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Tillman was hurt basically the whole season


GakMan23

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http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...-bear15.article

 

He could have called in a season but he stuck it out. I like his grit.

 

Good for him. It's great to have players like him on the team. He signed a big deal and has been as good as ever. Unless Vasher who's never been the same after signing the big money deal two years ago. You always wonder if money will change a person.

 

Tillman is easily our best cornerback, especially when it comes to coverage. His ability to strip the ball is phenominal and he's a solid tackler. Like Bearsox mentioned, we'd be stupid to move him to FS. Hell, half the time all our FS's do is drop 30 yards back in coverage. That would be a waste of his ability.

 

I still think we should move Vasher to FS. He has the speed, he's never been great in coverage, and he's a natural ball-hawk. If Vasher were healthy, that would fill our biggest gap on defense without having to add anyone.

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Not sure, but could this be the reason we never played bump and run? If Tillman had two bad shoulders, he probably was not able to give to much of a stick at the line.

 

This is not an excuse. If this was the reason, I wish he did not stick it out. We were creamed in the secondary.

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I could see the point, except that he didn't play bump and run prior to the injury. Frankly, I have rarely seen any of our CBs play on the LOS since Lovie came to Chicago. Often, you see the CBs start out near the LOS, only to see them drop back 10 yards prior to the snap. It it were just Tillman, or just post-injury, that would be one thing, but since Lovie arrived, all of our CBs play off the ball, thus I think it is far more coaching/system than it is players.

 

Not sure, but could this be the reason we never played bump and run? If Tillman had two bad shoulders, he probably was not able to give to much of a stick at the line.

 

This is not an excuse. If this was the reason, I wish he did not stick it out. We were creamed in the secondary.

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I could see the point, except that he didn't play bump and run prior to the injury. Frankly, I have rarely seen any of our CBs play on the LOS since Lovie came to Chicago. Often, you see the CBs start out near the LOS, only to see them drop back 10 yards prior to the snap. It it were just Tillman, or just post-injury, that would be one thing, but since Lovie arrived, all of our CBs play off the ball, thus I think it is far more coaching/system than it is players.

IMHO I thinkk this is just to mask how slow our corners are compared to the WR they face. This allows then not to get burned deep

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Tillman is a favorite of mine. The ordinary fan watches a game and sees him "getting burned" and "WR's catching it in front of him" but I'll always defend him for 4 reasons.

 

1. Half the time, these people are clueless when it comes to football.

2. It's our stupid f***ing scheme that tells him to let the WR catch it then go for the strip.

3. Most of the time, it's Payne's/Manning's/Brown's job to get the WR deep (see: Andre Johnson) but they don't so it looks like Tillman is at fault.

4. Like Connor said, he gives 110% 100% of the time.

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IMHO I thinkk this is just to mask how slow our corners are compared to the WR they face. This allows then not to get burned deep

 

I have heard that argument too, but how then does it makes sense when we play so far off the LOS against slow WRs. If we were just playing off WRs like Steve Smith, that would be one thing, but when we play 8-10 yards off the LOS when facing Moose, I question how much is due to the speed of the WR. We seem to give space to any and all WR, regardless of the WRs speed.

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I like Tillman as well and it's not just him anyone we put out there at corner is off the ball about 10 yards every down. Teams with even a middle of the road QB and average receivers eat us alive with the slants. We play our LB's too close to the line and they get swallowed up in traffic and we get beat in the middle of the field. It's frustrating to watch and it's got to be even more frustrating to participate knowing the scheme has you out of position. When you line up 10 yards off the line from the WR and you start bailing all your momentum is going the wrong way. Even if they run a deep route you are that much more susceptible to the double moves and it can easy make you look stupid. Compound that by Safety's not picking up the receiver when the CB passes him off in the cover two you get burned deep. The only teams that can't pass on our defensive scheme are the teams that are as offensively challenged as us.

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I have always liked Tillman and I admire his grit. Simply put, he's a Bear. As far as the scheme, I can live with CBs playing off the LOS a bit 5-7 yards as long as they close hard when a play is in front of them, and as long as we use some more inside technique to get in front of WRs on the quick inside slants Lovie has made famous. We just don't do that but I see other teams do it all the time so I know it can work.

 

I'll add that, as I understand, the whole reason for playing off the LOS with both CB and LB is so that they are better able to move forward and attack the play. Pressure comes from the front four and the the next wave of defenders read and react into their gap. Our players might read the play but they don't react with enough forward burst to limit the gain or stop the play (i.e. breakup the pass). Is this the players' fault or a result of a coaching staff that was preaching the need to play it safe. I think there's some fault all the way around.

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