We saw in the 2nd and 3rd quarter a much more balanced attack with BRob running really well, some nice screens, McLaurin getting a few manufactured touches on jet sweeps and such. That really took the pressure off Howell and we saw him play a lot better. Certainly does feel like that's the way they should have gone about it all season...
That third and short sprint out left is getting annoying. The sprint out play is nice as a change up to throw in here and there, but when it's used every week, teams shut it down easily. When rolling left, Howell essentially has 1 throw he can make without having to completely contort his body. Teams are expecting it now and take it away, and I have no idea why EB keeps calling it to the left instead of the right to give Howell other options to throw.
Definitely think QB in the draft is the path this is going down now they're up to No.2. If it stays that way, I think it could easily end up with Washington moving up to 1 to get the QB they want while the Bears take some compensation to move down a slot and draft Harrison.
Happy New Year to you too! only one more week of this season to go before we can start studying new schemes and new players!
Whoa! I guess I’m a little late to the party here. Too much NYE celebrating?🤕
More great breakdowns, MB. You really scoured those All-22s to come up with examples of the good, the bad, & the not so pretty. Nice.👌
I gotta agree with Shally. I see no reason to not start Sam one last time, unless RRR & Co feel it may do him serious harm in some way shape or form. I think SH can take whatever DAL will be dishing out, tho.
Speaking of WAS’s QB (& their possibilities), what did you think of the way Penix Jr played last night??!! I don’t watch CFB except for the playoffs so I’m new to how good he is. Was it more a case of his REALLY showing out last night, or is that what he’s capable of doing on any given game?
I know it’s not your specialty, MB, but do you have any opinion on how he stacks up with Caleb & Drake (or Jayden?) - or where he might go in the draft?
Thanks for the kind words! I'm definitely looking forward to getting this season wrapped up and moving onto a new regime. I've already got some stuff ready to go on potential new HCs and I'm trying to prep some more ahead of next week too. Should be a fun offseason!
Thanks. Question: On the 2nd video where Thomas and Robinson criss-cross and he throws it to Robinson, did it seem like Thomas was more open faster? Wonder why they didn't throw it to him?
Yeah, I did think that too, my guess is that his eyes naturally went more towards the middle of the field after reading out the scissors concept and they found the deeper route before the shallower route. Really, those routes are designed to create a high-low read against zone defenses, but the Tampa-2 coverage matches both pretty well.
I definitely think he could have gone to Thomas and that may well have even been the "correct" read in the progression, but what I liked was that he wasn't hesitant and was decisive in moving on from the middle to Robinson and still getting the ball out on time. Ultimately it was one shallow cross against what was effectively another and having read to the right of the field to start, the defense was more likely to be flowing that way, so hitting a crosser against the flow may have worked out better.
Great work as always sir! Aside from running (effectively) more, I'm going to scream if Cole Turner is inactive again! Have you seen anything in his limited action that shows where he has been ineffective? Our player development sucks lol...
The first half was good but the second half sums up our season. The first drive third down call was a disaster that killed the drive. Don’t know who was at fault but it was a mess. The second drive was going really well until Gibson dropped a catch he should have secured BEFORE trying to run in for the score or a first down. That was on second down in the red zone and left us third and long which then led to the first interception. Not blaming Gibson for Sam’s bad throw to Terry but at the very least we should have come away with three points from what was up to that point a good drive. The third drive led to the second pick but that should have been called for a face mask penalty against the Niners on Howell as he was throwing. But when things aren’t going your way those things get missed by the refs. The next drive was the result of a poor first down call that led to a disastrous drive. Why ask your QB to throw your way out from under your own posts at a time when he’s thrown picks on the previous two drives. I sometimes think that EB forgets he is not calling plays for Patrick Mahomes. The last drive just summed up the whole RR era perfectly.
I have a suspicion that some of Sam’s problems of late are fitness related. Sam has thrown basically a season and a half worth of passes this year, as well as taking a beating earlier in the season, and I think he has tired coming down the stretch. I’m no fitness expert, and I can’t attest as to Sam’s actual fitness, but to me, while not exactly looking chubby, Sam looks like he could be fitter. The QB position is probably the most difficult position in ANY sport and to play the position effectively requires you to be mentally sharp as well as maintaining a certain level of fitness. When you are physically drained the impact on your ability to process the mental part of the game would be severely lacking. That is true in any job role, even a sedentary one, so it must be doubly so playing QB. I do think he has not been helped by some of the play-calling at times, as per my Mahomes reference in the previous paragraph, but that’s a separate topic.
For me now it’s about the draft and which QB we take. I confess that since I’ve moved to Asia I am sadly no longer able to watch college football so I can only go on what PFF and some sites have commented on but I like what I’ve read about both Daniels and Nix. If we go with Daniels I could see us running an offense similar to Baltimore and the way they use Jackson. Bo Nix is another ho looks good statistically and ticks a lot of boxes. He gets the ball out quick and has the lowest rate of turnover worthy plays amongst the top five QBs. Maybe someone will want to jump up to 2 for Williams or Maye and we can get either Daniels or Nix later in the first and get a tidy haul of additional picks as well. But whatever we do, I’m confident we’ll have a proper GM and coaching structure in place to make the decisions of who to select.
No reason to bench him. Give the new regime as much film on him as possible
Just wish EB would run the ball more
And sprinting out Howell to the left is just plain stupid
If we are sitting at 2, we are drafting a Qb with that pick (90%)
Or trying to trade back if we think there is only 1 Qb worth taking that high
Happy New Year and thank you for providing a great forum to exchange comments and read your insight
All the best
Shal
We saw in the 2nd and 3rd quarter a much more balanced attack with BRob running really well, some nice screens, McLaurin getting a few manufactured touches on jet sweeps and such. That really took the pressure off Howell and we saw him play a lot better. Certainly does feel like that's the way they should have gone about it all season...
That third and short sprint out left is getting annoying. The sprint out play is nice as a change up to throw in here and there, but when it's used every week, teams shut it down easily. When rolling left, Howell essentially has 1 throw he can make without having to completely contort his body. Teams are expecting it now and take it away, and I have no idea why EB keeps calling it to the left instead of the right to give Howell other options to throw.
Definitely think QB in the draft is the path this is going down now they're up to No.2. If it stays that way, I think it could easily end up with Washington moving up to 1 to get the QB they want while the Bears take some compensation to move down a slot and draft Harrison.
Happy New Year to you too! only one more week of this season to go before we can start studying new schemes and new players!
Whoa! I guess I’m a little late to the party here. Too much NYE celebrating?🤕
More great breakdowns, MB. You really scoured those All-22s to come up with examples of the good, the bad, & the not so pretty. Nice.👌
I gotta agree with Shally. I see no reason to not start Sam one last time, unless RRR & Co feel it may do him serious harm in some way shape or form. I think SH can take whatever DAL will be dishing out, tho.
Speaking of WAS’s QB (& their possibilities), what did you think of the way Penix Jr played last night??!! I don’t watch CFB except for the playoffs so I’m new to how good he is. Was it more a case of his REALLY showing out last night, or is that what he’s capable of doing on any given game?
I know it’s not your specialty, MB, but do you have any opinion on how he stacks up with Caleb & Drake (or Jayden?) - or where he might go in the draft?
Great breakdown as usual - looking forward to reading about all of the exciting developments in the off-season.
Thanks for the kind words! I'm definitely looking forward to getting this season wrapped up and moving onto a new regime. I've already got some stuff ready to go on potential new HCs and I'm trying to prep some more ahead of next week too. Should be a fun offseason!
Thanks. Question: On the 2nd video where Thomas and Robinson criss-cross and he throws it to Robinson, did it seem like Thomas was more open faster? Wonder why they didn't throw it to him?
Yeah, I did think that too, my guess is that his eyes naturally went more towards the middle of the field after reading out the scissors concept and they found the deeper route before the shallower route. Really, those routes are designed to create a high-low read against zone defenses, but the Tampa-2 coverage matches both pretty well.
I definitely think he could have gone to Thomas and that may well have even been the "correct" read in the progression, but what I liked was that he wasn't hesitant and was decisive in moving on from the middle to Robinson and still getting the ball out on time. Ultimately it was one shallow cross against what was effectively another and having read to the right of the field to start, the defense was more likely to be flowing that way, so hitting a crosser against the flow may have worked out better.
Agree. I'll take a gain like they had any time.
Great work as always sir! Aside from running (effectively) more, I'm going to scream if Cole Turner is inactive again! Have you seen anything in his limited action that shows where he has been ineffective? Our player development sucks lol...
Good question about Turner.
Is it a case nature or nurture that has kept an intriguing prospect from contributing this season?
Love the analysis as always Mark, great work.
The first half was good but the second half sums up our season. The first drive third down call was a disaster that killed the drive. Don’t know who was at fault but it was a mess. The second drive was going really well until Gibson dropped a catch he should have secured BEFORE trying to run in for the score or a first down. That was on second down in the red zone and left us third and long which then led to the first interception. Not blaming Gibson for Sam’s bad throw to Terry but at the very least we should have come away with three points from what was up to that point a good drive. The third drive led to the second pick but that should have been called for a face mask penalty against the Niners on Howell as he was throwing. But when things aren’t going your way those things get missed by the refs. The next drive was the result of a poor first down call that led to a disastrous drive. Why ask your QB to throw your way out from under your own posts at a time when he’s thrown picks on the previous two drives. I sometimes think that EB forgets he is not calling plays for Patrick Mahomes. The last drive just summed up the whole RR era perfectly.
I have a suspicion that some of Sam’s problems of late are fitness related. Sam has thrown basically a season and a half worth of passes this year, as well as taking a beating earlier in the season, and I think he has tired coming down the stretch. I’m no fitness expert, and I can’t attest as to Sam’s actual fitness, but to me, while not exactly looking chubby, Sam looks like he could be fitter. The QB position is probably the most difficult position in ANY sport and to play the position effectively requires you to be mentally sharp as well as maintaining a certain level of fitness. When you are physically drained the impact on your ability to process the mental part of the game would be severely lacking. That is true in any job role, even a sedentary one, so it must be doubly so playing QB. I do think he has not been helped by some of the play-calling at times, as per my Mahomes reference in the previous paragraph, but that’s a separate topic.
For me now it’s about the draft and which QB we take. I confess that since I’ve moved to Asia I am sadly no longer able to watch college football so I can only go on what PFF and some sites have commented on but I like what I’ve read about both Daniels and Nix. If we go with Daniels I could see us running an offense similar to Baltimore and the way they use Jackson. Bo Nix is another ho looks good statistically and ticks a lot of boxes. He gets the ball out quick and has the lowest rate of turnover worthy plays amongst the top five QBs. Maybe someone will want to jump up to 2 for Williams or Maye and we can get either Daniels or Nix later in the first and get a tidy haul of additional picks as well. But whatever we do, I’m confident we’ll have a proper GM and coaching structure in place to make the decisions of who to select.
Onwards and upwards 🙏