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Lovie Smith says Bears need to "find more way
Lovie Smith says Bears need to "find more ways" to get Devin Hester the ball
By Sean Jensen on March 30, 2011 9:04 AM
Bears receiver Devin Hester regained his mojo as a return specialist last offseason.
But Hester's production as a receiver took a big step backward.
After making improvements in three consecutive seasons, Hester's receiving yardage dropped by 282 from 2009 to 2010. Hester, who had 475 receiving yards, also had 17 fewer catches.
"He didn't get into the mix as much as he probably would have liked. I liked what he was able to do in the return game. I just think it's hard sometimes balancing the both of them," Smith said. "I just know he's a dangerous guy with his hands on the ball. It's up to us to try to find more ways to give him the football."
Asked if he'd like Hester to play fewer offensive snaps, Smith said, "You know, the snap part, I would like to see us find a way to get him the ball more maybe in certain situations.
The goal, Smith said, would to take "away some of his reps and be able to get him involved more on the ones he's out there."
Hester was the primary punt returner last season, but Danieal Manning was the primary kickoff returner. With Manning not under contract, the Bears may have to consider other options. One would be to call upon Johnny Knox, who was a Pro Bowl kick returner as a rookie in 2009. But the team may not be inclined to ask him to handle that on a full-time basis.
With the new kickoff rule -- which means more touchbacks -- perhaps the Bears could consider splitting that duty between Hester and Knox. The latter averaged 29 yards per kickoff in 2009, while Hester averaged 35.6 on 12 returns in 2010.
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What we need to do is get a real damn wr and stop this damn farce. Experiment time is over the result=failure. Move the hell on so the team doesnt suffer anymore for it. He is a KR leave it at that.
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High Fives / Like - 3 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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Originally Posted by
motownbear 
What we need to do is get a real damn wr and stop this damn farce. Experiment time is over the result=failure. Move the hell on so the team doesnt suffer anymore for it. He is a KR leave it at that.
Disagree strongly motown, hester IS a WR, maybe not a #1, but he is a legit WR and not just a KR/PR
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If we get a legit number one and already have strong contributions from more legit targets with Olsen, Bennet, and Knox Im sorry but the numbers say he is the odd man out from what is available. But if it is business as usual and they ignore the wr position yet again you are right we will be forced to endure another season of sos. He could be good in the slot but we have better
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The stats have shown that Hester's productivity as a KR decline as his WR production increases. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same with Knox too. What we need to do is get another WR of the large and tall type that Cutler prefers to take some of the catches away from those two.
With the change in the kick off placement there'll be less returns anyway so that alone should reduce the workload. Alternate them if that helps but if we can't find more ways to get Hester open in the offense we should at least get as much mileage out of his ST touches as we can. He's the only offensive weapon we have that teams actually fear having the ball.
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Originally Posted by
motownbear What we need to do is get a real damn wr and stop this damn farce. Experiment time is over the result=failure. Move the hell on so the team doesnt suffer anymore for it. He is a KR leave it at that.
The bears need to get Olsen more involved because Jerry Angelo himself expects a big jump out of him.
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we should find more chances to give Earl Bennet some trick plays lmfao
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Or we could do as The Bleacher Report, the most reliable name in sports coverage, has suggested could happen and sign Chad Ochocinco. Oh yeah. Bring on the screwed up uniform number! ("Ocienta y cinco" is the correct translation for #85 in Spanish versus what CHAD JOHNSON has.)
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Originally Posted by
Dagan81 Or we could do as The Bleacher Report, the most reliable name in sports coverage, has suggested could happen and sign Chad Ochocinco. Oh yeah. Bring on the screwed up uniform number! ("Ocienta y cinco" is the correct translation for #85 in Spanish versus what CHAD JOHNSON has.)
Thank you Senior Spanish
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High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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Originally Posted by
motownbear What we need to do is get a real damn wr and stop this damn farce. Experiment time is over the result=failure. Move the hell on so the team doesnt suffer anymore for it. He is a KR leave it at that.
No shit. He's a gadget and while they have their place on offense its not every down and only an idiot would think otherwise.
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