AZ54

I'll tack on a few thoughts after reviewing the first half. It took a few days to have the strength to do this and I went through things pretty quickly but it was enough to change my impression of the D for the better. The bad: Our D had too many mental errors causing penalties in the first half. I think we had 3 offsides and thus gave the 49ers some easier to achieve first downs. Tackling was poor on a few plays in particular early in the game but that improved as the game went on. Still not where I'd want it to be but there was marked improvement. Mike Brown was running away from Gore on his long cutback run. With no blocker in front of him I have no idea why. Not what I want to see from our safety. Some blown deep coverages. Again the safeties get lost on a few plays, or is it just McGowan? We went up against a Mike Martz offense and I don't think we were prepared in anyway for them to open up in a 2 TE set with all the OG/OT pulling that they did. They used that a lot including the play where JT threw a pass over Hillenmeyer for a big gain to Davis. I could be wrong but this isn't the offense I remember Martz running in StL or Detroit. You can look at this as bad or good but I'd say once we get some film on this we can handle it better. The Good We had quite a few negative plays on the 49ers. At times they couldn't run the ball. The D got tough inside the 20 and had a good goal line stand. At this point we were winning 10-6. Pass rush...if Alex Brown isn't tackled on one play I don't think they get a first down. We blitzed a CB off the corner...so Peanut underestimated JT's speed and ended up flopping on the ground the fact is this blitz worked and it's one of the things I've been asking for Babich to do. I'm not sure it was Mike Brown who blew the coverage deep, I think it was McGowan. McGowan has been around long enough to know his assignments and I'm wondering if he's going to remain the starter. I think I saw a stunt. (gotta walk before you run) Wolfe gave the 49ers a short field at a time when the D needed a break. We almost held them there until Bruce tried to come back through Tillman. Tillman has to turn his head and he knows that but he was right there in coverage. The pass by JT was terribly short. These guys were stung badly by the points the 49ers put up. While I too was extremely disappointed in the result at least it showed to me there is some sense of pride and heart. That should bode well for working to improve. Overall it was still a bad effort but there were quite a few positive plays the D made.

I didn't watch the 49er game entirely via DVR but I did watch the first quarter. On Gore's long run where he cut back all the way across the field you will see a few things. First, Tillman gets out of position and/or gets blocked as Gore comes around the DE. This allows Gore the room to move upfield. Second, Gore cuts back across the field as our LBs fall to the ground grasping air. Running across the field behind the LB is #33 chasing Gore. Third, as Gore comes back past the center of the field you see Mike Brown about 5 yards deeper than him and he starts to run downfield away from Gore, taking a very shallow angle toward the sideline. There was nobody in front of Brown blocking his path toward Gore. It looks as if Brown is heading upfield to cover a WR on a passing route as he followed a couple 49ers. I have no idea where he was going nor why he didn't try to get wider on the field to cutoff Gore. At this time Tillman comes clear across the field and tackles Gore, Brown is still running upfield toward the endzone. If that was any other safety we'd be talking about cutting him.

If Tebow is the best OG on the board then I'm fine with the pick.

Tillman had many mistakes against the 49ers. Perhaps the one guy who was playing well was DManning since nobody is even talking about him. He either disappeared or he quietly did his job as it should be done.

Bad teams want to win games to build momentum and optimism while good teams just want to stay healthy. I don't care about wins or losses in preseason but blatant missed plays (i.e. easy tackles, dropped passes) bothers me a lot.

I agree and it's time a lot of the rich whiners like Urlacher, Briggs, and company put up or shutup.

Urlacher just doesn't go all out in preseason and he has said as much. "Who cares?" There's another player who does very little compared to what you see in the regular season...Tommie Harris. He's clearly playing it safe and staying away from pushing upfield too much if double teamed. He gets cut blocked a lot and I don't blame him. His absence in the backfield is noticeable. You'll be seeing a different player against the Colts. I'm not worried about that type of play. I am worried that when the play gets to these guys they are missing the tackles. We play Cleveland next and I expect to see a lock down D in the first quarter.

How much have things changed? Back in 1985 it was common for day-one draft picks to wait their turn for 1-2, sometimes 3 years before getting on the field. Free agency changed that. Now after Dusty gets IR'd by JA for a minimal issue he gets hurt the next year blocking on a KR and now he's a bust.

I don't keep tabs on plays per WR but my overall impression is that Booker has about the same opportunities as the other top WR. I've seen him in on a number of plays with first string and second string offenses but usually don't see him when the third string is out there. You all know my thoughts on Booker aren't that positive as I just haven't heard or seen much from/about him. I totally agree with the thought that with two QBs desperate for the starting job they will tend go to the WR they have the most confidence in making the catch. Rex has played with Booker before so it's not like he didn't have a rapport with him although that doesn't mean timing on routes will be there. Booker is making a lot of money and I just don't know how much more than Hass or Bradley he brings to the table. The original list I made at the start of the thread had 6 guys competing for 5 spots. If we go with 6 I still favor keeping Hass. As you get that deep into the WR group you have to have guys who will play special teams and both Hass and Bradley have been getting time there and have made a few plays . Booker has not. I'll go back to the offseason when all discussion on our WR corps was about how horrible it was with literally no veteran presence to anchor it. We all widely assumed Booker would come in and look like a man among boys even if he had lost a step. That hasn't happened IMO. We have to ask if he can't beat out our WR competition among: Rashied Davis 17 rec for 165 yds last year Brandon Lloyd 2 rec for 14 yards last year Devin Hester 20 rec for 299 yards last year (ton of talent here) Mark Bradley 6 rec for 71 yards last year Earl Bennett 21 year old rookie Just how good is he? Mark Bradley hasn't played well this preseason (poor routes, soft run blocking) but the fact there's a fair amount of negotiation to this debate tells me just what Booker is (is not) doing. Right now I don't think there's too many on this board right now who want Booker to start over Davis, Hester, Lloyd. You know Bennett stays on this team. Injuries in preseason shape final roster decisions but if the Bears get to a point where their depth at WR needs to play special teams Booker will find himself in a bad situation. Williams back injury probably forces them to keep 4 OT (Barton) instead of 3 like last year.

Bazuin sucked last night. San Fran often lined up the LT and a TE over him and then the TE just blocked down. Sometimes the LT doubled him and others he would pull back to the outside. Not once did I see Bazuin follow the LT and get upfield.

It appears Rashied Davis has put himself into the lead here to start at one of the slots. Who starts alongside him? I think at this point it will be Hester splitting time with Lloyd. Davis will move to the slot when we go with 3 WR sets. We know Bennett will be on the roster so after tonight IMO that leaves Booker fighting Bradley for the 5th spot. What do you value? Booker's experience in route running and blocking ability or Bradley's athleticism for big plays (not that he made many)? Anybody else notice Bradley on special teams tonight? Neither has impressed me and I'm 50-50 between them.

Nothing good to say about our D at all, from first string all the way down to the cutdown players. Oline was solid on pass protection but rarely opened a hole to run through. I'm surprised to say this but Orton was the bright spot today.

Apparently nobody. Yet for some reason everyone cares about our Oline stats during preseason. And Kyle Orton's stats, and Rex's stats, DManning, McGowan, and many other players who have been criticized. Why is Booker getting a free pass for doing so little while others get criticized for every little mistake or plays they are not making?

Boldin has 3 more seasons on his contract. So yes the Cards might lose him down the road but it's quite a way out there. He's bitchin' after he got his rookie contract torn up after just two seasons. The Cards treated him very fairly and I can't respect him for this at all.

You think Booker fully knows all of our WR positons? Fine. I understand what he's done in his career but even he admitted to still learning the offense just a little over a week ago. This is a huge vote of confidence from a guy who watched all of training camp: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/cs...,3834775.column "Booker, while looking every bit of 32, has proved himself a reliable receiver and should get the benefit of the doubt. Can a team so thin on the offensive line keep six receivers?" So far his 1 reception in the preseason "that doesn't count" hasn't impressed me that much. Neither has his one drop. It's preseason but I think that two QBs who are fighting for a starting job would look for the WR they have the most confidence in. They don't appear to going Booker's way. I still maintain that Booker makes the final roster because that's the Lovie Smith way and he may well be our best option. Fair enough, however, at this point he doesn't appear to be a starting WR for us. On top of that, if he weren't performing well enough I suspect JA would have cut him by now to allow him time to find another team. None of that changes the fact that I'd like to see more from Booker. I still want to see Hass get some time with the first team offense this game. It's time to settle the question of can he play against a first string D. Since Booker apparently knows all he needs to know to play for us, and since he doesn't care to step up and compete in the preseason, he can take a seat for a few plays. The only way Hass makes the team is if we keep 6 WR.

I don't understand all the bashing of Bazuin who has played a total of about 4 quarters in the NFL. Here's some preseason stats for comparison: tackles/solo sacks Mark AndersonCHI DE 0 0 0 0.0 Dan Bazuin CHI DE 5 5 0 0.0 (missed sack when he overran QB in endzone) Alex Brown CHI DE 2 2 0 1.0 Adewale OgunleyeCHI DE 2 2 0 1.0 Israel Idonije CHI DE 2 2 0 1.0 I keep hearing Bazuin has done nothing yet he has more tackles than Mark Anderson and both are backup DEs. For sure Bazuin is getting more time late in the games than either of the top 3 but Anderson is getting time against backups too. Isn't he supposed to shine then? Sure he had one nice outside/inside move and got pressure on the QB against KC yet Bazuin has done the same. I guess people want to cut Bazuin so we can keep the great Israel Idonije at DE who did this last year: G TCKLS SOLO AST SACKS INT YDS AVG LG TD 16 20 14 6 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 Idonije is going to get a look at DE tomorrow; with his added 30lbs but I suspect he won't be as fast or agile turning the corner as he was last year, and he wasn't good at it last year. We need 4 DEs on our roster because we must have 3 who can rotate within a game. I'll be the one wild card and say that Idonije is getting time at DE because he can be active for game days and still fill in there in case of injury during a game. I don't think it's the coaches intention to use him as the primary DE backup as they did last year. I think Bazuin has been far from awful, as many suggest, and I expect he'll show more progress this game as he did against Seattle. JA won't be too quick to give up on a 2nd Rd pick after 6-8 quarters of football. I want to add that in the last game Idonije showed more at DT with his new physique than I've seen from him in 4 years at either DE or DT. I want to see him repeat that again tomorrow but remember San Fran will be playing backup OG/OT as their starters. DT may be the right spot for him and the combo of Harris, Dusty, Adams, Harrison, and Idonije is looking pretty good to me right now. I'll stick with DE of Brown, Anderson, Bazuin, Ogun Harrison and Bazuin will be inactive on game days until there's an injury.

I'm not freaking out over Tait either. I didn't like how he played but he's transitioning from LT to RT (again). He'll get his footwork down and be quite a bit better than Miller was last year.

I agree with that, leave Davis right where he is at TE.

You're worried about losing JT O'Sullivan?

I already stated my thoughts on Booker a week ago. From some quick searching I don't see where he got a signing bonus. He's done very little to make an impression so far and that's been stated in several articles. I believe out of respect for him it's been kept quiet. One of the reasons I said the battle could be between Booker/Bradley/Hass is because we might need Bookers cap space to sign Oline help. If there just isn't that big of a gap between him and Bradley or Hass then a GM would have to look at the big picture. I don't expect Booker is getting cut simply because of his veteran status (that's the way Lovie is) but based on what he's done so far if it were me making the decision I wouldn't rule it out. I listed Booker as the 5th WR and he's not contributing on special teams. Hass knows all WR positions Booker does not, Hass has been playing on special teams. Hass also did a good job on run blocking against Seattle. As far as I'm concerned Booker had his chances with 1's and 2's the first two games. It's time we get Hass out there for a few plays with the first team to see what he can do. I expect Lloyd, Davis, Hester to start against San Fran but I'd like to see a few plays in the second quarter with Hass out there. If Hass can't cut it against a first string defense then he's an easy cut but I'd much rather see him get an opportunity before we write him off.

This thread is too long for such a simple question but I'm jumping in. I do feel our Oline struggles against stunts and it's been this way for at least a couple years. However, they really struggle against 3-4 defenses. Kyle Orton said it best though that the whole pass protection thing against blitzes (stunts whatever) is a unit evaluation not just Oline. Over last year at the top of the list Fred Miller, Metcalf, Ced, AP, and Rex all had breakdowns resulting in a sack or bad play. Not everyone made the boneheaded play everytime but as fans the cumulative effect shows clearly. Defenses know this and they don't bank on any single guy making the mistake but rather that one will be made and our QB and WR weren't good enough to overcome it. I am not a fan of Hiestand and made that clear last year. I've never figured out his love affair with Metcalf who IMO has never looked good in a game. Nobody seems to develop with this guy. He hated Beekman all preseason and yet he hasn't been anwhere near as bad as Metcalf was last year. He said Beekman was too small to play the position yet Garza is the exact same size? And worst of all, Hiestand said the Oline was playing well last year and fans didn't know what they were talking about. The right QB would help overcome some of this. Some hot reads for WRs would help too. Do we ever do that? So would having a WR who can beat a tackle and take it the distance.

It was a lousy draft so who was going to trade up to get one those guys?

I've seen one reception from Booker and that doesn't thrill me and neither does Joe Horn.

I didn't see nearly as many bliztes when Kyle was in the game but we also have to consider that one of his series was a 2-min drill and Seattle might have been content to play a bit more prevent D. Hester is ridiculously fast...I feel Kyle underthrew the pass to him and he had to slow up a bit. Regardless, he was close to completing the pass. Given all the starters practice reps and game time will give him better timing with Hester. Now it's time to name the starting WR so they can get on the same page as Orton.

I hope he does because he hasn't done much to impress me yet. Starting WR will be Davis, Hester, Lloyd backed up by Bennett and Booker. If we go with 6 Hass joins the mix.