643 Sports Game Notes: Pre-Season Game #2

[Lefty]

This is something I started doing last year to help me formulate my thoughts for the show instead of fumbling for game specifics on the air and whatnot. I have a pad and pen with me when I watch the game, and write down any interesting or at least note-worthy that I see going on. This is a bit different than watching the game just as a regular fan, because instead of taking in all the action, I might be focusing on a particular individual for a certain play or series.

Anyway, the end result is a long collection of bullet-point quips and notes, some funny, some interesting, others informative. Here I'll run down some of the highlights from my game notes for tonight's game, and this thread will serve both as a re-cap thread and a reminder to all you new Bears fans that on Monday night 643 Sports will be talking even more Bears football, so be sure to listen in and join the fun. Here we go.

-Tommy Kelly destroyed Lance Louis for a Cutler sack on 1st pass play by Bears...Wimbley beatsWilliams on the outside for sack #2 on second pass play of first drive. Wonderful.

-Raiders kickers are ugliest m-f-ers I've ever seen, and I'm tired of seeing close-ups of Sebastan Janikowksi's junk.

-Corey Graham unable to take away the inside slant route on 3rd down.

-Over-pursuit and inability to shed blocks leads to 40yd screen pass for Oakland.

-O-line illustrating that blocking actually works, 89 yd run for Forte with Kreutz and Louis pulling to the strong side.

-Monsters of the Midway being honored all season long by Bears....great.

-Is there a need license/market everything on the broadcast? (First down line by Lexus, Red Zone by Sports Authority, etc.)

-Chris Williams beat on the outside again.

-Chris Williams continues to get beat by ends easily, Cutler continually needs to shift in the pocket to avoid pressure.

-Cutler sacked 4 times in first half.

-Cutler now sacked 5 times in first half.

At this point, it was half-time, the starters weren't coming back to play the second half, so I quit taking notes and just watched, and from what I saw, it's clear which O-line team Tice has been spending most of his time with, because the backups were again atrocious at blocking any kind of anything.

Overall, I think there were some really nice positives that we saw out on the field: how the offense worked when Cutler had the time and the receivers were in the right spots, how the run can be opened up by the pass, how the entire offensive scheme could/should work if it could just be blocked for properly, and so on. However, there also were a lot of discouraging things we saw out there: lack of consistent blocking, amount of pressure put on Cutler, sacks given up, dropped passes and a few others.

What we saw on the field at times tonight I think closely resemble the two most-likely outcomes for this team this year: embarrassingly bad and, at times, exciting and above-average.

 

[FirstTimer]

Cliffnotes of your notes:

The O-Line sucks.

 

[Lefty]

Yes pretty much.

 

[nickofypres]

I h8 when Lefty comes on here and brags about his interweb dating show

 

[Lefty]

Well, speaking of the show, we have a great one planned for tonight, and among other things we will be discussing the Bears, breaking down this most recent game and discussing how the outlook for the regular season has changed, if at all. And of course, we want to hear from Bears fans, so listen in and give us your thoughts and reactions to this Bears team.

 

[nickofypres]

I don't work Mondays anymore but stuff always seems to come up

Like tonight is the Green Day concert in Detroit.

 

[Lefty]

Green Day? Isn't that a little mainstream for you?

 

[Lefty]

Lots of Bears talk tonight, I want to hear from the CCS Bears fans.

 

[zack54attack]

I think we all agree that this team isn't going no where with this offensive line. Sure you could have a good QB and real good WR's and be fine. But we don't have Real Good WR's. I'm also sick of everyone saying Hester is a number 1.




*waits for someone to come in here and state that as a core, the receivers can do well*

 

[Rush]

-Tommy Kelly did do well. However I think he might do well against most teams this year. He slimmed down and looks to be in good shape. Finally.

I just caught this post but I agree on all of your notes. I hate seeing Janikowski's junk.

 

[Dpauley23]

I think we all agree that this team isn't going no where with this offensive line. Sure you could have a good QB and real good WR's and be fine. But we don't have Real Good WR's. I'm also sick of everyone saying Hester is a number 1.




*waits for someone to come in here and state that as a core, the receivers can do well*

Hester is a solid number 3 WR. DA and Knox have shown that their legit WR that can both be number 2's in this league. When you throw in Olsen making plays this group is pretty good. As for the offensive line I think people are overreacting. The only problem thus far has been Lance showing inconsistency and Williams having a terrible game. Let's see if he can regroup next week vs the Cardinals

 

[TopekaRoy]

The only problem thus far has been Lance showing inconsistency and Williams having a terrible game. Let's see if he can regroup next week vs the Cardinals

Lance has been just OK so far, but with his size and strength, hopefully he can get better. Williams looked against Kamerion Wimbley last week. The question is "is Wimbley that good?" or "Is Williams that bad?" I don't know but I fear it may be the latter.

Chris has looked bad at times in camp, trying to block Julius Peppers, but who wouldn't have a hard time stopping him? The argument has been that lining up across from Peppers is supposed to make Williams better, but so far it doesn't seem to have done the trick.

What do you do about it? The Bears depth chart lists Kevin Schaffer as his back up with rookie J'Marcus Webb slotted 3rd. Webb isn't ready to start yet, and Schaffer doesn't look like much of an alternative.

I'll be curious to see how Williams does this Saturday. Do the Bears Keep another blocker back there to help him out? If he struggles early, I think you have to pull him and let Schaffer and Webb have some snaps with the first string. I don't think it can get any worse.

Jay is a pretty tough QB, but if he's getting sacked 10 times per game, sooner or later He's going to get hurt.

And then it's all over for the Bears.

 

[cubsneedmiracle]

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[Lefty]

Hester is a solid number 3 WR.

No, he's not. He's dumb, he's tiny and he's weak. He can't establish the inside passing lane on quick slants, and he's going to get killed going on posts through the middle of the secondary. He "could have been" a solid #3, but he's just too small, weak and dumb.

DA and Knox have shown that their legit WR that can both be number 2's in this league.

How do you figure that? Knox suffered from the same things that torment Devin Hester (stupidity, weakness and size) last season, and has still demonstrated that at times during this pre-season. And how many games did DA play in last season, 2? 3 maybe? He has shown that he can capitalize on opposing defenses not being able to plan for him (not because of any dynamic type of game, but rather just because he hasn't played), and if you're going to go off of his pre-season showings to proclaim him a "legit" NFL WR, how can you turn around and say that people are overreacting to the struggles of the offensive line so far?

When you throw in Olsen making plays this group is pretty good.

:lmao:

As for the offensive line I think people are overreacting. The only problem thus far has been Lance showing inconsistency and Williams having a terrible game. Let's see if he can regroup next week vs the Cardinals

Williams has had two terrible games, and his problems aren't an easy fix: Hub Arkish was on B&B today and he said that one of Williams' biggest issues coming into the NFL was that he has really short arms for an offensive lineman. Meaning that if he is facing a quicker, more athletic end he is not going to be able to get his hands on him with much effectiveness, and that is going to lead to problems for Jay Cutler. Well, his arms aren't getting any longer, and he is playing in a division with two teams (Packers and Vikings) that can send quick, athletic ends or linebackers at him all game long. That's not good at all.

As for the rest of the line, they were all hot garbage last year. All of them, yet the Bears have returned pretty much the same unit that was said temperature garbage last year. Kreutz is well into his decline, Garza is a nothing, and Lance Louis was routinely getting beat by the pass rush, something that plays a huge role in this Mike Martz offense. Frank Omiyale just blows, and Kevin Shaffer is of the Roberto Garza ilk, he's a "meh" guy.

What's more, this offensive line is paper-thin as far as depth goes, as we've seen just how bad the backups are against even their own second- and third-team counterparts. Coupling that with returning a starting line with a good amount of NFL years on them (Kreutz, Shaffer and Garza, specifically) and the outlook for this O-line (again, a key component to this offense, even more so than any offense put forth in the NFL) is not very good at all.

The Bears have done nothing to this line except for subtracting Orlando Pace, move Williams to his "natural" position (where he's questionable at best), and add a coach. That's laughable from a team that saw its QB get absolutely destroyed last season running an offense designed around quick passes and easy reads and is shifting to an offense heavily contingent on 7-step drops and deep timing patterns.

 

[Stapler]

Kruetz wasn't his normal "just fall down untouched" bad; he kept running into our own linemen and knocking them off their blocks.

Hot garbage or busted shit filter, I can't decide, but our line sure smells like something.
Is 5 QBs gonna be enough? And can any of them block?

 

[Dpauley23]

Williams has had two terrible games, and his problems aren't an easy fix: Hub Arkish was on B&B today and he said that one of Williams' biggest issues coming into the NFL was that he has really short arms for an offensive lineman. Meaning that if he is facing a quicker, more athletic end he is not going to be able to get his hands on him with much effectiveness, and that is going to lead to problems for Jay Cutler. Well, his arms aren't getting any longer, and he is playing in a division with two teams (Packers and Vikings) that can send quick, athletic ends or linebackers at him all game long. That's not good at all.

As for the rest of the line, they were all hot garbage last year. All of them, yet the Bears have returned pretty much the same unit that was said temperature garbage last year. Kreutz is well into his decline, Garza is a nothing, and Lance Louis was routinely getting beat by the pass rush, something that plays a huge role in this Mike Martz offense. Frank Omiyale just blows, and Kevin Shaffer is of the Roberto Garza ilk, he's a "meh" guy.

What's more, this offensive line is paper-thin as far as depth goes, as we've seen just how bad the backups are against even their own second- and third-team counterparts. Coupling that with returning a starting line with a good amount of NFL years on them (Kreutz, Shaffer and Garza, specifically) and the outlook for this O-line (again, a key component to this offense, even more so than any offense put forth in the NFL) is not very good at all.

The Bears have done nothing to this line except for subtracting Orlando Pace, move Williams to his "natural" position (where he's questionable at best), and add a coach. That's laughable from a team that saw its QB get absolutely destroyed last season running an offense designed around quick passes and easy reads and is shifting to an offense heavily contingent on 7-step drops and deep timing patterns.

Williams arms are average for a NFL LT. As for him he was pretty decent there last year. He played there 5 games and if he played all 16 games he would of let up the least sacks at his position. Also for Williams having two terrible games, I don't know what the hell you were watching vs the Chargers, but he was really good in that game.As for Omyiale he sucked as a guard, but he's played decent so far at tackle. He's had good footwork so far, he's taken away the inside move, and when the pass rusher went outside he forced out of the play

 

[Dpauley23]

Lance has been just OK so far, but with his size and strength, hopefully he can get better. Williams looked against Kamerion Wimbley last week. The question is "is Wimbley that good?" or "Is Williams that bad?" I don't know but I fear it may be the latter.

Chris has looked bad at times in camp, trying to block Julius Peppers, but who wouldn't have a hard time stopping him? The argument has been that lining up across from Peppers is supposed to make Williams better, but so far it doesn't seem to have done the trick.

What do you do about it? The Bears depth chart lists Kevin Schaffer as his back up with rookie J'Marcus Webb slotted 3rd. Webb isn't ready to start yet, and Schaffer doesn't look like much of an alternative.

I'll be curious to see how Williams does this Saturday. Do the Bears Keep another blocker back there to help him out? If he struggles early, I think you have to pull him and let Schaffer and Webb have some snaps with the first string. I don't think it can get any worse.

Jay is a pretty tough QB, but if he's getting sacked 10 times per game, sooner or later He's going to get hurt.

And then it's all over for the Bears.

My answer to the Williams thing is go look at the Chargers game. He was the best offensive lineman that day facing the best Charger pass rusher

 

[Dpauley23]

Kruetz wasn't his normal "just fall down untouched" bad; he kept running into our own linemen and knocking them off their blocks.

Hot garbage or busted shit filter, I can't decide, but our line sure smells like something.
Is 5 QBs gonna be enough? And can any of them block?

He looked pretty good on the Forte run when he was pulling to the right side and making a key block on McClain

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Hester is a solid number 3 WR. DA and Knox have shown that their legit WR that can both be number 2's in this league. When you throw in Olsen making plays this group is pretty good.

Great job pointing out the obvious flaw that the Bears do not have a legitimate #1 receiver.

 

[TopekaRoy]

My answer to the Williams thing is go look at the Chargers game. He was the best offensive lineman that day facing the best Charger pass rusher

I hope you're right that the Raiders game was just an "off night," and he'll return to form against the Cards, but that begs the question, "why did he look so bad in the 2nd game?" Is he secretly hiding a minor injury that is affecting his play? Whatever went wrong needs to get righted in a hurry.