Texans will double Marshall

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100...led-every-play

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Brandon Marshall of Bears to be doubled every play

Houston Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillip has been grinding through film of the Chicago Bears offense this week, and has come to a conclusion.

"They've only thrown it to one guy basically," Phillips said, via Tania Ganguli of the Houston Chronicle. "They do a great job of that."
That one guy, of course, is Brandon Marshall. The statistics outrageously back up Phillips' claim. Marshall has 797 receiving yards on the season; no one else on the Bears has more than 200 yards. Alshon Jeffery's injury hasn't helped, but ultimately this is not a good thing for the Bears. Quality defenses won't just allow Marshall to run wild.
"We're going to double-cover him every play," Phillips said, apparently using his Texas deadpan humor. He later mentioned Johnathan Joseph would get some one-on-one against Marshall so they wouldn't double Marshall every snap, according to Ganguli.
After watching Bears-Titans on Game Rewind this week, we continue to have concerns about the Bears offense. They are still mostly relying on short passes because their offensive line is suspect. (Maybe Cutler is just too nice to them.)

The lack of protection is a problem because Cutler is a quarterback that usually needs to see his receivers open before pulling the trigger. He may not have that luxury against the Texans. Houston is playing outstanding defense and they have found another dangerous pass rusher in rookie Whitney Mercilus.
Matt Forte remains the fulcrum for this Bears offense. He's going to need to carry the team on Sunday because we expect Phillips' gang to effectively limit Marshall's production.

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I gotta say, I really have a bad feeling about this game...

Yeah me too LB. I hope the play calling is better and Jay can look for other open wr. I think Bmarsh gets shut down this game.

It will be interesting. The receivers have dropped a lot of key passes. So have our TE's. We get hurt having to max protect Cutler so much too. If we turn 1-dimensional and just try to run Forte, we are screwed. You have to mix it up.

If we had an oline, we could do so much more. Without one, and facing solid teams now, we're in a tough spot. The Texans protect the ball pretty well, so don't expect scoring from the defense.

Scares me too guys.

I'm hoping the O-line surprises us all & plays well. We can't have stupid penalities against that defense & like you said SFB, the play calling has to be better. Quick passes, some roll outs & a heavy dose of Forte & company, especially early should help avoid some sacks, get some 1st downs & hopefully get some rhythym on offense. If they consistently double Marshall other guys can't be dropping passes & if no one is open Jay has to run or just throw it away. I don't think we can lose the TO battle & win the game. Houston's defense is damn good & their offense isn't too shabby either.

Why the hell would this scare you? Cutler can still over throw the DB and Marshall can out jump any DB. The odds of an INT are higher, BUT, with the middle of their defense being their weakest point, I'd call for a lot of runs up the middle and throw slants out the ass. Keep things moving smoothly and the right time to throw to Marshall will present itself.

This is why we were all talking about spreading the passing game to more than one WR BEFORE we started playing the better teams. Now is not the time to get our timing right against these guys.

If anyone can beat double coverage, it is Marshall. But he can be shut down - anyone can. I forget which game it was but in one of our earlier games they bracketed Marshall pretty well and he was not a big factor.

The game is going to be a dogfight. We have to be firing on all cylinders to win this. We have to have Cutler play within himself, the game plan actually has to account for ALL of our weapons, and the line has to give Cutler some time.

I have a concern about several of them - one being the line and if they fail then Cutler will start reaching and the wheels will fall off. The team needs to have a good plan and play disciplined ball.

We can beat them, but the opposite is also true.

Marshall has 50 some catches on the season, leading the team.

Second place is Matt Forte with 20 something.

SPREAD THE DAMN BALL AROUND CUTLER! MARSHALL IS NOT THE ONLY DAMN RECEIVER ON THE TEAM!

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Originally Posted by The Benjamin

Marshall has 50 some catches on the season, leading the team.

Second place is Matt Forte with 20 something.

SPREAD THE DAMN BALL AROUND CUTLER! MARSHALL IS NOT THE ONLY DAMN RECEIVER ON THE TEAM!

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This will be a good time for Tice to figure out how to employ our platoon of TEs as something other than third tackles. Get Cutler into a rhythm with short, high percentage completions.

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Originally Posted by Rakk

This will be a good time for Tice to figure out how to employ our platoon of TEs as something other than third tackles. Get Cutler into a rhythm with short, high percentage completions.

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Doesn't help that Cutler audibles into a lot of plays for Marhsall

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Originally Posted by The Benjamin

Doesn't help that Cutler audibles into a lot of plays for Marhsall

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QFT

I don't know if Cutler doesn't trust anyone else or what. I'm glad he has to opportunity to check out of a play if he sees something. Something sorely missing the past two years. But, he's become predictable, and everyone knows now where he's going. He won't get away with it against Houston.