Thread: Bears analysis: Defensive line disappointing

Originally Posted by short faced bear

Anytime we can help ourselves and hurt a division rival I'm all for it if the $ is right.

Exactly! Hey now, look at what the Yankees did to the Red Sox when they managed to buy Babe Ruth and half the Red Sox team! Signing Cliff Avril wouldn't exactly be getting the steal of the century, but it would vastly improve out pass rush. We seem to have figured it out on the interior of the line, and Peppers did well last season despite wearing down toward the end. We need to take some of the pressure off of Pepp as much as we can.

What I like about Avril is that not only is he a proven rush man but he plays the DE opposite Peppers. You team those two up in a pass rush and the only escape for the QB is forward and that's where Melton or Okoye or even Paea come into play.

One thing that needed a big improvement going into this year was the inside pass rush. We needed more push and penetration from the DT's. Well Melton got 7 and Okoye got 4 and I think Paea may have gotten two so we go 13 total from our DT's and that's pretty good considering in Tommie Harris' last year he had two sacks and in his best he only had 8. We got a lot of pressure but we just couldn't seem to close the deal.

So we've upped the production inside but with the exception of Pep we didn't get what we needed from the ends. I believe Izzy had 5 but not one other DE came up with a sack. Fifteen sacks from your DE's isn't enough when you look at guys like Babin (18) and Allen (22) out did that themselves. We need Richard Dent in his prime like number coming out of that position or we give good receivers too much time to get open and good QB's too much time to find them. That's one of the downfall's of the Cover-2. Ya' gotta have a fierce pass rush to make it work well.

Originally Posted by soulman

What I like about Avril is that not only is he a proven rush man but he plays the DE opposite Peppers. You team those two up in a pass rush and the only escape for the QB is forward and that's where Melton or Okoye or even Paea come into play.

One thing that needed a big improvement going into this year was the inside pass rush. We needed more push and penetration from the DT's. Well Melton got 7 and Okoye got 4 and I think Paea may have gotten two so we go 13 total from our DT's and that's pretty good considering in Tommie Harris' last year he had two sacks and in his best he only had 8. We got a lot of pressure but we just couldn't seem to close the deal.

So we've upped the production inside but with the exception of Pep we didn't get what we needed from the ends. I believe Izzy had 5 but not one other DE came up with a sack. Fifteen sacks from your DE's isn't enough when you look at guys like Babin (18) and Allen (22) out did that themselves. We need Richard Dent in his prime like number coming out of that position or we give good receivers too much time to get open and good QB's too much time to find them. That's one of the downfall's of the Cover-2. Ya' gotta have a fierce pass rush to make it work well.

I think whomever takes this job will address that need. Avril and Peppers would probably compliment each other really well and even cause each other to improve on their statistics last year with a good DE blitz since the QB then would still be vulnerable from the middle. I like how you articulated that. That's some good thinkin', soulman!

The biggest obstacle may be getting Avril away from Detroit. You know they're not gonna want to lose him especially to another NFCN team. As much as we need a guy like that it may be a real tough nut to crack. I just wish we could have gotten Babin last year but he wanted to go to Philly where his line coach went so we probaly didn't stand much of a chance with him.

Originally Posted by soulman

The biggest obstacle may be getting Avril away from Detroit. You know they're not gonna want to lose him especially to another NFCN team. As much as we need a guy like that it may be a real tough nut to crack. I just wish we could have gotten Babin last year but he wanted to go to Philly where his line coach went so we probaly didn't stand much of a chance with him.

Avril also wants to stay in Detroit, so that idea is a wash most likely.

Originally Posted by Dagan81

Avril also wants to stay in Detroit, so that idea is a wash most likely.

Let's trade 'em Briggs for Avril.

Originally Posted by soulman

Let's trade 'em Briggs for Avril.

Hell yeah, and let him give the Lions HELL about his salary! But then what would we do about a linebacker? Draft one?