CheezWizHed

There were some high and troubling missing drafting thought. Selig was a better commission than owner, but shallow pockets (far more than Mark A) was the main issue with his ownership. If Steve Cohen is a pair of cargo pants and Mark A is my jean's front pocket, then the Seligs were that tiny pocket in jeans that can hold exactly 1 quarter...

And now back to the countdown!

Obviously, Craig Counsell has extensive playoff experience. It would be interesting to see what the other coaches have for experience as a player or coach in the playoffs.

Well, he was a starter and not a bad one. As others have said, I don't think he would've been an All-Star starter, but better than Houser. Moving him to closer was an obvious success story.

Quay is playing like Campbell was a couple years ago - knifing in and making plays. Always around the ball and often making the tackles. Campbell is playing like Quay did early last year - getting stuck on blocks and washed out of plays. I know C had some injury issues early last year, but I've not heard anything about it this year. Perhaps they swapped roles in the defense since Q is the play caller now, but I wouldn't think that would have anything to do with C getting stuck on blocks constantly.

We've gone down a long rabbit hole but I guess that makes somethings clearer. I wasn't being as specific when I was saying "NT" vs "DE" on the amount of DL playing at the moment or based on the gap he played. I wasn't using the terminology that if the NT moved to gap 2, he suddenly became a DE or if there were 2 DL, he was a DE... I was looking at it as the NT was a "role" in the defense. With 3 DL, he'd be over center mostly, but with 2 DL, might swing left or right over guard at times. But wouldn't be out on the G-T gap or head on the T, like he could be when playing DE "role". Now, trying to extract myself from the rabbit hole... 😂. Even when Clark was the starting NT, he had to be flexible and not just play on the center. He had to flex out for pass rush in other gaps. So while his usage has changed some, he still has a good chunk of plays (and most of the obvious pass rush snaps) from the middle of the D-line. And I think we can both agree he looked much better in game 2 (though ironically the move to DE put him on a rookie G which he demolished often). I'm sure he has been following our discourse all week and we've motivating his play! Congratulations to us! Now we need to keep it up for another 15 weeks! 😂

He's a Majik Man! (all you alive in the 7-ties now have that tune stuck in your heads! 😅) And for those of you that weren't...

And the Cardinals now (well, last weekend) officially have a losing season!

If you aren't paying attention... it doesn't really matter what QB the Bears get... They will ensure he stinks. 😂 I'm sure Caleb Williams will just go back to school for an extra year to avoid the Bears. I saw a graphic that said Justin Jefferson (in 3.1 years) has more career yardage and any Bears WR...ever. Johnny Morris 1958-1967 had 5059 yards receiving JJ: 5134 yards

For all the hype of a new coach and the transfer portal, I wasn't expecting a B10 championship season (as I saw some predict). I think the hype raised all of our expectations a bit too high. Yes, we did get an influx of talent, but this was after really not having much at skilled positions and losing several skilled OLB. I'm not sure Leonard would've done much better honestly.

Got a link? There was no one else playing NT in the last two years, so I find that number "odd". Unless they are defining NT as only when we run base 3-4. If that is all Clark played NT the last 2 years, then there is no way we had an NT on 100% of the snaps. Yes, you see him move out at times (i.e. formations with wide open middle) during pass rush situations.

My thoughts on the game: Love: Still learning and growing. Better completion %, but still started slow (and ended slow this time). He certainly didn't look as comfortable today. I guess Rodgers never owned the Falcons, so Love is going to have to learn that one himself. Dillon: Looked a bit like the older Dillon in making a few cuts this time... But then just couldn't keep his feet to save his life. Fights hard if you hit him high... feathers take him down if hit low. LT: The Nijman/Walker rotation was odd. I guess it mostly worked and it explains the depth chart... Overall they looked OK out there. Newman: How has this guy not learned to stay in his gap??? Same problem he had as a rookie (over and over and over). As soon as he has no one to block, he turns his head and combo blocks with the T next to him. But he leaves a gap a MACK truck could drive through and a stunt or delayed pass rush goes right through it for the sack. Often, the combo block doesn't always help either... sometimes knocking the tackle off-balanced (or the rusher outside so the tackle is now out of position). Stay in your lane dude. Or at least keep your head so you can watch if anyone is coming into your gap. Myers & Love false start. I'm guessing this was a Myer's miss? "Wait, Rodgers never did this..." DL: Overall, they looked good. Clark had a really nice day; especially early. Run tackling was rough (everywhere). The only knock I saw on the DL for run stop was that it seemed one person would penetrate upfield and leave a gap behind that that RB would utilize. Not always the same person either. ILB: Really big gap between Walker and Campbell. Seemed like they constantly were running at Campbell and he couldn't disengage from blocking. I know the performance he had a couple years ago was probably over his head, but really big drop off now. Walker conversely looked really good. Safety: Nice to Savage playing well this year. CB: Jaire didn't have the best of days. Too short, bad hands, or just a touch behind most of the day. Not horrible, but now all-pro either. Carlson was beautiful again... maybe he is only inaccurate in practice? Whelen had some wonderful punts. Really great leg and hangtime. But his best play was easily missed. Orzech had a horrible snap that almost was behind Whelen. He was able to grab it and put it down without so much as a hitch from Carlson. I guess we know more about his work as a holder!

I have a suspicion that we will be signing a FA or two this year (unlike past years) so maybe they don't expect to get any compensation anyway? What FA safeties are out there? Grab the best one! or two!

Training Camp

Do they put it on the left arm of RHB and right arm of LHB to provide "insurance" from getting hit in the arm with a pitch?

When it is the Cubs or Cardinals, not only is not bad, it is expected! 🙂 It is easy to forget that in his career, he is about league average... We fell in love with the rookies and TT says, "Don't forget about me!"

Tyrone started really slow, but is on fire right now.

For us to score more runs and avoid a close one? 😉

Again, I'm not advocating for Wiemer to play more... but CF is probably the 3rd best position to have a plus defender (after the C and SS you mentioned) given the number of balls that go there. I thought of this the other night when Monestario thought he had a HR, but it hit the CF wall... and their LF got to it first. I'm not sure where their CF lined up (especially when AM is right handed), but a CF like Cain or Wiemer might've caught that ball. While the Marlins CF wasn't even in the picture.

It wasn't a wow play, but a smart one and one that relied on a strong arm with little setup to throw the ball. Wily also had a smart play to go to 2nd instead of 3rd (lead runner) and caught Bell pulling a plow to 2nd. You can find my posts elsewhere where I've advocated that he needs to go to AAA. His bat has trended downward for quite a while now and it is getting ugly. You asked for a recent play, so I mentioned one. Defense does seem to come easy to him (aside from communicating to other OFers so he doesn't run them over).

Beyond communication with other OFers....there have not been any mistakes, but some close ones on collisions.

He caught a ball deep in CF, fired it to Wily who threw it to 2nd to double up Bell to end the inning.