Hall of Fame Game - Texans vs Bears - August 1st

[BearFan PHX]

35 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

DL depth is a concern.  Zero push.

true but they were moving a lot of people around etc. and rookies having their first ever game. I feel like all you can take from this is whether anyone had a great performance or whether anyone got their ass kicked. Middle crap is common for a game this early I think.

But yeah, if that was our team, it wasnt pretty at all.

[Mongo3451]

Loving the Aikman gush over Caleb!  I really respect his opinion...

[AZ54]

Not much worth talking about from that game.  My overall impression is that considering we were mainly watching 3rd string players the coaches had them ready to play.   Usually these games are sloppy with lots of obvious blown assignments, false starts, etc.  Now that's much easier on the defensive side same scheme and all but the offense held their own with a new system and coaches.  Which kinda makes me optimistic for the regular season opener.  

Players... nobody stood out to me except TE Bates.  Of course assignment matteres but in these games of backups vs. backups in wk 1 preseason I'm mostly looking for athletes who stand out.  Bates is a big dude who can run fluidly in the open field.  TE is the notoriously one of the most difficult positions to learn so it's no surprise to see guys like Carlson ahead of him.  Will that last over the next few games?   Regardless, I won't expect much from him this year and he'd be TE4 so he can only make the 53 via special teams and maybe at the expense of Blasingame.  

Dline doesn't have any notable depth.  Pickens for his former 5 star recruit talent hype should have stood out IF he's going to make a significant contribution this year.  As it is now it appears he's just a guy holding a roster spot.  Booker looked ok athletically like he belongs but also showed he has much to learn.  

I'm not impressed by Collin Johnson.  He can't run by anybody and he's very stiff getting off the line.  If all he can get is contested catches against 3rd/4th stringers that won't get any better against 1st/2nd string.  

Rypien showed why he's career backup as he's a line of sight thrower.  He can't really layer the ball in over coverage. It's all good to the big WR over the top.  Or to wide open crossers with nobody underneath.  Didn't see enough from Bagent to compare.  

[BearFan PHX]

2 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Not much worth talking about from that game.  My overall impression is that considering we were mainly watching 3rd string players the coaches had them ready to play.   Usually these games are sloppy with lots of obvious blown assignments, false starts, etc.  Now that's much easier on the defensive side same scheme and all but the offense held their own with a new system and coaches.  Which kinda makes me optimistic for the regular season opener.  

Players... nobody stood out to me except TE Bates.  Of course assignment matteres but in these games of backups vs. backups in wk 1 preseason I'm mostly looking for athletes who stand out.  Bates is a big dude who can run fluidly in the open field.  TE is the notoriously one of the most difficult positions to learn so it's no surprise to see guys like Carlson ahead of him.  Will that last over the next few games?   Regardless, I won't expect much from him this year and he'd be TE4 so he can only make the 53 via special teams and maybe at the expense of Blasingame.  

Dline doesn't have any notable depth.  Pickens for his former 5 star recruit talent hype should have stood out IF he's going to make a significant contribution this year.  As it is now it appears he's just a guy holding a roster spot.  Booker looked ok athletically like he belongs but also showed he has much to learn.  

I'm not impressed by Collin Johnson.  He can't run by anybody and he's very stiff getting off the line.  If all he can get is contested catches against 3rd/4th stringers that won't get any better against 1st/2nd string.  

Rypien showed why he's career backup as he's a line of sight thrower.  He can't really layer the ball in over coverage. It's all good to the big WR over the top.  Or to wide open crossers with nobody underneath.  Didn't see enough from Bagent to compare.  

agree with all of this, especially the part about there not being much to see, and Booker. Also the O line was piecemeal, with a basic unknown playing center. I was disappointed in Pryor, I love his size, but he got beat too much. Curhan looked pretty good.

It was good to see Roschon running hard. I like him better than Herbert, but i can see why others are going to disagree with me about that. There are strengths to both players. I was hoping to see Wheeler, but i dont think he got any reps. Maybe the rain stole them.

Keith Randolph Jr showed a little, but also got blown out on a few plays - Im looking forward to seeing more of him pushing Pickens for NT2.

The linebackers were particularly bad I thought.

All deep into the depth chart, all too early to say.

EDIT - reading more Im hearing some people didnt like Curhan at all, so maybe I didnt see him on the bad snaps. I could be wrong about him of course. I didnt watch every OL player on every snap. I hope the OL looks better next week.

 

[adam]

Just using a relative comparison, the Bears and Texans seem to have fairly even rosters.

On offense, the O-Line surprised me and did not allow a sack while Herbert had 8.8 YPC, Johnson had 4.0, and Felton had 4.7.  For the passing game, there were only 5 incompletions. I expected a lot worse of a showing against the Texans who are a very good defensive team. So kudos to that group.

We may have a QB2 controversy. Remember this is a new offense, one that Rypien is familiar with. It sure looked that way last night. Bagent did not look near as crisp as Rypien. I know we are splitting hairs talking about QB2, but if the Bears need the best support for Williams, Rypien may have the edge over Bagent in that respect. 

Pettis muffing a punt already makes him an easy cut candidate with so much competition at WR5/6. His only way on the team was with his PR ability and he can't even do that.

As much as Scott has looked great in practices, he just doesn't look as good in games. For me, he is just a bit too small (weight) to play WR. He feels like a lighter Johnny Knox, which is scary. He can never stay on his feet and will never break a single tackle if the defender even has a pinky on him. If anything Poles will give him the Velus treatment and keep him on the roster just because of draft position. It seems like the Bears will use 2x spots on WRs that have limited utility. I always wondered why Poles doubled down on a smaller Mooney after Velus clearly was not it the year prior. They tried a jet sweep with Scott and he went down on initial contact which was his own guy. I am still not impressed with anything he does. I think he makes the roster, but has limited impact on the season. His only hope is KR and even then he can barely get the ball out to the 25 yard line.

Even though Johnson can't get separation with speed, he may end up sticking as a hybrid WR/TE type of guy. His size in the Red Zone with Kmet would be interesting. The challenge for him is WR5/6 have to play ST. He is the tallest WR by a few inches.

 

On defense, I heard Hicks name called a few times. I was trying to watch Booker every play. He actually reminded me of Hutchinson with his relentless motor. Now he just needs a few moves and a little more weight to anchor. I did see him totally miss keeping the edge which allowed for an easy gain for the RB. However, for his first real pro action, the needle is still pointing up for him. 

The end of the roster LB, Jones, played pretty well. He seemed to be in on a ton of tackles. 

Out of the entire roster or position group, the one thing that stood out was the lack of a consistent pass rush. This was more evident than any O-Line deficiency. So when we were all thinking they may go out and get another O-Lineman, they may actually still go out and get a Vet Edge player to play across from Sweat.

[adam]

When is the last time the Bears had the best record in the league? They are currently the only team with a win. Amazing.

Also, when is the last time the Bears had the leading Passer, Rusher, Receiver, Tackler, and Sacker in the same week?

[Stinger226]

I think Collin Johnson has the chance to stick because of his size.  6-6  With 4.65 speed more like a TE but is a good blocker and can high point the ball. He does have a role on special teams. I think they keep 6 WRs and Jones- Scott give you the speed element. 

Allen 6-3

DJ 6

Rome 6-3

Scott 5-11

V Jones 6

DeAndre Carter 5-8

[adam]

2 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

I think Collin Johnson has the chance to stick because of his size.  6-6  With 4.65 speed more like a TE but is a good blocker and can high point the ball. He does have a role on special teams. I think they keep 6 WRs and Jones- Scott give you the speed element. 

Allen 6-3

DJ 6

Rome 6-3

Scott 5-11

V Jones 6

DeAndre Carter 5-8

You said you think they keep 6, but Johnson is not listed. If he makes the roster, who drops off?

[Stinger226]

1 hour ago, adam said:

You said you think they keep 6, but Johnson is not listed. If he makes the roster, who drops off?

That list was just probable keepers but Carter would seem to be odd man out. Yhey have 2 speed backups in Jones and Scott.