- Jay Cutler looked awesome. The interception was his fault (he under threw the receiver, which I believe was Aromashodu) and one of his two TDs was all Matt Forte (if you saw the game you know which one), but Cutler still looked good. He looked very mobile, made great decisions (something he didn't do last year), took the sack/hit instead of trying to make a play, and overall looked awesome. But we need to take this game in stride, it was against then Lions. Also, Cutler needs to do what no other QB in Bears history has seemed to do- create scoring drives. Putting up stats is all fine dandy but at the end of the day I need him to throw TDs and not play awful when he smells the red zone.
- Matt Forte was like my abusive boyfriend. Every time he hit me (i.e fumbled, made a bad play) he does something to make me fall back in love with him (i.e. 151 receiving yards and 2 TDs)
- Speaking of Forte, in his 2 years in Chicago he has NEVER been able to get that one tough yard on the goal line to get a TD. In fact, last year Forte was third among backs getting carries inside the opponents 10 (36) and 5th among back getting carries inside the opponent's five yard line (19). Yet Forte only ended up with FOUR rushing TDs. Last year, Aaron Rodgers had more rushing TDs than Forte. At this point I blame Lovie Smith for sticking with Forte
- SIDENOTE: I LOVE the fact that Lovie went for it on 4th and goal. It sucks that the Bears didn't get away with any points, but I love the cahones.
- Chester Taylor looked awesome as well. I wanted him to get more touches but with Forte being so awesome, I'm conflicted
- This offensive line is pure garbage. I'm extremely concerned Cutler doesn't play more than 8 games because he's taking his lumps.
- I'm done with Greg Olson. I can handle fumbles (sort of) when you play like DeSean Jackson. But you can't play poorly AND cough up the ball.
- Cutler seems to be looking for D.A. a lot and I'm thinking my prediction of Knox being a better fantasy WR than D.A. won't come true. But as a Bears fan I'm glad. D.A. could be a legit #1 wide out and he needs the targets like a legit number one.
- This rushing defense looked amazing. I know Best had 2 rushing TDs but only 20 yards on 14 carries. And the D looked awesome.
- I might have been a bit premature on calling Brian Urlacher done. Again, it's the Lions, but Urlacher looked really good along with this linebacking corps.
- I don't know what to think about this passing D. Shaun Hill looked AWFUL, but he's also Shaun Hill. Stafford didn't look THAT much better but he's also Matthew Stafford. Calvin Johnson could have and should have (and did on his TD) had his way with Chicago's defensive backs because he's so much taller, faster, and stronger than all of them. This worries me when guys like Greg Jennings, Brandon Marshall, Randy Moss and Miles Austin come to town. I still have a little faith in Zack Bowman. But very very little.
Showing posts with label Julius Peppers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julius Peppers. Show all posts
My Quick Thoughts On The Chicago Bears
Free Agents Don't Come Cheap: Evaluating The Bears Free Agent Signings
FREE agents, CHEAP, get it? Whatever
Anywho, so the biggest player in this early NFL free agent market is clearly the Chicago Bears signing former San Diego TE Brandon Manumaleuna, former Baltimore and Minnesota RB Chester Taylor, and the big daddy of them all former Panthers DE Julius Peppers.
Here's some of my recent GOI tweets and facebook statuses to help you get a better idea of where I was coming from before the NFL free agency period begun
March 4th on Twitter:
March 4th on Facebook:
1) Julius Peppers for 6 yr/ 91.5 million dollars. OK, so after listening to sports talk radio this entire afternoon, I think I've changed my mind on Julius Peppers. After the Bears traded for Jay Cutler this past off season, I initially got really angry because I thought they gave up WAY too much. But then I thought, the Bears need a QB, and they don't efficiently use their draft picks anyway, so what the hell. Analogously, when I draft in fantasy, I know which players I want to make the best team, I don't really care about which round or "value" I'm getting the player, as long as I have the best team. That's sort of how I feel about this Peppers signing.
The Bears are in desperate need for a pass rusher. Wale is getting old, Alex Brown is fine but nothing special, Mark Anderson hasn't shown anything since his wonderful rookie season, and Gaines Adams is deceased. The Bears needed someone. They weren't going to get anyone in the draft because all the good pass rushers will be taken by the time the Bears pick and there's no one else really of value, other than Peppers in the FA pool. Peppers is by far and away the Bears best DE and he WILL make the team better. I've heard everyone complaining that the Bears need a safety, but guess what, an improved defensive line makes the linebackers better which in turn makes the defensive backs better. Remember in 2006 when Nathan Vasher was a pro bowl? Yeah, he went to the Pro Bowl not because he is a good talent, but because Tommie Harris and the D-line got a lot of pressure on the QB.
The one problem I've always had with Peppers is that he's extremely lazy. You talk to any Carolina Panther (although I wouldn't talk to Jake Delhomme or John Fox right now, I don't think they'd be in the mood), they'd tell you Peppers took many plays off and that he never really played to his potential towards the end of his contract. I want to convince myself that he's just like Corey Dillon and just needs a new scene and team to play better. But I'm just worried that Peppers will be more like Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris- guys who played well in the past, got a huge contract from Jerry Angelo, and then produced nothing on the field.
Again, the MASSIVE contract doesn't bother me as much because it was not like the Bears could have gotten another DE that has Peppers' talent and I'm sure many many many other teams were also courting Peppers- so the Bears, I'm sure, had to offer Peppers as high of a contract as they did in order to sign the Pro Bowler.
ESPN has a program that will make you depressed called Salary Crunch. You type in how much money you make and it tells you what Peppers has to do to earn your yearly salary (i.e. if you make $30,000 a year, all Peppers has to do to earn that much is play in .03 games which will produce about .08 tackles, .02 sacks, and .01 forced fumbles)
2) Chester Taylor for 4 yr/ 12.5 million. I love Chester Taylor. His biggest problem is that he's never gotten consistent playing time. Taylor has only gotten over 160 attempts once (303 in 2006) and in that season- he gained 1216 yards with a 4.0 YPC. Taylor has a career 4.3 YPC. Taylor is also really good at catching the ball out of the backfield. But best of all, he's a damn good backup to help the Bears running game and to take pressure off of Matt Forte. Now, the BEST solution to improve the Bears running game is to improve the offensive line. But the second best solution is Taylor. I was a big fan of the Bears getting Taylor a few days ago, and I'm a much bigger fan now than the Bears got him. In fact, I almost like this signing more than the Peppers one.
3) Brandon Manumaleuna for 5 yr/ 17 million. Apparently, in Mike Martz' offense, the purpose of the TE is to mainly be a blocker and rarely be a pass catcher. And from what I'm told, Manumaleuna is a very good blocker- which is a good thing because the Bears O-line sucks. He's only getting $6 million guaranteed so why not?
I've heard rumors that the Bears are thinking about trading Greg Olson. Good. Greg Olson sucks. I don't care about this whole "Mike Martz system" excuse, the Bears need draft picks and Olson is not good. Good riddance.
SIDENOTE: The Ravens gave up a third and a fourth pick for Anquan Boldin. Even without a first and second round pick, I would gladly give up a 3rd and 4th round pick for Boldin.
Anywho, so the biggest player in this early NFL free agent market is clearly the Chicago Bears signing former San Diego TE Brandon Manumaleuna, former Baltimore and Minnesota RB Chester Taylor, and the big daddy of them all former Panthers DE Julius Peppers.
Here's some of my recent GOI tweets and facebook statuses to help you get a better idea of where I was coming from before the NFL free agency period begun
March 4th on Twitter:
The most underrated FA this offseason will be Chester Taylor. He'll be cheap and he's really good. I hope the Bears sign him.
March 4th on Facebook:
I hope the Bears don't get Peppers. He's good, but his contract will be too big and they won't get Pro Bowl Peppers. They'll just get better-than-Wale&Brown&Anderson-Peppers
1) Julius Peppers for 6 yr/ 91.5 million dollars. OK, so after listening to sports talk radio this entire afternoon, I think I've changed my mind on Julius Peppers. After the Bears traded for Jay Cutler this past off season, I initially got really angry because I thought they gave up WAY too much. But then I thought, the Bears need a QB, and they don't efficiently use their draft picks anyway, so what the hell. Analogously, when I draft in fantasy, I know which players I want to make the best team, I don't really care about which round or "value" I'm getting the player, as long as I have the best team. That's sort of how I feel about this Peppers signing.
The Bears are in desperate need for a pass rusher. Wale is getting old, Alex Brown is fine but nothing special, Mark Anderson hasn't shown anything since his wonderful rookie season, and Gaines Adams is deceased. The Bears needed someone. They weren't going to get anyone in the draft because all the good pass rushers will be taken by the time the Bears pick and there's no one else really of value, other than Peppers in the FA pool. Peppers is by far and away the Bears best DE and he WILL make the team better. I've heard everyone complaining that the Bears need a safety, but guess what, an improved defensive line makes the linebackers better which in turn makes the defensive backs better. Remember in 2006 when Nathan Vasher was a pro bowl? Yeah, he went to the Pro Bowl not because he is a good talent, but because Tommie Harris and the D-line got a lot of pressure on the QB.
The one problem I've always had with Peppers is that he's extremely lazy. You talk to any Carolina Panther (although I wouldn't talk to Jake Delhomme or John Fox right now, I don't think they'd be in the mood), they'd tell you Peppers took many plays off and that he never really played to his potential towards the end of his contract. I want to convince myself that he's just like Corey Dillon and just needs a new scene and team to play better. But I'm just worried that Peppers will be more like Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris- guys who played well in the past, got a huge contract from Jerry Angelo, and then produced nothing on the field.
Again, the MASSIVE contract doesn't bother me as much because it was not like the Bears could have gotten another DE that has Peppers' talent and I'm sure many many many other teams were also courting Peppers- so the Bears, I'm sure, had to offer Peppers as high of a contract as they did in order to sign the Pro Bowler.
ESPN has a program that will make you depressed called Salary Crunch. You type in how much money you make and it tells you what Peppers has to do to earn your yearly salary (i.e. if you make $30,000 a year, all Peppers has to do to earn that much is play in .03 games which will produce about .08 tackles, .02 sacks, and .01 forced fumbles)
2) Chester Taylor for 4 yr/ 12.5 million. I love Chester Taylor. His biggest problem is that he's never gotten consistent playing time. Taylor has only gotten over 160 attempts once (303 in 2006) and in that season- he gained 1216 yards with a 4.0 YPC. Taylor has a career 4.3 YPC. Taylor is also really good at catching the ball out of the backfield. But best of all, he's a damn good backup to help the Bears running game and to take pressure off of Matt Forte. Now, the BEST solution to improve the Bears running game is to improve the offensive line. But the second best solution is Taylor. I was a big fan of the Bears getting Taylor a few days ago, and I'm a much bigger fan now than the Bears got him. In fact, I almost like this signing more than the Peppers one.
3) Brandon Manumaleuna for 5 yr/ 17 million. Apparently, in Mike Martz' offense, the purpose of the TE is to mainly be a blocker and rarely be a pass catcher. And from what I'm told, Manumaleuna is a very good blocker- which is a good thing because the Bears O-line sucks. He's only getting $6 million guaranteed so why not?
I've heard rumors that the Bears are thinking about trading Greg Olson. Good. Greg Olson sucks. I don't care about this whole "Mike Martz system" excuse, the Bears need draft picks and Olson is not good. Good riddance.
SIDENOTE: The Ravens gave up a third and a fourth pick for Anquan Boldin. Even without a first and second round pick, I would gladly give up a 3rd and 4th round pick for Boldin.
