Things To Stop Talking About:

by itsugly on Nov 29, 2007 5:20 AM CST Comment 26 comments

Direct snap to Hester. See also: bubble screen to Hester, or any silly offensive gimmick play designed to mimic the effect of a punt return. While we all know that it's very exciting every time Hester returns a punt for a touchdown, and he does it more often than any player in football, he still only does it 7% of the time. That means that 93% of the time, we'll lose yardage on the play. And even that's only assuming that the blocking formation could be as well-placed as it is on a punt return.
How much you miss Thomas Jones. Have you seen Thomas Jones' numbers this year? He's getting old and he's not having a better year than Cedric Benson, except he's been fortunate enough to avoid an injury. But in New York, they're not celebrating that fact. He ran for a whopping 2.4 yards per carry against Dallas last week. That's less than Benson got when we played them. He ran for 2.8 against the Giants - are you really so sad that he isn't starting for us next week? He has zero touchdowns this season. Do you really think he'd be doing better if he had Fred Miller blocking for him?
"Getting McNabb". Stop it. They want three first-round draft picks. Trading three first-round draft picks for goddamn Peyton Manning would be a mistake. For McNabb, it's insane. McNabb's under contract to the Eagles, and he's not coming to Chicago. We don't need an aging, injured former star to come to our rescue. We need an offensive line we can trust and we need a defense that makes those concerns less relevant. I know he and Tommie Harris are buddies, and I want Tommie Harris to be happy, too, but it won't happen, it shouldn't happen, and we'll all be better for it not happening.
Blaming Jerry Angelo. Remember your friends Devin Hester, Tommie Harris, Nathan Vasher, Bernard Berrian, Greg Olsen, Charles Tillman, and Lance Briggs? Jerry Angelo brought them here. I know you wish we had a zillion yards rushing this year, but Angelo's not to blame. Angelo built this team with smart picks and has been right on at least 80% of his decisions. Even if you consider Benson a mistake, even if you've decided that Archuleta is the worst player to ever don a Bears uniform, his track record is mostly that he brought all of those great players to Chicago, not the handful of guys who haven't quite worked out.
What you "know" about Kyle Orton. Look, we all love his beard. Yeah, he was great at Purdue, and the Bears did have a good record his rookie year. However: that is all we know about him. It makes sense to play him when we're having a quarterback crisis and we need to determine who we're going to have at that position in the future. He may be great. But we don't know that, because he's yet to play a regular season game with the full playbook. If you loved the way he played in '05, that means nothing - he was a rookie thrust into an unenviable position and he did only the small things that were asked of him. If you hated the way he played in '05, that means nothing - he was a rookie thrust into an unenviable position and he did only the small things that were asked of him. I would very much like to see Kyle Orton on the field in a Bears uniform at some point, as I like his beard and think that there may be some potential there, and I'd prefer to see it realized while he's in Chicago. But no one knows anything about him - we don't know that he's a bad quarterback, we don't know that he's a good quarterback. All we know is that he's on the bench right now, and when the season reaches a point where evaluating the bench becomes a higher priority than trying to score that wildcard, it'll be time to give him a look. In the meantime, he's a big question mark, not a savior and not a loser.
Drafting Colt Brennan. He'll be a good option when the Bears start playing against college teams.

--d

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#7

Talking about things we should stop talking about.

Dude, this is a blog. What they heck else do you want us to do? This is what makes this type of thing fun.

If people want to talk until they are blue in the face on fancy ways of getting Hester in on offense, I am happy to provide a forum for that.

If they want to go on forever about wanting McNabb, I am happy to chime in on why I'd go for Anderson instead.

If everybody stopped talking about all those things, what's left?

by Adam T on Nov 29, 2007 7:45 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Well Said

GO BEARS!!!!!

by McRipper on Nov 29, 2007 8:19 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Of course these things will be talked about, and that's fine - I didn't really mean that everyone should literally stop or, like, sanctions would be imposed. I'm just tired of seeing a lot of these things discussed as though they're conventional wisdom, and so I wanted to provide a number of arguments against that. If I really wanted to see no more discussion of these things ever, I'd just stop reading and posting. I should have probably titled the entry "things to stop talking about as though you're sure you're right, because these are some reasons that I disagree", but it'd have been less eye-catching.

Regardless, you're right - we have nothing to do -but- talk about things like this. This is just a list of some of my arguments against a few of the common memes in the Bears-talk world.

--d

by itsugly on Nov 29, 2007 8:22 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

hence forth all silly comments of mine

shall be marked with the appropriate html tags
Example:

<silly> Brian Urlacher should be used on offense ala Mike Vrabel of the New England Patriots </silly>

all the way to Arizona

by mike on Nov 29, 2007 10:25 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Hell Yeah

I don't think that's a bad idea at all. I was at the Skins vs. Bears game in 2001 in D.C. when Urlacher caught the TD pass off the fake field goal to win the game. That was awesome. Does anybody remember that?

GO BEARS!!!!!

by McRipper on Nov 29, 2007 10:34 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yes, I do

Faking a FG when we were at the 35 yard line would have been fun against Denver instead of punting the ball. Although, it was 4th and 12, so the likelihood of actually getting the 1st down wasn't very high, but I think we should have at least went for the field goal, even on the wet field. That was the drive where Des Clark+Fred Miller blocked one guy, as opposed to picking up a blitzing Dre Bly. I think that was Clark's fault, honestly. Looked like he was in for max protect...or if was at least chip and release, he could have chipped Bly and snuck out...

by mikebdot on Nov 29, 2007 10:46 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Gould

I think 52 yards is a little out of Gould's range, especially in those conditions.

GO BEARS!!!!!

by McRipper on Nov 29, 2007 11:18 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

He's only

0 for 2 in his entire career at 50+, both misses this year. He can't improve without attempts though...

Yeah, they wanted to try to pin them inside the 20, but the ball sailed on Maynard. No big deal, that is just a place where we left possible points on the field, especially due to the sack. Same with the 1st and 10 at the 16 on the very next drive. What a nightmare. Good thing AP picked up 17 yards, not that he did anything special on that play, just enough for Gould to kick a 44 yarder. Did he have room to spare? I seem to recall that he did, maybe I'm thinking of the game winner though. If he had 8 yards to spare, the kick was on the same side of the field, so surely he had a chance...

by mikebdot on Nov 29, 2007 1:34 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I will be using

the 'serious, unless is is a really dumb idea, then I didn't mean it!' and 'i meant for all the spelling mistakes' tags extensively.

by Adam T on Nov 29, 2007 11:52 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

id be willing to bet

that you misspell the tag

all the way to Arizona

by mike on Nov 29, 2007 1:10 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Are the whole lot

of you Grammar teachers?

I'll take the heat on the posts, but this is comment in the diary section. Let one slide now and again.

by Adam T on Nov 29, 2007 1:50 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

im just playing

I could care less how you spell stuff, as long as the content as there, which it has been since day one. keep up the good work.

all the way to Arizona

by mike on Nov 29, 2007 4:43 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

What are you talking about?

"See also: bubble screen to Hester, or any silly offensive gimmick play designed to mimic the effect of a punt return"

Do you know who Steve Smih is?

by Chad on Nov 29, 2007 1:46 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

you do realize

that stuff works for steve smith because he is in the entire game, not just 3 plays for 3 bubble screens, right? that is the problem with hester, we rarely put him in on offense, so when we do, teams key on him. if he is in there 80% of the downs instead of 10% then they are likely going to suffer lapses in coverage and he'll accidentally get mixed up with a linebacker or a safety from time to time.

by lopey986 on Nov 30, 2007 12:49 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

you also realize

that i firmly believe that Hester needs to see 10 - 15 snaps on offense. That should be enough. AND if you try it and they send 11 guys at him, next time pump fake and run the other way.

by Chad on Nov 30, 2007 1:25 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

oh exactly

hester needs to be in more than he is now, right now all they do is bring him in for one play and run some gimmick to him that easily gets shut down. but we all know ron turner is a retard so its unlikely we'll see hester on the field more.

by lopey986 on Nov 30, 2007 1:22 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Hester has to be on the field

for every third down and any obvious passing down.

We're being coached by morons this year.

Visit The Cub Reporter (mvn.com/mlb-cubs)

by thecubreporter on Nov 30, 2007 1:25 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

hmmm...

You know, while I agree in that I like would like to see Hester get more touches, it is very possibly that Hester isn't seeing more plays on offense because he can't handle it.

We have seen multiple times where Hester had no idea where he was supposed to be lined up. I think we all know that the guy is the smarted one on the team, and it is very possible that his lack of ability to grasp the offense is what is keeping him off the field.

visit the mindful mission.

by big_lowitzki on Nov 30, 2007 1:56 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Just take that into consideration

make sure in the huddle he knows his part or have a coach talk to him before he goes out there.

by Adam T on Nov 30, 2007 2:12 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

harder than you think

It really is not that easy. You don't have a lot of time in a huddle, and you can't always sit and explain to the dumb wide receiver what he is supposed to do.

And it isn't just knowing where to line up and running a specific route. There are reads a receive needs to make, which route to run, who to block, etc. It is not as simple as explaining what to do in the huddle.

visit the mindful mission.

by big_lowitzki on Nov 30, 2007 2:30 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

there is that part where Hester is, you know, to put this delicately, kind of dumb.

Nonetheless, find a way to make it work, they couldn't make it anymore obvious this year what they're doing.

Visit The Cub Reporter (mvn.com/mlb-cubs)

by thecubreporter on Nov 30, 2007 5:02 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

You want Grossman/Griese to make this decision?

by tyger1147 on Nov 30, 2007 2:42 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Random funny...

via Deadspin..

Fantasy Player That Deserves To Die A Slow, Painful Death

Cedric Benson. Well, well, well, Benson. It appears that you just had a season-ending injury to your leg. Wait, did I say leg? Because I think the real reason you can't play again this year is because of your ENORMOUS VAGINAL CANYON. Your vagina is so big, I could park Laurence Maroney's car in it. I could hold my company's holiday party in it. Hell, I could probably lead a geological survey into it and find fossils dating back to the Mesozoic era. You worthless fucking crybaby.

appreciate it for it's satirical value...

Visit The Cub Reporter (mvn.com/mlb-cubs)

by thecubreporter on Nov 29, 2007 2:01 PM CST reply actions 0 recs