AZ54

Kreutz has never been good at blocking when on the move.

According to Cutler he was trying to throw the ball away and he threw it a bit too far. Who knows, I'm just resigned to the fact we'll always see 2 or 3 of these throws in a game. Sometimes they'll get picked sometimes they won't. Overall though I am noticing a nice trend of Cutler taking more and more underneath throws. Slowly but surely he is becoming more content to move the ball on long drives. Martz too, he called run and run even when they weren't going anywhere. Eventually they got it going and Forte ended up with over 100 yards (only to lose it on the last few plays of the game when Miami sold out with 10 in the box to stop him.)

Today's discussion at work: The Cardinals Oline and all the problems they have. Their Oline coach is Russ Grimm. My point of course is that Tice has had far less to work with, far more injuries forced upon him, and at this point in the season his Oline (including 7th Rd pick starting at RT) and are playing better. He has taken what looked like a disaster of an Oline in game 4 and turned them into acceptable 5 games later. The arrow is still pointing up but I'm impressed at the rapid turnaround nad perhaps he can get them to "good" before seasons end. Martz too has adapted and stood firm in support of his players throughout all the controversy. He's admitted his mistakes either in preparation or in play calling and to prove it's not just words he makes noticeable changes over the next few games. For Marinelli's part I understand he has some Pro Bowl caliber players but he also has a secondary that is questionable. He's making it work and I think given the talent he's getting the most out of his secondary. Plus he has demoted Tommie Harris and is making due with guys like Toea and Henry Melton at DT. Not Pro Bowl talent there.

Just setting the stage for his retirement BEFORE the end of the season. That's all.

I don't see how anyone cannot say the Oline is not playing better. It's because Cutler is scrambling more? Crazy idea. He was running for his life against the Giants how good did the Oline look that day? We only had a couple meaningless late game runs? Minn was ranked top 10 in the league against the run. Our horrible Oline managed to put up 100 yards against them. Those runs late in the game when they stacked the line because everyone knew we wanted to kill the clock, that's what good teams do. After coming back from 14pts down with 3min left in the game last week against the Cardinals don't think the Vikings were giving up either. I'm not anointing our Oline as one of the best in the league but they have clearly improved over what we saw just 4 weeks ago. So has the play calling.

Yep I think I've seen that request before on this board. I agree with it.

For sure I'd like to see more QB pressure I think the greater need right now is better coverage from our DBs to stop the quick passes. CBs are playing too soft once again. Maybe we could see them stop any pass, anywhere on the field.

I have no clue on who to draft at this point but I have thoughts about what position to draft. Mostly I'm talking about rounds 1--4 where you tend need takes a higher emphasis than the later rounds. I don't think we will be focused on DE at all. With each game Izzy gets better and better and I expect he'll be a good starter opposite of Peppers next year. I expect he'll be that in the second half of our season. I also think Melton has shown some very positive signs of improvement in his pass rush. This is a former RB turned DE turned DT so he's still learning but the arrow is pointing up and so is his productivity this season. If there is an elite 3-techique DT available in Rd 1 I can see the Bears drafting him. Set at LB for another year then they get serious about replacing Urlacher. Iwuh appears to be a soild backup for Briggs and Pisa plays well at SLB but Roach is a solid backup. I might get laughed off the stage but I also don't think we'll look at the safety position as a high need. If Wright comes back and shows he's the guy at FS during the second half of the season then we stay with him, Manning, and Harris as our top 3 and Steltz rounding out the group. Again, perhaps a late rounder to compete for the 5th spot. On defense that leaves CB and this should be in our top needs, rounds 1-3. On offense: We are set at RB with Forte and Taylor. QB: Set with Hanie likely the solid number 2 next year. WR: I could see us grabbing someone in Rd 1 IF they were an elite game changer but I suspect they won't be there when we pick. TE: Set That leaves Oline: I say we grab the best OG in Rd 1 and grab a good C in Rd 2 or 3 as appropriate for the players draft status and use the alternate pick to get more depth at CB.

Faneca is a bust in AZ, at least relative to the expectations they had for him. Can't think of any Cards fans who think he was a great pickup and I haven't seen anything out of him that Garza hasn't been doing for us (good and bad).

I don't think you need to link that one, if Collins were still our number 2 there'd be an riots on the streets of Chicago.

Don't worry, Lloyd is about to get injured and will miss several games. It's his m.o. Orton is still what he is...a good average QB. The magic will wear off soon.

LOL, an F+. It's as if you say Collins failed miserably but don't want him to feel bad about it. After seeing Collins last week I really regretted letting LeFevour go, and this week only confirmed that. At least Hanie acts like an NFL quarterback when he's in the pocket.

After 4 or 5 years kicking around the league one way or another you'd think DA would have been working harder on the weights. Just compare Knox and Hester to his physique and that tells you all you need to know about work ethic of the different players. You have to think that carries over to film study and work on the practice field...and the rumors have always been that DA isn't the best practice player. This is the NFL and dependability on every down is often worth more than a few flashy positive plays unless those positive plays are of the elite type. Thus we see Earl Bennett on the field. I absolutely hope DA gets it and starts working harder to get on the field instead of just saying "I don't know why I'm not on the field". You are a grown man, go talk to your coaches one on one and figure it out, I'm pretty sure they'll tell you what you need to do. For all the griping about DA not being on the field the other side of the coin shows a Lovie Smith totally into accountability this year. I haven't heard much arguing about the benching of Bowman, T. Harris, Anderson got cut, etc. and as much as it hurts to say I'm going to have to give Lovie and Martz the benefit of the doubt on DA.

Dangle Tommie Harris? The only way you can dangle someone who is on the bench for a trade is to cut him. Seriously, what has Harris done in the last 3 years to make anyone want him? If he were playing at an average level we'd be better off keeping him on the field, and he's not even doing that. I think this is another reason they brought in Charles Grant...because he can play inside as well as the LDE.

I'm really laughing at this one. Before the Bears fiasco I watched the Cardinals fiasco where they gave up just 1 less sack than we did. Go to work on Monday and everyone is making fun of Faneca and how bad he is in pass protection.

Everytime the ball was snapped Collins wet himself. He was too scared to even step into his passes. I think he's the first guy I've ever seen do a 2 step drop and throw the ball about 5 feet. He doesn't belong on the team and I would much rather have LeFevour still with us as a developmental prospect. At least LeFevour could run out of our constantly folding pocket.

I think Hester has improved significantly as a WR. Nobody talked about his great catch against the Packers. He was double covered deep in the endzone and went up and caught the ball, his momentum carried him out of the endzone so no TD. Still it was a great catch and the kind of adjustment to the ball up high I had never seen before from him. I think we have a lot more good things to come from Hester this season.

I noticed Webb in there early in the game and wondered what happened to Shaffer. Anyway, on the replay of that down I watched how Webb did and he shut his man down. I didn't realize he was in on Knox's big catch but again not a bad effort. I am actually surprised at how well he moved chasing Mathews. Garza may be next on the hotseat. Perhaps they are seeing something with the guy they promoted from the practice squad.

There was a lot of controversy about the 49ers hitting so much during camp. It seems clear Singletary is in trouble and firing another coordinator is always a bad sign that you don't know what you want in your coaches, or how to lead what you have. We had this with Lovie too early on, and then later, and then again, and it's hurt us. Singletary is a smart man and I do believe that eventually he'll get it right but he may need some "off time" like Belichick before he figures it all out. Even Martz admitted he got caught up in his ways and that hurt him in his past jobs. If Lovie leaves I still like Harbaugh to take his place. Watching him on the sidelines its clear he has a little of Da Coach in him but it's not non-stop over-the-top passion that players end up tuning out. I think he also has the Xs and Os down too.

DA dropped four passes against Detroit, including a TD. I remember the good old days when fans ripped Moose for dropping two. DA is in his 5th season so it's not like he's a rookie who is still getting a feel for the game. Maybe he needs to hit the weights a little harder so he can handle the shots over the middle? I still think DA will be a key part of this offense but if Martz has told him the job involves running some routes over the middle from the slot then guess what, he needs to do that if he wants to play. No different from Olsen having to improve his blocking in order to play..and he did. Hester is smaller and he works out of the slot. Like other players on our roster DA shouldn't get handed a starting spot if he's not doing everything needed. Other players like Bennett might not do some things as well as DA but he can do all things well. Earn it.

One thing Peppers is not getting enough credit for is his run defense. During the speed of the game it's just not obvious how much he destroys blocking schemes. He is often in on tackles you don't think it's him. One example from last night: Packers called a run up the middle and had it blocked perfectly. Peppers came up the right side as is his first assignment, saw the run up the middle, shed his block and ran behind the DTs to make the tackle holding the play to just a 4yd gain. I doubt the RB even knew anyone was there and if he hadn't been there they have gained another 10yds. I have watched the majority of the Detroit and Dallas game in slo-mo replay and he made this kind of play often. Sometimes teams have run to the right side (left on defense) and Peppers came all the way from the RE to make a tackle. IMO the improvement in run defense is in part having Url back but Peppers is a huge part of it. Peppers is also not getting enough credit for his ability to rush off either edge. It means teams can't scheme their protection as easily as say what is done for Jared Allen. It also means you can't scheme your running plays to go away from him because you don't know which side he'll line up on. If there is one problem we have it's that we've left him out on the field for too many snaps and that is taking away some of his effectiveness. There was an article about that before the Packers game and it sounded as if the coaches recognized they need to reduce his play count but I don't know what he was on the field for last night. So far whenever I've slowed down the plays Peppers has stood out as a man among boys and so far he's worth every $$$ we're paying him. Having said that, you have to realize he can't make every play. It's hard to hit a QB on a 3 step drop, or make a tackle when the play goes the other way, for example, but it is clear to me he's the one player on our defense that the offense must scheme for. From what I saw of the Giants Oline against the Colts, Eli better bring his track shoes next week. I'm not comparing our rush to the Colts with Freeney and Mathis, but the Giants had far more miscues on blocks with the speed players than anything I've seen from the Bears this season. I don't think the Titans can rush as well as we can so last week isn't much of an indicator. We should get opportunities for sacks.

I see coaching. I see players benched when their play isn't what it needs to be. I see dline players making pass rush adjustments as the game goes along. We had no pass rush early but something started clicking in the 2nd quarter. Specifically, I saw Idonije who had been taking outside rushes and/or bull rushes to start with switch up and fake outside and cut inside. Rodgers ran outside the pocket but it was pressure! Once that worked we later did a stunt and brought Izzy inside and Melton ran around the end...almost got a sack there too. Clearly Marinelli is adjusting to what he's seeing in the protection. Oline again...very rough early on but they adapted and for the most part it was steady.

From that podcast it's clear Tommie still has a lot of growing up to do. I give the coaches a ton of credit for bringing this out early in the week and talking with all the players to let them know where they'd be on game day.

Urlacher's range and smarts on the field are a huge part of what we do. He is not as fast as he used to be but he still has great range and covers a lot of ground. We've seen what happens with a lesser player (Hillenmeyer) who supposedly has the smarts but not the range and it amounts to a big hole on the D.

Harris and DA inactive and we won. Can't argue the results. I like the message that guys need to step up and play. Bowman got benched during the game too. After he got benched our pass rush picked up too. The word is out....make plays or sit.