Thrill Shots

“I don’t disregard running the ball, and I don’t disregard stopping the run, but those two things don’t get you very far, and they certainly don’t win you championships.” – Troy Aikman

Here are a few miscellaneous points I observed in the Chicago Bears’ 48-24 victory over the Detroit Lions yesterday:

- Detroit’s first touchdown drive essentially consisted of one big play to Calvin Johnson.  After that play, the Bears stopped the Lions in their tracks at the 22 yard line.  A dumb offside penalty on the ensuing field goal attempt extended the drive.  A phantom facemask penalty on a 3rd down play where the Bears had successfully stopped the Lions a second time extended the drive again.  The defense couldn’t stop the drive a third time, and the Lions eventually got into the end zone.  I can’t hang that touchdown on the defense; a dumb penalty and a phantom penalty were the keys to that one.

- If Earl Bennett doesn’t make an exceptional leaping catch on a Jay Cutler fastball to end the first quarter, the pass is intercepted.  It wasn’t a poor pass, but it was a ballsy one.  Cutler put the ball in the only place where Bennett could catch it, and he must have had a ton of faith that Bennett would.  It has been remarkable to see Bennett’s development this season with Cutler around.

- Cutler did not have a lot of passing yards.  Even though the defense gave up a few scores, they combined with an excellent special teams effort to put the offense in outstanding field position all game long.  Cutler simply wasn’t forced to drive long distances for his scores in this game.

- Coach Lovie Smith seemed to be outsmarted by the Lions when he called for a replay review of a Calvin Johnson sideline catch in the second quarter.  After the play was initially ruled a catch, the Lions no-huddled and tried to run a play, which would seem to indicate that they believed there was a chance the play could be overturned.  Either they simply didn’t think that the catch was legitimate, or they bluffed Smith into throwing the challenge flag without proper review.  It took me exactly one replay angle to see quite clearly that the catch was legitimate.  Good job by the Lions to get Lovie to use a challenge (and timeout) unnecessarily.

- On the Cutler fumble that was recovered by Desmond Clark, at first glance it would appear that the pressure was caused by Garrett Wolfe insufficiently blocking the defender who would eventually strip Cutler.  Upon closer review, Wolfe actually made a very good block on the outside rusher, but because of penetration by an inside rusher who escaped the block of Orlando Pace, Cutler was forced to his left and directly into the recovery path of the same rusher Wolfe had successfully blocked.  That nearly-lost fumble is on Orlando Pace, not Garrett Wolfe.

- Not only wasn’t Johnny Knox touched on his kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half, he had to make only one (somewhat subtle) evasive move and then hit the gas peddle.  Unbelievable blocking by special teams coordinator Dave Toub’s unit all day long, and especially on that play.

- Israel Idonije seems to make at least one big play every week.  He forced a key second half fumble this week.

- Brad Maynard is one hell of an asset.  He twice placed punts inside the 5 yard line, and all four of his punts landed inside the 20.

- Taub earned his pay yesterday.  The Bears’ return game is consistently one of their best components, Maynard and Robbie Gould are both at the top of their game, and their kick coverage teams are consistently solid.  Gould gets an honorable mention for his career-long 52 yard field goal.

- The offensive line played better on running downs, as evidenced by Matt Forte’s big day on the ground.  Cutler is still getting hammered too frequently for my comfort, however.

- On the TV broadcast, Brian Billick was quite enjoyable.  He is skilled at communicating the intricacies of what he sees to the viewer.  I’m usually a big fan of former coaches doing that job rather than former players.  Coaches who have had a measure of success tend to have that success because they can effectively communicate football theory, strategy and logic to their pupils.  This skill is quite evident in the broadcast booth.

Overall Week 4 notes and my power rankings will follow after Green Bay-Minnesota tonight.

It took until Wednesday night for me to finally see the entirety of the Bears-Steelers game from Sunday, thanks in large part to my cable going out during the first drive of the second half, and not coming back on until after the game had ended.  Here are my miscellaneous thoughts, observations and conclusions from the game:

- Offensive coordinator Ron Turner called an excellent game.  He knew early on that the Bears would have little success running the ball against the talented Pittsburgh front, and game planned over that problem by utilizing the short passing game rather than the hand-off.  In essence what the Bears did was substitute the 3-7 yard passing game for a majority of the running game.  Very few times did Jay Cutler look to throw the deep ball before checking down to short-range targets.  Turner obviously knew that it was unlikely that James Harrison and company would afford Cutler enough time to go through all of those progressions, so Turner effectively chopped the deep ball out of most of the game plan, and that is why the Bears won the game.

- Ben Roethlisberger had a rough outing.  Pressure from the Bears was not always immediately in his face, but the coverage schemes down field had Roethlisberger baffled long enough for Alex Brown and company to free up and get in his face, or, at worst, only allow shorter passes instead of the long bombs that Ben was clearly looking for.  Effective prevention of the vertical passing game by the Bears’ defense.  Pittsburgh would’ve been wise to use a similar game plan to Turner’s, but they did not have as much respect for the Bears’ secondary as perhaps they should have.

- Roethlisberger should’ve had a second interception; Kevin Payne dropped a pretty easy one.  In the first two weeks, Kevin Payne is making too many mistakes.  One way or another, those must be limited/eliminated.

- Greg Olsen is an absolute stud for staying in the game after the two nasty hits he took.  He couldn’t hang onto the ball on the sideline play, but the deep seam route later in the game was an outstanding catch and hang-on.  The Bears could very well have lost the game were it not for Olsen’s presence, as he quickly and instinctively recovered Matt Forte’s nearly-disastrous fumble late in the fourth quarter.  (Re: the deep seam play:  I doubt that play would’ve been available to the Bears had Troy Polamalu been healthy.)

- CBS cut to a shot of Polamalu on the sidelines after Jay Cutler’s touchdown pass to Kellen Davis.  Troy had a look on his face like he’d never seen somebody make a throw like that in his life.  It’s possible that he never had.

- Alex Brown spent a lot of the afternoon in the offensive backfield.  Excellent game from Brown.

- The deep down-the-middle pass to Santonio Holmes late in the 3rd quarter was one of the very few down-the-field opportunities Roethlisberger had all game.  If Brian Urlacher had been patrolling that area instead of the late-arriving Hunter Hillenmeyer, I don’t think that connection is made.

- Charles Tillman did not deflect that incomplete pass to Holmes in the end zone, but his hand was in Holmes’ face and was absolutely the reason Holmes couldn’t make the catch.  The ball was right there for him, but Santonio clearly couldn’t see it because of Peanut.

- The Bears’ game-winning drive began on their own 33 yard line with 3:18 left to go in the game.  Robbie Gould’s kick sailed between the pipes with fifteen seconds left on the clock.  For as poor as Lovie Smith’s clock management was in the first game, credit must be given to him for excellent use of nearly every available second at his disposal on Sunday.

- I know Robbie Gould doesn’t have the jewelry, but if there’s a 45 yard field goal to be made and my life is on the line, I’m having a real hard time choosing between he and Adam Vinatieri.

During halftime of NBC’s Sunday Night Football this week, a few snippets aired of an interview Bob Costas did with retired coach, video game mogul, and revolutionary color commentator John Madden.  A few subjects caught my interest, so I went on nbcsports.com and watched the entire interview (here).

One of Costas’ questions was in regards to the format of overtime in the NFL, and what Madden’s opinion is of the possibility of changing it, as has been talked about in recent years.  I’ve penned my opinion on the subject before, but I hadn’t considered the unique concept that Madden suggested.

While he said he’d rather the current format go unchanged, Madden said that if the league were to change overtime rules, he would like to see the overtime period begin just as the second or fourth quarter would.  In other words, after swapping sides of the field and a 2 minute timeout, the team with possession at the end of regulation would maintain posession at the same down, distance and field position in the overtime period.

This is interesting for a few different reasons:

1.  It solves the biggest problem that opponents have with the current system – the coin toss.  No longer would an arbitrary factor influence the outcome of the game as frequently as it currently does.

2.  It does not compromise the integrity of the game, as many other suggested solutions would.  The type of football that is played for the entirety of the game would remain the same into the extra period, without banishing use of the field goal, adding a possession, or sacrificing the element of sudden death.

3.  A team down by 3 points would have added motivation to go for the victory (touchdown) in regulation rather than the tie (field goal), because they know that their opponent will have the opportunity to have a complete, uninterrupted series of downs after the ensuing kickoff, without expiration of the game clock being a factor and essentially “saving” them from having to defend an entire possession.

It’s been a number of years since John Madden has consistently delivered relevant football commentary.  Toward the end of his broadcasting career, he seemed to become almost a parody of himself, without a hell of a lot of substance.  But this particular idea is a very good one, and I’m pleased that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recognized Madden’s value and added him in a football advisory role to Goodell’s office, even if Madden’s value became difficult for many of the rest of us to recognize in recent years.

Now THERE is the wacky-ass NFL we’ve all come to know and love over the years!  After a week 1 full of unsurprising results, week 2 was full of upsets and wild endings, the most monumental of which was the spunky New York Jets’ upset of the team many called the best in the league, the New England Patriots.

Unfortunately, I have yet to see the entirety of the Bears’ victory over the Steelers, as my cable went out during the first drive of the second half, and didn’t come back on until after the game had ended.  I will catch a replay on NFL Network or On Demand and do a write-up later this week.  Suffce it to say, I’m quite pleased.  Listening to only the radio was a pretty cool “throwback” feel.  There’s nothing quite like a game-winning play call with the home broadcast team, and just imagining it in your mind.  It was a nuisance that the TV was out, but I really enjoyed just focusing on Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer’s call on WBBM.

Here are some quick hit week 2 thoughts.

- Tom Brady is human!  Through that whole game, I kept waiting and waiting for the other shoe to drop on the Jets, and it never did.  No Brady magic this time.

- Wild one in Philadelphia.  Drew Brees was awesome again, but the Saints’ defense made Kevin Kolb look almost as good.

- I had a feeling about those Bengals.  Sadly, I went against my gut, and it cost me in my pool.  I love Ochocinco though, and I really hope Carson Palmer returns to form this year.  This was a good first step.

- Andre Johnson showed yet again – on several plays – why he is the best wide receiver in the game today.  The man is a ridiculous physical specimen.  I kind of hope Rex Grossman gets a chance to play at some point, because I’m curious to see what his production level is with a real WR (for once).

- The New York Giants – as I’ve said before – are the best team in the NFL.  They gave up a few too many points to a struggling Tony Romo however, and if Justin Tuck misses time with his shoulder injury, that could spell trouble for Big Blue.

- What the hell, Tennessee?  I pick you to win the AFC, so you decide to lose every AFC game you can get your hands on???

- Washington 9, St. Louis 7?  That game lived up to every last expectation I had for it.  I may be agnostic, but I’m going to thank a deity that I wasn’t forced to watch that thing.

- Chris Johnson, my fantasy team thanks you for your contributions.  May “God” bless you and yors.

Starting this week, I will post a Top 10 power ranking as I see the NFL.  I figure if they let any idiot who writes for a sports site do such a thing, why wouldn’t I be as qualified?  And again, Bears wrap later in the week.