Sell high on Urlacher? (1 Viewer)

[johnnyboy8102]

The Bears have faced 88 rushing attempts in the past 3 games and Urlacher has managed just 10 solos in the last 3 games.

In 2 of these games (Giants and today against the Seahawks) he seemed to revert to his '08 version where he couldn't get off blocks and was taking bad angles to the ball. He particularly looked bad with Okung pushed him 10-15 yards into the endzone on the Forsett TD run.

Also, his 0.5 sack last week was because Clausen gave himself up for no gain on a scramble and Urlacher/Idonije touched him down. Urlacher's interception was also a bizzare play where he was blitzing up the A-Gap and the ball hit off a WR and went 5-6 yards back towards the LOS right into his hands.

With his very low tackle numbers the past 3 weeks and his mere luck on a few big plays, is he a perfect sell high candidate? What do you guys think?

 

[Gators]

Is there such a thing as selling Urlacher high? He's about where people expected him before the year started. While his tackle numbers are a bit down no one seems to be racking up a ton of tackles for the Bears.

He needs to be playing teams who force them into the nickel often for really big numbers.

 

[Kai's Hero]

Thought the Title was funny too! Sell "High"?? Could he get any lower? The guy has been a non-factor.

 

[johnnyboy8102]

Urlacher now has 13 solo tackles in his last 4 games. A little over 3 per game and one of the "Solos" was him falling on a recovering offensive player on a fumble.

The opposing teams have 116 rushing attempts in those 4 games.

 

[johnnyboy8102]

After reviewing the game film I have decided to drop Urlacher.

He really only had 2 tackles against the Redskins (1 solo and 1 assist).

The 3 other "tackles" he was credited with were on 2 plays were players gave themselves up and went down and a bunch of Bears touched them down and the tackle was awarded to Urlacher. The final "tackle" was on this play:

(5:46) R.Torain left tackle to WAS 39 for 7 yards (C.Tillman). FUMBLES (C.Tillman), recovered by WAS-A.Armstrong at WAS 41. A.Armstrong to WAS 41 for no gain (B.Urlacher).

All he did was put his hand down on Armstrong when he recovered his own fumble.

3 touches and 2 legit tackles doesn't cut it when there are 29 rush attempts.

He also looked easily blocked and was fooled by play fakes.

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

What is the outlook for Urlacher the rest of the season? His numbers have gone down since week 4 and not many big plays. I do not get to see any Bears games so does anyone have any info to offer regarding Urlacher and what his potential is this week against the Bills?

 

[johnnyboy8102]

What is the outlook for Urlacher the rest of the season? His numbers have gone down since week 4 and not many big plays. I do not get to see any Bears games so does anyone have any info to offer regarding Urlacher and what his potential is this week against the Bills?

I reviewed the game film against Buffalo and have made the following observations:*Urlacher doesn't offer much as a blitzer. He doesn't blitz much but when he does he general gets single blocked and can't get off of it. He can't seem to "beat" anyone and his pressures/sacks will only seem to come if he is opened up due to the scheme. In this game he didn't create 1 pressure or qb hit in his 7,8 blitzes and could not get off of blocks by Fred Jackson

*3 missed tackles: 9:36 1st, 5:43 3rd, 3:45 3rd

*He avoided contact on both short yardage TD runs. Did not attack the LOS

*His PD was a pass by Fitzpatrick that hit him in the back.

*He was credited with 9 tackles(6 solo): The solo tackle at 4:23 3rd was Touch of a player who gave himself up on the ground. All 3 assists were very generous as the ball carrier fought of Urlacher on the 1st assist, Urlacher whiffed/misses on the second credited assist, and the 3rd was a huge pile up where it was impossible to award.

*I had him down for 5 solos and 0 assists.

Bottom Line

*He definitely isn't much of a difference maker anymore. He gets caught up in the wash a lot and has trouble getting off any type of block. He doesn't appear to attack the LOS or blockers and just sort of "catches" them. If he is 100% unblocked he still has decent speed to make some nice plays. Finally, he doesn't offer anything as a blitzer.

*He has a good matchup next week and should have plenty of tackle opportunities against the Vikes. I will caution that in the 4 games previous to the Bills games the Bears defense saw 116 runs by opposing teams and Urlacher made just 8 solo tackles against the run game (13 total solos). So even run heavy games might give him some trouble because of his inability to get off blocks and his reluctance to attack the LOS.

I think he will end up with 100-110 total tackles. He has 55 tackles through 8 games but has yet to record a 10 tackle game. In 2008, his last full season, he had 44 tackles through 8 games. It is good to see him ahead of that pace.

Hope this helps!

 

[johnnyboy8102]

Since his 3 game start he has produced:

7 games, 30 solos, 12 assists

So 4.3 solos and 6 total tackles per game. Right online with my 100-105 pre season predication for him.

 

[munygon2]

Looks like Urlacher is starting to explode if you look at his tackles numbers the past couple of weeks.

 

[johnnyboy8102]

Looks like Urlacher is starting to explode if you look at his tackles numbers the past couple of weeks.

I noticed. In fact, the past 2 weeks were just his 2nd and 3rd 10+ tackle games since the beginning of 2008. It is a bit concerning that the Bears D has given up 350 yards per game, 23 points, and 5.0 yards per carry the past two week. Also, those 2 TDs Urlacher gave up in coverage against the Eagles (Maclin & Celek)...However, the D playing worse and all the receptions Urlacher has given up underneath have allowed him to rack up tackles and that is all that is important for IDP purposes.

 

[LargeMouthBass]

I barely won my game by half a point from Urlacher's tackle in the 4th quarter but why didn't he get credit for a pass defense at the end of 2nd quarter? He slapped the ball down that was thrown to the end zone, even the announcer clearly mentioned this play....

 

[johnnyboy8102]

I barely won my game by half a point from Urlacher's tackle in the 4th quarter but why didn't he get credit for a pass defense at the end of 2nd quarter? He slapped the ball down that was thrown to the end zone, even the announcer clearly mentioned this play....

I have seen that scored a PD before but sometimes is not because of it just being a lob/hail mary and there was no offensive player in site. Urlacher had a weird game last night. He had 7 solos and NOT a single one was on a Vikings Running back. 1 was on a scramble by Webb and 6 others were on receptions. 5 of those receptions he gave up in his zone and he did not make a tackle within 5 yards of the LOS the entire night. On top of all that he missed 2 tackles. Congrats on winning your game.

 

[GridironMenace]

I barely won my game by half a point from Urlacher's tackle in the 4th quarter but why didn't he get credit for a pass defense at the end of 2nd quarter? He slapped the ball down that was thrown to the end zone, even the announcer clearly mentioned this play....

I thought the same thing. Didn't make any sense that he didn't get credit for a PD. Who cares if it was on a hailmary or not. A PD is a PD. What, does the elias sports bureau think that Webb was throwing the ball to Urlacher 60 yards down field in order to pad his stats. I'm sure there were quite a few fantasy games won/lost on that 1 missed PD. Perhaps, it will be in a stat correction on Thursday.

 

[Gators]

What is the outlook for Urlacher the rest of the season? His numbers have gone down since week 4 and not many big plays. I do not get to see any Bears games so does anyone have any info to offer regarding Urlacher and what his potential is this week against the Bills?

I reviewed the game film against Buffalo and have made the following observations:*Urlacher doesn't offer much as a blitzer. He doesn't blitz much but when he does he general gets single blocked and can't get off of it. He can't seem to "beat" anyone and his pressures/sacks will only seem to come if he is opened up due to the scheme. In this game he didn't create 1 pressure or qb hit in his 7,8 blitzes and could not get off of blocks by Fred Jackson

*3 missed tackles: 9:36 1st, 5:43 3rd, 3:45 3rd

*He avoided contact on both short yardage TD runs. Did not attack the LOS

*His PD was a pass by Fitzpatrick that hit him in the back.

*He was credited with 9 tackles(6 solo): The solo tackle at 4:23 3rd was Touch of a player who gave himself up on the ground. All 3 assists were very generous as the ball carrier fought of Urlacher on the 1st assist, Urlacher whiffed/misses on the second credited assist, and the 3rd was a huge pile up where it was impossible to award.

*I had him down for 5 solos and 0 assists.

Bottom Line

*He definitely isn't much of a difference maker anymore. He gets caught up in the wash a lot and has trouble getting off any type of block. He doesn't appear to attack the LOS or blockers and just sort of "catches" them. If he is 100% unblocked he still has decent speed to make some nice plays. Finally, he doesn't offer anything as a blitzer.

*He has a good matchup next week and should have plenty of tackle opportunities against the Vikes. I will caution that in the 4 games previous to the Bills games the Bears defense saw 116 runs by opposing teams and Urlacher made just 8 solo tackles against the run game (13 total solos). So even run heavy games might give him some trouble because of his inability to get off blocks and his reluctance to attack the LOS.

I think he will end up with 100-110 total tackles. He has 55 tackles through 8 games but has yet to record a 10 tackle game. In 2008, his last full season, he had 44 tackles through 8 games. It is good to see him ahead of that pace.

Hope this helps!

Overall this year he's been amazing for the spot you drafted him in. He's the 7th best LB this year in my 2 solo/1 assist league. He's outscored Willis.

 

[John 14:6]

Overall this year he's been amazing for the spot you drafted him in. He's the 7th best LB this year in my 2 solo/1 assist league. He's outscored Willis.

I traded for him half way through the season and have been monitoring this thread since. He's been my best LB.

 

[Gators]

Overall this year he's been amazing for the spot you drafted him in. He's the 7th best LB this year in my 2 solo/1 assist league. He's outscored Willis.

I traded for him half way through the season and have been monitoring this thread since. He's been my best LB.

He's looked pretty good playing as well. Surely not what he used to be but a lot better than some other MLB that are just a product of playing every down.

 

[LargeMouthBass]

I barely won my game by half a point from Urlacher's tackle in the 4th quarter but why didn't he get credit for a pass defense at the end of 2nd quarter? He slapped the ball down that was thrown to the end zone, even the announcer clearly mentioned this play....

I have seen that scored a PD before but sometimes is not because of it just being a lob/hail mary and there was no offensive player in site. Urlacher had a weird game last night. He had 7 solos and NOT a single one was on a Vikings Running back. 1 was on a scramble by Webb and 6 others were on receptions. 5 of those receptions he gave up in his zone and he did not make a tackle within 5 yards of the LOS the entire night. On top of all that he missed 2 tackles. Congrats on winning your game.

Thanks, hopefully, I can take it all the way with a little help from Urlacher this week.