Wound up 2-2 for the weekend, both straight up and ATS. (Picked underdog Carolina to win, picked Seattle to win but not cover, and Steelers to cover but not win.) Was it just me, or did this weekend of football have a very random feel to it?
I’m trying to make sense of this part. I think I understand it, but if you’d help me make sure
The pylon bit, I understood perfectly, because there’s no other way to do it. If the ball goes out of bounds right at the pylon, where do you place the ball on the field? On the goal line. But that’s a touchdown, or touchback, or whatever would be the appropriate outcome just as if the ball had crossed the sideline after going into the end zone: the goal line is the border of the end zone, and if the ball is straddling that border, it’s broken the plane; it’s in.
With the infinite extension of the plane of the goal line, what I hear you saying is that if a ball carrier is running down the sideline, holding the ball away from his body so it’s out of bounds, if he runs into the end zone, he’s scored a TD at the moment the ball breaks that extended plane. Or if he’s been in bounds, but becomes airborne on his way towards the goal line and the ball’s out of bounds when he crosses the plane, then as long as (a) he doesn’t land out of bounds before the ball crosses the plane, and (b) as long as some part of him crosses the goal line in bounds, then it’s a TD.
It’s actually only the (b) part I’m unsure about, now that I think about it.
OK. Fair enough. According to nfl.com, the Bears gave up 123 yards on the ground. I should have said the Panthers **shoved ** the ball down their throats. The Bears defense gave up 29 points. (30 if you allow for the missed extra point). At home. That’s a bad defensive effort.
Delhomme had 319 yards in the air. 218 to Steve Smith. I know he’s good, but he’s 5-9. Everyone in the country knows where Delhomme is throwing. And the Bears single cover the guy?
Also, the stats of Rex Grossman aren’t very good:
17 for 41, 192 yards 1 TD/1 INT.
That’s very, uh, Kyle Orton like, don’t you think?
I’m not gloating yet. The Steelers have to beat Denver. Then I can gloat. Until then, I’ll just bask in the glory of my original playoff predictions. I’ve got 3 of the 4 final 4 teams in, and both Super Bowl teams are still alive. Not bad for a guy who has absolutely no faith in Bill Cowher. I figured he had a chance because he is on the road this year, which makes him an underdog. He’s never been a good front runner, and he’s choked like a dog in the AFC champinship games at home (1-4). If he’s going to win, I figured he’d do it on the road.
Also, in predicting these games, I relied on one little personal nugget of gold. There is one thing that seem to always hold true:
A guy with the last name of **Manning ** isn’t going to get your team to the Super Bowl.
Jones was having a decent day rushing for Chicago (4 yards per carry), but they kept throwing the ball with Grossman. He made a few great throws, but for every decent pass he threw, he put another up for grabs. He repeatedly threw off his back foot under pressure. That won’t cut it in the playoffs.
The Bears screwed up by abandoning the kind of play that got them to the postseason. They could have kept it closer by running the ball and giving their defense time to rest between series. Instead, they rushed 27 times and passed 42. Ass backwards. Grossman was a terrible choice to start that game. You can’t take a guy who’s played 8 games in his entire career, throw him into the postseason, and put the game on his shoulders against a decent defense, let alone a good one like the Panthers. Orton might not have done better, but he wouldn’t have done worse, and Jones would have carried the ball more often.
Grossman’s spent three years on the bench, but he hasn’t learned a thing. Did you catch the Pam Oliver saying that when he comes off the field, he spends as little time as possible going over photos with his QB coach and then watches the game? You won’t find a decent NFL QB who does that - when they’re off the field, they’re studying the photos looking for indicators in the defensive sets and trying to figure out how to play better. Grossman’s lazy.
I think it’s a reflection on his college years spent playing for Spurrier. Spurrier was the same way - he won games (in college) because he recruited better players than his opponents did. When he came to the NFL, he got skewered. All the QBs that played under him in college have been skewered as well - Danny Wuerfful, Shane Matthews, Doug Johnson… Grossman’s next in line.
As was explained to me, the pass had to be called incomplete because the Steeler player was never touched by a Colt when he hit the ground, so that when the Steeler’s leg knocked the ball away from himself it had to be either an incomplete pass or a fumble, and by calling it an incomplete pass the refs had an easier resolution of the play (ie, clock already stopped, no change of possession like there could’ve been on a fumble).
That sums up my understanding perfectly, including the unsure about b) bit.
I believe that you don’t need to come down in bounds; if you launch yourself into the air before crossing the plane, sail diagonally out of bounds with the ball held over the sideline, and land past the endzone plane but fully out of bounds, I’m pretty sure it’s a TD in the pros but not on college.
I have heard it explained multiple times that the endzone extends forever in either direction, but the hypothetical you presented and I reworded isn’t exactly transparent.
You’re wrong and you must have not watched the game. Panther RBs combined for a whopping 88 yards during a game in which they led by double digits almost the entire game. The 123 yards, which still not a big number, are heavily skewed by reverses and screens to Steve Smith which are plays targeting the pass defense. The Panthers were constantly in 3rd and long situtations.
The Bears defense played well enough to win the game except for the giant brain-dead decision to not cover Steve Smith. He got a full 140 yards on plays in which he wasn’t covered at all. Had Tillman not fallen down repeatedly and simply tackled Smith after his 2 long busted coverage TDs the Panther’s numbers look much much different. On the first catch, he pushed down Tillman (a bad non-call) and took it to the house forcing the Bears to change their game plan entirely.
Stupid stupid coaching cost the Bears this game. Steve Smith is the best offensive player in the league and the Bears chose to single cover him all game, even after the 100+ in the first half. The Bears were not dominated, Steve Smith dominated Tillman. Usually that doesn’t decide a outcome because coaches are smart enough to help against the other teams best player…we were too fucking stupid.
Grossman definately played well enough to win this game. He led the Bears to 3 TD drives of 65 yards or more, 9, 9 and 11 plays respectively, something Orton never could have done against an excellent Panther D. In no way shape or form was he to blame. While he made a few risky throws, none of them came back to bite us, and we didn’t need him to be John Elway. We win with defense, the QB just have to manage the game and Rex did that better than I hoped. Were he not playing with a huge defecit as a result of that early big play he wouldn’t have needed to throw it 41 times.
Simple fact was that Steve Smith was the best player on that team all year. He was the hottest player over the last month and a half. Last time we played him he torched us for 169 yards and 14 catches, yet somehow our coaches were so arrogant, stupid and ill-prepared enough to not scheme to contain him. We were without Mike Brown early in the game and had been burnt once already yet they did not adjust to slow him down knowing Tillman was getting beat.
I’m convinced that if the Bears had double covered Smith and contained him, keeping him to something like 125 yards, they’d have won this game. The fact that they didn’t cannot be excused.
Chicago didn’t really have a pass rush all day. If they’d double covered Smith, Delhomme would have found someone else to throw it to with the time he had in the pocket. The Bears defensive line, while they played ok against the run, was absolutely manhandled when Carolina dropped back. Even when the ends got pressure, Delhomme was able to step up in the pocket because the tackles weren’t going anywhere.
Smith didn’t beat Chicago by himself - the Bears were outplayed as well as outcoached. Urlacher played a great game, but the rest of the defense didn’t live up to their reputation.
I don’t totally disagree with you, but I think it’s a stretch to say that the Bears pass rush was manhandled. The Steve Smith experience is one of those double edged swords. Had they double covered him, Delhomme would have held the ball longer. Watching the game there were many occasions in which the pass rush just missed sacking him or flushing him out. Delhomme didn’t show any inclination to find other WRs in this game or the previous matchup, and I think a big reason is that the Bears DBs were able to shut them down one-on-one. Certainly a true double team of Smith would occasionaly leave a mismatch with a LB, but the time it took smith to find him would have created more pressure.
Also it was painfully obvious that Fox and the Panthers learned a lesson from the previous game and frequently went max-protect and called a huge percentage of WR screens and quick timing routes. Very smart game plan by the Panthers for sure and I didn’t expect the Bears to repeat that 8 sack performance, but there really weren’t many occasions in this game where Delhomme had all day to throw or where he was able to dance around in the pocket and wait for someone to break coverage.
The Panthers line played well and played smart and picked up the blitz, but Steve Smith’s always being open had a huge impact. Had he not been wide open the Bears pass rush number would probably have looked more typical (though not dominanting).
I watched the game and you are wrong. I wasn’t emotionally involved in the game and you were. So we obviously have different perspectives. Steve Smith running a reverse is a **RUSHING ** play. 123 is the total from nfl.com, not from my ass. Paint the picture any way you want. That defense was manhandled. Sorry.
You sound like you lost money on the game. Never bet on your favorite team. Look at the stats for the Bears defense and compare them to the defensive stats for the 8 games they played at home all year. They gave up 29 points. They gave up 450+ yards rushing and passing (not counting punts and kick returns). That is not an effort expected from the Bears defense. Saying the “defense played well enough except for the giant brain dead decision to not cover Steve Smith” to win is a stretch. That’s like saying if the levees didn’t fail in New Orleans, the place wouldn’t have flooded. The fact is that the levees did fail. So did the Bears defense.
If, if, if. Grossman played alright, but I wouldn’t throw a party for him yet. 17 for 41 sucks by any measuring stick, and what was he in the first half, 1 for his first 15 or something like that? That doesn’t help the defense to catch their breath, and it doesn’t help to move the chains. You know, he put 21 points on the board, which should have been enough. But the fact is, the defense wasn’t there. You are right to say that if the Bears weren’t playing with a huge defense he wouldn’t have thrown as much. No argument there. But they DID play with a huge deficit, and Grossman couldn’t bring them back with his arm. If this was Kyle Orton, you’d be so far up his ass he’d be tasting your hair gel.
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You are right. Maybe. We’ll never know. The Panthers lost their running back and were going with Nick Goings, who has to be at least #3 on the depth chart. They still didn’t/couldn’t stop Smith. That tells me they lost the battle in the trenches and made some poor choices in the secondary. The Panthers are better than people thought.
Delhomme scrambled for 9 yards. Steve Smith caught a WR screen (considered a rush due to the fact it was lateral) and a reverse that is the secondaries responsibility and avoids the front 7 for the other 26 yards. I’m not claiming these plays don’t count, and I’m not claiming the D played great or that the Panthers played poorly. I am however going to dismiss the argument that the Bears were manhandled – physically dominated – when they simply weren’t. The Panthers did not run the ball consistently AT ALL. They did not dominate the line of scrimmage. Big plays were the difference, not one team imposing it’s will on the other.
The stats simply don’t give you the full picture. The Bears WRs dropped 5 passes in the first half alone. Time after time Grossman threw the ball to the right place and the WRs, Muhammad foremost, did nothing to help him. I’m the first guy to bury the QB when he fails, especially when it’s one of the many awful Bear’s QBs over the last 20 years, but it just isn’t the case in this game. The Panthers have a top defense, and they were going to have an effect on Grossman. No one expected him to be great, but there’s not a Bears fan in the country who’d have been disappointed in Rex leading the offense on 3 TD drives and only tossing one INT with only one sack. I’ll take that every time. Any blame placed on Gorssman is misplaced. For a virtual rookie QB against the 3rd best D in the league he played very well.
I was referring to the rationalization offered on ESPN Sportscenter as viewed by a friend of mine prior to the NFL’s announcement that the refs just blew the call.
Eh. Don’t know if it’s just me, but this guy sounds like he’s trying a little too hard to be Steve Whatshisface who writes (or wrote) “Open Space” or “Open Air” or whatever that front column in SI was back when I subscribed a couple years back.
Nah, it goes both ways. The Panthers game plan had Delhomme taking mostly 3 step drops and the occasional 5 step. If your CBs are handling the WRs off the line and through the first move it forces Delhomme to look to his second and third option. If his second and third options aren’t open either he’s going to have to start looking to take 7 step drops do allow time for a double move, 4 WR formations and deeper patterns.
The difference in time it takes for Delhomme to throw to his first option, Smith, and to look off to find his 2nd and 3rd options is that extra step it takes the D-line to get a sack or a deflection. If a QB is able to hit his #1 WR every time he will never be sacked, even with the Texans line.
In this game the Smith was wide open because on at least 3 occasions Tillman and Thompson fell down within the first 5 yards while trying to get a chuck or handle Smith’s first move. Had nothing to do with pressure.
IIRC, those were deep throws that were well beyond 3 step drop territory. If the dline had solid pressure, or if they called more effective blitzes, it wouldn’t have mattered that the guys in the secondary fell down.
Every receiver will always get open, given enough time. The only way to counter this is to get to the passer before the receiver has enough time to get open.
Well, technically, there was one game where the defense focused on pressuring the receivers instead of the passer, but that was an incredibly innovative game plan that hadn’t been seen before or since the game where it was implemented. (It involved a 2 man line.)
On the two most obvious ones – TDs to Smith – the end result was a long play but the ball was thrown at about the 8-12 yard mark. I don’t know if they were 3 or 5 step drops, but in both cases the ball was released in under 2 seconds. One was a completion at about the 12 yard mark with tons of RAC, the other was a lob that Smith ran under. There’s no doubt the pass rush could have been better, but I just can’t say it was non-existant. Delhomme could have throw those passes left-handed and still completed them.
