Game 1 - Bears - Studs and Duds

Heyjoe4

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Studs: Ownership lease of the Bears is renewed. Love, Defense, Packers fans in chi-town.
Duds: time-outs, garbage time play,
Why are TOs and clock management still a problem for this team, esp MLF? It's hard to complain after the outstanding game they just played, but that extra TO before the half would have given them two. And they would have had the chance to move the ball closer for an easier FG or maybe a TD.

As I said, can't complain. That was the most complete game I've seen from the Packers in years. They need to save those timeouts and be more aware of time.

That's not much of a dud. Great game.
 

Heyjoe4

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Busy Monday, so I'm just going to throw out some random thoughts:

-Week one will lie to you more than any other. I am confident that Love is good, but this offense is going to have its ups and its downs.

-Hopefully the defense has genuinely turned a corner and will be a consistent weapon to help win games. The pressure was remarkable and they used their corners in much more logical ways than early last season.

-Love's composure is remarkable. His accuracy is a little bit inconsistent. Sometimes, his ball placement is perfect (e.g. Doubs' fade TD, Jones angle route TD). Other times, the ball isn't placed to allow the receiver to make a play after the catch (e.g. Doubs having to turn all the way around to catch that screen).

-I think we saw some facets of the offensive design that weren't present under Rodgers, especially being under-center, using motion, targeting the middle of the field. As I have maintained for a long time-- Rodgers' unwillingness to embrace the offense hurt the team.

-It's pretty obvious why the Packers were in on Jonathan Taylor. Dillon looked as sluggish as I've ever seen him. His ability to break the first tackle doesn't mean much if he's only gaining another half yard before the next tackler arrives. I would not mind seeing some of the younger backs get more work in relief of Jones.

-This offensive line was not playing a good defensive front, but they have the potential to be a top 5 unit this season. Josh Myers has not improved, however. The protection was amazing to me. I will be interested to see how Love handles a muddy pocket.

-The Packers scored with the Doubs pick; his stock was deflated by an injury, but he's clearly a much better talent than what one normally finds in round 4. Reed and Love have some great chemistry. It will be awesome to get Watson back in the mix, both for the sake of his own production and because of what he will open for others.

-As on offense, the defensive front was not playing a good OL, but given that they did exactly what you want to see: they dominated. Gary looks to be all the way back. Clark looked like himself. Slaton has clearly taken a step forward. Wyatt reassured those who wondered about him in preseason.

-The unblocked sacks of Fields by Wyatt and LVN were not gimme plays. It was their unique explosion and, in LVN's case, COD that allowed them to get Fields down.

-I thought the linebackers looked a little lackadaisical in pursuit at times; not the urgency that I wanted to see from them.

-From what I could tell at first blush, Alexander and Douglas were allowed to play a lot more man than last year.

-We saw the good and the bad from Nixon. Blowing through Claypool's block and making a TFL was awesome. Getting caught totally flat footed with a receiver behind him was not. I would imagine that better passers will take fuller advantage of him and the safeties.

-I loved how chippy it was and I loved the energy overall. Jaire baiting D.J. Moore into a penalty was amazing. I really have to wonder if the young players feel free and fired up without Rodgers on the team anymore.

-Go Bills.
You're right about week 1, it can be deceiving. For the Packers, remaining games will certainly be harder. But if they maintain this discipline and avoid mistakes, they'll be a tough out.

And on that first week theme - Mahomes, Allen, and Burrow all lost. Anyone think they won't be in the playoffs?
 

Heyjoe4

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Some observations before my Studs and Duds:

- If Musgrave had just caught and made it to the end zone on that one, my parlay bet grabs me $113.00....love the kid but seriously!? LoL

- Our rookies were special...at some points in the game you saw Musgrave, Lukas Van Ness, Karl Brooks, Colby Wooden and Jayden Reed not just in but making big time plays. Collectively folks our rookies put together: 6 Tackles, 2 TFLs, 2 Sacks....5 receptions / 98 yards on 12 targets....Averaged 18 yards a return on punts, with one being a clutch 35 yarder.

- Whelan has a shotgun for a punting leg...he flips the field like this I don't think folks realize how valuable that is.


STUDS:

Aaron "big play" Jones
- 11 touches folks...11 touches turned into 127 total yards and two TDs. As he ages, I truly think MLF understands precisely how to best use him. Some would say feed him constantly, but I think Jones is at his best in limited but highly selective touches on some of you top play designs. Give and inch he will gash a mile - special player who hopefully just tweaked his hammy and will not miss anything or very little.

Jordan Love - In a game where the weight of the world was on his shoulders...pressure beyond what most will ever know - dude was chill and smart almost throughout. Chose his moments, didn't force things, even showcased his legs a few time and heart (that one play he lowered shoulder I smiled and grimmaced at the decision). One game doesn't lock in who or what he will be, but that my friends was a freaking SOLID start. VERY SOLID start.

Darnell Savage - I try to limit both to three max, so I'll give the third stud to maybe not the third best on the day, but oh my word how much did Savage need to come out and deliver and he for sure looked more like the Savage we have always hoped we had, but never had. Savage stacks days like this that 5th year option won't taste as bad. Led the team in tackles and chipped in a TFL even.

DUDS:

Wicks
- typical first rookie game jitters got him...penalty, missed block - learning lesson.

Jonathan Ford (Rudy) - He was flying around uncontrollable at times, it's part of what makes him special some times and other times get flat lined.

Don't have a third one honestly.
Good summary, as always. I'd add Dillon to the duds. The line was playing well all day. Dillon just seemed to rely on his legs to get him through, and it didn't work. Now he's not a shifty runner at all, but a few jukes here and there and a bit of vision and he might have had some decent runs. I don't remember any.

That's a small dud out of a really great game. And on the positive side, yeah what a relief to see Savage play up to his billing.
 

tynimiller

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Good summary, as always. I'd add Dillon to the duds. The line was playing well all day. Dillon just seemed to rely on his legs to get him through, and it didn't work. Now he's not a shifty runner at all, but a few jukes here and there and a bit of vision and he might have had some decent runs. I don't remember any.

That's a small dud out of a really great game. And on the positive side, yeah what a relief to see Savage play up to his billing.

The reason I keep Dillon off of that is because that young man has become just an AWESOME pass blocker for this team. He is by far and above our best RB blocker. While he had at least a half dozen times where his responsibility was to stay home and block, the one play that stands out was the botched snap big play to Musgrave. He notices the "fumble" nearly and was going for it, noticed Love was closest and adjusted to help first with his left arm/shoulder on one block and as he kept his eyes peeled noticed a free defender coming and slid over to impede their progress and all of this on the move in basically one fluid movement. Natural is the word that comes to mind.
 

Heyjoe4

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The reason I keep Dillon off of that is because that young man has become just an AWESOME pass blocker for this team. He is by far and above our best RB blocker. While he had at least a half dozen times where his responsibility was to stay home and block, the one play that stands out was the botched snap big play to Musgrave. He notices the "fumble" nearly and was going for it, noticed Love was closest and adjusted to help first with his left arm/shoulder on one block and as he kept his eyes peeled noticed a free defender coming and slid over to impede their progress and all of this on the move in basically one fluid movement. Natural is the word that comes to mind.
Good point and I missed the saving blocks he made on that botched snap. At a minimum it saved a turnover. Instead it resulted in a big play.

Those things don’t get noticed much and I count on the announcers or the broadcast team to catch.

I do hope Dillon gets back to being Dillon in the run game. Jones is this team’s MVP but he’s one guy. In this NFL, teams need two solid RBs. It’s also just one game so I’m not too concerned.
 

tynimiller

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Taylor ran surprisingly well...I was hoping Wilson would get some snaps but wasn't to be it seemed.
 

longtimefan

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When my Lions whooped on the Bears last year at Ford Field, the Bears lost their spark in the 3rd quarter. They basically let us do whatever they wanted from that point. Eberflus was not a guy that they'd run through a wall for, but that's ok. Their season was lost and maybe Eberflus is just not a rah-rah guy but still can win in the right situation.

But this game yesterday... it looked the same to me. Same old Bears, lol. Quay on that pick-6 ran through a lot of guys making business decisions in week 1???

I'm just as eager to know what GB has in Love as y'all are. But I think if Jamarcus Russell was taking snaps, the result would've been the same. Fields cannot read coverage, he is not an NFL QB and it looks like he never will be. I saw no flaws in Love's game, but saw nothing special because the Bears did not force him to be special. I will be watching the Atlanta game under a microscope.

Good win fellas, enjoy 1st place.
Same if Russell was qb?

Lord
 

AmishMafia

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I think he was comparing Russell to Fields not Love.
I think he was saying the Bears were so bad we could have started JaMarcus and still won. He wasn't comparing him to Love.

But I disagree with the notion that Love didnt show anything special. He displayed great poise and lots of nuances to his game. Great command for such a level of experience is impressive.
 

El Guapo

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He was punished for his transgressions, threw a tantrum, got evicted.
Wow - It's been at least a year since I've visited this forum. I stopped because of CaptainWIMM. I couldn't stand how argumentative he was and it made it not fun to talk Packers.

I guess that I'm back.
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El Guapo

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I don't know if this was posted already (didn't see it) but former Packers QB, JT O'Sullivan, did an amazing breakdown of the Bears offense against the Packers. It is worth putting this on your big tv and watching it with popcorn. While it makes me feel like it's hard to gauge our defense because of the Bears' atrocious play, at least we did what we should have done which is to win soundly.

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There is also a breakdown of Jordan Love's play by JT O'Sullivan but I haven't watched it yet. Easy to search for...
 

Poppa San

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I don't know if this was posted already (didn't see it) but former Packers QB, JT O'Sullivan, did an amazing breakdown of the Bears offense against the Packers. It is worth putting this on your big tv and watching it with popcorn. While it makes me feel like it's hard to gauge our defense because of the Bears' atrocious play, at least we did what we should have done which is to win soundly.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

There is also a breakdown of Jordan Love's play by JT O'Sullivan but I haven't watched it yet. Easy to search for...
If you'd have been here:
QB school the other way. My lawd does he rip the Bears OC and QB.
 

tynimiller

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I don't know if this was posted already (didn't see it) but former Packers QB, JT O'Sullivan, did an amazing breakdown of the Bears offense against the Packers. It is worth putting this on your big tv and watching it with popcorn. While it makes me feel like it's hard to gauge our defense because of the Bears' atrocious play, at least we did what we should have done which is to win soundly.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

There is also a breakdown of Jordan Love's play by JT O'Sullivan but I haven't watched it yet. Easy to search for...

Yeah JT and Orlovsky break down QB play very well
 

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