Lack of Offseason Moves Indicates Tice Will Work With Current Line.........

Offseason inactivity at OT sign of Bears' confidence

Tice expects upgrade from current group, including Webb and Carimi

http://www.trbimg.com/img-4fadc149/t...120512-001/600 The Bears are eager to get offensive tackle Gabe Carimi back from injury this offseason. (Brian Cassella/ Chicago Tribune) (May 11, 2012)

By Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune reporter 8:45 p.m. CDT, May 11, 2012

The Bears' lack of action at offensive tackle this offseason speaks volumes about how they believe the position will be improved.

The team continues to tinker with the defensive line, officially signing three players to one-year contracts Friday morning: tackles John McCargo and DeMario Pressley and end Cheta Ozougwu. The Bears haven't made any additions at offensive tackle, and line coach-turned-offensive coordinator Mike Tice — speaking to the media for the first time since Week 17 of last season — made it clear he expects an upgrade with those already in place.

"If we felt that tackle was a dire need for us, I'm sure they would have answered the bell on draft day," Tice said. "With the change in scheme, the change in personality and an offseason and getting some guys healthy, I think we'll make a big jump in the offensive line.

"It takes time for young guys to play good in all areas. And we have a couple young guys who have played good football in half the scheme, and they need to step it up in the other half. Plus, we have some guys who got hurt, and we need to get those guys back."

The young linemen Tice referred to are likely left tackle J'Marcus Webb and Lance Louis, who played right tackle last season and now will compete for a job at guard. Both were more consistent in the running game, and Tice believes several factors will make them better pass blockers. The most likely might be the one thing that wasn't mentioned, the departure of offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

As far as last year's first-round draft pick, Gabe Carimi, the right tackle is not back from surgery on his right knee to strengthen and tighten it. He dislocated the knee in Week 2 but waited until the final week of December for surgery.

"I expect to see him at some point before the (offseason) session is over (in mid-June)," Tice said. "So we're pretty excited about that. I'm excited about the group. I'm excited about the entire offense and how they're working right now. Their focus has been excellent."

Cramping up: Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, the second-round pick from South Carolina, left practice a little more than halfway through after his left leg cramped up. It wasn't considered serious, and Jeffery appeared to be in good shape.

"I really like what Alshon did earlier in practice, for most of the practice really," coach Lovie Smith said. "I didn't see him drop a ball. He's got great hands, a big target. I really like the way he came in. He's going to be a good player for us."

Extra points: Practice featured 51 players — the six draft picks, 11 undrafted free agents and 34 players in on a tryout basis. With 87 players on the roster, three below the limit, the Bears have room to sign tryout players if anyone stands out. … Typically, the Bears have held rookie camp the weekend after the draft. A change in the rules this year prompted them to delay it by a week so the rookies can remain in town and begin the voluntary offseason program with veterans Monday.

Copyright © 2012, Chicago Tribune
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Well by both word and deed the Bears continue to indicate what they have all along which is that any major upgrades to the Oline will come from within. You really can't argue with Tice in at least one area and that is the Bears did run block pretty well last year. Forget about that useless stat about runs for no gain or being thrown for a loss. The Bears RB's ran for just over 1700 yards last season and averaged 4.5 yards per carry doing it.

Only MB III averaged less than 4.0 ypc and that should probably be expected of the guy who was a short yardage and goaline back. When your blasting it in from the 2 yard line all you can gain is 2 yards and he had more then a handful of that type of carry. He also broke some nice longer runs as did both Bell and Forte who averaged 4.6 and 4.9 ypc carry respectively. Like I keep saying. Forget about useless stats. Somebody must have been blocking somebody else at least some of the time.

The Bears problems last year stemmed from both a lack or experience and a lack of co-ordination as pass blockers and that idiotic scheme of Martz's didn't help at all. Even experienced lineman would have struggled blocking for slow developing pass plays that used 7 step drops as consistently as he called them. The man simply would not adapt to what was instead of playing it like he wanted it to be hoping to restore his own personal glory as the architect of the "Greatest Show on Turf". We were getting hosed by Martz's huge ego until Cutler finally stood up to him and began doing it his way then magically the sacks dropped by about 75% and didn't return until Martz expected Hanie to run an offense that Cutler had already proven couldn't be run with the existing personnel.

Regardless of the the talent of the lack of it Tice isn't wrong. Experience and a better scheme will go a long way towards straightening out some of our pass blocking problems. Cutler's mobility, or Campbell's if by chance Cutler is injured, should take care of much of the rest. Look for the number of sacks to drop significantly this year.

I mentioned on 'another' forum that I am impressed that Tice is both so honest and so polite in phraseology. "Couple of young guys who played good football in half the scheme and need to step up in the other half." To Mr. Biggs that "probably" meant Webb and LL. To me it screams Webb/Williams. Webb being a fine run blocker and Williams being a fine pass protection blocker as a left Tackle. Their other halves need work, but Williams probably got that in 2 years at OG and Webb may get that in the offseason. It is a passing league so I suspect Williams will be the LT. I only wish he was under contract for a a couple more years and he didn't have so much injury history, especially the back.

Louis, I suspect, is going to be a guard and his skills at OT are, we hope, irrelevant. He might be the emergency tackle if there are two injuries among Carimi/Williams/Webb.

pixy dust will prevail!

Quote:

Originally Posted by RochBear

I mentioned on 'another' forum that I am impressed that Tice is both so honest and so polite in phraseology. "Couple of young guys who played good football in half the scheme and need to step up in the other half." To Mr. Biggs that "probably" meant Webb and LL. To me it screams Webb/Williams. Webb being a fine run blocker and Williams being a fine pass protection blocker as a left Tackle. Their other halves need work, but Williams probably got that in 2 years at OG and Webb may get that in the offseason. It is a passing league so I suspect Williams will be the LT. I only wish he was under contract for a a couple more years and he didn't have so much injury history, especially the back.

Louis, I suspect, is going to be a guard and his skills at OT are, we hope, irrelevant. He might be the emergency tackle if there are two injuries among Carimi/Williams/Webb.

I agree with all of this Roch. It would be great to see CWill put a big push on Webb for that LT spot. With his injury history and that lofty draft status of his this is his year to prove that he can stay healthy and that he belongs somewhere on that line. I feel a lot more comfortable with either him or Webb as another OT.

We've discussed this at length before. Next season however we'll see how they address things esp. with some of the OG contracts expiring, Webbs basically make or brake year this year, and a aging Garza. Either way in 2013 they are going to need at least a swing tackle, a OG, and a backup C.

Ah but wait, we will also need LB, CB, DE, DT, and for giggles another safety. I hope they "stand pat" on another position and give the OL some draft love.

How can one not like Tice? The guy isn't just honest, he also puts his entire credibility on the line by giving us an assurance that he's going to get these guys to improve. I believe in Tice's ability to elevate the line's play. I believe we're going to see a lot of young players this year on offense and defense take charge and secure some starting spots. This team has a lot of intriguing prospects.

yeah, we were just too screwed at too many positions. I don't think that Emery can fix the rest by next year. I think he is going to need two years.

Hopefully, the OL will be ok this year like Tice thinks, but I have my doubts. If it works ok, then that will be one less expensive position that we won't have to address next year.

One positive I didn't expect was to have the WR elevated so much in one year. If Jeffreys does what he is capable of, we will have a good group. Maybe one or two more pickups to provide quality backup. I wouln't mind a stable as deep as the Giants had last year. They had like 4 really good recievers. We aren't there yet unless Hester magically turns into a WR.

Without seeing any play this year, I'd say that the LT and DT are probably our biggest needs, with C, LB, OG, CB not far behind. We still need another DE and I am hoping that the draft provided some strength at S or that will be a position of need next year.

I'd like to see OT, OG, S and DT come off the list, but even if guys step up, we will probably still need a C

Quote:

Originally Posted by short faced bear

We've discussed this at length before. Next season however we'll see how they address things esp. with some of the OG contracts expiring, Webbs basically make or brake year this year, and a aging Garza. Either way in 2013 they are going to need at least a swing tackle, a OG, and a backup C.

Ah but wait, we will also need LB, CB, DE, DT, and for giggles another safety. I hope they "stand pat" on another position and give the OL some draft love.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

How can one not like Tice? The guy isn't just honest, he also puts his entire credibility on the line by giving us an assurance that he's going to get these guys to improve. I believe in Tice's ability to elevate the line's play. I believe we're going to see a lot of young players this year on offense and defense take charge and secure some starting spots. This team has a lot of intriguing prospects.

I admire him for his candor as far as how he proposes to fix their problems strategically. It's the tactical part of who plays where that has us all guessing. Tice is good at saying half of what we want to hear and from my perspective that's not necessarily such a bad thing.

The best thing to happen to this offense in years was the day that Lovie Smith promoted Mike Tice to offensive coordinator. We managed by doing that to keep the man who made our patchwork offensive line work even remotely well. Mike Martz was the death of this team in each of the past two years, including costing the Bears the win in the NFC Championship Game in February of 2011. Had Martz called a conservative game plan both in that game as well as the last six games of the 2011 season when we had jack shit for an offense, we might have been in the Super Bowl for the 2010 season AND gotten into the playoffs as a Wild Card team in 2011.