Thread: Bears at the Giants: What are you looking for?

Here are some things I'm going to be looking at:

1) Of course, there's the obligatory left side of the offensive line and how it will respond when guys like Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck are rotated in and out. Webb has played pretty well this preseason, and Chris Williams hasn't been too shabby either, but neither have exactly been big Jimbo Covert either. What I want to see is if Tice's schemes will help the left side of the line with picking up blitzes and that sort of thing. I also want to know what is going to be done about the situation between Rachal and Spencer. Neither have played well at all as they are essentially the equivalent of what some call "the Webb/Omiyale" disease of poor blocking in every phase of the game.

2) Shea McClellin. Can he continue to improve? He did really well against the Broncos, but was exposed a bit by RGIII in the Redskins game. He did have a nice spin move against Washington, and his speed is a plus. I look for him to become a linebacker one day if he were to fail at DE.

3) The linebackers. We all know what Lance Briggs can do, but will Roach and J.T. Thomas hold up against running plays up the middle that make it beyond the four man front? It's certainly something to think about.

4) The defensive line. Without Paea in at NT, the defensive line got gash with runs up the gut by the Redskins. The Giants game plan isn't much different on offense than Washington, except that Eli Manning is not as mobile as is RGIII, though he's a crisper passer at this stage of his career than is RGIII, but I look for the Giants to run it early and often after seeing what the Skins were able to do to our defensive line. We did some good things on the D-line, no doubt, but we also gave up a lot of big runs, and that simply cannot happen.

5) Special Teams. We talk about how this has always been our equalizer against our competition, and the return game was very good against Washington, with one kick off by Lorenzo Booker being returned for a touchdown and Weems returning a ball 40 yards on a kick off. However, there was that ugly 91 yard punt return for a touchdown by Washington's Brandon Banks to put a damper on the mood. The Bears didn't guard the wedge very well, and it showed. They're going to go back to square one and work out the kinks.

Development and no injuries

1. I want to see our defense play well against a physical offense like the Giants. These teams in recent years have given us some problems. The Giants are one of those teams that beat you up physically.

2. We need to get through this game without any major injuries to key players.

3. Special teams coverage needs to get better. Now. The coverage units on Saturday looked pitiful. Didn't even look like a Bears special teams unit out there.

4. If Webbs "the guy" at LT, then let's see him look like a starting LT in the NFL.

5. If Spencer struggles again, I want to see Rachal have a huge game. One of these guys needs to step up.

what others said:

O-line protection

no injuries

Sanzanbacher sacking the shit out of Phil Simms

Blocking, blocking and more blocking. This will be the best offseason test for the line so if there was ever a week to get motivated to keep your spot or take one away from the competition this is it.

Consistency in all phases of the game. NO mental errors.

Originally Posted by soulman

Blocking, blocking and more blocking. This will be the best offseason test for the line so if there was ever a week to get motivated to keep your spot or take one away from the competition this is it.

I was thinking about this. This past week, with the Redskins, we faced a team with a great pass rush, and our blocking was actually pretty decent last week (when it was our starters against their starters). Sure, I wish it was even better than it was, but overall, it wasn't too bad (with a few notable exceptions, like Spencer).

Now, this week we have a pre-season game that will be the closest thing we'll see to a regular season game (the 4th pre-season game is meaningless with the starters just making a cameo appearance). And again we will face a tough defense & the current Super Bowl champions. This is a GREAT test of how good our blocking will be this season. If we have a solid performance by our starters in this game (our 2nd straight test against a quality opponent), I figure we're going to be just fine for the season.

Because of this, I find that I'm looking forward to this game, almost as much as a regular season game.