Bears/Cardinals Preseason Game 2

I should amend the above statement:

I wasn't dubious of Cohen's talent - I was skeptical that he was the best RB on the board, when they took him. There were a lot of great RB's in this draft, and they passed on guys I really liked, so I was skeptical that we wouldn't look at it as an overreach of a pick. So far, Cohen is putting that notion to bed.

Kid can fucking scoot.

 

Kyle Fuller just got boxed out by a guy smaller than him - a guy whose weaknesses include physicality.

I really hope we don't have to watch Christian Jones play much defense, this year. Lost on the Gresham TD.

 

Second time, now, that Glennon has thrown past two open players into double/triple coverage. This is gonna be rough to watch, this year, ladies and gentlemen...

 

Sanchez is a non entity i don't care what they do with him. But for Glennon and Trubisky, if those plays calls were intentional and pre-tailored for each player then im over here applauding the Offensive coaches because they are handling both players EXACTLY how they should be at this time.

Glennon is almost certainly starting the first several games this reg season, he's also looked very tight, not relaxed and generally under pressure internally. So give him some easy throws, get him some completions. Try to get his confidence up enough that he can maybe play with a shred of competence come week 1.

We all know Glennon isn't the future. All i really want from him is to be able to not lose the job before the bye. Pre-bye week is by far the tougher part of the schedule, there's no reason to drop Trubisky into those shark infested waters. After the bye, different story, but pre-bye i want Glennon taking as many of those lumps as possible. He's not gonna play great anyway cos he's not very good, but just don't sh_t the bed. He can wet the bed a little. A squirt of pee here and there, thats to be expected, and im sure he will. But don't sh_t the bed and force the coaches to change the mattress too early.


As for Trubisky, they're def not trying to set him up for failure. In fact they're doing exactly what they should be doing in preseason. As i recall from draft prep some 98% of Trubisky's dropbacks in college were from the shotgun. The kid needs snaps from under Center desperately. So go ahead, have 5 & 7 step drops comin out his ears, while also sprinkling in the odd rollout which plays to a strength and keeps his confidence up.

I love what they're doing with Trubisky on the field so far, my only criticism would be why is he not seeing the field until 2mins left in the 3rdQ? 8 pass attempts the entire game? Sorry, not enough. Coming in AFTER butt fumble? Dumb.

 

BTW, while im on the subject of using players correctly, maybe someone can chip in who's been watching the games in full(i haven't)....

Whats going on with White? I couldn't see him on the field in the second half, did he get hurt(likely) or did they pull him with the other starters? If its the latter then F that! White is effectively in the second half of his rookie year in actual playing time. That guy should be on the field every damn snap he's able to, which won't be long probably. 2 catches in 2 preseason games, WOW!!!

I'm actually starting to look forward to the day he's gone, cos i know he's not gonna pan out anyway and anytime i remember that he's a Bear it just pisses me off. Such a horrible pick.


And Shaheen, another guy im barely seeing out there. Yes yes its still early, but whats going on with him? Why isn't he on the field more? Another guy with like 2 catches so far. I can't comment on whats happening with his blocking but this kid needs a ton development, like White he should have snaps coming out his ass.

I don't get how the Bears have handled these two in preseason so far.

 

Are there any Bears fans who think differently to this Ev?

 

Well, i can think of one who probably does

 

White is still running basic routes like a rookie. It looked to me like they tried to get the ball to him on some simple patterns throughout the night but it didn't really pay off. Not sure what's going on there.

Shaheen has actually been used well in my opinion. He's getting a good amount of snaps but they aren't forcing anything his way which is good because he's so raw. But he looks decent running routes and from what I've seen his footwork when blocking is solid. There's really no reason to rush this guy along....let him develop.

 

There were reports a couple of weeks ago that he and this new WRs coach with no NFL experience, from the University of Florida, Zach Azzanni were having respect issues. Like White doesn't respect him at all. I cant prove its a factor though there's an obvious, objective presumption, but its probably not a fantastic thing if the guy developing the #7 overall pick from 2 years ago isn't getting to him.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/08/03/bears-kevin-white-broken-trust-wr-room-bad-sign/

 

I really enjoyed watching the D get after people. Things are looking up on that unit. Freeman was fun to watch.

I know the play calling for Glennon had some to do with it but I couldn't help but think that Glennon so far has shown he has the decision making and risk associated with Cutler and the play making ability of Orton. That's a winning combination.

Cohen has been fun to watch. I can't wait to see how they use him through out the season.

I haven't really looked for him but Shaheen has mostly been invisible to me. I had higher hopes for him than Cohen.

 

Even when Glennon has completed passes he's looked bad.

The near pick he threw on the bootleg last night was an even worse decision than the actual pick he threw...ignored two open receivers and threw to triple coverage.

Trubisky wasn't super sharp but he was scanning the entire field and you can tell he saw what he needed to see.

There shouldn't be a question who gives the team a better chance to win.

 

Trubisky wasn't super sharp but he was scanning the entire field and you can tell he saw what he needed to see.

That's the biggest difference in his play this week over last, it seems it he was only working with half the field last week except for two or three times out of what 25 throws.

 

I think the difference week over week had a lot to do with the defense.

Last week he faced a very bland vanilla look from Denver where Arizona played tight, blitzed, and changed up the looks a lot.

 

After watching the game live(which was very difficult with the Arizona announcers) and then the replay a few times on game pass it seems to me there was a lot of emphasis put on the O line and blocking in general.

Not sure if anyone noticed but Grasu was the starting C with Whitehair starting at LG. As a result the starting line looked much better than last week and the 2nd and 3rd lines looked worse. IMO it looks like the plan for the interior will be to have Whitehair backup the guard position with Grasu taking over at C if one of the guards goes down. Who will be the swing tackle? I have no idea and am praying for health on the outside.

As for Shaheen it seemed they have been working on his blocking more than his pass catching. He def looked improved in that area from game one. Haven't seen any TE's targeted going up the seam. It's been all sideline work.

As for the WR's it's hard to get any kind of real assessment on them with how poorly Glennon has been playing. The only consistent thing has been Glennon locking onto Meredith.

 

Whitehair is a starter. He will start at LG until Long can and then move to C.

 

Correct and I think Long will probably make his debut next week giving us the starting line intact for the first time this preseason.

The question is who is the backup G/C. If last nights game was any indicator Whitehair would move to guard and Grasu to C if Sitton or Long were to go down in season.

 

That's been the plan since before camp started, Captain Oblivious.

 

Actually the plan was for Kush to be the backup G/C.

If the plan (since before camp started) was for Grasu to be the first interior lineman off the bench than why was Compton the starting LG last week?

 

Fox has been pretty clear on saying Whitehair is the center and will move to guard when needed while Grasu is the number 2 center and will start when Whitehair slides over.

But you know more than anyone here........

 

Because Long and Sitton were both out and Grasu was slated to be 2nd Center with Whitehair starting......

John Fox literally said it right before the Denver game. Aren't you the board cheerleader? Shouldn't you have been all over that? Or is it only when it doesn't collide with you just arguing for the sake of doing so.....