corpcow
Footballguy
Just something I was thinking about... sorry for the rambling, but
We all know Peyton and Co can put up points. Their defense is built for the pass, with speed rushers. Run defense is certainly much improved with Bob Sanders. Still, they're without Reagor and have now lost Brackett in addition to Rob Morris.
You might not put up a lot of points against them just running, but you 1) keep your defense fresh for their high-powered offense, 2) wear down their speed on defense so you can eventually get the necessary big play, and (most importantly) 3) keep Peyton off the field. I mean, teams keep looking for gadget plays and onside kicks and the like... why not just run the ball and exploit an obvious weakness?
The Pats did a beautiful job avoiding a tough Minn run defense the week before, spreading the ball out and taking away their strength. You win games against the Vikings by turning it into a shootout. Conversely, you win games against the Colts by preventing it from being a shootout. Why didn't they just run the ball 60 times?
On the same token, obviously Chicago's big play ability takes away one attack vector - i.e., what you would do to Minnesota and just make it a shootout. At the same time, it hurts your defense, and some of those big plays don't happen in the cold and rainy/snowy weather. With Berrian hurt and Grossman making a ton of mistakes the last few games, you have to think we'll see a lot more of Jones and Benson, and I would be happier about this if I were a Bears fan. (LIke I've said for awhile, BUY BUY BUY on Benson
). You like Grossman's ability to "scare" you and make teams respect the pass, and you like the confidence that he has in putting up points in the playoffs, but aren't you a better team if he doesn't have to?
We all know Peyton and Co can put up points. Their defense is built for the pass, with speed rushers. Run defense is certainly much improved with Bob Sanders. Still, they're without Reagor and have now lost Brackett in addition to Rob Morris.
You might not put up a lot of points against them just running, but you 1) keep your defense fresh for their high-powered offense, 2) wear down their speed on defense so you can eventually get the necessary big play, and (most importantly) 3) keep Peyton off the field. I mean, teams keep looking for gadget plays and onside kicks and the like... why not just run the ball and exploit an obvious weakness?
The Pats did a beautiful job avoiding a tough Minn run defense the week before, spreading the ball out and taking away their strength. You win games against the Vikings by turning it into a shootout. Conversely, you win games against the Colts by preventing it from being a shootout. Why didn't they just run the ball 60 times?
On the same token, obviously Chicago's big play ability takes away one attack vector - i.e., what you would do to Minnesota and just make it a shootout. At the same time, it hurts your defense, and some of those big plays don't happen in the cold and rainy/snowy weather. With Berrian hurt and Grossman making a ton of mistakes the last few games, you have to think we'll see a lot more of Jones and Benson, and I would be happier about this if I were a Bears fan. (LIke I've said for awhile, BUY BUY BUY on Benson
). You like Grossman's ability to "scare" you and make teams respect the pass, and you like the confidence that he has in putting up points in the playoffs, but aren't you a better team if he doesn't have to?
