[CBFF] A few comments 8/15/06

[Tom Shannon]

I usually don't have too many comments after a preseason game and I rarely
post them.  This one was an exception.

Offense:

1)  Grossman's taking allot of heat.  But really he wasn't too bad.  His
timing has improved every game.  He was generally accurate with a few
exceptions.

2)  Like Grossman, the WRs are taking allot of heat.  I'm not a big fan of
the unit as a whole but, personally, I was satisfied this time.  There will
always be one or two dropped passes and generally they caught what was
catchable.

3)  Muhammad looked really good.  Not withstanding my comment above, anyone
wondering what a good WR is supposed to catch should replay the second pass
to him where he stretched full out on a dive.

4)  The OL gave both QBs good protection.

5)  The Bears got very lucky on the interception that was reversed.  The DB
had read the slant to Berrian perfectly and he was right in front of him in
a position to catch the ball and take it up field had the ball not been
tipped.

6)  Justin Gage may be in big trouble.  Once again, he didn't show up in the
game when it counted.  He may be the odd man out on a WR unit that was
underachieving to begin with.

Defense:

1)  Its always frustrating to watch the defense.  Its bend but don't break
and I know that they're going to give up a lot of yardage.  But it seems
like they're out there forever.

2)  If his attitude after it happened wasn't enough, the report on Alex
Brown's injury reminded me of one hard rule.  When the initial report is
"sprain" inevitably it means "separation" or "tear".

3)  The defense looked tired at times.  I wonder if it's a result of the
easy training camp.  They're bound to spend allot of time on the field again
this year.  This may be a problem to keep an eye on.

4)  The unit of the game was the Arizona OL that generally gave very good
protection to the Arizona QBs (with two exceptions).  It generally wasn't
fancy but the Bears were blitzing.

5)  I was surprised to see Leinart so soon.  I was even more surprised at
how well he played.  Again, unlike Alex Smith with the 49ers, he played
against a Bear defense that, while not exactly fancy, wasn't bland, either.

6)  Chris Harris missed another tackle badly along the sideline resulting in
an extra 5 yards before Boone made the tackle (and got hurt).

7)  I always liked JJ Arrington.  The Cardinals are in good shape at RB.

8)  Did my eyes deceive me or did the Bears occasionally show a 3 man front?

Miscellaneous:

1)  Robbie Gould's kickoffs were impressive.  Assuming he's kicking in the
direction the coaches want him to, he's looks great.

2)  How disappointing that, after the first good two games, the team made up
for it by committing so many penalties.  Notably the second team offense
stopped committing them and scored.

3)  The two biggest questions for Arizona were answered positively (for
now).  The OL played very well.  Their defense was fast to the ball.  Though
the DL didn't do a particularly good job of getting pressure on Grossman
they were generally pretty bland in their schemes.

Tom S.

Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of
witnesses.
            -- Margaret Millar