Now, it’s a long ways away and this is written in pencil, but I found it all interesting. First, Tice has said over and over again that this season he intends to settle on a line combination early and stick with it as doggedly as possible. He blames the shuffling of recent years for much of the inconsistency to this point and I think it certainly has negatively effected Omiyale and Williams. So, this combo might get a lot longer look than your typical pre-preseason lineup would.
It’s notable that Chris Spencer is on the bench in favor of moving Garza to Center. Considering how little time Spencer has had in camp that’s not a shock. Also notable is that Gabe Carimi has shown enough to get into the lineup as a rookie. I think this is the way to go, the guy needs to get going fast and I think taking your lumps as a starter is better than bringing him along slowly and shuffling him around. Also, they’ve moved J’Marcus Webb to LT. He was OK last season on the right side, though the statisticians disagree with that assessment, however everyone seems to agree that he’s more suited athletically to the left. Certainly I’d like something better than a 7th round selection guarding Cutler’s blind side, but I trust Webb way more than I trust Omiyale.
If anything this Bears line should be MUCH better at blocking the run than last years. Carimi is going to be a monster in that facet, way better than Webb was on the right. Louis at RG is bigger, younger and more athletic than Garza. He’s really raw, but run blocking isn’t that tricky, it’s mostly about quickness and power. Garza at Center is an upgrade over Kreutz, who was was undersized and couldn’t move anyone. The left side will probably be something of a wash with Williams back and Webb changing sides, but the Bears are a right handed running team anyways. If anything this line will be absolutely huge.
Is it true that Martz is quite keen on going back to running his kind of offense, rather than going back to more running, less throwing to spots offense that they used in the latter part of the year? Because if that’s true, I can’t wait to see this O Line at work. One of the worst RTs in the league gets moved to the more important LT spot, a new starter at RG, a rookie at RT, an inexperienced C, and a bustout at LG combined with the sack inducing Martz offense and damn, this could be a fun year. Well, maybe not for Cutler, though.
When the Packers were leading the league in sacks allowed, all of 2 years ago, they made adjustments to compensate. Rodgers cut down on the number of times he held onto the ball too long and he developed into one of the best QB’s against the blitz in the league. And McCarthy called a lot more 3 step drops, quick hits, and hot reads. This allowed the Packers to compensate for a below average O Line. With the drafting of Bulaga and Sherrod, the emergence of Josh Sitton as one of the best guards in the game, and the development of the backups (Marshall Newhouse supposedly is looking impressive in camp), there is hope the O Line will be even better this year.
Unless the Bears make those kinds of adjustments in play calling and/or their new starters develop quicker than usual, I think Cutler could be in for a long season. Or a really short season, and a long off-season of healing. I think, just like last year, that the Martz offense and a poor O Line combined, can get QB’s killed.
I haven’t seen anything reported in that vein. Martz is notorious for blathering on in media sessions without saying anything remotely true or consistent, so I wouldn’t put much stock in anything he says. He’s pretty much always sunshine and roses when he talks about any player under any circumstance. He’ll often contradict himself within the same press conference.
I’m pretty sure everyone in Halas Hall saw how the Bears offense and record improved when Martz and Cutler settled down, called a more conservative game plan and leaned on Forte for an entire game. I suspect those lessons haven’t gone away and Lovie and Tice will remind Martz should he forget.
Perhaps the most interesting bit of Bears news I read over the weekend is that Roy Williams appears to have unseated Johnny Knox from the starting Split End (X) position. I suspected that Knox would have simply moved to Flanker (Z) or vice versa to get both of them into the mix and that would have come at the expense of Hester and Bennett. I’m steadily starting to drink the Roy Williams Kool-Aid, god help me.
Also, Dane Sanzenbacher is apparently the superstar of camp thus far and might beat out Earl Bennett for the 3rd WR job (or second depending on what they decide to do about Hester’s role).
It’s still all idle speculation at this point, but I suspect that this years WR corps will be miles better than last years. Williams and Knox at the X, Bennett and Sanzenbacher at the Z and Hester and Hurd in the Slot, that might actually be a combo that will work. Certainly it’s got the size that last years team lacked around the end zone.
I don’t imagine they’d let him go for nothing. When Favre first retired and came back, the Packers wouldn’t simply release him. So when he unretired, they got a conditional pick (IIRC it ended up being a third).
Palmer’s value continues to decrease as training camps go on, but the Bengals don’t have to make roster cuts for awhile, so they’re not really losing out on anything simply holding on to him in case another team gets desperate. If I were the Redskins (who could be the worst team in the NFL this year), I’d take a shot at him. But I don’t think that Palmer is going to win this game of chicken. The Bengals will hold onto him until he’s all but worthless to another team.
Reports say 49ers Safety Dashon Goldson is returning after finding a soft market for his services. How many damn safeties do we need? We have nine players that have lined up at safety so far in training camp.
For a team going into the season with a lot of hope, the Lions are already having serious problems.
Mikel Leshoure, their second round pick running back, is out for the season with a torn achilles tendon. He was actually going to be splitting carries with Jahvid Best, so it’s a big loss. Add in the injury to Nick Fairley, and the Lions are not getting too lucky so far.
Remember when Kevin Smith came out of UCF in the NFL Draft? I made a comment about Kevin Smith only succeeding because he was running behind the stud RT Josh Sitton, who, by odd coincidence, was drafted by the Packers. Now, 4 years later, Kevin Smith is out of football, and Sitton is turning into one of the best RG’s in the NFL. Damn, I’m prescient, even when I’m joking.
Smith isn’t out of football. He’s a free agent right now, but that’s because he was cut by the Lions after undergoing offseason shoulder and hip surgery.
To me, “out of football” equals missing a whole season. Smith will probably be on somebody’s roster by Week 4.
Anyway, Smith mostly ran left at UCF, although it’s true that Sitton is a stud.
That sucks. Two Illinois backs drafted at the top of the draft, both miss virtually all of their first season in the NFL. It’s worked out OK for Mendenhall, hopefully Leshoure can rehab as successfully and have an impact in year 2.
I wonder if Best would be more effective if spelled anyway. Kept fresh, less likely to be injured - he was probably in for a bigger year with less of a share of the load.
He only had 171 carries and 58 catches, for 229 touches all year (missing only one game I believe) and didn’t have a single game with more than 17 carries or 26 touches. That’s not a heavy workload at all. And he’s always been an injury risk, even in college.
He also had only 2 carries of more than 20 yards, and a woeful 3.2 ypc. I thought he was waaaayyy overdrafted when he came out, and, to my mind, he’ll max out as an oft injured Darren Sproles.
Which is why I think the injury to Leshoure was a huge blow both to the Lions and to Leshoure, who could have easily supplanted Best as the starter and put Best in a role he’s better suited for, like a third down or change of pace back.
