NFL 2012-2013

You'll have to forgive me for the hyperbole, I posted straight after the game and was still amazingly happy. I thought we were going to struggle because Ware would destroy Webb. Surprisingly, that didn't happen. Our offense was as good as our defense and Marshall tore up the secondary.

Teams have to attack the area between the corners and safeties. So far, nobody has really unlocked the defense in the past couple of years. We do a good job of getting pressure with four guys and it's hard to throw with seven defenders out there. We do have problems stopping the run at times and it might be effective to use against us. We have a great defense though so I'm sure we'd find a way to adjust. I thought our defense was old and only a top ten defense, but they're proving to be the same old ball hawking top five defense they've been for the last couple of years.

 

Dallas can't run the ball, and can't protect Romo...look no further than the O-Line for what needs to be fixed on the Cowboys.

Justin, without a doubt the Bears are a contender. Detroit is a mess, the Vikings are playing over their head, and the Pack in my opinion is the only competition in that division. Big problem for me is the guy pulling the trigger. Just believe that Jay Cutler is too big a knucklehead to lead them all the way. I was in high school in the Chicago suburbs at the time of the Superbowl shuffle while Jim McMahon was there and he would have run ins w/Dikta weekly, but he was a leader of men, Cutler is not.

So far Houston has kept Schuab, Andre Johnson, and Foster healthy. The Texans defense has supplanted Pittsburgh and Baltimore as the best in the AFC. Long way to go, but Houston looks awfully tough.

 

Agree, Joe. The thing is - Houston has balance. They can run the ball, throw it pretty well, and their defense may be better than ever despite losing Mario Williams and DeMeco Ryans. Amazing.
They would give a Tampa 2 scheme trouble with the strong running game, good TE play, and of course Johnson.
I'm not sure any NFC team matches up that well with that Tampa 2 scheme Da Bears run. Atlanta maybe - dangerous big-play WR, great (but old) TE, and a theoretically good running game - but Turner doesn't have the juice he used to. I'm not sold on ATL long-term and definitely not sold on their defense. The Pack might be able to do it despite the lack of a running game (still love ya, Ced - but you ain't what you used to be).
SF now - that team's defense, running game, and good TE play - might be the toughest matchup for Chicago, but I'm not yet an Alex Smith believer. If Da Bears could avoid SF in the playoffs - have to like their chances.
I'd have to agree that Cutler (and Marshall) will mentally implode at some point - Bears fans just have to hope it's not in the playoffs.

 

I am a believer in Jay Cutler. He gets it done when it counts and I couldn't care less what his attitude is. Most of the time, the lineman or coaches deserve it. His leadership would be a problem if we didn't have Urlacher on the team, but he is so it's not a big deal. Winning heals everything and Cutler and Marshall will both be happy as long as they're winning.

And I think his attitude problem is overblown. All QB's scream at their receivers, lineman or coaches. Peyton Manning will be visibly upset multiple times a game. Cutler does it once or twice a game and the media is all over him. His attitude isn't exactly great, but it's nowhere near as bad as the media makes it out to be.

 

Cutler threw an interception on, I believe, his first pass. Don't really know as I didn't get to watch the game until midway through the first half. He then proceeded to tear the Jaguars up for nearly 300 yards and 2 touchdowns. Marshall had another huge game with 144 yards and 12 catches and a touchdown. I know this is the Jaguars, but that 41-3 score doesn't tell the whole story. We were tied 3-3 at halftime and went on a nearly ten minute drive to start the third quarter and only got a field goal. So it was 6-3 with 20 minutes of game time left. The fact we can score 34 points in that time is mind boggling.

And how about that defense? We had another 2 touchdowns from our defense, from Briggs and Tillman who had the touchdowns against the Cowboys. I am just going to say it, we have the best defense in the league. I don't care about the Niners, who blew out the Bills 45-3, and I don't care about the Ravens. None of those teams are as big a threat to score on defense. That's our philosophy. We don't want to take the ball away, we want to score on defense. It's working and there's nobody who could stop us.

Did I mention that Urlacher isn't even playing up to his normal level? They were talking about it during the game and Urlacher is actually looking up to the rest of our defense and wants to perform as well as them. He thinks we have the best defensive players since he's been there, even better than 2006. That team was amazing and this defense has the potential to be all time great. They aren't the best defense ever, but they certainly have the potential to be a top 10 single season defense of all time.

 

Big day in the NFL today. Lots of good games with some teams needing a win or their season could be close to over.

Lions vs Eagles- The Lions are struggling and are in the bottom of the North division. A loss here and they have to go to Chicago and win that game or their season is pretty much done. Gotta think they can step it up on defense and get it done against an overrated Eagles offense.

Giants vs 49ers- Two great teams going at it in SF for the third time in a year. The series is tied 1-1 and I think the Niners pull this off with that amazing defense. The Giants have been pretty average this year and only played well against a crappy Panthers team.

Packers vs Texans- Huge game for GB coming off of a loss against the Colts,a team they would have rolled over last year. There's no way they outscore Houston. Houston has a complete offense and they're going up against a bad defense. Think the Texans stay undefeated and those Houston to the Super Bowl chants get louder.

Cowboys vs Ravens- After the Bears game,I watched a video of a Cowboys fan going nuts.It was funny,but he made all kinds of good points.The one that stuck out was that they're offense is inconsistent. Romo looks great and horrible in the same games. Same with Bryant. You can't do that against the Ravens. And the Ravens actually have an offense this year and will tear apart the Cowboys defense like the Bears did.

Hopefully I'm right about the Packers and wrong about the Lions. It would be great to bust that division open. I know the Vikings could win against the Redskins and take a lead,but I think we're better than them and it will show at the end of the season. Great day for football and we'll know alot more about the landscape of the NFL after today.

 

Finally the Browns win a game! Been waiting since November 2011 haha

 

Great stuff Justin, keep it coming.

Giants sent out a reminder where the title runs through.

The Cowboys find new and interesting ways at gagging games every week.

Not sure who is worse, but Michael Vick and Philip Rivers (2 alleged big time QBs :roll: ) are treating the ball like a hand grenade. Speaking of the Chargers and Eagles, Norv Turner should have been fired 3 years ago, and now the window is shut and Rivers looks lost. Andy Reid fired his D coordinator (who never should have been switched from being the offensive line coach) as he grasps at straws in trying to save his job. Here is a thought, give your best player LaSean McCoy the ball instead of thinking Vick is anything more than a turnover machine.

DIdn't think they would come back in the 4th, but loving the Seahawks D and Russell Wilson's 'it' quality. Sorry Heather...in a not really kind of way :angelic-green:

Injuries always play a key role and the AFC is really opening up because of them. Baltimore took a huge hit by losing Ray Lewis for the year, but an even bigger injury is to their best corner Ladaris Webb. Houston losing their middle linebacker Brian Cushing brings them back to the pack.

 

^Fact.

 

No previews last week because I forgot to do it the night before and didn't wake up until the middle of the first round of games. So, here's my thoughts on the week.

RG3 is for real. I'm calling it right now, he's a hall of famer and could be a top ten QB of all time. You need a guy to run? He does it. You need a two minute drill with passing? He does that too. But that's not the most important thing. There was a sportscenter clip comparing Griffin to Cam Newton in their post game press conferences. Both lost games they could have won. Newton sounded defeated. Griffin sounded like he was ready to get to the film room to figure out what went wrong. You can't really teach that kind of attitude. Griffin has it and it will help him throughout his career.

The AFC is laughably weak compared to the NFC. Let's put it this way, the Redskins go to Pittsburgh this weekend with a chance to win. Pittsburgh would probably be a top three or four AFC team while the Redskins are a middle of the road team. The Packers sucked most of the season and destroyed the best AFC team, the Texans last week. You saw another example this week when the weak Jets nearly beat the Patriots, in Foxboro. The AFC has fallen off a cliff and it could get worse as the Ravens are depleted on Defense.


The Best defense in the NFL is located in Chicago. I'm not going to say this is a not even close situation, but it's hard to argue against the Bears. They have three more forced turnovers than the second place teams, Giants and Patriots, despite playing a game less than them. This is all without Urlacher being the usual player he is. Peanut Tillman is a top five corner as well. Calvin Johnson was targeted 11 times last night and only had three catches. All due to Peanut playing amazingly well. This Bears team is for real and, I believe, the Super Bowl favorite.

 

I was going to do some previews, but there's not really much going on this week. The only decent game is the Falcons vs Eagles, but I think we all know the Falcons should handle that game. The Redskins going to Pittsburgh is interesting because, if Washington wins, then it proves just how mediocre the AFC is. Don't think they win, but still think the AFC is very weak. The Bears should have an easy game against the Panthers. You all know what that means, expect a very close game in Chicago.

 

Only half way point, but Justin you are spot on in describing the two conferences; NFC is loaded. The Falcons, Giants, Bears, Niners, and Pack are all capable of making a deep run in the playoffs. The AFC is wide open. Houston has been the best team so far, but don't sleep on the Pats, the Steelers are starting to get healthy, and Denver has gotten through the difficult part of their schedule.

 

I think the Broncos should be able to get through with only 1 loss, but i'll throw in another one just because no one is perfect. So, that would leave them 11-5!

 

Before I say this, I want everybody to know this isn't me being my usual exaggerated self. With that said, here it goes.

If the Bears D keeps playing this way then they will go down as better than the 2006 Bears and a top 5 single season defense of all time. It has to be said. I get chills just watching them. Tillman is having the best season a CB has had in a long time and Jennings has 6 picks. Urlacher is starting to play like Urlacher and Briggs is a dominant LB. Our safeties are amazing and our D Line is full of great pass rushers. I am not a huge fan of Lovie, but he is a great defensive coach and it shows on the field.

And our offense is improving every week which means we could be close to unstoppable. Cutler and Marshall have it going on and Forte is a top 5 back. Emery deserves GM of the year as he's done wonders for us.

Hopefully they will prove they're the best this week against Houston. Beat them convincingly and my words have serious merit. Beardown!

 

The Bears were without Jay Cutler and got their asses beat in San Francisco. They go from contender to one of the worst in the league when he is out. Campbell isn't even that bad and we are still nowhere near our form with Jay. This proves he is a great QB. His stats in the fourth quarter should prove that, but him being out and us looking like shit every time he is out bangs that point home. If any Bears fans want to bitch about Jay, I will gladly send them links to last season's five game stretch without him and then the SF game.

He isn't cleared to play against Minnesota yet and the headline said he vowed to return this season. Any time a player says something like that, it usually means it's a serious injury. Considering the Dobbins hit wasn't that bad compared to other hits he has taken, he could be very fragile from now on. This was his sixth concussion and most guys start to become fragile at around this point. He has no offensive line so I'm not sure that this could end well. I really fear for his well being.

 

• I can now see why Jay Cutler shoved his offensive lineman, the performance by the two tackles against the Niners was comically bad.

• Cowboy fans just have to shake their head knowing Jerry Jones refuses to stick with just the marketing side of the business (which he is genius at).

• Heather, your Pats are starting to heat up at the right time of the year. The trade for the defensive back Talib, and Gronk coming back could be the keys in the wide open AFC.

• They keep winning, but both Houston (mostly because of defensive injuries) and Atlanta (run defense) look vulnerable.

• As a Seattle fan, PLEASE win a game away from home...is that too much to ask?

 

Apparently so.

 

The Bears took care of business in the first half against the Vikings and I'm guessing they called it a day in the second half as they only had 3 points. We are now 2 games up on a bunch of teams for the wild card and can almost end the Seahawks season next week at home. Great job by the offense and defense. But the injury bug hit again and Hester went out with a concussion and Forte left with an ankle injury. Seems like there's a major injury every week.

The Falcons can keep winning all they want, they're not the best team in the NFC. They did keep Martin in check, but Freeman had a decent game and it was back and forth all game long. They don't have any statement wins where they can rest in the 4th quarter. At some point the close wins turn into close losses. This is actually their first win over a team that was above .500 when they played them. Easily the weakest schedule in the league for a decent team.