Quote (draino @ Nov 24 2012 02:22am)
Our pass rush needs to step up. Yeah, JJ Watt is still getting it done, but no one else isn't doing much, and opp QBs have been getting a lot of time in the pocket and are killing us(except the bears, but its still one of the worst oline). The last three teams we've faced, the Bears, Jaguars, and the Lions and we hardly got any pass rush in those games, and IMO its bad because these oline are usually considered terrible by everyone. We didnt have any sack in the Bears game. Aldon Smith had 5 sacks against the Bears alone. Two sacks against the Jaguars(Watt and Quin), and three sacks against the Lions, all by Watt.
Im tired of seeing Watt getting DT'd all day and never see Antonio Smith, Connor Barwin, Brooks Reed, or Whitney Mericlus taking any pressure off of Watt. It seems like we have to blitz the safety or one of the MLB to get any pass rush.
I really hope Bradie James and Tim Dobbins are ready to play next week against the Titans or else the Texans need to work out some free agent middle linebackers during the week. Not sure if Daryl Sharpton is really impressing me all that much since coming back. He had 7 tackles against the Jaguars and 6 tackles against the Lions (no sacks) starting in place of Dobbins. He gets beat way too much, pass or run, and his lack of experience is a big reason opposing offenses have been exploiting us. Maybe it's just the rust of him missing so many games the past two years due to injury
Whitney Mercilus can play as good if not better than Brooks Reed at OLB and Bryan Braman is a beast and ballhawk- same mold as Connor Barwin - so I'm not as worried about the edge with Reed out for 3 or 4 weeks with his groin tear. It's at inside linebacker that we're hurting after losing our top three MLBs.
The pass rush is going to improve. It can't get any worse than it has been in recent games. Wade Phillips will get these guys going after some much needed rest. You're right, we can't just get a one-man wrecking crew in J.J. Watt and expect to play good defense. He's still beating the double teams though which is crazy. I don't care if Aldon Smith finishes the year with one or two more sacks, Watt is very deserving of defensive player of the year.
He's been doing it by himself lately on a 10-1 team. If we replaced J.J. Watt with Aldon Smith, for example, we'd have two or three more losses right about now. His sacks come at very important times. Like the one he had on Matthew Stafford with 58 seconds left in regulation that knocked the Lions out of game-winning Field Goal range. It's easy to rack up sacks in a blowout game. Not to mention Jay Cutler played the entire first half, evading at least three or four sacks that Campbell wouldn't have, and those were some poor weather conditions when Watt played the Bears. He still made his presence felt with two tackles for losses and one pass deflection in that 13-6 win.
People keep saying the Bears offensive line is pathetic but Jay Cutler saves them so many sacks with his amazing pocket awareness and scrambling ability. The Bears are a legitimate playoff contender and possibly a division winner with him healthy. They are a shitty team with Jason Campbell at quarterback.