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The thing that gets me at the half time show they showed one bear high light brian's int ok but why so little
The thing that gets me at the half time show they showed one bear high light brian's int ok but why so little
Personally, I'm of the opinion that Jay has always had a bit of a tendency to "funnel" in on one receiver. (At least as a Bear.) I also saw the NFL Network "Playbook" video, and I (see above) agree. While I doubt that it's a lack of trust issue, it might be better defined as an "expectation based on prior performance" issue.
As a hypothetical example of what I'm thinking: Lets say the O-line is typically protects for 2.25 to 2.75 seconds. So the "clock" in Jays' head tells him to either make a move, or throw the ball around the 2.1 to 2.2 second mark. The result of this is that Jay expects the line to protect him for 2.25 or so seconds whether he needs 2, 3, or 4 seconds.
Add in the fact that if yards are not gained, then Jay ends up in 3 and long situations, defenses pin their ears back, go after the QB, and Jay ends up hit, hurried, and sacked, and it's no wonder that he funnels on those who make the catches.
The persons who Jay seems to trust at the moment are Marshall, Jeffery, Bennett, and Forte. Yes I am aware that Jeffery is out due to injury. Similarly, Bennett just came off his injury last week (if I'm right). Me, I'd put at least 3 of these guys on the field whenever possible.
The O-line could stand considerable improvement. So could Jay. That being said, Jay is still the best QB the Bears have had in a long time.
Hopefully, with continued time playing with in the system, both will improve. Until then I will keep on gritting my teeth every game day.
"Professional Armchair Quarterback" and other oxymora.....
At this point, it's semantics... the definition of the word trust covers reliability and that's what I'm talking about in this context... the reliability of the protection to hold their blocks and the reliability of the receivers to make catches. If the protection gives him 2.25 to 2.75 seconds reliably, it wouldn't be affecting Cutler the way it is, because he could trust his mental clock. Like I said earlier though, I don't think it's consistently unreliable, part of it is in Cutler's head. Just as I don't think the other receivers are dropping balls at an unusually high rate.
I believe we all agree, we're just using different definitions for the same problem, whether you want to call it "shell-shocked", a loss of trust or expectations based on prior performances.
Cutler is a good QB, but things need to tighten up or he's going to continue to struggle. Such as play-calling, protection/blocking, receiver consistency (outside of Marshall), less drive-killing penalties, etc... the play-calling needs to help protect Cutler (i.e. more draws & screens against overly-aggressive defenses and more runs in general to keep defenses honest with their pass rush). The protection/blocking needs to improve, it's pathetic at times. There's a large drop-off in the receiving corps, once you get past Marshall/Bennett/Jeffery, this isn't something that the organization can fix atm though (they need to hope that those 3 stay healthy and grab another decent receiving option in the off-season). As for penalties, they need to work on limiting them and help prevent the offense from being stuck in easily recognizable passing situation.
I'm not expecting it all to get fixed immediately, but there needs to be some improvement as the season continues on. Cutler is not a Peyton Manning, he needs a decent supporting cast to excel, right now he is asked to do too much.
When I was playing I always told my guy "hey don't get mad at me for holding, I only hold (penalty holding) when I get blown away and you'd rather me hold then get devistated by a DT" so I'll always take holding penaltys that are necessary. That being said, Wtf is with all the penalties this year? Atypical of a lovie smith coached team.Originally Posted by Warlock
I was more referring to the false starts, illegal hands to the face and holding on run plays... at least if a block gets beat on a run play, you'll probably get stuffed for no gain (maybe gain/lose a yard or two). I think 2nd and 10 is preferable to 1st and 20 (especially with the Bears' offense).
I'm ok with a "I got beat and have to tackle this guy to protect my QB" type of situation (particularly because it'll only lose a couple more yards than a sack would net, but you keep the down).
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