Noots Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Noots' Notes-Game 4: 24-20 Win against PhiladelphiaBy Michael Nudo The Bears held on to a 21-14 halftime lead to outlast Philadelphia 24-20 in front of a home crowd on Sunday night. Taking it away (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh). OFFENSE QuarterbackKyle Orton (18-34-199, 3 TD, 2 INT, 2 Fumbles lost) threw three first half touchdowns to put the Bears in position to win the game. He wasted little time in hitting tight end Greg Olsen for a 19-yard touchdown strike up the right sideline. Orton then found Marty Booker on a beautiful 23-yard touchdown pass. He finished the half leading Devin Hester perfectly up the right sideline for yet another touchdown. Less obvious but equally important was the composure at the line and conducting the no huddle offense. On the down side, Orton held the ball too long on a couple of plays and failed to recognize an unaccounted for linebacker blitzing off the right edge. His red zone interception was simply a bad throw and considering the down and distance was inexcusable. He also missed Booker and Forte up the left sideline. He was credited with a fumble on a botched reverse with Kevin Jones. Overall, it was a positive performance considering the level of competition and the numerous kitchen sinks he needed to avoid. GRADE: C+ Running BacksMatt Forte (19-43, 5/42) found few holes in the Eagle defense. He was most dangerous catching screen passes. Great backs find ways to break off big runs late in the game. Forte picked up ten yards to get a key first down late in the fourth quarter. Kevin Jones had a few key carries. Jason McKie had a down game, finding it difficult to get a hat on the speedy Eagle defense. GRADE: C- ReceiversRashied Davis (1/34) quieted his critics by catching the first and only pass thrown his way for the Bears' longest reception of day. Greg Olsen (4/32, TD) had his best receiving game of the season. Brandon Lloyd (2/33) picked up a key first down but left with a knee injury. Devin Hester (1-15, 3/27, TD) was a factor receiving the ball. He took a huge pop early on, but was fine. He used his great speed to race up the right sideline to catch up with a Kyle Orton pass and beat Asante Samuel for a touchdown. Marty Booker (1-3, 1/23, TD) ran a great route to shake a defender and catch a touchdown. He was open deep later but Orton threw the pass well beyond the mark. Booker also took an end around that was set up for a pass but pulled it down to run for a few yards. GRADE: A- Offensive LineThe Bears averaged just 3 yards per carry against the tough Eagle defense. John St. Clair had a false start and allowed a sack to Trent Cole (8 tackles, sack). John Tait allowed a sack as well. The line is really coming around on their timing and blocking down field on screen plays. This is critical if the Bears are going to deter opponents from blitzing. There were plenty of plays where Orton was under pressure, but this was expected against the Eagles. They gave him the time necessary early on when they put the Eagles on their heels and into a hole. GRADE: D+ DEFENSE Defensive LineAlex Brown made the defensive stop of the game when he pulled down Correll Buckhalter on 4th and goal from the 1-yard line. The line played great as a team on the play, as Dusty Dvoracek held his ground long enough for Adewale Ogunleye to knife through and get between Buckhalter and the hole. This further slowed the ball carrier. Buckhalter was then bull dogged to the ground by Brown. Ogunleye combined with Danieal Manning for an early sack of McNabb. Israel Idonije picked up a sack. He started for Tommie Harris, who was not active. Anthony Adams had a tackle for a loss. Marcus Harrison had a knockdown. Mark Anderson has not been a factor this season. GRADE: B LinebackersLance Briggs continues to make huge hits. He sniffed out two screens and blew up both Buckhalter and Lorenzo Booker. Brian Urlacher (8 tackles) had an active game. The touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson was just beyond Urlacher's reach over the middle. Hunter Hillenmeyer picked up a key second half sack. Nick Roach received a few snaps for Hunter Hillenmeyer. They gave up a few big running plays in the second half to hurt their otherwise impressive grade. GRADE: B SecondaryKevin Payne (9 tackles, PD, INT) took advantage of what appeared to be a miscommunication or wrong route between Donovan McNabb and DeSean Jackson. He intercepted the pass and returned it 49 yards. Safety Mike Brown (4 tackles, PD) put some heat on McNabb several times, and also delivered a shot to separate a receiver from the ball. Cornerbacks Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher both left the game with injuries and returned. Tillman went back to the sideline shortly after returning from a shoulder injury. Vasher (thumb) was able to finish. His failure to wrap Buckhalter resulted in a big gain after a screen. Danieal Manning was again a factor blitzing from the nickel position. Corey Graham and Trumaine McBride came off the bench and didn't let their teammates down. GRADE: B Special Teams Robbie Gould connected on his one field goal attempt. His kickoffs were consistently long. Brad Maynard put 4 kicks inside the 20-yard line and added a 67-yard punt. Devin Hester returned 3 kicks for 99 yards and Daniel Manning returned 1 for 29. Hester had another brain fart on a punt return, fielding a punt inside the 10-yard line, resulting in very poor offensive field position. Coverage teams were good, highlighted by Nick Roach recovering a fumbled return. GRADE: B+ Coaching For the third week in a row, the Bears won the coin flip and elected to defer the kickoff return. It was finally decided to rest Tommie Harris, who is not healthy. The no huddle offense was very effective in ensuring the Bears were able to set the tempo instead of reacting to the defense. Work on screen plays is paying off. The fumbled reverse with Jones and Orton wasn't one of their better moments. They did a better job of cleaning up the penalties. Credit the Eagles' offense for running opposite the Bears' unbalanced defensive line for a big gain in the second half. GRADE: B Hardest Hits Briggs on Buckhalter Briggs on Booker Vasher on Jackson Game Balls Kevin Payne Lance Briggs Kyle Orton Horns John St. Clair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
selection7 Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 How huge was the reduction in penalties? No way we'd have won this game with 90 yards in penalties like in other games. I was holding out on judging Gould about it, but now I feel comfortable going ahead acknowledging it looks like he added nearly 5 yards to his kickoff distance over the offseason, which is awesome. It's been a long time since that was a positive for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixote Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Noots, excellent job. M Brown had a heck of a hit on a receiver during the game, near the goal line, but can't remember the receiver's name. Might have been a TE. I thought the defense as a whole deserved a game ball for this one, excellent job of shutting down a top 10 offense. Hope you do not mind, added a double line break to the title of the article to clean it up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixote Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Oops, sorry. Doubled up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noots Posted September 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Please share with me what the double line break is, so I can fix the formatting of my posts in this forum. Is it a secret? Do I have to be a member of the free masons or something to know how? Please... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixote Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Please share with me what the double line break is, so I can fix the formatting of my posts in this forum. Is it a secret? Do I have to be a member of the free masons or something to know how? Please... I just put in where I wanted the title to break into 2 lines. LOL, no secret, I tried to simply add 2 lines by hitting enter twice and it did not work so I added 2 breaks, one paragraph break might also have worked but it would have dropped the second line further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noots Posted September 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Is that what also helped make it so the caption under the image actually shows up there instead of next to it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixote Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Is that what also helped make it so the caption under the image actually shows up there instead of next to it? I did not do anything with the image but yes, after centering the line caption if it shows up beside the photo instead of under it you could use the line breaks to drop the caption to below the image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noots Posted September 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Never mind...I have sorted out the problem with my HTML in this forum. The top portions of my articles are all centered. For some reason, in this forum, I need to have an open and closed centering tag for each line of text as opposed to the beginning of the section and the end of the section. I just went back in to my injury report from last week, added the centered statements and did a test/preview and it cleaned up nicely. mischief managed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madlithuanian Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Great point! How huge was the reduction in penalties? No way we'd have won this game with 90 yards in penalties like in other games. I was holding out on judging Gould about it, but now I feel comfortable going ahead acknowledging it looks like he added nearly 5 yards to his kickoff distance over the offseason, which is awesome. It's been a long time since that was a positive for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Bears 88 Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Quarterback Kyle Orton (18-34-199, 3 TD, 2 INT, 2 Fumbles lost) threw three first half touchdowns to put the Bears in position to win the game. He wasted little time in hitting tight end Greg Olsen for a 19-yard touchdown strike up the right sideline. Orton then found Marty Booker on a beautiful 23-yard touchdown pass. He finished the half leading Devin Hester perfectly up the right sideline for yet another touchdown. Less obvious but equally important was the composure at the line and conducting the no huddle offense. On the down side, Orton held the ball too long on a couple of plays and failed to recognize an unaccounted for linebacker blitzing off the right edge. His red zone interception was simply a bad throw and considering the down and distance was inexcusable. He also missed Booker and Forte up the left sideline. He was credited with a fumble on a botched reverse with Kevin Jones. Overall, it was a positive performance considering the level of competition and the numerous kitchen sinks he needed to avoid. GRADE: C+ Don't let BearSox read this. If you don't give the bearded phony an A+, you're an idiot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hochuli 3:16 Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 GO.AWAY.BEARS88. Nobody said he played A+. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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