NightLink: 2008 vs 2009 WR Numbers

by Dane Noble on Sep 28, 2009 7:02 PM CDT Comment 33 comments

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

In tonight's NightLink, courtesy of Larry Mayer, we get a chance to look at our WR numbers compared to last season, Brad Maynard's shanked punt, and when the last time all 3 North teams won on the same weekend.

For all the outcry over the lack of experience at the receiver position during the offseason, the Bears receivers appear to be the strength of the team, or at least playing the most consistently thus far. How do the receivers compare statistically to last season’s receivers after three games?

Jacob
Brooklyn, New York

Bears wide receivers have been much more productive through three games this season than they were last year. Devin Hester (13 receptions for 187 yards and 2 touchdowns), Earl Bennett (13-168-0) and Johnny Knox (9-159-2) have combined to catch 35 passes for 514 yards and 4 TDs. Last season Bears receivers Brandon Lloyd (13-216), Rashied Davis (8-58), Hester (2-13) and Marty Booker (2-11) combined to catch 25 passes for 298 yards and 1 TD in the first three games.

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Proof that..

Even against good defenses, the QB makes the receiver, with a few rare exceptions(i.e. TO or Randy Moss)

by Pretender85 on Sep 28, 2009 7:15 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Tedd Ginn

is definitely not making any QB in Miami, that’s for sure, he’s the new dropapotamus

"I'm sorry Josh, I'm with Chicago now, you need to stop calling me" -JerBear50 as Jay Cutler

by BearNecessities on Sep 28, 2009 7:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

lol

Carlos Guillen, the Latino Nick Punto - BouJouma
Please takeyour latte circle jerk to another thread. -WU
babies are young and under team control for at least 12 years -Billyok
i heard kenny williams' mother bought a lottery ticket and lost so kenny williams traded his mother - Billyok

by The_Fan on Sep 29, 2009 11:05 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

agreed

I’m also prlesantly surprised with Johhny Knox. We have had clutch reciever corp

by The_Fan on Sep 29, 2009 11:05 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Knox and Olsen are keeping the chains moving

With the triggerman, what’s his name again?, and those two recievers the Bears actually have a passing game now. What we still need is a reciever to go on the opposite side and for the O-line to make some holes so Forte can start busting some runs off. This will cause the Safeties to move into the box, and then we get a even more open field.

The sun will shine in '69

by gaclaudy on Sep 28, 2009 7:34 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

agreed

but who could it be though?

by The_Fan on Sep 29, 2009 11:06 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

box

The Bears have already been facing 8 in the box to a great extent this season, and this is a factor as to the increased production of the WR.

"Chance favors the prepared mind." - Pasteur

by Maelvampyre on Sep 28, 2009 8:01 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

They faced 8 in the box all the time last year.

The difference this year is the QB. Sure, a bit more speed/youth and experience helps, but many of Cutler’s competed passes this year are throws that Orton wouldn’t have even attempted last year.

by dakoose on Sep 28, 2009 9:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Its amazing to see how much better the Bears recievers can get with a GOOD Quarterback....

by JoeCB1991 on Sep 28, 2009 8:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Knox

Just get the ball to him. LOVE this kid. Have a really good feeling about his production in the latter half of the season.

by ProbaBULLcause on Sep 28, 2009 11:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I can't wait to see DA.

what the hell happened to him?

Derreck Rose, you’ve gotta be flat-out kidding me. Double overtime! Triple overtime!- Chuck wack on crack

by SoulEater7 on Sep 28, 2009 11:09 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

do we need him?

see torch’s stats below.

by genetic on Sep 29, 2009 12:52 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

So...

you’re saying that a good quarterback can make his receivers a lot better….

this sounds familiar :)

Visit TCR (thecubreporter.com) and The Bear Truth

by thecubreporter on Sep 29, 2009 12:19 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Some comparisons with other "passing teams"

For the top 3 WRs:

CHI – 514 yards, 4 TDs

ARI – 529 yards, 3 TDs
GB – 499 yards, 3 TDs
NE – 492 yards, 0 TDs
PHI – 440 yards, 4 TDs

by torch on Sep 29, 2009 6:05 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

nice stats

NE really doesn’t have a WR TD? wow.

by genetic on Sep 29, 2009 8:06 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

thats actually a huge shock

Tom Brady isn’t himself anymore

by The_Fan on Sep 29, 2009 11:07 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

you mean the patriots offensive line

isn’t itself anymore. brady’s an average nfl qb.

by genetic on Sep 29, 2009 12:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's ridiculous.

I don’t care how good one’s supporting cast is, an average QB doesn’t accomplish as much as Brady has.

by dakoose on Sep 29, 2009 1:53 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

agreed

by The_Fan on Sep 30, 2009 8:22 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

no

Brady is one of the best Qb’s in the game today, what I said was he isnt his self anymore, hence he isn’t doing as good

by The_Fan on Sep 30, 2009 8:22 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

What's funny about that statistic is

that Donald Driver was harping on our Receivers saying we don’t have any and we are slightly statistically better then them.

by NiqueBears on Sep 29, 2009 3:22 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Personally...

I agree with everything written here! I don’t want to come off as one of those, “Gosh, some people are never happy” guys, but… I would love to see more deep throws down the field. Although Cutler seems to be able to fit the football into the tightest spaces, I’m worried that those can turn into INTs if the “ball isn’t bouncing our way.” The deep ball (or “threat” of it) seems to create more space. As the Line continues to gel (and it will), the running game will open up, we’ll be playing with a lead, and the sacks/turnovers will mount. Geez, God Bless the dude that invented football!!!

Getcha Beernuts Ready!

by Fly1965 on Sep 29, 2009 7:35 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I really think the only reason we haven't seen more downfield attempts is the poor line play.

Cutler is getting smashed after he throws even on his short drops. If they don’t get that fixed, the offense is going to look a lot like what we had with Orton/Grossman but with a guy who’s arm can get the ball into tighter spaces and not get sacked as much because of his release and pocket presence.

Has anyone looked at the downfield plays by Cutler that didn’t involve “run after catch” yardage? I only remember the TD to Hester in the Steelers game and the long pass to Knox in the Green Bay game when he stepped out of bounds. There were possibly 2-3 more that were unsuccessful attempts. It seems like, and I might be wrong here, that any other play over 20-25 yards have been relatively short to mid-range passes but the receiver took it the rest of the way (i.e. the game winner to Hester this past week). It would be interesting to break that down. If I’m right that means only about 5 downfield attempts, definitely not enough with a QB the caliber of Cutler.

by BearFan611 on Sep 29, 2009 8:14 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good point...

…about him needing more time for the deep pass. And I think you’re right about the frequency (or infrequency) of deep paases. What’s worse, the tackles (especially Williams) inability to slow down the ends makes a rollout (for Jay to buy time) less attractive. It also affects RB sweeps and reverses. But again, I think that’ll get better over time. Hopefully, they’ll come off the bye playing better as a unit. I’m kind of shocked we haven’t seen more of Gaines. I thought he was supposed to be a blocker/FB/TE guy who could help protect Cutler.

Getcha Beernuts Ready!

by Fly1965 on Sep 29, 2009 9:00 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Inconsistent line play definitely hurts the deep ball.

But so does the lack of effective play action. We need to work harder to establish the run and that just doesn’t appear to be a priority with Turner. RonRon’s got a new toy and insists on playing with it every chance he gets.

If you can't laugh at yourself you must not be very funny.

by Just Dave on Sep 29, 2009 9:02 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You're right, but I think the lack of a play action game is also because no one is afraid of our running game.

The run blocking is worse than the pass blocking, so unless there is some respect that you can actually gain a few yards with the run, the play action is nullified.

by BearFan611 on Sep 29, 2009 11:15 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hate to use it so soon,

but JA evidently read this story and called to tell me to post his response again…

-------
"Newbie, if the next two words out of your mouth aren't 'See ya' then the third word will be 'Oh my god. My crotch. You've punched me in my crotch." - Dr. Percival Ulysses Cox

by smudgers on Sep 29, 2009 10:26 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Yes, the receivers are more productive than last year.

But last year, they also had to play against the Colts, Panthers, and Tampa Bay Kiffineers.

This group got a Packers defense in transition (Which might be talented, but still in transition), the Polamalu-less Steelers, and the Seahawks. They’ll also get the Browns, the Rams, and two against the Lions, which approaches one-third of their schedule.

So take the numbers with a grain of salt.

by V. Money on Sep 29, 2009 10:27 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, but...

… you must also factor in the lack of chemistry between the receivers and their QB. As that improves, so will their numbers.

Getcha Beernuts Ready!

by Fly1965 on Sep 29, 2009 10:33 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

There's more...

If you replace all of the names sans Lloyd with Matt Forte and Greg Olsen, you get a trio that combined to catch 32 passes for 380 yards and 3 TDs, numbers that come somewhat closes to what this year’s trio has in three out of four departments. But if you factor in the QBs, last year’s trio caught a higher percentage of balls from Kyle Orton than they are from Cutler and getting a lot more YPC, from, well, you know…

Considering that a) You’re going from a WR, RB, and TE in this trio to 3 WRs in the next and b) their productivity still trumps the last group, it’s safe to say that Cutler is making things in the offense, gasp!, more conventional. And if the running game gets back on track, you might actually see a running team become balanced.

by V. Money on Sep 29, 2009 6:57 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not surprise at how the Wide Receivers are performing this season

I think the overall talent of this year Wide Receivers trumps the talent of last year Wide Receiver Corps. Last year Corps was below average and it didn’t help that we had a below average QB throwing to them. This year we have a well rounded Receiving Corps with a big time arm throwing to them. What’s scary is that they still haven’t reached their ceiling yet.

by NiqueBears on Sep 29, 2009 3:19 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think so of this has to do with the slow start from Matt Forte. If he was gaining the yards he was last year, the Bears wouldn’t have to throw it as much.

by seanbcubs23 on Sep 29, 2009 4:52 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs