Jene Bramel
Footballguy
Here are my observations after watching the game this afternoon.
The gamebook spotter crew was terribleNo seriously, Bill Walton HARRRRIBLE. There were close to ten plays where the incorrect player was credited with a tackle. On three occasions, players not on the field were credited with tackles. On three others, players not within three yards of the play were credited. I'm not joking. Nearly all were Vikings plays, but the Bears were affected too. Also, a couple clear passes defended were missed and quite a few assists ignored as well. Most affected were EJ Henderson, Antoine Winfield, Napoleon Harris and Danieal Manning. All had at least one play credited to another player or ignored altogether.
The Vikings defense isn't your grandmother's Tampa-2Similar to the gameplan they used against Washington, the Tampa-2 favored by Mike Tomlin is going to be much closer to that of Lovie Smith than Tony Dungy. Which is to say very aggressive, particularly by sending linebackers on blitzes. Napoleon Harris looks to benefit from this more than Henderson or Leber as he probably came on six or seven up-the-gut blitzes during the game. But both Henderson and Leber came more than once as well.
No one clearly stood out on the Vikes defensive lineBut nobody is clearly a weak link either. Ray Edwards got a fair number of snaps, maybe 8-12 total, moving Udeze over to LDE on most of those downs. He showed some good pass rush instincts, but was easily handled on running downs. He put some good pressure on Grossman on a stunt and probably should've drawn a holding call on another. Udeze and Scott got upfield consistently but ran themselves out of the play more often than not. Also, in clear nickel and two minute situations, Scott moved inside to tackle for Pat Williams. At DT, Pat Williams is Pat Williams. And Kevin Williams is a beast. While probably not technically QHs, he pressured Grossman five separate times despite routinely being double teamed. Hard to say whether he'll have an impact in the boxscores with the ends playing just so-so, but he looks solid.
Not much wrong with EJ HendersonEJ was around the ball all day long. If I were spotting this game, his stat line would've read 2-5-0 with a pass defended. He also put solid pressure on the quarterback twice but Grossman threw the ball away before he was really threatened with a sack. Henderson was more likely to cover the middle zone when Harris blitzed. He was active downfield in coverage and should have had an interception when a pass hit him squarely in the numbers -- he wasn't credited with a PD on the play. The concern here needs to be the home spotter crew here IMO. Without seeing the week two game, the Viking crew has awarded a total of 12 assists (6 in each game) to the home team. For now, Napoleon Harris is kept so clean of blockers by the DT crew that he's going to hit most guys first. Stretching it here, but add the lack of assist stats to the Ray Charles-like performance of the spotters in this game and Henderson may be a questionable play at home.
The Bears defense looks the same as 2005Same positions, same solid play. Some previously stated concerns about Urlacher and Brown slipping a hair may be valid. Both looked like they were worn down late in the game -- missed tackles and more difficulty shedding blocks. Could have been TOP related as the Vikings had the ball nearly twice as long as the Bears in the first half before things evened out in the second half.
Mark AndersonAnderson got nine snaps, eight at RDE, one at LDE when Ogunleye went off with an injury for one play. He looks bigger than I expected but was still fairly easily engaged on running downs. He did show an ability for getting off blocks quickly though and made a nice play in pursuit down the line. Pretty solid first step from the limited action I saw but wasn't able to put any real pressure on Brad Johnson against Bryant McKinnie. Anderson did drop into coverage twice when the Bears ran an overloaded blitz to the opposite side. On one of those occasions he trailed the TE downfield and was in the right place at the right time for the fumble recovery. He didn't align as a linebacker in any set and is really too big to be effective in the role. If anything he'll be in the rare backpedal from a zone blitz.
The gamebook spotter crew was terribleNo seriously, Bill Walton HARRRRIBLE. There were close to ten plays where the incorrect player was credited with a tackle. On three occasions, players not on the field were credited with tackles. On three others, players not within three yards of the play were credited. I'm not joking. Nearly all were Vikings plays, but the Bears were affected too. Also, a couple clear passes defended were missed and quite a few assists ignored as well. Most affected were EJ Henderson, Antoine Winfield, Napoleon Harris and Danieal Manning. All had at least one play credited to another player or ignored altogether.
The Vikings defense isn't your grandmother's Tampa-2Similar to the gameplan they used against Washington, the Tampa-2 favored by Mike Tomlin is going to be much closer to that of Lovie Smith than Tony Dungy. Which is to say very aggressive, particularly by sending linebackers on blitzes. Napoleon Harris looks to benefit from this more than Henderson or Leber as he probably came on six or seven up-the-gut blitzes during the game. But both Henderson and Leber came more than once as well.
No one clearly stood out on the Vikes defensive lineBut nobody is clearly a weak link either. Ray Edwards got a fair number of snaps, maybe 8-12 total, moving Udeze over to LDE on most of those downs. He showed some good pass rush instincts, but was easily handled on running downs. He put some good pressure on Grossman on a stunt and probably should've drawn a holding call on another. Udeze and Scott got upfield consistently but ran themselves out of the play more often than not. Also, in clear nickel and two minute situations, Scott moved inside to tackle for Pat Williams. At DT, Pat Williams is Pat Williams. And Kevin Williams is a beast. While probably not technically QHs, he pressured Grossman five separate times despite routinely being double teamed. Hard to say whether he'll have an impact in the boxscores with the ends playing just so-so, but he looks solid.
Not much wrong with EJ HendersonEJ was around the ball all day long. If I were spotting this game, his stat line would've read 2-5-0 with a pass defended. He also put solid pressure on the quarterback twice but Grossman threw the ball away before he was really threatened with a sack. Henderson was more likely to cover the middle zone when Harris blitzed. He was active downfield in coverage and should have had an interception when a pass hit him squarely in the numbers -- he wasn't credited with a PD on the play. The concern here needs to be the home spotter crew here IMO. Without seeing the week two game, the Viking crew has awarded a total of 12 assists (6 in each game) to the home team. For now, Napoleon Harris is kept so clean of blockers by the DT crew that he's going to hit most guys first. Stretching it here, but add the lack of assist stats to the Ray Charles-like performance of the spotters in this game and Henderson may be a questionable play at home.
The Bears defense looks the same as 2005Same positions, same solid play. Some previously stated concerns about Urlacher and Brown slipping a hair may be valid. Both looked like they were worn down late in the game -- missed tackles and more difficulty shedding blocks. Could have been TOP related as the Vikings had the ball nearly twice as long as the Bears in the first half before things evened out in the second half.
Mark AndersonAnderson got nine snaps, eight at RDE, one at LDE when Ogunleye went off with an injury for one play. He looks bigger than I expected but was still fairly easily engaged on running downs. He did show an ability for getting off blocks quickly though and made a nice play in pursuit down the line. Pretty solid first step from the limited action I saw but wasn't able to put any real pressure on Brad Johnson against Bryant McKinnie. Anderson did drop into coverage twice when the Bears ran an overloaded blitz to the opposite side. On one of those occasions he trailed the TE downfield and was in the right place at the right time for the fumble recovery. He didn't align as a linebacker in any set and is really too big to be effective in the role. If anything he'll be in the rare backpedal from a zone blitz.
