Dana Turner
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes
quote:
ORIGINAL: Dana Turner
Sometimes I wonder how much time some of these coaches spend on management training. Lets face it, you can be great at X's and O's, but be terrible at understanding managing a room full of type "A" personalities. Coaches are human too, they don't just know sit because they are in a position of authority, I just wonder how much training goes on. There are many cases I have had to scratch my head asking "what the hell, management 101", but it goes on.
If you are going to play the tough guy, you better be able to sell it. Most people can see through valid threats. There is a large group of guys in that locker room that jus t went through 17 weeks of training to get to this point of the season. You've stood in front of them telling them what is expected, it's time to let them know you weren't just talking to talk. I'm sure Elf is trying, same with Bradburry, but they are not playing consistent football and because of this, the team suffers. Get Kline back, put Jones in at center and Dozier at Lt guard, see what it looks like in real competition. Do something so the rest of the guys know you are not going to except below average play.
Cousins wears a red jursey all through training camp and that just exasperates his inability to function under pressure. Well, the very first play for the offense, he got happy feet, long before there was pressure and it never imporved. You are not going to bench him now, so you had better be working on a solution to minimize the pressure.
Dana – I would love to see Reiff Dozier Jones Kline O'Neill line up Sunday but change for change sake isn't going to happen on any team.
Jones did not look good for us when he started last year. Did Jones look better last year than Bradbury this year? You are more knowledgeable than I am to call that ... it would be a close call IMO, and the change in system would be a factor. So, not sure Jones would be better or more consistent than Bradbury who, at the very least, as a rookie should improve and (presumably) may become a better player as we go along.
Elflein / Dozier seems like an easy choice to me. Swap 'em.
But this is all based on evaluating the OL through the first 4 games (and really on the two really bad games). Is it technique, strength/athleticism, adapting to the scheme, Cousins problems, all of the above? Cohesion on the OL is pretty critical – I assume Dennison and the staff are evaluating the poor performances versus is there any improvement and can we get to decent sooner than later versus at what point do you commit to changing starters because it just is not working and risk affecting the continuity of not just the starter but the two players on either side?
Some good observations Tom, perhaps we just sit Elf if Kline is ready to go, let Bradbury go at it for another try, but there is a time that the players confidence starts to be part of the equation. For those of you that responded to the post with comments about Jones's play last year, I get that, but that was also a small sample size and a poor offensive scheme, the entire offense wan't very good. Frome what I saw of Jones and read in the tabloids, he had a really good camp and played well during the preseason. I don't know the reason for his release and subsequent return, I'm disconnected from that kind of stuff. I only know what I see from the tape and the tape says Bradbury is struggling pretty bad in the passing game, and that wasn't the best the Bears had to offer last week. He does a good job many times in the run game and I mentioned that if you watch the game closely, Cook unexplainidly (not a word, I know) didn't see several cut back opportunities that would have made the line look so much better than they did. Not sure why Cook chose to just run in to the arms of a waiting LB or Dline guy, but he did and that is something he will see many times on the tape, they can work that out themselves, but it was bad.
So in the run game, there were actually opportunities to get movement, but since they never materialized, (or were simply missed as mentioned above), the pressure went to the worst thing our Oline does, pass blocking against the best pass rushing team in the league. It doesn't take a genius or even an old High School Oline coach to point out what happens next, it was clearly on display at Soldier Sield. The Bears are a playoff team, going to be right in the thick of things at the end of the year, even or especially without MT. They are good and we weren't prepared, it's not all on the Oline.
The Oline pass blocking problem just needs to be fixed or we will end up going with Mannion sooner rather than later. Maybe not a bad thing, but we have all seen what Cousins can do when he has the time, right now he is very skidish and I saw him flee the pocket when there was no eveident pressure last week, that isn't a good sign, he looks scared. I know I could withstand one hit from a 275+ pound Dline guy, he's had several already.
Yes, he holds on the the ball way to long some times, only to check it down for a three yard pass, but the middle of the Oline is letting way too much pressure up the gut and we need to do something to fix it. I'm sure Rocko is working day and night trying to figure it out, but they aren't going to sit their scared QB, they must find him some comfort.
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