AZ54

Simmons mic'd up... double teamed, and once was triple teamed yet still making plays. He picks up details like Akeem Hicks used to do when he calls out the OG who is going to pull.

Yep, thought the same tjhing when I saw it. It's rare man who can do that stuff to a 300lb Olinemen.

Extended thoughts on the lack of another trade. As stated by many here.... Simmons changes the calculus. It's already more evident in the significant drop in blitzes we've seen in the last two games. That allows more coverage and as we did against Seattle and JSN we can bracket a WR if we want to and keep him in check. We can do that against two WRs if we want. When we get Bryant back the ability to rotate and mix coverages over the top goes way up. I think that's definitely part of the thinking. We have a LB in Bush who can cover RBs or TEs. TJ Edwards is good in coverage for a short area but that's enough with consistent early pressure. Our NB in Gordon is pretty good as well. Essentially this means if/when we want to do more bracket coverage on a WR (or two) we have the ability to go single man on man against the other offensive threats. There were no good CBs available. Even if there were, did we have the cap space for them, or were we giving up a valuable day 2 pick? I don't think we should give up a 2nd or 3rd Rd pick after we lost our next two 1st Rd picks (not complaining). Those pieces are needed for restocking but also cap control. If Overthecap is correct we have just $2mil in cap space right now. I know we could do some magic and make room if needed. Why do that for someone like Woolen who is just not better than our current CBs so he'd be a depth piece. I never understood the chatter about Nashon Wright...we've seen all his poor coverage skills and don't need more of that. I can't say he's any better than the DBs on our practice squad but I can say that the coaches know. Do we need a DE? Booker and Sweat have looked much better with Simmons. Dayo is going to return and was productive before his injury and that should only go up with Simmons around him. Turner is still learning how to play DE, and we're getting good pass rush production out of Hardy too. Again I didn't see any game changers out there other than Mack and it seems he wasn't available. DT depth is more of a concern for me. Where I see production coming out of DEs 3, 4, and 5 on the depth chart, I don't see that at DT. Van den Berg has not been very productive with almost no flashes. Nor has Gallimore. With the loss of Street we could use a good depth piece in this rotation. It might be that the Bears are strongly considering the ex-Titan Jordan Elliot and they wanted to save the cap space for him. Handle run downs better get more 3rd and long situations. That gets you a piece who can give Jarrett and Simmons some more snaps off the field. When Simmons was off the field against Seattle they averaged something like 13yd/play. When he was on the field it a little over 3yds/play. I haven't seen the stats from the Tampa game but it felt similar on the few plays Simmons took off.

After watching these clips I feel like Simmons counts as 2 blue chips.

Me too

The curse of expectations. Last year I was happy when we won the close games like that. We were winning anyway we could win. This year...that game sucked. Yet we have a defense that actually played very well, maybe better than the Bucs defense. How many years has it been since our defense (and offense) were good enough to overcome a 5 turnover game? How many teams in the NFL can do that?

Considering there are no other stars sitting on the bench.

Nashon Wright is star?

I don't know if it's so much calling the plays as it is getting his players to execute the plays properly. 4min mark...

That much talent and hype all through high school and into college. Then all that money at such a young age in college. It's an explosive combination and you don't know if it will be controlled or not. His parents get a lot of credit for guiding him through that time. Then enter Ben Johnson and for the first time I think he ran into a football mind who really knew more about the game than he did. Say what you want about good college coaches but that game is not nearly as hard as the NFL. Caleb surprised me and accepted the challenge. I really like what I see now on the field and I still don't think he's at his peak. There are throws he makes like the simple WR screen to Raymond for the 40yd gain against Seattle that good athletes like Trubisky and Fields could never make. Especially Fields with his slow release. Then what he's doing at the intermediate level of the field is just tearing apart defenses. There will be a 50pt game in the near future.

I've seen quite a few Eagles games and Riq Woolen is not a very disciplined DB. He's very handsy, often called for contact after 5 yards pulling on jerseys. Considering his elite speed I don't understand why he feels he has to grab players instead of just turning and running with them. I definitely think he's a guy Al Harris could help but we're talking about a mid-season trade where there is little practice time to hone techniques. I've seen Mike Sainristil mentioned too. He's on the bench for the Commanders. He might be a good depth piece to add and less costly than someone that is a starter. Except he's small and not likely a good boundary CB which is what we need.

I find it hard to gauge what Tampa is as a team. I keep seeing all the talk of how great their defense is, and how elite their running game is. Not having seen any of their games I spent a little bit of time watching some highlights/condensed versions of their games: Pitt, Dal, GB. Their RBs are ok but they are not anything to be nervous about in the way you think about Bijan or McCaffrey. Bucky is quick in his cuts not elite, but can be run down. Expect him to make Jaylon miss a tackle or two. Gainwell is barely above Roschon levels of elusiveness. Their Oline is good and similar but opposite to ours in that they are more left-handed running behind Wirfs. I wouldn't be surprised to see Simmons on that side on early downs and moving to the other side on passing downs. Their run blocking is good but again I'm watching highlights of games. What caught my attention is what I didn't see...very few explosive runs. That seems to indicate a lot of carries to offset the backup QB. Mayfield being back may open up the passing game which in turn might make them more explosive on runs. Overall my sense is that we can contain the run if we're just disciplined in our gaps and sound in setting the edge. Their pass protection didn't look great in any game with pressure on almost every highlight throw. Their defense looks good overall but to my eyes is not on the level of what I'd seen from Seattle in their games before we played them on MNF. Tampa can get pressure, even with 4, so that's a risk we must contain. They seem to be the most vulnerable on the edges and there were quite a few highlights of explosive runs against their front, or just big plays on screens/dumpoffs. In the second half of each game their opponents started hitting chunk passing plays in the intermediate range. I feel like that's where Ben and Caleb feast on defenses. I don't think it will be an easy game but I also think we are the better team both on offense and defense (only now with Simmons).

I was left speechless after the game last night. The first thought going through my mind was "that's what good teams do". We controlled the game. There were some mistakes, it got close, and we just said nah, ain't gonna happen like that. Never was that more apparent than when we got a delay of game penalty at the goal line late in the game. Ben stayed with the run play and Swift punched it right into the endzone. We've been on the receiving end of too many of those games, except this wasn't being done to a bad team it was done to the best defense on their home field. Caleb has not hit his ceiling. There are still plays to be made, easy ones. When he gets there, and he will, everyone will know. I was very glad to see his quickness and burst coming back. After the bye he should be back to where he's comfortable sprinting again. Jefe Simmons is easily worth two first round picks. I don't even see how that can be debated.

Do they have a CB we could swap for Bagent?