Falcons 22 - Bears 20

We have a fresh set of inexplicable coaching decisions to ponder.






What The Squib?!

1.) Robbie Gould finally has the strength to kick to the goal line. Don't take that away from Robbie. Don't ask Robbie to not be Robbie.
34 yard kick + 10 yard return = better off kicking out of bounds!

2) The decision shows your Special Teams you have no faith in them. We know S.T.'s has injuries, but you give up on them after a few long returns?

3) All of a sudden you're scared of Jerious Norwood like he's Devin Hester?
If you are squibing to a man not named Devin Hester with 11 seconds left, you are thinking too much.

Not even Devin Hester is Devin Hester right now. He's looking good as a WR, but he's pensive on returns. With 6 minutes left in the game, Hester fair caught a ball at the Chicago 46 with no one around him.





Is the Cover 2 working?




Lovie's coaching philosophy is being called into question in the press by the Tribune's David Haugh.

Haugh's frightening stat:

Atalanta's Matt Ryan: 30 throws 0 sacks
Tampa's Brian Griese: 67 throws 0 sacks




"Cover 2" is a zone defense. The more time receivers and quarterbacks have, the easier it is to find gaps between defenders. 0 sacks = 0 pressure.

We are doing a great job of shutting down the run - and that's important considering who's coming to town. But teams wont need a run game if they can torch us in the air.


Matt Ryan on 3rd and long for 1st down (tackled by):

3-16 : 22 yards (C.Tillman)
3-5 : 9 yards (M.Brown
3-8 :15 yards (D.Manning)
3-9 : 47 yards (K.Payne)
3-11 : 13 yards (M.Brown)





Compounding the lack of pressure from our D line are injuries in the secondary.


Nathan Vasher - Wrist
Charles Tillman - Shoulder
FS Danieal Manning - Hamstring
CB Trumaine McBride - Shoulder
CB Marcus Hamilton - Heel




Lovie defending his play calling after the squib "That's the coverage we like to run in that situation. We didn't execute it the way we need to but you don't all of a sudden start changing things you believe in."

Who knows how smart Lovie is. Does it seem like he makes half time adjustments? Does he have a plan to stop the slant pass? Can he get the offense and defense working in the same game?




Are the failures in play calling his or Defensive Coordinator Bob Babich's?


Are we going to care if the Bears are below .500?









Notes...


The handoff to Fullback Jason McKie for the 1 yard TD or first down is a failed experiment.







Roy Williams was traded to Cowboys this week and the hapless Lions had to scramble to change a website centered entirely on Roy. What am I going to do without "Rapping with Roy"?






You think you're above the law?

I was watching Above the Law this weekend and besides it being the 2nd best Steven Seagal movie next to the one with the Rastafarians, it was filmed in Bucktown at St. Mary's on Hermitage & Cortland.