Thread: QB Preservation Strategy; Run the Ball Tice!....................

I've ignored a lot of Rosenbloom's columns lately because many of them have been idiotic but this one isn't. He's spot on. If Tice wants Cutler to last out the year he needs to start using the two stud RBs he has at his disposal far more than he has so far.

Once again the Bears offensive coaching staff decides they're gonna get cute and take advantage of the Lions being down two starting CBs so let's attack that right? Well how about adding into the equation that in order to do that you have to protect your QB against one of the best and certainly the most vicious defensive lines in the NFL. And......you have do do this with an offensive line that's not exactly known as impenetrable shield even against pass rushers of far less stature than those the Lions have.

Does it surprise anyone then that the Bears were in three WR sets on just over 47% of their offensive snaps and that Tice or Cutler (on audibles) called passes (41 of them) on 59.4% of the offensive plays we ran? Week after week we hear out of Tice himself how he abandons the run too easily and too often and must run the ball more and once again we pass that ball nearly 60% of the time in this last game. Would someone check the booth upstairs just to be 100% certain Mike Martz isn't still up there sending plays down to Tice.

When you're up against a hard rushing gap shooting line you can counter that by running straight at them just like teams do against us Mike. Were you absent the day they covered that at OC school? Also a screen pass or two to the RB wouldn't hurt but I don't believe I saw any of those on Monday night. What was all this talk about a "take what they give us" offense Mike and then what we see is an "I'll take what I choose to take" approach against it. Not only was the play calling bad it was incredibly dumb, shortsighted and it almost got your prize QB killed again.

Whatever pages that are left over from the Mike Martz playbook that you still have in your possession would ya' please tear them out and flush them down the crapper. For once I'd like to finish a season with our franchise QB intact and at the helm. Jason Campbell is a very good QB but we're not likely to go far in the playoffs or win a SB with him.

I also have a bone to pick with you over run selection and the number of carries, or let's say the lack of carries, Michael Bush is getting versus Forte's carries. In both the Packer game and the Lion game it was obvious that running Bush straight at the defense was gaining yardage more consistently than trying to get Forte outside of, or through an 8 man box. On Monday Bush was goring them up the middle for 6 ypc while Forte was struggling to find daylight outside or any cutback lanes to hit. Take away that 39 yard run of his and he averaged less than 3 ypc whereas Bush was gaining twice that much even though his longest run was just 12 yards.

You're not only not running enough but when you do run you're not even attacking correctly Mike! You've arguably got the best RB duo or at least one of the best in the NFL so start using them right. They're both excellent receivers out of the backfield so start using them that way including Bush. I don't blame him for arguing that he's far more capable of being more than just a short yardage battering ram. I think he proved that on that one long run he did make. That spin move he executed to break free and the vault for a couple of extra yards is something you don't often see out of 245lb power back. Also.....what was the deal with lining him up but not using him at least once on that first and goal series. Isn't that the main reason we signed the guy? To have a RB capable of scoring from there like he did nine times last year!

Would you also take some time this week and see that Kellen Davis spends at least two to three hours after practice standing in front of the "Jugs" machine so that he can get more intimately familiar with the techniques required to catch and hold onto a football. Maybe Tim Jennings would give him some pointers because that strategy sure as hell paid off for him. One more game like these last few and you need to bench Davis's ass and start using ERod as the move tight end you said you would instead of trying to use him to replace the good FB you let go!

Why is it that if a guy like me with no real background as a play caller, not even on Madden, can see this from just watching on TV that you, a pro OC, and former HC and college QB can't see and/or understand the same. You know maybe it's time you were the one holding the clip board with the Polaroid shots and going over that with your guys and Bates is the guy wearing the headset and holding the play call sheets. I've seen what his play calling could do for an offense that included Cutler and Marshall here in Denver and so far you aren't even on the same planet as that.

If it sounds like I'm being a little tough on Tice and his offense it's only because HE'S the one who advertised "explosiveness" and HE'S the guy who told us all that he was calling plays poorly and needed to do better. So when his "explosions" look like a fizzled out firecracker and he runs 3 WR sets on nearly 50% of his offensive snaps and call pass plays nearly 60% of the time I think he's earned a little bit of criticism.

If I go to a fancy steak house and order a prime rib eye medium rare when they bring out the plate of macaroni and cheese with a side of green beans I think I have a right to complain just a little. But that's me. I refuse to only look at how dominating the defense has been without looking at just how non-dominating the offense has been. It takes both to win championships as the Packers learned the hard way.

You'll never get me to buy into the Bears being the top team in the NFL or even close to it until I see an team that can run an offense that can sustain drives and run the ball down the field for more than one lousy TD. In three out of six games this year that's all the offense has scored. One lousy TD. In two of the six games the defense has scored two TDs themselves and one TD in another. Hell the best offensive strategy we've had at times is to let the other guys have the ball.

I expected us to struggle a little offensively early on but not quite this much and not because we were shooting ourselves in the foot with poor game plans and play calling. Yeah, there are still some issues with execution by the line and some of the receivers but by in large those are being dwarfed by simply not preparing properly for the game and not dialing up the right plays.

I don't know if Tice is trying to outsmart himself or what. He now has Rachal as a mauler and we've seen some nice holes on the left side for a change vs. a good kitties D. Inside the 5yd line there has to be more goalline punch, a belief that you can knock it down their throats.

I understand changing play tendencies but it's still pretty simple until opponents prove they can stop you. You keep Cutty upright and help the D at the same time.

Originally Posted by JJ-30

I don't understand why we aren't using more double RB formations, I knopw we are keeping our TE in more to help with the blocking, but are RB know how to block also. Lets use Bush as a lead blocker on some of Forte runs, no one can tell me that big 245 lb moster can't knock Defensers off their feet to give Forte and nice hole. Also by having both RBs in the backfield the Defense can never tell who will get the ball and which way they will be running.

Spot on.
We got the best RB squard in the league imo, so we don't use them a bit more offen. It kills the clock aswell.
I think we should use our RB way more in the redzone than we've done.

Originally Posted by ZifanQ

Spot on.
We got the best RB squard in the league imo, so we don't use them a bit more offen. It kills the clock aswell.
I think we should use our RB way more in the redzone than we've done.

Some running backs don't like a lead blocker because you give up field vision. That might be a factor here. Not sure what Forte likes.

Originally Posted by XxMidwayMonstersxX

I'll throw my two cents in, but first I'd like to add some statistics into the mix:

RK	TEAM	ATT	YDS	YDS/A	LONG	TD	YDS/G	FUM	FUML
1	New England	248	1045	4.2	27	10	149.3	3	1
	Houston	248	986	4	46	11	140.9	2	1
3	Washington	229	1244	5.4	76	11	177.7	6	3
4	Seattle	227	922	4.1	36	2	131.7	3	1
5	San Francisco	210	1236	5.9	37	8	176.6	3	2
6	NY Jets	207	773	3.7	61	5	110.4	4
7	Minnesota	206	926	4.5	34	5	132.3	4	2
8	Kansas City	205	984	4.8	91	4	164	7	6
9	Buffalo	199	1052	5.3	56	5	150.3	4	3
10	Miami	187	714	3.8	65	9	119	5	3
11	Chicago	183	789	4.3	46	5	131.5	0	0
12	NY Giants	182	814	4.5	40	9	116.3	3	2
13	Philadelphia	180	732	4.1	34	2	122	9	5
14	St. Louis	178	743	4.2	53	2	106.1	1	1
15	Cincinnati	175	676	3.9	48	4	96.6	4	2
16	Arizona	174	625	3.6	27	3	89.3	2	2
17	Green Bay	169	655	3.9	41	2	93.6	2	1
18	Indianapolis	158	579	3.7	26	4	96.5
19	Denver	155	563	3.6	31	4	93.8	3	3
	Pittsburgh	155	541	3.5	32	3	90.2	2	1
	San Diego	155	607	3.9	52	4	101.2	3	1
	Baltimore	155	729	4.7	43	7	104.1	1
23	Dallas	152	583	3.8	48	2	97.2	2
24	Tampa Bay	149	611	4.1	36	4	101.8
	Carolina	149	682	4.6	40	7	113.7	4	3
26	Detroit	146	596	4.1	19	5	99.3	3	3
27	Cleveland	145	554	3.8	35	5	79.1	2
28	Tennessee	142	618	4.4	83	5	88.3	2	2
29	Jacksonville	141	546	3.9	59	2	91	3	2
30	Atlanta	139	519	3.7	27	4	86.5	2	1
31	Oakland	129	461	3.6	64	3	76.8	3	1
32	New Orleans	122	457	3.7	48	3	76.2

So we are 11th in the league in rushing attempts. I'd say with we are running the ball plenty. The question in my mind has never been the run/pass ratio rather it has been the timing of those runs (the actual play-calling). Like that goal line drive against detroit where we passed 3 times, that was stupid. I think we run it plenty and if we ran it more it would probably be a little too much in most games.

Look its not like Forte is the man of steel either, lack of availability is probably the only problem I could ever say I've had with the guy. Bush was ineffective in the game without forte in my opinion. Keep in mind that some of the teams above us have played 1 more game than we have. We run the ball a lot guys.

183 / 6 = 30.5 rush attempts per game. Quite a bit.

When you take into account that Cutler probably runs the ball 4 to 6 times per game it still adds up to running the ball enough. 25 carries is enough running.

So again its not about the run/pass for me, its about the play-calling.

Agreed! The chants of "We need to run more!" and "We need to run first." get rather old. This game is much more in depth than just being good at certain aspects. It is also a chess match, much like war. While it is very important to be good at certain aspects, and utilize them, the strategy of when and how they are used are just as important. New England hasn't dominated the league simply because their passing game is crazy good. They also have been very well at strategizing and setting up situations to throw off the defense (example: running to set up play action, or throwing short routes and then mixing in a double move for a deep ball).

So yeah, exactly what you said. It's not what we do so much as it is when we do it and the strategy of how to set up certain situations so that both the run and pass are effective.

As far as the concerns go about being able to win games with a mediocre offense and a superb defense, and being able to maintain that through the season (this might have come from another thread)... I also have these concerns, but I also know that Baltimore has been sucessfully using this strategy for years. We don't always need an offense like NE or the old Colts to win games. We need to do what it takes, whatever that is. I love the fact that we are playing lights out on defense. We have to keep in mind that Detroit was one of the strongest teams we've played so far this year, and we basically shut them out. I'm not an "if" person, but we had two field goals and one blocked field goal. That game could have very easily been 24/0... Just a few small instances changed the score. I have faith that the play calling will get better as the year goes on. Like Halpert (burris) mentioned, the colts in 06 had a horrid defense (at the bottom of the league) and they stepped it up come playoff time. If our offense does the same we could be unstoppable come playoff time.

I do have concerns about GreenBay. They had a rough start to the season, but played a very strong schedule. They will have a mostly easy schedule from here on out (the teams we have already played) and our schedule gets tougher. Hopefully we can pull through it and not lose momentum towards the end of the season.