Points of View, May 28, 2008

[tshanno]

http://chicagobearsfanforum.com/blog/?p=257

 

The Bears

 

*

 

Former Bear Roosevelt Colvin is claiming interest from the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets. Michael david Smith at profootballtalk.com thinks it might be a ploy to drum up interest (and I agree).

 

*

 

Bob LeGere writes a nice piece on Bears new/old WR Marty Booker. On the QB "competition":

 

"Dude, in my career I've had like almost 20 different quarterbacks (17 actually), so as far as adjusting to anybody, that's not a problem," he said. "That's the least of everything."

 

Booker might or might noot have the savvy that Muhsin Muhammad had but its pretty evident he'll bring a more colming influence to the WR carp.

 

*

 

On the other hand Lovie Smith makes an unsusual comment in the same article.

 

The Bears lost their top two receivers in the off-season when Bernard Berrian signed with the Minnesota Vikings and Muhsin Muhammad was released to loosen up the salary cap. Booker was signed to help fill the void.

 

"Whenever you lose a playmaker it's a little unsettling," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "But getting Marty Booker back will help."

 

I'm picking a little bit here. Muhammad, yes. But if anyone out there expects Booker to compensate at all for the loss of Berrian, a totally different type of speed player, he or she is dreaming.

 

*

 

Bears LB Lance Briggs continued his campaign to support Brian Urlacher in his effort to get paid. Briggs said he doesn't expect to see Urlacher at minicamp this weekend on ESPN's NFL Live. The guess here is that the Tommie Harris negotiation is part of the problem. Once that cap space is gone, maybe the team can come to a conctrete arrangement based upon what's left and Urlacher will settle down and accept the situation. A Devin Hester extension will probably have its effect as well.

 

*

 

Brad Biggs examines the amount of money Urlacher could lose should he decided to skip the Bears' mandatory minicamp starting Friday. It's considerably more than I thought.

 

Elsewhere

 

*

 

Here's one for the "what the heck?" category. From Matt Mosely of ESPN's Hashmarks blog:

 

One of the first things John Harbaugh did as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens was order a new calendar shoot for the team's cheerleaders. The western themes of the late 90s and the infamous Edgar Allen Poe shoot seemed dated.

 

I won't even bother to express my surprise that the HC is dealing with cheerleader photoshoots. But that was one of the first things he did? Seriosuly?

 

*

 

49ers rookie Ezra Butler, who played college ball at Nevada, recognized last month that his marijuana use kept him from being drafted. "I think [the marijuana revelation] affected me, but at the end of the day I’ve got no one to blame but myself. I’m still going to have an opportunity to make the team."

 

Sincere words from a man who has changed his life and plans to take advantage of his opportunities from now on, right?

 

Butler was arrested Saturday for marijuana possession. He admitted to smoking pot 40 minutes before the arrest. The 49ers waived him yesterday.

 

One Last Thought

 

* What's is like to live in Wisconsin? Milwaukee plans on putting up a statue of Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. 'nuff said.

[nfoligno]

Booker might or might noot have the savvy that Muhsin Muhammad had but its pretty evident he'll bring a more colming influence to the WR carp.

 

"might or might not have the savvy"? Either you view Moose in a much higher regard than I, or Booker in a much lower. I never saw the savvy from Moose. His routes were never as sharp as I expected. Hands were pathetic. Attitude was poor, as he was happy to throw a QB under the bus. Other than eating up a chunk of cap, I am not sure what positive effect Moose had. Booker? He was a solid leader, as well as receiver, while w/ the bears. He never worked out in Miami, but at the same time, did you ever read about his complaining and making a fuss? He may not be the most physically gifted WR, but savvy is one area I think he has over most.

 

I'm picking a little bit here. Muhammad, yes. But if anyone out there expects Booker to compensate at all for the loss of Berrian, a totally different type of speed player, he or she is dreaming.

 

I think you are reading too much into it.

 

One, what do you expect Lovie to say? We lost our one homerun threat, and now we will suck. The coach is going to have to say something positive.

 

Two. All he said was Booker will help. He didn't say Booker will off-set the loss of Berrian, or replace him. All he said was that after losing both starting WRs, the addition of Booker will help. Do you really not think we are better w/ Booker than w/o him?

 

Three. W/ the above said, I actually do believe the addition of Booker will help offset the loss of Berrian. Before you go nuts, I am not saying Booker will be our downfield or homerun threat. But I do believe that Booker will (1) give us a greater chance to pickup 1st downs, which creates more opportunities for whoever our homerun threat is (2) while I am not saying Booker will draw consistent double teams, I do think he will warrant more attention than Moose did, which again, helps other WRs (3) If Booker can provide a consistent underneath, it give create more opportunities for our downfield WR to run his route, w/o worrying as much about having to cut off his route to help the QB.

 

I do not know how we replace Berrian, though I thought he was a very inconsistent WR. At the same time, I do think Booker does in fact "help" whoever is the WR trying to replace Berrian.

 

Bears LB Lance Briggs continued his campaign to support Brian Urlacher in his effort to get paid. Briggs said he doesn't expect to see Urlacher at minicamp this weekend on ESPN's NFL Live. The guess here is that the Tommie Harris negotiation is part of the problem. Once that cap space is gone, maybe the team can come to a conctrete arrangement based upon what's left and Urlacher will settle down and accept the situation. A Devin Hester extension will probably have its effect as well.

 

I personally think the staff simply doesn't want to give a ton of new cash to a player on the wrong side of 30, who is coming off a season w/ a "chronic" injury, that puts his future into greater question. I believe the staff feels they did the right thing by offering Urlacher some new money, and do not appreciate his blowing off their good will. I think this has more to do w/ Urlacher, and less to do w/ other negotiations.

 

I won't even bother to express my surprise that the HC is dealing with cheerleader photoshoots. But that was one of the first things he did? Seriosuly?

 

Tell the truth. If you were in power, wouldn't you want to take a "hands on" role w/ the cheerleaders?

[madlithuanian]

No way I'm arguing against your cheerleader take?

 

Is it time to ressurect my "Bring Back the Honey Bears" campaign?

[nfoligno]

Is it time to ressurect my "Bring Back the Honey Bears" campaign?

 

you can always campaign, but IMHO, there is no chance while Virginia is alive.

[Connorbear]

I personally think the staff simply doesn't want to give a ton of new cash to a player on the wrong side of 30, who is coming off a season w/ a "chronic" injury, that puts his future into greater question. I believe the staff feels they did the right thing by offering Urlacher some new money, and do not appreciate his blowing off their good will. I think this has more to do w/ Urlacher, and less to do w/ other negotiations.

Agreed 100%. Further, Urlacher's no fool - he will not leave money on the table. He will eventually accept the offer and will be in training camp in July.

 

Peace

[azbearsfan]

Booker might or might noot have the savvy that Muhsin Muhammad had but its pretty evident he'll bring a more colming influence to the WR carp.

 

"might or might not have the savvy"? Either you view Moose in a much higher regard than I, or Booker in a much lower. I never saw the savvy from Moose. His routes were never as sharp as I expected. Hands were pathetic. Attitude was poor, as he was happy to throw a QB under the bus. Other than eating up a chunk of cap, I am not sure what positive effect Moose had. Booker? He was a solid leader, as well as receiver, while w/ the bears. He never worked out in Miami, but at the same time, did you ever read about his complaining and making a fuss? He may not be the most physically gifted WR, but savvy is one area I think he has over most.

 

I agree with this. Moose was never the "leader" they wanted while he was here. He was a possession receiver who led the league in drops, ran crappy routes, and threw QB's under the bus for his drops. In my mind, Booker is much better than Moose.

 

And please dont give Berrian that much credit. He was a one trick pony who should pay Grossman half of his big salary because if Rex wasn't tossing him perfect longballs that year, he would not have gotten paid this year.

[madlithuanian]

True enough...

 

Is it time to ressurect my "Bring Back the Honey Bears" campaign?

 

you can always campaign, but IMHO, there is no chance while Virginia is alive.

[nfoligno]

I agree with this. Moose was never the "leader" they wanted while he was here. He was a possession receiver who led the league in drops, ran crappy routes, and threw QB's under the bus for his drops. In my mind, Booker is much better than Moose.

 

Hmmm. A possession receiver that runs weak routes and had trouble catching the ball. How much did we give him? Nevermind. Too much.

 

And please dont give Berrian that much credit. He was a one trick pony who should pay Grossman half of his big salary because if Rex wasn't tossing him perfect longballs that year, he would not have gotten paid this year.

 

Berrian was/is a good receiver. He is not a great receiver, and was over-paid, but its not like he was a bad WR. He was simply inconsistent. I agree he was by in large a one trick pony, but when that one trick is downfield catching, it is a pretty good trick. He had more than just speed. He was good at tracking the ball, which is key for a downfield WR. He was often able to speed up, slow down, or move in a direction, to alter his route for the catch, and key to all this was his ability to get separation downfield.

 

W/ that said, he was also lacking in many areas. While he was able to gain seperation downfield, he was not very good getting sep off the LOS. Thus, unless he was running a deep route, he was often covered. He was also not a very good route runner. He cuts were not sharp, and we saw last year times when he actually broke the wrong way. Ouch! Finally, he stunk is shielding defenders. If he was covered downfield, he didn't use his body very well in a way to shield the DB from the ball, and often allowed the DB to get into just as good of position to make the catch as Berrian.

 

One thing I hate is, Berrian's defeciences also seem to be the same as w/ other receivers of ours, not just this year, but for a while. It has not been often that I felt we had a WR that broke clean off the LOS. Routes are rarely sharp, and shielding always seems to be an issue. Finally, how many WRs have we had that break off their routes and come back to the QB when the QB is in trouble. How often have we seen our QB on his back, and the WR is basically still running his route. This is why I have a huge issue w/ our coaching. When not one, bust most every player shows the same problems, then I feel you have to look at the coaching and development of those players.

 

That is what does scare me about Berrian. If I am right, Berrian has done pretty well based more on pure ability. What happens if he gets good coaching that can better develop him?

[nfoligno]

Agreed 100%. Further, Urlacher's no fool - he will not leave money on the table. He will eventually accept the offer and will be in training camp in July.

 

I wish I had your confidence. My concerns:

 

(a) Often when two sides get into a stubborn war, logic falls by wayside. Too often we have seen this in the NFL. An outsider can look at the situation and use logic, but sometimes those involved are incapable of doing so.

 

( What if Urlacher knows his injury is worse than what he is letting on. That isn't to say he isn't 100% right now, but if the back injury is in fact chronic, he may know it is likely to continue to be an issue, and if he doesn't cash in now, he may never be able to do so, thus he may be more willing to fight now for the payday before his stock drops further.

 

I do not see Urlacher sitting out the season, but I do feel it is possible he sits out at least a part of camp.

[azbearsfan]

I agree with this. Moose was never the "leader" they wanted while he was here. He was a possession receiver who led the league in drops, ran crappy routes, and threw QB's under the bus for his drops. In my mind, Booker is much better than Moose.

 

Hmmm. A possession receiver that runs weak routes and had trouble catching the ball. How much did we give him? Nevermind. Too much.

 

And please dont give Berrian that much credit. He was a one trick pony who should pay Grossman half of his big salary because if Rex wasn't tossing him perfect longballs that year, he would not have gotten paid this year.

 

Berrian was/is a good receiver. He is not a great receiver, and was over-paid, but its not like he was a bad WR. He was simply inconsistent. I agree he was by in large a one trick pony, but when that one trick is downfield catching, it is a pretty good trick. He had more than just speed. He was good at tracking the ball, which is key for a downfield WR. He was often able to speed up, slow down, or move in a direction, to alter his route for the catch, and key to all this was his ability to get separation downfield.

 

W/ that said, he was also lacking in many areas. While he was able to gain seperation downfield, he was not very good getting sep off the LOS. Thus, unless he was running a deep route, he was often covered. He was also not a very good route runner. He cuts were not sharp, and we saw last year times when he actually broke the wrong way. Ouch! Finally, he stunk is shielding defenders. If he was covered downfield, he didn't use his body very well in a way to shield the DB from the ball, and often allowed the DB to get into just as good of position to make the catch as Berrian.

 

One thing I hate is, Berrian's defeciences also seem to be the same as w/ other receivers of ours, not just this year, but for a while. It has not been often that I felt we had a WR that broke clean off the LOS. Routes are rarely sharp, and shielding always seems to be an issue. Finally, how many WRs have we had that break off their routes and come back to the QB when the QB is in trouble. How often have we seen our QB on his back, and the WR is basically still running his route. This is why I have a huge issue w/ our coaching. When not one, bust most every player shows the same problems, then I feel you have to look at the coaching and development of those players.

 

That is what does scare me about Berrian. If I am right, Berrian has done pretty well based more on pure ability. What happens if he gets good coaching that can better develop him?

 

 

To me Berrian could speed up and slow down but didn't change his route. Perfect example was in, I believe the San Diego game, he was running a seam looking over the inside shoulder Rex threw it to the outside. Any normal receiver changes directions and make a catch near the goalline. Berrian just kept jogging in a straight line. The defender changed direction and got a pick. The commentators ripped Berrian and I lost some respect for him cause for my taste thats letting your QB and team down by not doing everything you can to catch the ball.

[Connorbear]

Agreed 100%. Further, Urlacher's no fool - he will not leave money on the table. He will eventually accept the offer and will be in training camp in July.

 

I wish I had your confidence. My concerns:

 

(a) Often when two sides get into a stubborn war, logic falls by wayside. Too often we have seen this in the NFL. An outsider can look at the situation and use logic, but sometimes those involved are incapable of doing so.

 

( What if Urlacher knows his injury is worse than what he is letting on. That isn't to say he isn't 100% right now, but if the back injury is in fact chronic, he may know it is likely to continue to be an issue, and if he doesn't cash in now, he may never be able to do so, thus he may be more willing to fight now for the payday before his stock drops further.

 

I do not see Urlacher sitting out the season, but I do feel it is possible he sits out at least a part of camp.

Worst case, Url pulls a Walter Jones and doesn't show until 2 weeks before the start of the season. I really don't think that will happen because it will kill his image with Bears fans.

 

I simply do not see the Bears giving him much more than they have offered. They have all the leverage.

 

Peace

[Connorbear]

To me Berrian could speed up and slow down but didn't change his route. Perfect example was in, I believe the San Diego game, he was running a seam looking over the inside shoulder Rex threw it to the outside. Any normal receiver changes directions and make a catch near the goalline. Berrian just kept jogging in a straight line. The defender changed direction and got a pick. The commentators ripped Berrian and I lost some respect for him cause for my taste thats letting your QB and team down by not doing everything you can to catch the ball.

Berrian was a nice receiver but not worth the dough the Queens gave him. He played great in the playoffs last yr but had some real issues this past season.

 

Peace

[ASHKUM BEAR]

One thing I hate is, Berrian's defeciences also seem to be the same as w/ other receivers of ours, not just this year, but for a while. It has not been often that I felt we had a WR that broke clean off the LOS. Routes are rarely sharp, and shielding always seems to be an issue. Finally, how many WRs have we had that break off their routes and come back to the QB when the QB is in trouble. How often have we seen our QB on his back, and the WR is basically still running his route. This is why I have a huge issue w/ our coaching. When not one, bust most every player shows the same problems, then I feel you have to look at the coaching and development of those players.

 

That is what does scare me about Berrian. If I am right, Berrian has done pretty well based more on pure ability. What happens if he gets good coaching that can better develop him?

 

I really hope the addition of Bennett will change that for the Bears. Scouts say Bennett is good at running routes, very good that is. Bennett has also been quoted that he takes pride at running perfect routes and worked hard at that at Vanderbilt. He is also noted to be a leader, so maybe he can lead the rest of the Bears into working on those perfect routes.

[AZ54]

I liked Berrian and wouldn't mind at all if he was still on the team, for the right price. He's just not worth anything near what he's getting paid. Of course Booker doesn't replace what Berrian gave us as a deep threat but I don't see why he can't replace 71 receptions. That's a whopping 4.4 catches/game or as the Vikings would say $113,000 per catch.

 

Booker won't have the yards/catch Berrian had but if he averages the same 11.1 as he did last year he'll give us about 800 yards receiving. More importantly by being a consistent short yardage threat that Moose wasn't it will help our other WRs. on intermediate routes. IMO it's the intermediate routes that really make an offense explosive and we can exploit that with our TEs as well as the other WRs. You need something of a deep threat to keep safeties honest but Berrian really didn't demand double coverage. I have no problem letting Devin Hester fill that role and even if he's not the first option he's a much better decoy than Berrian ever was.

 

The only people saying Moose is a savvy WR are the folks in Carolina who just signed him. They're saying the Bears didn't know how to use him. Perhaps that's true but how do you use a guy who is too slow to run by anyone, can't make a cut without taking 3 or 4 steps, and when he does get open drops the ball at a high rate? Oh yeah, you have him run block.

[nfoligno]

Only point I have issue w/ is the idea of Hester replacing Berrian. If he steps up and earns the job, great, but I think at this point that is too much to assume. Most mention this simply based on his speed, but as fast as he is, there is simply FAR more to being a deep threat than speed. Also, a decoy is not a decoy unless it is a believable threat. Rex hooked up w/ Berrian numerous times on deep routes, but that did not prevent defenses from stacking the box.

 

It wasn't enough to be a threat. Defenses waited until a consistent deep threat stepped forward, and absent that, they continued to disprespect our passing game.

 

Also, I think we need more than a decoy starting opposite Booker. We need a WR. Stretching the field is great, but so is having a WR that can run routes and catch the ball.

 

I want Hester more involved, but I do not want him starting. And frankly, I think that would hurt him more than help. I think it would put too much pressure on him, and lacking the bit playmaking, would only serve to frustrate and upset him. Also, I wonder how being so soon propelled into a starting role would affect his return ability.

 

I want to see him as our slot WR. From the slot, he can be moved around more and work different areas of the field. Also, as the slot, he would not be the starter and would not have the pressure of a starter.

[Mongo3451]

name='nfoligno' date='May 28 2008, 01:47 PM' post='39641']

W/ that said, he was also lacking in many areas. While he was able to gain seperation downfield, he was not very good getting sep off the LOS. Thus, unless he was running a deep route, he was often covered. He was also not a very good route runner. He cuts were not sharp, and we saw last year times when he actually broke the wrong way. Ouch! Finally, he stunk is shielding defenders. If he was covered downfield, he didn't use his body very well in a way to shield the DB from the ball, and often allowed the DB to get into just as good of position to make the catch as Berrian.

Agree with the above. I want to pile on though. Berrian was horrible to the point of me questioning his stones in regards to fighting 1) for the ball and 2) breaking up interception attempts.

 

One thing I hate is, Berrian's defeciences also seem to be the same as w/ other receivers of ours, not just this year, but for a while. It has not been often that I felt we had a WR that broke clean off the LOS. Routes are rarely sharp, and shielding always seems to be an issue. Finally, how many WRs have we had that break off their routes and come back to the QB when the QB is in trouble. How often have we seen our QB on his back, and the WR is basically still running his route. This is why I have a huge issue w/ our coaching. When not one, bust most every player shows the same problems, then I feel you have to look at the coaching and development of those players.

Regarding breaking off routes, I disagree. How many times did Rex or Griese move in the pocket to create an opportunity for the reciever to break off the route and come back? I don't think we can criticize a failed opportunity that rarely if at all existed.

 

That is what does scare me about Berrian. If I am right, Berrian has done pretty well based more on pure ability. What happens if he gets good coaching that can better develop him?

Not sure coaching will make him any less of a pu$$y.

[tshanno]

Booker might or might noot have the savvy that Muhsin Muhammad had but its pretty evident he'll bring a more colming influence to the WR carp.

 

"might or might not have the savvy"? Either you view Moose in a much higher regard than I

 

Yeah, I do. He had a terrible year last year but when he was on, he did have a talent for getting open.

 

I'm picking a little bit here. Muhammad, yes. But if anyone out there expects Booker to compensate at all for the loss of Berrian, a totally different type of speed player, he or she is dreaming.

 

I think you are reading too much into it.

 

One, what do you expect Lovie to say?

 

Nothing?

 

Two. All he said was Booker will help. He didn't say Booker will off-set the loss of Berrian, or replace him. All he said was that after losing both starting WRs, the addition of Booker will help. Do you really not think we are better w/ Booker than w/o him?

 

As I said, I was picking a little. It was less a criticism leveled at Smith than it was an opporunity to point out something I don't think some fans recognize. Berrian hasn't really been replaced.

 

I do not know how we replace Berrian, though I thought he was a very inconsistent WR.

 

I would agree. I think they are looking to Hester and, to a lesser extent, Llyod to step up and fill the gap. Not a very dependable solution.

 

I won't even bother to express my surprise that the HC is dealing with cheerleader photoshoots. But that was one of the first things he did? Seriosuly?

 

Tell the truth. If you were in power, wouldn't you want to take a "hands on" role w/ the cheerleaders?

 

Truth. Point well taken.

 

Tom S.

[tshanno]

I agree with this. Moose was never the "leader" they wanted while he was here.

 

I'm not real thrilled with being in the position to defend Muhammad. But I have to say in his defense that the WR corps started to perform better as a whole the instant he arrived.

 

He had his faults but my gut feeling is that he did teach those guys some things and that he did provide a fair bit of on field leadership in a lot of ways.

 

Tom S.

[azbearsfan]

I'm not real thrilled with being in the position to defend Muhammad. But I have to say in his defense that the WR corps started to perform better as a whole the instant he arrived.

 

He had his faults but my gut feeling is that he did teach those guys some things and that he did provide a fair bit of on field leadership in a lot of ways.

 

Tom S.

 

Man I totally disagree with you on all of this. If you look at the stats, the only receiver that was significantly better upon Moose arrival was Justin Gage. And he only improved by 200 yards. Bobby Wade's production dramatically decreased. Berrian and Clark's were about the same and Moose himself only produced 50 more yards than David Terrell and it took him 20 more catches to do that. The receiving production as a whole was down. Plus that was the year he dropped a couple touchdown passes and blamed it on Orton for gods sakes instead of being a leader and taking resposibility for himself.

 

The only receiver that improved tremendously during his tenure here was Berrian and I can make a pretty good case for Grossman being the one to exploit his one trick, speed, and making him into a guy who got paid.

[nfoligno]

I question how much of that is due to Moose.

 

In 2004, the year before Moose arrived, consider what we had at WR and QB. That year, Hutch, Krenzel, Quinn and Rex all started games. Now that is the definition of ugly. Further, at WR, we had the likes of Wade, Terrell, Gage and though we had Berrian, he was a rookie who I think also struggled w/ injury that first year.

 

In 2005, we added Moose, but also had one QB (Orton) starting most of the year, which is better than rotating between 4 QBs. At WR, how much did Moose really help? Moose had 64-750, and was just about our only option. Gage was our 2nd leading WR, w/ a whopping 31 catches for 346 yards. Berrian didn't develop very quickly that year, and no other WR did anything to speak of. So while we did benefit from Moose, how much was simply because he was the lesser of evils. It isn't like he did anything much that year, and I sure don't see how he helped our other WRs.

 

In 2006, we had a better passing game, but was Moose really the reason? Rex played the entire season, while in itself may have been the biggest reason. Further, while Berrian did far better, it was also his 3rd year, which is when many WRs develop. Not much from the other WRs, and only Clark did anything as a receiver. So while Moose was on the team, to me, it had more to do w/ Rex starting a full season and Berrian being in his 3rd year, rather than Moose helping.

 

In 2007, Berrian continued to develop (at least statistically) but the rest of the passing offense was backward, Moose included.

 

I simply do not see how Moose benefited this team. He had his share of catches, but I am not sure that is really a testiment to his providing solid play, or providing leadership. No matter how bad your starting WR is, he is going to get some catches. For me, I look at it this way.

 

How much did Moose really help the QB? Well, leading the league in drops does little to help the QB. While he would like to blame the QB on his low numbers, how much better would his numbers, and the QBs, have been if he did a better job catching the ball.

 

How much did he help the other WRs? Berrian developed while Moose was there, but (a) would he not have developed w/o Moose and ( was his development at such a level as to really credit Moose. His development seemed slow and his play this past year seemed to actually go backward.

 

Leadership - Moose was a litle to quick to throw the QBs under the bus. He preferred to blame the young QBs, rather than take blame on himself. I will never forget the game where he had numerous drops, and then said Orton wasn't putting the ball where it should have been. Well, maybe the passes were not perfect, but when they bounce off your hands, they should be catches, and blaming a rookie QB for not being perfect, while not taking blame yourself is far from the leadership I want to see.