Monday, May 5, 2008

Chicago has new Forte?

Based on production in the past 3 seasons (if you can call it that) and his recent run in with the law, it looks more and more as though Matt Fotre will be the RB that Detroit will face from Chicago this year. With an improved line adding youth in Williams, a player the Lions liked, and their Defense healthy -- Chicago could be more trouble for the Lions than they were in their SB hangover year last season. Thankfully, they still have Rex Grossman and Kyle Ortman as their QB's. Where, and for a second there I was worried. And lets see...who is Chicago throwing to again? Marty Who? Booker? He's not retired?

In all seriousness, my Boss-Man (the huge Chicago Bears Fan) was happy with all but one point of the Bears' draft: No QB. There were some good QB's there in the 4th even that they could have taken a flier on. He was okay with Williams and Forte, although he thinks that they took him a bit high in the 2nd and could have used more youth to inject into the D...or a WR who can run and catch.

Still, looks as though the NFC North will be one tough division next season. Thank goodness that Lions have the best QB in the division. Unless you'd rather have Rodgers, Grossman or Jackson under center? Yeah. Stanton will actually learn from the bench as the number 2 this season and make some in game appearances if the Lions can rack up a lead for a change and are running out the clock.

Your thoughts on the Bears' draft and off season thus far?? Nobsnubber had some good eval on an earlier blog, but I can't remember which one. I'm sure you've all read all the comments and can locate...or maybe he'll be nice and re-post it here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's look in the division

Da' Bears:
1st OT Chris Williams Vandy
Good tackle. Fills needs for Bears.

2nd RB Matt Forte Tulane
Good back. Fills need

(Both were thought to be Lions targets as well).

3rd WR Earl Bennett Vanderbuilt
DT Marcus Harrison Arkansas

Harrison slid (unknown why) thought to be a second rounder.

4th FS Craig Stelz LSU
Good sticker; plays run well, has problems with pass.

5th CB Zack Bowman Nebraska
TE Kellen Davis MSU
(Very good picks at this point in the draft. Both were expected to go higher.)

7th DE Ervin Baldwin MSU
OG Chester Adams Georgia
LB Joey LaRoque Oregon State
OT Kirk Barton Ohio State
WR Marcus Monk Arkansas

Barton and Monk were both thought to be higher picks as well.

All in all, this could be a very good draft for the Bears, who also get back Dan Bazuin from CMU who was injured in camp and spent teh whole year on I.R. I'd probably rate this draft a b+

-Nubs

Anonymous said...

The Benson thing isn't a horrible incident. However, that may be the last straw the Bears needed to annoint Matt Forte. They are probably rubbing his head with oils in the first OTA's that start down there on Tuesday (tomorrow).

I had a very busy weekend. I worked all weekend, toss in a Little League Parade for opening day and a game of T-Ball on Saturday. Sunday I had lunch with a couple of high school buddies that happened to be meeting in Mackinaw (30 minutes from my house). Can't say no, when they are that close.

After reviewing some blogs and some articles out there, lots of mlivers are missing big pictures. And with the childish jibberish between a few of them, I'll pass going there. Detfan 99 still wants his 5th round Booty.

The MLB change in philosophy.
Marinelli raved about a veteran MLB and how he wanted an MLB that had experience. Jon Vilma, Capt. Dan Morgan, and Al Wilson were all brought in, only to see greener pastures and spur the Lions on their way to them.

I don't think that was the case. And I don't think the quick comment should be made that Paris Hilton is the Middle Man again this year while Dizon learns from the corner spot.

Marinelli wanted a guy that has experience leading this defense and can call all the plays.

Paris is the guy, right? Go to Lions.com and read the entry bio on our new pint-sized picker-offer.

Listen to the mlive intro press conference.

Jordan Dizon was the starting middle linebacker for three years at Colorado. This is not a WAC school, this is the Big 12. OK, Texas, K State. REAL FOOTBALL. And he led the "D" for three years as a signal caller in their system.

Helmets. Microphones/earpieces. One (1) defensive helmet.

Now, you have a super-duper, turbo-charged rookie, with a communication device in his brain-bucket. The only thing you need to worry about is his five seconds of pre-snap football. Outside of that, the coaching staff can help him make his pre-audible reads.

We may see Jordan Dizon starting in the middle.

CAMPBELL - In the Detroit Duece, your backers need to drop deeper with the route runners than a normal 4-3 defense. Now, you take a kid that is not normal safety size(200-210), and bulk him up from his 225 to 235-240 and ask him to cover.

One, the bulk will be easy. Two, he already knows how to cover. Three, Army brought run stuffers up in the box. This kid has already played OLB in the Detroit Duece. Just with Army's defense, it was as a safety, but Caleb has played this position before. He didn't do it all the time, but he has the skill set to make the simple changes needed, and he is definately a coachable young man.

The other thing I was truly impressed with is how good of citizens these young men are. They were well-spoken, polite, and very thought-provoking and quick witted.

They were not the rehearsed (my agent told me to say it this way) boring draft picks I saw all over the NFL. These kids were good kids, sounded like they had great charecter, and had good sound bites.

The last point I want to make. How is your girlfriend??? No, I'm not going there. The Marinelli question that got ALL the play.

Psycho-simatically speaking. There is a pause before you answer THOSE kinds of questions. And Rod could CARE LESS about the answer. How long of a pause before the attempted answer? Stammering? Studdering? Direct answer to the question? Snappy answer? Eye contact while answering, or are the eyes in the lap looking down? Is there a Neurolinguistic hyperblink? That is when you look up very briefly (1000th of a second) before answering a question.

They are all important visual cues. They show if the subject is being truthful. If he is telling the truth or being creative (i.e. lying). If you have stammering or studdering that shows stalling for time.

Is it because they are trying to make something up, or because they are trying to think their way through the proper answer. (HINT: Did they look up and to the right, or to the left???)

There is a whole science to the questions that were asked. You want truthfulness, but you definately want the guy that doesn't stammer. Make a decision. That's the way he'll play football. Even if he lies, it may be a very personal thing, at least the decision making process was quick. That's what the Lions and Galen Duncan were looking for in those questions.

Would you also want someone who is always truthful, even if it is painful? Sure. But some of those questions are very personal. It's not the answer the Lions were looking at, it's how the question was answered.

DetFan1979 said...

I know the busy feeling. So you're up by the bridge? I'm down in Lansing now, living with the Trolls once again.

Yeah, I gave up reading Mlive comments last week. Hopefully it will calm down again, but if it doesn't it's nice to have a bastion of reason here at DetFan1979.

Thanks BTW for reposting the Chic bit; I'll be looking at Minn and GB too as offseason progresses.

I think you are on same wavelength again as I wrote in the draft eval that it appears Dizon and his crazy-insane-instincts will be starting at MLB this season. I finally got to see some of the Senior bowl, and while some takes were he bit on play fakes (what D player doesn't now and then -- that is the point of running them) I didn't see him once hesitate to go straight for the RB, or pass catcher -- as you said, that decision making. And for him, it seems to be super-speed;

It doesn't matter how fast you can run if you can't figure out which direction to go in. He plays way faster than his "timed" speed -- his legs may be slowed by a tenth/hundredth of a second, but the speed of his mind and instincts seems to more than make up for it.

as Steve Martin says in My Blue Heaven -- I'm wit chu.

Keep posting here all; no arguments or name calling allowed -- just good old fashioned football talk.

Go Lions!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that's the "nubsnobber". I live 5 miles from the ski hill in Harbor Springs, "Nub's Nob".

Last year I had to change it to Nobsnubber on the mlive chat room (because someone banned me). I was never sent an email or told why, just one day couldn't log in. So I went with the program.

They have since changed the protocol (my suggestion to them) as I was sure it was THEWHYMAN. Apparently, he had done it to too many people and eventually got "booted from blogging".

NFL Network is going to start replaying the Combine tapes again. If anyone can catch it, watch Dizon do his drills. Besides the #'s in the 40, look at his shuttle and other drills. THAT BE FOOTBALL SPEED. His feet are amazing, and his hips are always ready to drop, lock, and roll. He is always in good position.

The best way I can descibe it, he always looks like a coiled up Cobra ready to strike.

-nubs

Anonymous said...

As far as Forte and the Bears go, I think we may be in for more trouble than some of you expect.

They still have a lights out defense which underperformed a lot last year due to injuries. Remember, it was just two years ago that there defense basically dragged Rex Grossman kicking and screaming to the Super Bowl.

Beyond that, they just added two terrific players in Chris Williams and Matt Forte, who all of us were ranting and raving about two weeks ago. After the draft we get so excited and look at all the positives about who we picked up, but that doesn't mean we should forget who we were shooting for in the first place.

That being said, I agree that Grossman and the passing game will hold them back a lot, but if Forte can pick up the pieces of their running game than the rest of the division better watch out because Grossman's style is tailor made for a play action, bombs away type of offense (so long as he doesnt get pressured in the backfield).

Not trying to be all downtrodden because I'm still really excited about our draft, but I just want to be levelheaded about things.

***

Here's something that I was thinking about earlier though: Jon Kitna very well may be the best quarterback in our division in the upcoming season. Honestly, consider his competition:

Tarvaris Jackson - has shown a few bright spots, especially with his running ability. But may be looking at his last opportunity as a starter this coming season.

Rex Grossman - When he's Good he's Really Good...and when he's bad he can decimate his own team. Luckily for Grossman, Lovie Smith still has some sort of man-crush infatuation with him for some ungodly reason.

Aaron Rogers - Talented and intelligent QB who showed a lot of poise when he was on the field for all of those 20 or 30 snaps...Has had a lot of time to learn from one of the greatest of all time, but it still remains to be seen if he can take on the reigns himself.


Last is Jon Kitna. Similar to Grossman, he is very streaky, but not quite to the same extent. He has a lot of trouble moving in the pocket, but much of that was due to a horrific O-line over the past two seasons. I don't think I'd ever say he could carry the team himself, but with an outstanding supporting cast he could really thrive since he's always started on teams while they're in a rebuilding phase.


All things considered, I think Kitna is probably going to be the best QB in the division for two reasons: Experience and Intangibles. All of the other guys are young and have little experience. Kitna really only has one or two years left where he'll be able to start and remain at a reasonable level or productivity. Also, his intangibles as far as leadership and determination are through the roof. Also, with a revamped scheme on the O-line, this could be his year to really break out, especially with his weapons at WR.

-StreetWorm

Anonymous said...

Forte is a good back no doubt, but the question is will the line be good enough to let him cut loose?

I also think Dizon will emerge as the starter at MLB but don't discount Buster Davis, this is what Marinelli had to say about him: Marinelli believes Davis has all the potential in the world to earn a starting spot, citing his size (“He is like a sawed-off tank”) and his instincts (“He just feels it and goes”).

Moving forward, Davis is in competition for the middle linebacker spot with second-round pick Jordon Dizon out of Colorado and seventh-year veteran Paris Lenon, who started all 16 games at the position last year.

All in all it will be a great competition at MLB and we should come out of it with a solid player there. The competiton also looks good at Strong side LB with The loser from MLB and possibly Caleb Campbell going at it. I'm starting to get real excited about our LB core.