NFL - Random Opinions

They prob would but they also want traded players to wind up in a good spot and the Steelers traded for Fields then screwed him over sooooo

 

Certainly idiots like Troy Aikmen put it on his style of play but that thinking is pure dumbfuckery. The exact same nonsense in fact that they used to say about Fields and just as true. Literally for every bad sack there has been, and there have been some, there is at least one more that has stayed off the stat sheet because of Fields/Williams. And i am legit being conservative here, its not even a wash in reality. The common denominator is not the QB, its the quality of O-Line play.

A statue like Cousins would wind up dead playing on this offense. Tua wouldn't wind up dead, he'd get the ball out, but either his completion % would be in the mid 40s or his ypa would be 1 and people would be bitching about that instead.

Its been at least 15years since the Bears had an O-Line even close to the top half of the league. Their last good LT was John Tait, their last good C was Olin Kruetz. Tate retired in like 2008 and Kruetz left in like 2009.

 

Trenches.

It always starts there.

 

I will say though that he held the ball for way too long at times yesterday.

 

Thats been his knock all season. I think thats very adjustable.

 

You are all basically agreeing with each other, so it didn’t make sense to address them separately.

We see things very different. What I see on about 66.6% of the sacks is a clean pocket that Caleb Williams doesn’t understand. This can be fixed maybe, but he didn’t improve at all as the season progressed. The better QBs will take two steps forward into that clean pocket and it gives him 1 more second as well as a cleaner throwing lane. Williams does one of 4 things, 3 of which are always bad, 1) stands still (takes a sack), 2) moves straight back in panic(moves into a sack), 3) moves laterally into the blocking lanes (causes the sack), 4) drops his eyes and takes off running… this 4th option isn’t necessarily a bad move, typically he downgraded the sack to a near positive yardage run. However, instead of committing to the run, if he had just stepped into that pocket instead of running out of it, kept his eyes up, in most cases he had receivers coming into their routes that should have been positive plays.

33.3% of the sacks are shit protection schemes or bad line play…

Second issue I have is, regardless of his arm talent, he has no confidence in that talent. One more thing he can definitely improve on in the future, but I see a guy that is so worried about throwing an interception, he misses a pro window of opportunity with high caliber receivers running high caliber routes. Recognition of these small windows will cause two things to happen, he will improve his down field throwing percentage and… he will also increase his interception percentage because he will actually be taking some risks that a top notch defensive back will eventually get a play on some balls. It’s tough to throw an interception on 66.6% bad sack plays and throwing the ball away before stepping into a clean pocket.

Learn how to maneuver and move a pocket and I think he can become a better QB. Gain confidence in his arm talent and I think he can become a better QB.

I saw zero improvement in either aspect, which is why I am not yet sold on Williams as a QB.

It’s easy to blame line play with as many sacks as the Bears gave up. It’s much more difficult to break down all the sacks and analyze where the majority of the blame goes.

it’s also easy to look at a play and say “all the receivers are covered”. Reality is, in the nfl, most routes look covered, but they are usually running out of coverage and it’s the QBs job to know where that ball needs to be in a route to make positive plays down field. If the QBs eyes are dropped in panic mode, they can’t recognize route adjustments in order to make a timed throw. Caleb Williams eyes drop a lot after the first or second read. He must get better at keeping his eyes up to recognize route adjustments and react immediately. The window on routes closes very fast.

 

Let me just preface this by saying any analysis of Williams in these final games is largely pointless imo. He shouldn't even be out there, they should've shut him down for at least these last two games. The offense is completely broken, an OL that was terrible in week 1 now features 3rd stringers at both LT AND LG + a backup RG, and Caleb has taken an absolute beating all season long. He also has a supposedly good WR corps that has been plagued with drops all year. And irishdawg speaks of a lack of confidence....no fucking shit!

I don't wanna downplay anything here cos the entire post was awful, but this is just horrific irish. 2/3 of all Bears sacks this season from a clean pocket, what are you smoking?? I haven't seen you post something this bad since the time you came on the Bears board and hyped up the Browns signing Kenny Britt! FTR, many people ripped that post, you went off in a huff and Britt proceeded to have about 20catches on the season before being cut.

Question: Have you watched all of Williams' sacks this season? Like all of them. Have you watched every snap he's taken this season? Cos i have. I could break down your 4 points individually but i dont think im gonna waste the time, but suffice to say your view on Caleb is off. Your apparent opinion on the Bears O-Line is miles off.

If you had flipped those numbers you would've been much closer to the truth. In the cold light of day maybe Caleb draws a little more than 1/3 and i'd agree there's an area of opportunity there, 2 things tho. 1- There isnt a QB in the league that doesnt take more than they "should", its just a question of whether you have an axe to grind(with Caleb LOTS do). BTW have you seen how many sacks unnecessary Stafford takes?? Watch that guy play then get back to me. 2- Before TNF(where i personally am halting analysis) Caleb was sitting on 60 sacks(!) thru 15 games. The guy avoids at least 2 stone cold sacks every single game, and thats conservative again it could average out to 3, which would tally to 30-45 avoided sacks thru 15games. However you want to slice this the number of QB avoidable sacks is eclipsed by the number of QB avoided sacks. Bears fans on this site understand all of this. Its the exact same debate that was had with Fields for 3years and interestingly you were a lot more forgiving of the QB back then irish cos Fields was your guy...

Could Williams take a few less sacks by throwing the ball away? Sure. Would you be curtailing a stellar part of his game that will only get better? Absolutely. Do i want to see any of that happen? Hell no! But the whole discussion is largely moot because it isnt the crux of the matter. The crux is whats going on around Williams and its ALL bad. Putting an insanely talented QB in the worst situation, then blaming the product on him and saying he's what has to change instead of all the things that make it the worst situation is about as stupid as it gets.

This is the closest thing you wrote to sensible and i agree with the premise, but it doesnt play out in your favour at all. If you believe what you just wrote then why are you drawing such clean lines of blame?

None of this entire discussion addresses the issue of hits/pressures btw. The sack total doesnt even shock me particularly, i kinda expected it. The mountain of hits/knockdowns is what has been been shocking. Going by ESPN stats Williams has taken 14 combined sacks/QB hits in 6 games this season. He took 18 against the Texans, he took 22 against the Patriots! And im not talking just long drawn out plays, there's times he will take a 3 step drop, the ball comes out right on time and its a completion... then the camera cuts to Williams and he's on the ground. Those are plays your QB should be completely clean and he's getting hit in the back. Its insane and you better believe that will start to play on a QB's mind.


Finally can i just point out how much i LOVE this. To finally land a franchise passer only to put them in the worst situation possible, forcing Bears to deal with stupid shit like this is just this organization down to a tee. Fucking Bears.

 

I mean 66.6% of sacks from a clean pocket. Holy hell.

 

I've watched almost every single snap of the Bears' offense this season (a couple games behind, at the moment - just finished Thanksgiving). I can say this with certainty: Caleb has had some really bad snaps. However, he has been the brightest point on this offense since the beginning of the season. You could make the case that Kmet is the other standout player, in comparison to the rest of the team.

But I don't think that people fully understand just how awful this team is, and how it affects every player on it. Caleb has regressed in several really scary ways. Kmet has regressed in several really scary ways. Moore is just not even playing football, most snaps. Rome has no idea what he's doing or where he is for half the game. The offensive line might as well be playing with blindfolds on for all but five snaps. Swift has never seen a run that he didn't want to bounce outside for fewer yards than he could going north-south.

I haven't read all of the back and forth above. And I haven't chimed in much on the team boards recently. At this point, the complete dysfunction has led to a very damaging season for everyone involved, and the sooner it ends, the better. Nothing good is coming from this team as it is, and it would be a mercy to let them pack it in so that we don't continue to develop bad habits, get people hurt, etc. If any decision maker in this organization, save for Kevin Warren, is back next year, the team is completely fucked. The fact that Ryan Poles set all this up to happen and then just watched as it imploded is one of the most damning things I can say about any manager, setting aside all his other clear flaws.

I won't go into a rant. I told myself I wouldn't. But, suffice it to say, if you're watching the film, you can clearly see that Caleb has made some bad plays and also made MANY, MANY good plays in spite of this offense and horrendous organization.