BearFan PHX

Awesome! I feel better now! hahaha Thanks dude!

I miss LTC2 or whatever his screenname was - he was better at the cap figures than anyone on any television show or in any newspaper. Where'd he go?

yup I agree with scs too I hope they keep doing the incomplete pass is a live ball in training camp thing. Those turnovers are nice to have.

OK you're not getting it. Cover-2 as it is called isnt about coverages. We play all kinds of zones and man to man defense. What they call the "Cover 2" or "Tampa 2" is much more about what the front four do than what coverage is behind them. The Tampa Two really ought to be correctly called a ONE GAP defense. The staple of it is that the front four each attack a gap. And the LBs and one safety are also responsible for one gap each. The benefit is that you are attacking from the snap of the ball, the drawback is that your safety becomes the second line of defense if someone gets into the wrong gap. When you say that the DT doesn't do anything but be big, you're really misunderstanding. That's the role of a giant TWO GAP tackle and NOT a ONE GAPPER. Our entire defense is built on the premise of being a one gap team. A lot of the turnovers we get have to do with the pressure that a one gap defense brings. You may have heard that Warren Sapp is the engine that makes it go? Well thats the major difference between a one gap defense and a two gap. So this whole idea that you can just plug in the players youve got and play a 2 gap front is pretty ridiculous. So yeah, you've got a hard on for the 3-4 good for you, but youre not understanding the changes that would be required. Not to mention that fact that our current group of players is doing really well in a one gap scheme. If you think the staple of the Cover 2 is the coverage, then youre showing how little you understand about how these fronts work.

I dont thinks Emery makes his decisions based on PFF. He may look at them, but if he's just reading Street & Smiths, then we're in a bunch of trouble. You've repeated your bit of sleuthing about a million times now: Emery reads PFF, PFF has Webb rated as average. This is hardly a slam dunk. I've watched the games. I've listened to Emery and Trestman. I do not see Webb as the LT on opening day.

Emery is a smart man who is astute about politics and understands that Webb has been given extra chances. He will allow his new coaches to do their evaluations, but i don't think he will give Webb any benefit of the doubt, in fact, all things being equal the history says he will not be the starter. Now yes, if the new coaches say they can transform him into a beast fine, but your assumption that average is good enough does not sound like the beginning of a new regime. They are aiming higher than that. I understand how you have combined the two facts to get your conclusion. It's shaky at best. There are so many more considerations that go into it than the one score which says he is dead average. There will be a new starting LT for the Chicago Bears on opening day. McLellin is not a 3-4 backer either. You're way off base.

Sure a FA LT, but if they come to the conclusion that Webb is good enough they need to be fired on the spot.

I love me some Alex Ogletree, but unless they find a quality OT through free agency, they simply cannot pass up taking an OL in the first round. You know how Angelo always said (rightly) that you cant go into the draft with glaring needs? That you need to be able to take the Best Player Available? He's right. I really truly hope we have our OT situation addressed, even if temporarily, in Free Agency. Then if a good young OT is there at 20, you can take him too. But if Ogletree is sitting there, and you have an OT already, I'd really love to see him as a Bear. I'm not a fan of the 3-4 tho.

His arms are longer than your waist is around! Not my waist by the way LOL Also, and I'm not taking anything away from Fluker, I know practically nothing about him, but I recall similar statistics, including a VERY impressive wingspan for Alonzo Spellman. For me it's about the tape and how they play football, despite the freakish numbers that always roll around this time of year.

Reading further I see that Sinclair is assistant defensive line coach, and we kept Mike Phair from last year. Even better. I'd say the DL coaching will be fine. Mel Tucker was a former DB and coached DBs early in his career and we also kept Jon Hoke at DB coach. So while I am a little concerned about Tucker, given mediocre results in Jacksonville, he seems to have good people around him. I wonder what Tucker's scheme will be like.

Interesting. Michael Sinclair will be the asst DL coach, and comes over from Trestman's staff in Montreal. Remember him? Seahawks and Eagles? All Pro '96 '97 '98? Led the NFL in sacks in 1998 Was DL coach for World Bowl winning Hamburg in 2007 Joined Trestman in Montreal in 2008 and won 2 of 5 Grey Cups with a 3rd losing appearance in the same stretch. Not bad.

It's Trestman http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-bea...0,7826477.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-bea...0,7826477.story

I think Emery is doing scouting too. When these candidates come to interview, they talk about offensive philosophy. They say what they would do with the Bears. This way Emery gets lots of really well qualified consultants, for free. He also learns how these people think, and makes relationships. It's a pretty smart thing to do. I don't think he is seriously interested in actually hiring all of these people, but what he's doing is pretty smart if you ask me. And yeah, we can't discount the possibility that someone unexpected blows him away. It's unlikely tho, and even so there's lots of avlue in doing it this way beyond just finding a head coach. Let him gather information. It's good for us!

I dunno who all the qualified coaches out there are, and I'm inclined to get behind whoever Emery hires, but I'll say this. I'd sure like to have Chuckie. I've been saying for a couple years now that Lovie's team reminds me of Dungy's Tampa Bay Teams of the 90s. It'd be interesting to see what Gruden could do with our offensive pieces. We do have some pretty damned good skill position players on Offense. We need someone to put them in the right places. I want Chuckie!

I don't believe Phil Emery would have taken the job unless he had the ability to hire a new coach. Until I see otherwise, I'm assuming Emery has the decision, and to me that means Lovie is gone.

OK Guys, let's give Emery the benefit of the doubt until he proves us wrong. Last year he was basically given the keys to the Bears with one caveat, "you gotta keep Lovie for the 2012 Season" Ok he did that. And in good faith, he gave Lovie the tools he'd need. I think the judgement on Lovie is obvious, we ALL see it. He's not an awful coach, he's probably a top 15 coach, but he's not the man to take us to winning a Super Bowl. Emery HAS to see that. You gotta figure the Emery has a plan for what he wants to do. I think he has a coach in mind, or a kind of coach, and I think that he gave Lovie a real chance to show him what he's got. Let's give Emery a chance to show us what he's got. I think Lovie is gone.

That's right! We "control our own destiny." GO BEARS!

You can only trade him now. Next year he will be a free agent. If we got a 2 for him I'd be THRILLED.

LOL that he wrote this. If so, he has an even more lucrative career heading up a PR firm waiting for him after he's done with football. Hahaha

This is the closest I've EVER seen to optimism from you TT hahaha

When they say we play a Tampa 2 or a Cover 2 they really arent talking about our coverages. THey really mean we are a ONE GAP defense, in other words, get into your gap and upfield. This means all three LBs and a safety have run gaps they are responsible for. In a system where you have big DTs eating space and LBs flowing, thats a TWO GAP defense, meaning the DL holds his position and plays the run on both sides of him (2 gaps). Warren Sapp was a one gapper, undersized and active. That's what they mean when they call us that, not the coverages we use.

Excellent post, I agree with everything you've said. One other point, after watching our QBs take so much abuse, we tend to focus on pass protection. I haven't seen any running lanes either.

We keep hearing how penetration from the DT position is the engine that makes Lovie's One Gap system work. Don't we need a Warren Sapp?

I think the biggest question, and no one is talking about it, is whether we have anything at the DT position.