There is and I think it’s cumulative on the season. Everyone remembers how Lovie’s defenses never seemed to be as good in December as they were in September because of how much time they were always on the field.
I'd sure like to know why Mack is always on the sideline come crunch time asking for oxygen ??????????????
It is. But with the money we're paying him, his ass better be out there in crunch time. If he's gassed then he needs to get himself in shape.
And I get that you can't always make substitutions when teams are no huddle but he should have been on the field in the first place.
Of course he's in game shape. But if he is constantly getting gassed on 4th quarter drives, that's concerning and he should be working on improving his conditioning.
Mackladder makes a good point, that he does seem to be off the field at the worst possible times. For the money we're paying him, and given he is one of the best defensive players in the NFL, we shouldn't be making excuses if he can't be on the field on crunch time.
It's not an excuse...it's reality. Every pass rusher in football comes off for a certain number of snaps per game. And on long drives where teams go no huddle...there are times you're gonna need a breather and fresh legs go on in your place.
Pagano does need to figure out how to handle when teams go no huddle and make adjustments. Perhaps teams do it once they see Mack going off the field?
If I were an opposing coach I would try to go hurry up all game long. The Bears defense has had struggles against the no huddle for a few years now. I think some of it is because the no huddle doesn't allow them to change packages and this defense uses a lot of different looks. One of the drives the Raiders went no huddle Sunday is when the Bears were in their Big Dime defense and had Bush on the field as a third safety. Raiders went no huddle and Bush got caught out of position a few times because he was mismatched. The only way to really counter it is to limit gains on first and second down and force teams into 3rd and longs. The advantage Pagano should have over Fangio is he stands on the field instead of in the booth so when he recognizes things like that he should be able to make adjustments verbally. You can still get substitutions against the no huddle if you're fast enough.
Your 100% right they all get breaks and it's needed for sure . Maybe it's just a coincidence that it happens at crunch time and they show him on the sideline at that exact needed moment you never know .. at the end of the day I'd like to see him in for all snaps with 5 min to go if possible , maybe that's not realistic either for all I know.
100% agree in the general sense I just can’t give them any pass on this last game. They were outplayed full stop.
Or at this point in the season. There is no cumulative effect at this stage, and as blang said they've already given up multiple late long drives this season. Right now week 5 they should be in prime condition, any rust from the start of the season, gone and any perceived wear and tear over a long season should be far from taking effect. I dunno what it is, but it must be something.
5 games and they've really only had 1 stinker. A few drives here and there in the other games but overall great efforts. If you looked back to last season would you grade that defense off of a few drives or off the Dolphins game alone? This defense is really good. One bad game doesn't change it.
Mackladder I had a friend ask me the question, what is wrong with Mack because he was on the sideline a lot? I looked at the snap counts on Monday and they are pretty much this year what they were last year and I also compared them with Floyd on the other side. They both average between 80% to 90% and Mack comes out slightly ahead most games. This last week however Floyd was out there 2 snaps more. The only reason we've even noticed this is the camera gets put on Mack all the time, and people may draw the wrong conclusions from it. I would rather they give him those breaks if he needs them and keep him close to a full charge as opposed to a half charge just so he can remain effective when he does go in. I'm not an expert on conditioning nor can I judge much torque he exudes during the course of a single play, but I do know he is a monster, and I always want him close to 100%.
It’s going to need to get better...... David Haugh, former trib bears beat writer and AM670 morning talking head said bears are 1 of 6 teams to call the NY Giants about Eli Manning.
