defiantgiant

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the slant was primarily the outside linebackers' responsibility in the Tampa 2. Don't the corners usually have a deeper zone, more on the outside? I could be wrong, but I thought that the reason we were leaving that quick slant so uncovered last season was because Babich kept blitzing the linebackers, which took them out of their coverage zones. Even when he wasn't blitzing them, the constant mug-up look at the line meant that it was easier for WRs to get behind the OLBs on a slant.

Casey Hampton and Shaun Rogers are two of the top 5 nose tackles in the NFL. Quentin Jammer is easily a top 10 cornerback. Ricky Williams had a thousand yards from scrimmage his rookie year, then broke 1,400 scrimmage yards every season for the next four seasons in a row. In 2002, he had over 2,200 yards from scrimmage and 17 touchdowns. What counts as "doing it up?" That's the exact opposite of the point you made originally. You were trying to say that Mack Brown picks players who can execute his system, rather than picking players for their talent. Now you're saying that Mack Brown started a talented quarterback who couldn't learn his system. Which one is it? OK, I'm really looking at the names now. Here's what I see: 11 Pro Bowl selections. A ROTY selection as well as an OROTY. A couple of Super Bowl rings. Several guys who are widely considered to be in the top 10 at their positions. More importantly, though, I see a HUGE amount of natural talent. The one thing that Mack Brown's busts (like Cedric Benson and Vince Young,) his productive players (like Williams, Hampton, Rogers, and Jammer,) and the guys somewhere in between (like Roy Williams and Nate Vasher) all have in common is that they're all tremendously physically talented. Some of them have had problems with effort, instincts, commitment, and consistency; some other ones haven't had those issues, and have been successful. But the one thing Mack Brown's guys all seem to share is a lot of physical talent. Shaun Rogers weighs 350 pounds and can still jump high enough to block field goals. In fact, last time I checked, he was leading the NFL in blocked kicks. That's raw athletic talent. So I don't know how the names I mentioned "make your point" that Mack Brown can't evaluate talent. From what I can see, they lead to the exact opposite conclusion. So if Henry Melton were as talented a running back as you seem to think he is, I'm willing to bet that Texas wouldn't have changed his position. I'm not trying to rag on the guy, I like him as a developmental DE prospect, but I think it's a little silly to compare him to Brandon Jacobs. There's no reason (other than height and weight) to think that the two have anything in common, and there are some pretty good reasons to think that they don't.

Yeah, the Polamalu-Urlacher comparison is a pretty good one. Troy's always flowing to the football, has incredible range in coverage, hits like a truck, etc. He's also like Urlacher in that he always seems to sniff out where a play's going and get there. Whenever you watch the Steelers' defense, Polamalu's usually the first guy to the ballcarrier. There was an article (I think in ESPN magazine, maybe?) about Polamalu not that long ago: the upshot was that he's the only player on Dick LeBeau's defense who is allowed to abandon his gap responsibility and freelance. They were basically saying that Polamalu can consistently guess where a play's going to go, before the snap, and then get himself in position to break it up; since he's almost never wrong, they just diagram plays for the other 10 guys and let Troy do his thing. Losing a guy like that is going to mean a lot fewer big plays from the Steelers' defense, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them playing more conservatively. It'd be like the Ravens' D losing Ed Reed. As much as I'd like to play them at full strength, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a relief that Polamalu's not going to be out there.

Whatever it is, I hope it lets them get some pressure on Aaron Rodgers. If our pass rush doesn't improve in a big way from last season, he's going to eat the secondary alive. I'm with Grizzly on this one: I really hope this is our coaching staff hiding stuff from the Packers. If they can hit the field with some new looks on the d-line and Tillman/Bowman back in the lineup, I'll be really happy about it. Really, I think there's a pretty good chance we beat Green Bay. As bad as last season was, remember what happened in the first game? We went into the Colts' new stadium, showed them a look on the defensive line that they weren't ready for, and made life miserable for Peyton and their offense. I wouldn't mind seeing a repeat performance at Lambeau this year.

Is this post based on any real information, or just a bunch of unfounded assumptions? It sounds like you're saying, "I can't think of a QB or RB from Texas who has made it big in the NFL, therefore Mack Brown must be a system coach who can't evaluate talent, therefore Henry Melton being stuck behind Chris Ogbonnaya is the same as Brandon Jacobs being stuck behind Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown." Assuming for the sake of argument that the ability to evaluate talent and the ability to pick the right guys for a system really are mutually exclusive, what on earth would make you think that Mack Brown picks players for his system, rather than tailoring his system to his players' talents? Remember Vince Young? They basically had to throw out three-quarters of the playbook for him - I can't think of a more blatant example of a system being tailored to the player's talents, rather than the other way around. Incidentally, Ricky Williams came from Texas. I think it's safe to say he "hit it off" in the NFL, to the tune of ~6400 rushing yards and 41 touchdowns in his first five seasons. If you're willing to look at talent evaluation for the whole team, rather than just two positions, then we're talking about Casey Hampton, Shaun Rogers, Derrick Johnson, Quentin Jammer, Bo Scaife, Roy Williams, and Nate Vasher, among others. I think Mack Brown is OK at evaluating talent. If Henry Melton were the next Brandon Jacobs, I doubt that he would have been moved to DE while the Longhorns were starting a scrub at halfback.

That's a shame, I liked #46 for Afalava. Good to see a strong safety laying people out with that number on.

You're talking about two different things here: are you saying that Melton could be a short-yardage back or saying that he could be Brandon Jacobs? I might grant you that we could use Melton as a short-yardage, jumbo-package kind of player, but Jacobs is a lot more than a designated short-yardage guy. Which one is it? OK, but Jamal Lewis is really, really slow. Last season (and this preseason) he was slow to the point of being ineffective in anything but 3rd-and-short type situations. Saying "he's faster than the slowest starting RB in the NFL" isn't a great argument for a guy. Let's have some perspective here: Brandon Jacobs was a backup to TWO TOP 5 PICKS. Caddy went fifth overall, and Ronnie Brown went second overall. Meanwhile, Melton was a backup to a guy who was picked two hundred and eleventh overall. Caddy just got named the starter for the Bucs and Ronnie Brown's the starter for the Dolphins; Ogbonnaya couldn't even crack the Rams' third string. Do you really think those are comparable situations?

I think if he had any value as a running back, Texas would have kept him there. He was a backup RB, and couldn't cut it there (behind some 7th-round pick named Chris Ogbonnaya) so they moved him to DE. His timed speed and quickness are good for a DE, but very sub-standard for a running back. You don't see a lot of successful halfbacks who run high-4.6 40s coming out of college. Jacobs ran in the low 4.5 range coming out of SIU, and he was still considered somewhat slow for an NFL back. I wouldn't assume that Melton can be anything like Jacobs simply because they're about the same size. Also, people tend to underrate instincts and vision in a running back. Look at Matt Forte: he doesn't have any overwhelming physical gifts. He's decently fast, but not the fastest back. He's pretty strong, but he's not a bulldozer like Jacobs or LeRon McClain. He's not super-agile, even if he's elusive enough to make some people miss. The thing that makes him an elite halfback is his ability to see a tackler coming, run behind his blockers, hit the hole at the right time and at the right speed, fall forward for a first down, all the mental/instinctive stuff. If you don't have that, you're not going to be much of a running back in the NFL; look at Cedric Benson. Melton's got great size, but I don't see any evidence that he's got the speed or the instincts to be a halfback in the NFL.

Yeah, exactly. Even if Tillman can't go and we lose on Sunday, it's not like we can't drop a game to the Packers and still make the playoffs. Sure, it makes things more complicated, but if Tillman reinjures his back, we're in trouble for the whole season. I do sort of wish that Chicago had made an offer for Sheldon Brown back when he was unhappy about his contract. We'd be in a very different boat right now.

Yeah, he's only been playing the position for two years, and he only started for one. He's got a LOT of development to do. I think it makes a lot of sense to IR him for a year, since we basically just drafted him for his physical skills.

Yeah, Rex is still going to have those problems. The main reason that I could see him being better on the Texans is the quality of his receivers. It's one thing to stare down a double-covered Bernard Berrian or Marty Booker, it's something else entirely to do that with Andre Johnson or Owen Daniels. Those guys can make catches in traffic, which our receivers could never do when Rex was here. I'm not saying that Rex isn't bad (god knows he is,) just that I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Texans' receivers camouflaged a lot of his shortcomings. He can have a Rex game and throw one up for grabs, and Andre Johnson just might bail him out.

Simeon Rice is done. He's got major recurring shoulder problems and hasn't had a decent season since 2005. He's playing in the UFL for a reason. Different players. Carter's a base end or even a tackle in our system. Anderson's a situational rusher. We'd probably use Carter like Idonije - as a wave LE who kicks inside sometimes. That'd let us move Idonije to end fulltime. I think you're dead-on. Melton didn't look ready to make any kind of an impact in his first year, but he's got lots of potential and was drafted too high to cut bait on. This has redshirt IR written all over it. Yeah, I think the staff is probably still worried about Anderson. I don't think any of our young guys offer the same kind of potential as a rush end, but it looks like they're using Melton/Clermond/Baldwin to hedge their bets in case Anderson still sucks.

Nice, glad they kept Ta'ufo'ou around, especially since they opted for him over Jason Davis. I think he's going to be a pretty good fullback eventually. Baldwin, Clermond, and Turenne are all nice PS picks, as well. So who gets the 8th spot? Here are the remaining eligible guys: OT Cody Balogh CB Rudy Burgess FB Jason Davis LB Marcus Freeman LB Kevin Malast WR Eric Peterman LB Mike Rivera Personally, I'd be happy with any one of the linebackers. All three showed some good stuff in preseason, and we could use one on the PS, since we're going into the season with only six on the roster.

I agree. Greg Cosell wrote a great piece on Garcia and Leftwich, explaining why their respective play styles make them problematic NFL starters. I'd give Leftwich a little more credit than Cosell does, but he's right on the money about Garcia. From what I've seen, Garcia tends to treat every play like a broken play. He scrambles out of the pocket even when he has good protection, he strings plays out when he had a receiver open, etc. That means his offenses never really get into a rhythm. I'd rather have Brian Griese back than Jeff Garcia; at least Griese was predictably mediocre. Really, though, I think the best bet is to continue developing Hanie. None of the backup guys on the market have a skillset similar to Cutler's - they'd all dictate a substantially different playbook if they had to start. Hanie, meanwhile, has poor-man's-Cutler written all over him: big arm, good mobility, can throw on the run, strong guy who can take a hit. The only things he doesn't have are Cutler's stellar accuracy and ball placement; from what I've seen, Hanie's fairly average in terms of accuracy. That fact notwithstanding, if Cutler were to get hurt, we could expect Hanie to run all the same plays and make all the same throws, just not quite as well. That's exactly what you want out of a backup; you don't want to have to rework your playbook midseason. Look at the Patriots with Cassel last season: Brady's a great passer either under center or in the shotgun, but Cassel's only really effective out of shotgun formations. When Brady went down, the Pats struggled trying to put Cassel into the Brady role, and their offense wasn't as effective. Cassel made a lot of bad reads and took a million coverage sacks; the Pats had to retool a lot of their offense in order to tailor it to Cassel's strengths and cover for his weaknesses. When they went shotgun-heavy midway through the season, he was a lot better, but it was already Week 8 or 9. If Cutler were to go down, I'd rather have a guy who can run the same plays than a guy who'd force a major change in the offense. For now, I think Hanie's the best option at backup QB.

At the very least, with a bigger d-line we'd be able to stop the run without taking linebackers out of coverage.

I really hope Will Ta'ufo'ou makes it to the PS. He had some really nice plays in preseason, and he was a monster in college. It's hard to quantify fullbacks' blocking, but when you heard people talk about Lorenzo Neal, they talk about how many times his running backs hit 1,000 yards. Ta'ufo'ou got Cal's starter at running back to 1,000 yards each year he was there (Marshawn Lynch in '05-'06, Justin Forsett in '07, and Jahvid Best in '08.) He proved in preseason that he's a pretty good receiver, to boot. I hope the Bears can stash him on the practice squad and groom him to take over for McKie.

If this is true, do you think the Bears are trying to get bigger on the d-line? If we got Carter, we'd have some much bigger guys on the line between him, Gilbert, Harrison, and Idonije. I know the other former Tampa-2 teams (specifically the Colts and Bucs) have both been moving away from a lighter, faster d-line and toward a more traditional 4-3 front. Could the Bears be doing the same?

Yeah, this. The Packers spent a 2nd-round pick on him and he couldn't beat out Matt Flynn, who they got in the 7th.

The Packers just cut Ruvell Martin. I'd rather bring him in than David Tyree. Martin's 6'4" and 220 pounds, and he's a pretty decent receiver, there's just a ton of talent ahead of him. They also cut Anthony Smith, formerly of the Steelers, who might be able to help us out at safety.

He's got little hands, but he wasn't a big fumbler at Virginia, and he's a pretty good receiver out of the backfield. Doesn't seem to affect him that much. Maybe it would at the next level, I don't know.

Another guy to look at: the Ravens just released Cedric Peerman. He's not the bruising short-yardage type like Redman, but he's a very complete back and I really think he could be good in the pros. He kind of reminds me of a poor man's Thomas Jones: similar builds and running styles, both went to UVa, etc. I'd love it if the Bears dumped Garrett Wolfe and signed Peerman.

That's unfortunate about Dowling. We definitely don't need another DB who can't tackle. If the Bears don't look at Redman, Jehuu Caulcrick would be another potential short-yardage back. The Jets just cut him (no shame in not making that roster, with Thomas Jones, Leon Washington, and now Shonn Greene ahead of him) and he could definitely help in short-yardage situations. He's 6'0" and 255-260 pounds. The Jets tried moving him to fullback, but I think that might have been the wrong position. By all accounts, he's a runner, not a lead blocker. The guy was a monster goal-line RB at Michigan State...he had 21 TDs in his senior season alone.

Yeah, this is pretty much it. Every time I've seen him play, he looks surprisingly slow for a little guy. He's got some quickness laterally, but he's not actually very fast. I know he's put on 9 or 10 pounds since college (Bears list him at 186, he was 177 pounds at NIU,) I guess that could have cost him a step or two. I'd actually rather get a power back type of guy to spell Forte. Most of the things that you'd want a scatback to do, Forte does extremely well. He's a great receiver, makes defenders miss, breaks long runs, etc. I'd rather see the Bears pick up a bruiser to take over some short-yardage work; when I look at our roster now, that's the piece I don't really see.

Why would we want Rhodes? He's old, he has knee issues, and he got outplayed in Buffalo by some guy named Xavier Omon. The Colts could have resigned him on the cheap at the end of '08, but they opted to dump him instead. Indianapolis is a pretty smart franchise when it comes to personnel moves; I'm inclined to think that if they ditched Rhodes, he doesn't have anything left. If we were going to bring in a dinged-up 30-plus-year-old running back, I'd want Warrick Dunn. He at least had a pretty good season for the Bucs last year...over 1100 yards from scrimmage and 4.2 YPC. Rhodes hasn't broken 1100 yards since 2001. Really, though, I think the Bears ought to trade for a young guy. Even if we have to trade a pick, we need a legitimate 1-2 at RB. Kevin Jones should have taught them that signing an injury-prone vet off the scrap heap isn't the way to go.

So it's cutdown time. Who do we bring in for a look? Here are some guys I'm thinking about: Maurice Evans/Robert Henderson, DEs, Giants (Evans - 6'2" 264 lbs.; Henderson - 6'3" 278 lbs.) - The Giants cut Evans and Henderson...they've got a surplus of DEs already, and it's not like it'd be easy to beat Justin Tuck, Osi, or any of those other guys for a roster spot. Evans has a bunch of question marks - poor 40 at the combine, got arrested once for pot possession - but his 2007 season makes me think he should get a shot. He racked up 12.5 sacks and 21.5 tackles for a loss. Henderson has the measurables, and in his 33 college starts at RE, he had 29.5 TFL and 13.5 sacks. I'd be OK with letting either of these two have a shot at Melton's roster spot. Ronald Curry, WR, Rams (6'2" 210 lbs.) - Curry can play both in the slot and outside, and he has a lot more experience than any of our WRs. If he's fully healthy, he's still probably good for something around 50 catches and 700 yards. He's a relatively big target, and I could see the Bears giving him a shot to make the roster, maybe over Rashied Davis. Also, Curry was a very good QB in high school and college. If the Bears decide to save a roster spot and only carry 2 quarterbacks, Curry could be the emergency QB. Isaac Redman, RB, Steelers (6' 230 lbs.) - Redman could be worth a look as a short-yardage back. He's powerful and never stops driving with his legs after contact. He definitely isn't the fastest back (4.64 in the 40) but he was money in the red zone during preseason, and the reports out of Steelers camp were that their first-team defense couldn't stop him at ALL in goal-line drills. He made a big impression in camp, but Pittsburgh has a logjam ahead of him at the RB position. With Kevin Jones out for the season, I could see the Bears giving Redman a look. Jameel Dowling, CB, Cardinals (6'3" 205 lbs.) - Dowling has great size, decent (4.4 to 4.5) speed for a Cover 2 corner, and apparently has pretty sound technique. Given how bad the bottom of our depth chart at corner looks (coughMCBRIDEcough) it could be worth bringing him in for a workout. As an added bonus, he has some experience at free safety. It's unsurprising that the Cards cut him; they're in great shape at CB, with McFadden and DRC as the starters and Antrel Rolle moving to CB in the nickel. ...so those are my thoughts. Who do you guys think we should look at?