Metcalf has a dinged up knee

[GakMan23]

Metcalf has knee problem

Vaughn McClure, 12:22 p.m.

 

Terrence Metcalf emerged from the dining room with a sleeve protecting his right knee. The left guard said he had the knee drained Friday after it swelled, and he's not sure how the injury occurred.

 

"It's no big thing," he said.

 

He expects to play in Thursday's exhibition against the Chiefs. And he expects to start if he does play.

 

"Heck yeah, I'll be running with the first team," he said.

 

Metcalf has yet to be cleared for Monday night's practice. Josh Beekman has been working at left guard in his place.

[GakMan23]

Per the Score Metcalf just had authroscopic knee surgury

[Pixote]

Per the Score Metcalf just had authroscopic knee surgury

 

Maybe with this coupled with Williams' back it will force JA to do as we all hoped and go out to the FA market ant pick up a LOG. I agree with many here, is Bentley Healthy? Is R Brown Healthy? I'd be happy with either one IF HEALTHY!

[bradjock]

Per the Score Metcalf just had authroscopic knee surgury

 

As per Brad Biggs, he's expected to miss a few weeks.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...earnt05.article

 

With 33 days left until kick-off, you figure Metcalf will miss all the pre-season games. That's not good news for a guy who's not looked good in pre-season.

 

Brad Biggs also mentioned that Ruben Brown is available on the "NFL discard pile."

 

On Chris Williams, Zac Zaidman on the SCORE is reporting that he believes William's injury is worse then the Bears are telling us.

[GakMan23]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-08...,4432632.column

 

Tuesday's 2-minute drill ...

 

You might have heard Josh Beekman is short. He certainly has.

 

Shorter than the attention spans at a day-care center. Shorter than Mike Ditka's temper. So short he cannot reach his potential without a boost. He's heard them all.

 

Good thing Beekman's sense of humor about such things matches his sense of purpose — and that he's not short on confidence.

 

 

 

David Haugh E-mail | Recent columns

 

Related links

Dan Pompei: Urlacher reborn, right down to his core

Fred Mitchell: Gamblers also watching Favre situation

2008 Bears schedule

Matt Forte will start exhibition against Chiefs

Receiving hot, but returning a project for Earl Bennett "I'm considered to be a short guy, but hey, it doesn't matter — leverage is leverage," the Bears' 6-foot-2-inch, 310-pound offensive lineman said. "Go out and get your pads under the other guy, get position and get the job done. This is a low man's game. Height really doesn't matter."

 

This is reinforced to Beekman every day at practice when he stands next to perennial Pro Bowl center Olin Kreutz,also listed at 6-2. When Beekman speaks about the veteran tips Kreutz shares about leverage, alignment or hand placement, he sounds like a young scientist lucky enough to share a laboratory with Albert Einstein.

 

"Olin really reminds me of my dad, a tough-nosed guy, a disciplinarian, who leads by example," Beekman said. "He's been a great coach, and I'm just humbled to be learning from him. Everything he says to me, I just soak it up."

 

In recent days, Beekman has been lining up alongside Kreutz more often at left guard with the No. 1 offense as Terrence Metcalf nurses a bruised right knee. Metcalf had his knee drained but reiterated Monday he expects to start Thursday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

 

But Beekman's experience in Metcalf's place, as well as when he filled in for the ailing Kreutz at center the first week of camp, has allowed the Bears to see they have another viable candidate for the starting spot.

 

The second-year player from Boston College might even be further along in his development if the Bears had played him during the final three meaningless games of 2007 when they switched John St. Clair to guard, but Beekman never complained or second-guessed. That might blur a focus that is laserlike when it comes to football.

 

"I think you've got to be serious about your job," Beekman said. "I don't think I have a right or a privilege yet to be joking around or goofing off. I have one year in the league, a blip, compared to some of these guys who have seven or 11."

 

The Bears would be pleased if Beekman held on to the job long enough to be one of those guys. With Metcalf not establishing himself as the clear-cut best man for the position even before the injury, Beekman gives the Bears an opportunity to get younger at the position. If he shows he can open holes and protect the quarterback well enough in exhibition games, it also would allow the Bears to keep St. Clair at tackle to buy more time for rookie Chris Williams.

 

The long and short of it for Beekman? The opportunity he thought about often during the equivalent of his NFL redshirt season might have arrived.

 

"I just have to keep up the pace," Beekman said. "They are a hard-working group on the [offensive line], quick studies, and perfectionists. I have to bring more positives than negatives. They have so many years under their belt. I just have to be as good as they want me to be." ...

 

It might have been just a slip, but Rex Grossman's honest assessment of his mind-set heading into Thursday night's exhibition opener suggests he and Kyle Orton have been told when they will find out which of the two will be named the starter: before the Aug. 21 game against San Francisco. "This is obviously a competition, so you want to play your best and put your best foot forward in these two preseason games ... three ... however many," Grossman said. "I don't know when the final verdict comes in." Sounds like he just might. ...

 

Garrett Wolfe can hope to fit in as a third-down back, and his shiftiness indeed gives the Bears' offense a different dimension if they so choose. But general manager Jerry Angelo said from the day he drafted Matt Forte that part of Forte's appeal was that he was a three-down back — a factor that gave him an edge over Cedric Benson.Anybody who has seen Forte look natural catching the ball or has heard coaches and teammates talk about how solid he seems in pass protection might have a hard time figuring out why he would come off the field on third downs now that he's running more with the No. 1 offense. ... The Bears still need to consider adding a veteran quarterback as insurance and have the numbers of Tim Rattay and Craig Nall if Chris Simms cannot be pried out of Tampa Bay. But if the Packers hold on to Brett Favre instead of dealing him, that would give Green Bay four quarterbacks and increase the likelihood they would place seventh-round pick Matt Flynn of LSU on the practice squad — where he could sign with another team. What better way for the Bears to mess with their rival than pluck a player off the practice squad who might upgrade a position lacking depth? ...

 

Two questions about the Bears' first two opponents emerged over the weekend, and the answers could determine whether the team gets off to a surprising start to a killer road schedule: Will Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith exercise his right to appeal a two-game suspension for fighting and get it reduced so he can play Sept. 14? Are the Colts protecting backup quarterback Jim Sorgi by playing him only one series because they know or fear Peyton Manning's recovery from surgery on his left knee will take longer than expected? ...

 

Whether it was Grossman finally getting hot Sunday or Orton creating a buzz last Friday night at Soldier Field, it pays to remember that at this stage of the preseason, daily practice updates provide snapshots of that moment more than a projection of things to come. It's instructional (and humbling) to look at what this column observed after the first week or so of camp in 2007 : "Judging by the zip and accuracy of his passes so far, nobody reported to camp more serious about improving than Rex Grossman. Some of his throws make ones thrown by Brian Griese or Kyle Orton look and sound like Triple-A fastballs in comparison." After three regular-season games, Grossman was benched. Lesson: Don't start keeping score in this quarterback derby until the teams do.

[BearSox]

Beekman has been doing good from what I've heard. I like him better at RG or C, but I think anyone is better than Metcalf at LG... I'm not going to lie, Metcalf is quite possibly the worst offensive lineman we have. He is right up there with Quisam Mitchell in terms of how much they suck.

[GakMan23]

Beekman may be their answer to Bustcalf

[nfoligno]

Been thinking that for a while. Lovie goes the Billicheck route when it comes to discussing player's injuries.

 

I am not sure he is lying to us so much as to himself. I think he is hearing the best case scenario, and convincing himself to go w/ that.

 

What really bothers the hell out of me is how it was reported prior to the draft he had back issues. After the draft, some were saying the report was sent out by teams hoping he would fall, but I recently read where the writer stood by his story. Maybe that is to be expected, but when you factor his being out two weeks now w/ a back injury, one's eye brow does tend to raise a bit.

[BearSox]

I personally wanted Brandon Albert, but he is suffering from the injury bug as well and is going to be out until week 1. Right now, it looks like Jeff Otah might have been the best choice, but he didn't really fit what we needed (at the time).

[bear trap]

I personally wanted Brandon Albert, but he is suffering from the injury bug as well and is going to be out until week 1. Right now, it looks like Jeff Otah might have been the best choice, but he didn't really fit what we needed (at the time).

 

Through the entire draft I was really hoping for Albert, then Hills from texas. We would have a lot less questions today had we gone that route, not to mention there would have been a fair shot at landing forte with the 1st third round pick and bennett with the second. But, its all a moot point today, just wish JA would do something with the main factor of our offense rebounding (OFFENSIVE LINE!). If we go into indy with St. Clair as the LT and turnstyle metcalf we can expect to see Hanie some point this year cause both rex and kyle will receive too much punishment to play the full year.

[nfoligno]

I wanted Alberts and others too, but I am not sure that is the key point. Whether we should have drafted Williams, Albert, Otah, or whoever, personally, I think the real loss was not drafting more OL. We had to have Forte in the 2nd. Okay, fine. While I like Bennett, was he such a prospect that we just couldn't do w/o? Or Harrison?

 

Rinehard, McGlynn, Cousins, Collins, and many others could have been had in the 3rd round. Then we took Steltz in the 4th, passing on (among others) Hills from Texas, who you mention.

 

We took a player in the 1st who we thought would become a solid LT. Fine. Great. But that still left a big hole at LG, not to mention depth. We were taking 3rd and 4th string players at other positions, while a position like OG still had an opening at starter.

 

Some might argue that we simply take a best available approach. Maybe, but if so, I would argue we do not value OL in pre-draft grades, thus explaining why Angelo has found so few OL as the best available, in so many drafts.

[Mongo3451]

name='nfoligno' date='Aug 5 2008, 12:20 PM' post='42852']

I wanted Alberts and others too, but I am not sure that is the key point. Whether we should have drafted Williams, Albert, Otah, or whoever, personally, I think the real loss was not drafting more OL. We had to have Forte in the 2nd. Okay, fine. While I like Bennett, was he such a prospect that we just couldn't do w/o? Or Harrison?

 

Rinehard, McGlynn, Cousins, Collins, and many others could have been had in the 3rd round. Then we took Steltz in the 4th, passing on (among others) Hills from Texas, who you mention.

 

We took a player in the 1st who we thought would become a solid LT. Fine. Great. But that still left a big hole at LG, not to mention depth. We were taking 3rd and 4th string players at other positions, while a position like OG still had an opening at starter.

 

Some might argue that we simply take a best available approach. Maybe, but if so, I would argue we do not value OL in pre-draft grades, thus explaining why Angelo has found so few OL as the best available, in so many drafts.

I wanted two OT's day one. I wasn't dissappointed with our draft, but that was with me still thinking JA was going to bring in another vet. It's TC, I'm still hopeful help is on the way. If not, we're screwed.