I like the idea. We seem to struggle finding a rhythm early in games and don't find it until later on; which could come back to bite us later. We are a big physical OL, having the guys run up not thinking too much, let them wear down the DL, let Cutler start getting comfortable and finding his game makes a lot of sense to me. I'm surprised we haven't done more of it actually, Cutler seems more than capable of checking plays and getting us into the right play.
In terms of relaying plays through Bates my guess to the reasoning behind it; would be that considering Tice is still very new to play calling that Bates has the freedom to make minor tweaks in the play call once relayed to him. I'm sure Tice is paying more attention to the OL than the WR, if Bates sees something that a certain pattern would take advantage of then presumably he could make that adjustment. So kind of spreads out responsibilities, so that it's less information each person has to take in and analyze in that short time. Would think that the voice makes a difference too, Tice has an accent not that it's bad or anything but being unsure at all could change the game. Cutler has experience with Bates so there is more continuity there.
That's just a guess though.
