Props for Kreutz

[AZ54]

Found this at the end of an article on Rideau and thought I'd post it to give some props to Kreutz. Aside from his play this is why he's one of the team leaders:

 

Center Olin Kreutz, a six-time Pro Bowler, remained on the field after practice to work one-on-one with guard Johan Asiata, an undrafted rookie free agent from UNLV.

 

I've never heard of Asiata and yet here's our Pro Bowl center out there after practice helping him out.

[nfoligno]

ESPN Chicago had a nice article on Kreutz, talking about how he seems to look and act like he was a young player again. Talked about how much extra time he has been spending at practice, working w/ Cutler and the other OL.

 

He gets blasted for his declining play, but (a) I have always wondered how much of that was his playing on a weak OL and trying to do too much and ( I just do not believe you can always realize the value of leadership. Mike Brown was not always the best safety on the field, but when he was off the field, the overall play really went down as players were left w/o a leader in the secondary. I think the same is true for Kreutz. He may not always be the best on the field, but I wonder how bad it might be if he were not out there.

 

Found this at the end of an article on Rideau and thought I'd post it to give some props to Kreutz. Aside from his play this is why he's one of the team leaders:

 

Center Olin Kreutz, a six-time Pro Bowler, remained on the field after practice to work one-on-one with guard Johan Asiata, an undrafted rookie free agent from UNLV.

 

I've never heard of Asiata and yet here's our Pro Bowl center out there after practice helping him out.

 

[chitownman]

I have always liked Kreutz since he became our starting center. He seems to be in the same mold as Jay Hilgenberg in my opinion. This just goes to show the type of class act that Kreutz has always been and continues to be. I just hope that it is Olin who decides when it is time to step away and that he is not a salary cap casualty. I still think it would have been good to have Brown on this team and that they should have worked out an incentive laced contract that both Mike and the Bears should have worked to complete.

[AZ54]

I still like Kreutz, and yes he's not the mobile blocker he used to be but he is a tireless worker and leader.

 

Mike Brown I don't miss. He's just too slow and broken down to be dependable. His leadership abilities, as much as I admired them, aren't worth much when he's on the sidelines. I still say it was him who blew the last pass play against Atlanta. It was time to move on.

[nfoligno]

One, I think few would argue Brown's leadership did little w/ him on the sideline, or that we could no longer depend on him. At the same time, the point was the lack of leadership when he was not on the field seemed obvious (at least IMHO), when he was not on the field.

 

Two, I don't know how you can place the blame for that Atlanta game on Brown. Even the staff flat out said the breakdown was on the new CB. His key assignment on that play was to take away the outside. The safety is expected to help on the inside. The CB did not take away the outside, and thus didn't set up the coverage in a way to allow the safety to help. That was solely on the CB. He had a specific area he was supposed to take away, and failed to do so. If he covered the outside, he would have had Brown help on the inside, but he did not do that.

 

I am not pretending Brown was perfect. There were plenty of times he did blow the play, but I just don't see how you can blame him for that play. Even the staff were outspoken on exactly how that play broke down, and the CB was very much called out for his mistake.

 

I still like Kreutz, and yes he's not the mobile blocker he used to be but he is a tireless worker and leader.

 

Mike Brown I don't miss. He's just too slow and broken down to be dependable. His leadership abilities, as much as I admired them, aren't worth much when he's on the sidelines. I still say it was him who blew the last pass play against Atlanta. It was time to move on.

 

[AZ54]

It's simple, you state that Brown's leadership and ability to get players in the right spot was why we needed him on the field. Yet he failed in that responsibility on that last play. Atlanta had two plays they could do ... 1) run or pass for a TD or .. 2) throw a 15-20 yard pass and go out of bounds leaving time to kick a FG. They had no timeouts.

 

While he had to protect the middle first, Brown should have been cheating a couple more steps toward the sideline knowing he's too slow to get there from where he was. Being a couple more steps toward the sideline might have given up more yardage on an over the middle catch but so what, he had 35 more yards to give up and another safety back there to give chase. Give up another 10 or 15 yards wouldn't have mattered because with time running out they wouldn't have gotten the kick off in time.

 

I see Brown failing at getting his fellow DBs aligned properly which was supposed to be his strength and main reason we had him on the field. I see Brown failing to get outside fast enough to breakup the pass. The coaches threw Hamilton under the bus but left Brown alone. Later they moved him back to SS. I do believe I am the only Bear fan blaming Brown for that play but watching highlights of it over the summer hasn't changed my mind.

 

I also blame the DBs coach, Defensive Coordinator, and head coach for this failure. Who does a pooch kick to give a team good field position like that? Anyway, too many bad memories from last season but on a positive note it was for a worthy cause because it ended up in Jay Cutler wearing a Bears uniform. No pain no gain.

[Mongo3451]

I do believe I am the only Bear fan blaming Brown for that play but watching highlights of it over the summer hasn't changed my mind.

You are not alone. There is plenty of blame to go around though.

 

1) Lovie should have trusted his coverage unit on ST. They simply don't give up the BIG play.

2) Goes to Babich. He should over-emphsized the plan and recognized he lacked experience from the the fall guy corner.

3) Goes on the corner. Regardless of experience, he's played long enough to know how much time was on the clock.

4) Goes to Brown. Yes he should have cheated a little more than he did. No way the Falcons throw to the middle and win. Brown's main failure is what you already pointed out. He is simply done athletically. He will prove that yet again this year. The only team he could sign for was grossly inferior.

[Stinger226]

One, I think few would argue Brown's leadership did little w/ him on the sideline, or that we could no longer depend on him. At the same time, the point was the lack of leadership when he was not on the field seemed obvious (at least IMHO), when he was not on the field.

 

Two, I don't know how you can place the blame for that Atlanta game on Brown. Even the staff flat out said the breakdown was on the new CB. His key assignment on that play was to take away the outside. The safety is expected to help on the inside. The CB did not take away the outside, and thus didn't set up the coverage in a way to allow the safety to help. That was solely on the CB. He had a specific area he was supposed to take away, and failed to do so. If he covered the outside, he would have had Brown help on the inside, but he did not do that.

 

I am not pretending Brown was perfect. There were plenty of times he did blow the play, but I just don't see how you can blame him for that play. Even the staff were outspoken on exactly how that play broke down, and the CB was very much called out for his mistake.

Dont you think with Browns experience he should have helped the new CB to line up properly to take away the outside?

[defiantgiant]

I still like Kreutz, and yes he's not the mobile blocker he used to be but he is a tireless worker and leader.

 

Mike Brown I don't miss. He's just too slow and broken down to be dependable. His leadership abilities, as much as I admired them, aren't worth much when he's on the sidelines. I still say it was him who blew the last pass play against Atlanta. It was time to move on.

 

I still like Kreutz, too. He's still a great run-blocking center, and he really sets the tone on our offensive line. In my mind, it's a key part of the Bears' team character to have a nasty, physical o-line; I think that all starts with Kreutz. It's great to hear that he's working one-on-one with some of the younger guys. I wonder how much he's done that with Beekman, given that Beekman's (in theory) being groomed to be his successor.

[clnr]

I'd say Kreutz works a lot with Beekman. Beekman thanked Kreutz for helping him out a lot on the field last year so it's not a longshot to assume that Olin would help him on the training field as well.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?STORY_ID=5990