yeah! Great point. The high snaps were awful! I was just thinking about his blocking, and especially how he gets to the second level on his blocks. I think he's a good deal better than Patrick at that. But you're right about those shotgun snaps!

man as much as i have questions on JF, I have NONE of DJ Moore - I saw enough of his film from Carolina to know who he is - he's a total stud. Always has been.

That's how I see it too. Jenkins and LG and Whitehair at C made a HUGE difference. And give any QB that kind of time and they will do well. Not to take anything away from JF tonight. He played very well. Got the ball out fast too.

well well well - how nice to see. Fields had good protection, and was getting the ball out in rhythm. The whole team had urgency, you could see in the first half Eberflus had the eyes of a killer. Hopefully they learned something by having their backs against the wall. One thing i did notice is that with Jenkins in there, the team is 100% different. ANd then when Whitehair went to center that was even better. I did also see they rested Jenkins in the third quarter. I suppose they had enough of a lead to do that, but suddenly we were slowed down again. But with Jenkins in there, the OL looks MUCH better, especially against a good defensive front. It doesn't need to be said but DJ Moore is a stud. I cant say enough good things about him, but I've felt that way about him all along. What a winner. In two games, he's halfway to 1,000 yards. Impressive. Im worried about our RB situation, but one assumes D'Onta Foreman will be active next week. Even the defensive line got in on the energy. And you can see that Dexter looks like he's lost some weight, and isn't slow off the snap anymore. I'm not ready to say the team has turned around or that Eberflus should be kept. But this is a step in the right direction, and I'm not going to diminish that tonight. When the OL is healthy and plays this well, that's a point for Poles for sure.

agree

Yes, the first one was the one I was commenting on, the second one is definitely one of the leading scenarios

Well he didn't SAY it officially, it's a rumor that's been floating around. Maybe it's even true right now, but give it time. With a new staff to entice him, his agent will explain to him what would happen if he won a super bowl in Chicago. But boy would I hate him if that played out. As far as a plan B, it's too early for me to have any answers, but there are always alternate plans. In any case, I don't think the answer would be Fields for us.

I think Justin would get a single 3rd rounder. If we could get even a single first rounder for Fields (after the season) I'd take that immediately.

yeah it's half a joke. half. lol

yes

its a joke to think of a team with no head coach, but it might be true too. yikes. tonight's performance will go a long way to defining the rest of the year.

If you believe that Williams is a generational talent at QB, then you have to do everything you can to get him, no matter any other considerations. QB is the most important position in football by far, and there is nothing that offsets that. If Payton Manning / Patrick Mahomes etc is sitting there in the draft, no combination of defensive linemen, wide receivers, offensive linemen and future picks is worth passing them for. The point of all of this is to win, and there is nothing more important than a true franchise QB in achieving that. Even if Fields was playing well, if you think Williams is that guy, you grab him. Just like you don't pass on Walter Payton because you still have Matt Forte under contract for two more years. Now, if you don't think Williams is that guy, or you have questions about how he will translate to the NFL, that's an entirely different question. But if you think he is that guy, there is no other decision to make than to draft him if at all possible. EVEN IF it takes both of your first round picks and Fields in trade.

Any coach with head coaching experience will not want to be interim head coach, and we wont want to sign anyone long term at this point because there will be more and better options after the season ends. Only people looking to add head coach to their resume would consider this - OR - someone looking to rehabilitate their image. Pat Fitzgerald anyone? Not as a long term answer, but an interim position?

bwahahaha

I think is exactly it. It's what Fields means when he says he is thinking too much, or has too much coaching. unfortunately, its the NFL and you can't play vanilla and win. you must perform with this level of complexity. so what it really means is the the great QBs DO think of all that stuff, and for wahtever reason, Fields cant.