Mongo3451

IMO - Lovie probably felt the year after the Superbowl was "the hangover", combined with the rash of injuries, Rex sucking and Benson's turd-itis. I really think he thought his D was going to be back with a vengeance last season. Now, he feels burned by those he trusted to step up and carry the team as the professionals they are supposed to be. I can really see that mentality. Kinda like your kids when they take advantage of your generosity. Time to take the keys to the car away. So, the gloves are off and hopefully Mr. Nice Guy has hit the road.

It's his show now Take it from Madden: Smith calling defensive plays makes a lot of sense February 7, 2009 BY BRAD BIGGS bbiggs@suntimes.com When Bears coach Lovie Smith announced the day after the season ended that everything was going to be reviewed, he left little doubt change was coming. Whether it's change you can believe in is too early to tell, but change has arrived. Smith has moved veteran minicamp up almost three months. The mandatory three-day session begins March 17 and will allow the new assistants to acquaint themselves with the players and enable free-agent pickups to get into the system before the voluntary offseason program begins. Lovie Smith is taking on the additional role of play-caller for the Bears’ defense. ‘‘Every year I’ve missed some of that,’’ he said. Above all else, this is about Smith putting his foot down and taking control. He is scheduling the minicamp first -- smack dab in the middle of what has been recreation time for players -- to set the tone for the year. We already knew Smith was taking charge. He announced he was taking control of the defensive play-calling from coordinator Bob Babich after the coaching staff was assembled a few weeks after the season. A defensive coordinator by trade, Smith said he missed that part of the job, and after the unit stumbled again in 2008, something had to be done. It's one of the big decisions coaches must make, and a lot more goes into it than just X's and O's. Smith got more hands-on last season when he took over the nickel position and coached Danieal Manning personally, meeting with him in his office every day. That was the first step in his return to play-calling, which he hasn't done since 2003 with the St. Louis Rams. ''I think all head coaches would tell you that they miss being able to have a position,'' Smith said. ''And of course some of the play-calling, you miss that. That's what you've done all your life. Every year I've missed some of that.'' Former San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions coach Steve Mariucci called offensive plays in his first season with the 49ers, then delegated for his next eight years in charge. The Niners went through a restructuring with the departure of owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. and front-office chiefs Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark, and Mariucci found himself being pulled in many directions when it came to personnel decisions. ''I prefer someone calling the plays,'' Mariucci said. ''Some head coaches are capable of doing it, some are well-equipped to do it, some prefer to do it. Mike Holmgren never wanted to give it up. He said, 'Steve, if you give it up, it's going to be hard to take it back if you feel like you need to.' ''I prefer to have a play-caller because I find myself getting too preoccupied by personnel, with officials, with the trainers, to be able to focus constantly on the plays. I got sidetracked too many times.'' In Smith's case, he will have Babich to lean on, as well as defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, who knows the scheme as well as anyone. Play-calling by head coaches usually has been reserved for coaches with offensive backgrounds, but Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips took over the defensive play-calling duties at midseason. New head coaches Rex Ryan of the New York Jets and Jim Mora Jr. of the Seattle Seahawks both are expected to call defensive signals. ''It's never made sense to me why these guys were great as defensive coordinators and great as defensive play-callers and become head coaches and don't call them anymore,'' said analyst and Hall of Fame coach John Madden. ''The offensive guys usually do. Defense doesn't. I'm not sure exactly why. ''If you say you [have too many responsibilities], why don't the offensive guys have too much on their plate? I think you can train yourself to do both, especially if you've done it. If that's what you do and who you are, you probably should do it because that was the reason you were hired. Maybe you have to get hit in the head a couple times with a baseball bat to figure out it's not a damn bad idea.''

You know whats sick? My mind thought that just by reading the post title.

I agree with both of your assessments here. I want throw out a thought on this. Is it really relevant that Wolfe can pass block? If he is used to chip and go to his route, wouldn't that suffice? I would think Wolfe as a threat on passing situations would negate a defender rushing. If the defender keeps coming instead of tending to Wolfe, Turner needs to find a way to make them pay. Wolfe can slow the pass rush without touching anyone. If he can't win these one on one battles on a consistent basis, he's not worth having. As AZ54 says, he has to be given reps in the game.

NE has the best of both worlds in this situation. If they trade Cassel, it's for precisely what they want. No trade and they have the security other teams drool over. Madlith brought up Url to NE. Belicheck would jizz imself drawing up new schemes.

Agreed. I would like to see the P&L statement. I sure the coffers are brimming. Plus, I think the NFL in general has been leaning on teams. One thing NFO brought out was the same as I was thinking yesterday is that we have the smallest stadium. I think that was also done to always ensure TV revenue nevers is missed, as I think there were games that we didn't sell out when we sucked. The big money comes from TV and merchandizing anyway.

You just sent me into a full blown panic attack!

Orton development - Maybe I am just naive (sp?), but I honestly believe Turner when he speaks highly of Orton. Doesn't mean everything he says is true, but I really do get the feeling Turner is in fact high on Orton. Turner said he believes Orton is a long term solution to our QB problems. Talked about how well his development was going prior to the injury, how the injury seemed to kill his timing, but how his timing seemed to get back to him again at the end. The reason I agree with this is, I see the same things Turner is talking about. IMO – Orton came back from his injury, playing not to re-injure. Once that creeps into your mind, things like going through your reads and instinctive timing with the receiver go out the window. It basically keeps you getting “in the zone” so to speak. If you look at Orton with the game on the line, he always seemed to up his game. (as in forgetting about staying healthy and just playing) Orton lack of deep ball - Turner seems to truly believe in the need for the big play, but also believes Orton is capable of such. He said Orton did miss on some deep balls, but went on to say it wasn't all his fault. He implies the biggest issue was a lack of timing between Orton and the WRs, also mentioning a lack of practice reps between he and the WRs. Mentions injuries, and I get the impression he means WRs, but not sure who he is talking about. "The more he’s around them and the more experience he gets, he’ll hit those. A lot of it has to do with practice. We had some guys who couldn’t practice as much as they wanted because of injuries. If you’re not throwing those things full speed in practice, it’s hard to hit them in the games." Again, I agree with Turner on this. Orton was showing good accuracy downfield prior to the injury. It wasn’t great, but good enough to keep the opponent honest. Is Wolf Sproles - While he speaks well of Wolfe, and also believes Wolf has a role in the future, he doesn't sound like he see's the two RBs are being that similar. Says that while they are similar in height, Sproles has more power in his lower body and is more compact. He does mention Wolfe's ability in the screen pass and explosion. He talks about AP getting reps Wolfe may have due to confidence in AP, particularly in regard to blitz pickup. I get the impression that if Wolfe get more impress the coaches in terms of blocking and protection, we may see Wolfe more and more phased in and AP phased out. Turner has to convince me on this one. I do agree that they are not the same player. But Turner has to show me he is able to get Forte off the field. There was another question in that interview regarding Forte’s touches being high and Turner agreed they don’t want to run his dick in the dirt. But the unwillingness to play players like Bennett, or even Williams (at guard) late in the season when the people ahead of them were atrocious lets me Turner gets locked into personnel. AP at FB - This was one of the more interesting ones, IMHO. Someone mentioned the idea of AP at FB, similar to Larry Centers. Turner called the question great, said it was a great observation, and even said it was something they have talked about. Said it is something AP can do, and mentioned the idea of a backfield w/ both AP (as the FB) and Forte as the halfback. Interesting idea IMHO. I am not sold on AP as a lead blocker, but would not mind taking a look at this. IMHO, AP would offer FAR MORE potential from the FB position when it comes to passing or handing off to the FB. Interesting question, and even more so w/ Turner saying it is something they have talked about. I think this may rely on Wolfe, and his ability to improve or impress in blocking. If Wolfe can improve his blitz pickup, and thus phase AP out of the RB rotation (and knowing how the staff loves AP) we could see AP move more to the FB position. Blah blah blah. I don’t want to find any more reason to use AP as a skill position player. He strikes fear into no-one. I won’t settle for anything less than a real fullback this year! Interesting that there wasn't much feedback on the Oline other than Williams. Maybe it's just me trying to read the between the lines too much because I think it was a big problem for us. This is the time for information and disinformation. The O-line was the weakest link last year. That being said, they played better than I thought they would. My hope is that was all left out because they feel our O is going to be prominent with the new OL additions they are planning and don't want to tip off the enemy.(Like they don't know) We can only hope.

I don't know how much Orton makes. But if we bring in competition they will make more than 2 mil.

Other reasoning is great, if there is a method to the madness. More 2nd's and 3rd's increase your odds of hitting on a keeper and is also more cap friendly. You can also throw, lack of faith in the 1st rounder you have to choose from. If it's to stockpile late round picks like last year, I will simply vomit.

Sorry to pick out a small peice of the conversation, but it being your conclusion makes it stand out to me. I don't it's so cut and dry as saying, "we need this position more, therefore the impact will be greater with player X". It all depends on what you strike gold with. The argument to add a top corner is a valid one, as it helps the whole secondary get better. I may be in the minority, but still feel if we signed Osamuhga and moved Pnut to FS, our secondary would improve exponentially.(Osamuhga is elite and P'nut IMO would be an elite FS) It would definately help the LB's play more naturally flowing to the LOS vs backpedalling to compensate for an inferior backfield. Would that be more beneficial than a good pass rushing DE? At this point, hope is alive that Marinelli(with some help from Sapp) will boost the pass rush. This also includes better play from our DT's. Our scheme starts up front, but how much was coaching vs talent? Ogun is in a contract year, Brown will be Brown, Anderson is the wildcard, Harrison will be in his 2nd season and Harris should improve(if he doesn't the whole staff should be fired). With this much improvement expected, how great is the DL need vs talent elsewhere? On the offensive side of the ball, agreed, and I still say "Fix the OL 1st". It all falls into place after that. I also don't think any reciever we can draft at our slot will have an immediate impact. A veteren FA would have greater benefit to Orton, Hester and the TE's, at this point. Again, it all starts up front.

I have a feeling if you polled the people who want a receiver in the 1st, you would find the majority would trade our 1st for Boldin in a heart beat. I think what you are running up against is a large contingent that thinks there are greater needs than reciever in the 1st or simply better value with other positions of need. I would go out on a limb and say I would rather have OL, DE or CB before WR in the 1st. (those positions are more of an immediate premium and feel that any reciever we bring in will suffer until Orton gets the time he needs to throw) That being said, I wouldn't complain if we got Boldin with our 1st, as it would be a great question mark erased. In conclusion, it seems to be apples and oranges.

It may be damning, but it's no logical reason for trading down. Could you imagine the loser mentality of a GM to think that? I shudder... LOL

Not to mention that Jerry Jones is the new Al Davis. That was a toooo huge of a trade for Roy Williams.

I think you are confusing disconnect with disfunction. Disconnected is where they are not working together for a common cause or simply disagree how to go about things. Disfunctional would be they are trying to work together and think things are working when they are not. JA has no reason to bully Smith when it comes down to on the field descisions. It is simply not his job. Lovie is in charge of the players and coaches. JA is in charge of getting the players and managing the cap. I do think that JA doesn't have the authority to fire Lovie without the approval of the family. We also need to be careful what we wish for. With the way the family like to go cheap with new coaches and GM's, we could be in for a roller coaster ride if we are looking for new leadership next season. For every John Harbaugh, there is a Bobby Petrino.

Turner wasn't speaking about any one particular player, especially, the QB. That's the difference. I'm sure they have all evaluated the season by now and placed a stamp on the path forward. JA was just lighting fires and blowing smoke. The whole DM thing... I can only pray he's not serious.

Love that post! 100% spot on. As far as a disconnect with JA and Turner, I really don't see it. Remember, we can't believe a thing we hear from the coaches and GM this time of year. Another point would be that coaches are never going to let on anything but confidence in their players, especially important with the QB position. Lovie and Turner are saying the right things.

That would fit the Bill Polian mold. I would love for JA to be more Polian-esque. It helps keep the cost of the Colts defense down, while pipelining them with fresh bodies. However, Polian throws in a lot of high picks on offense, with the majority going to D. Where JA beats Polian is that we always have money to sign our own and free agents. That's another hot button topic.

My Dad always said "you wish in one and shit in the other and see which one fills up 1st". No way he gets a new deal this year. I wouldn't feel that way if he were starting material. IE: Des Clark

I'll take the one of the two that has no drops, blocks well and converts the most 3rd downs.