Give Bob Sanders Some Credit!

[Partial]

As for "Vanilla Bob", it is pure idiocy to whine about the Packers not blitzing enough. You get about 5 to 10 bad results from blitzing for every good result. Not only that, but even if you get to the QB, you take away the prospect of our outstanding DBs making plays with interceptions.

Tell that to Baltimore or Pittsburg coordinators. I'm sure they'd disagree.

[Joemailman]

The Packers D doesn't really lend itself to a lot of blitzing from the linebackers because of how deep the linebackers line up. As long as the Packers play their version of Bates D, they won't blitz as much as some would like.

[texaspackerbacker]

As for "Vanilla Bob", it is pure idiocy to whine about the Packers not blitzing enough. You get about 5 to 10 bad results from blitzing for every good result. Not only that, but even if you get to the QB, you take away the prospect of our outstanding DBs making plays with interceptions.

Tell that to Baltimore or Pittsburg coordinators. I'm sure they'd disagree.

Just look at Baltimore's record for the last decade or so. And Pittsburgh, arguably, has been successful for a lot of reasons other than blitzing--no, make that IN SPITE of blitzing.

[Partial]

As for "Vanilla Bob", it is pure idiocy to whine about the Packers not blitzing enough. You get about 5 to 10 bad results from blitzing for every good result. Not only that, but even if you get to the QB, you take away the prospect of our outstanding DBs making plays with interceptions.

Tell that to Baltimore or Pittsburg coordinators. I'm sure they'd disagree.

Just look at Baltimore's record for the last decade or so. And Pittsburgh, arguably, has been successful for a lot of reasons other than blitzing--no, make that IN SPITE of blitzing.

Fine, how about NE, San Diego, Dallas, etc?

[Deputy Nutz]

The thing is, this year the Bears haven't been all that bad on offense. Their running game has been decent, and since they have started Orton, they have done OK passing on a lot of teams. And sore ankle or not, Orton didn't look that bad today--mobility isn't is thing even when he's healthy.

As for "Vanilla Bob", it is pure idiocy to whine about the Packers not blitzing enough. You get about 5 to 10 bad results from blitzing for every good result. Not only that, but even if you get to the QB, you take away the prospect of our outstanding DBs making plays with interceptions.

Pro, college, whatever, check out the teams that blitz a lot--"unvanilla" defenses. You'll find that the great majority of them are chronic losers.

As I said in the other thread, though, I have now come around to the point of view that Hawk IS better suited for MLB, and Barnett is more suited for OLB.

Back to commenting on idiocy, however, for people to conclude at this point that Barnett won't be able to come back as good as ever is just plain stupid--probably the same people spewing irrational hate about Barnett for years.

It is not even so much about blitzing. He doesn't change his scheme at all. He doesn't go with 3 down line scheme, or use 4 linebackers, it is either a base 4-3 or nickel. Sometimes he brings up the 8th guy in the box, but still offensive coordinators certainly are not challenge trying to break down the Packers defense.

I will give Bob credit for today, and for the fact that the secondary has been playing pretty well without a significant pass rush. Corey Williams pass rush from the inside is missed right now, and last year KGB was still an effective rusher from the edge to take pressure off of Kampman. Now there is nothing opposite Kampman that puts fear in an opposing teams offense.

I am not going to sit here and argue that the Packers need to blitz more, but what I will argue is that the Packers are going to need to pick up their pass rush in the next 6 games if they want to win the division,

[Zool]

Today was a good game, but that doesn't change anyones opinion about Vanilla Bob. They were playing one of the league's worst offensive teams with a severely hobbled quarterback. Let's be real here.

Since you love stats so much P

Bears are
16th in scoring
14th in passing
15th in rushing
4th in t/o margin

I guess I would call that just above average, but whatever. You're the stats expert.

[Partial]

Today was a good game, but that doesn't change anyones opinion about Vanilla Bob. They were playing one of the league's worst offensive teams with a severely hobbled quarterback. Let's be real here.

Since you love stats so much P

Bears are
16th in scoring
14th in passing
15th in rushing
4th in t/o margin

I guess I would call that just above average, but whatever. You're the stats expert.

Fine, middle of the road team offensively with a severely hobbled and limited quarterback. Better?

[bobblehead]

Today was a good game, but that doesn't change anyones opinion about Vanilla Bob. They were playing one of the league's worst offensive teams with a severely hobbled quarterback. Let's be real here.

Since you love stats so much P

Bears are
16th in scoring
14th in passing
15th in rushing
4th in t/o margin

I guess I would call that just above average, but whatever. You're the stats expert.

First rand, now you....stop letting facts get in the way of a good emotional arguement.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Fine, middle of the road team offensively with a severely hobbled and limited quarterback. Better?

Hobbled and limited? The dude has run for 45 yards all year, so it's not like he'll beat you with his feet. He didn't have a high ankle sprain, so I doubt his sprained ankle really affected his throwing much. Hell, Rodgers had an injury to his throwing shoulder that kept him from practicing for most of 6 weeks, but you wouldn't give him a break for that.

[Partial]

Fine, middle of the road team offensively with a severely hobbled and limited quarterback. Better?

Hobbled and limited? The dude has run for 45 yards all year, so it's not like he'll beat you with his feet. He didn't have a high ankle sprain, so I doubt his sprained ankle really affected his throwing much. Hell, Rodgers had an injury to his throwing shoulder that kept him from practicing for most of 6 weeks, but you wouldn't give him a break for that.

Actually, all week on WSSP they were talking about his high ankle sprain. That's the extent of my knowledge on it. He looked awful and inaccurate, even on short passes. Without a shadow of a doubt he was hurting and playing through a LOT of pain, and it seemed to effect every throw.

[The Gunshooter]

Back to the title of this thread, which of course is "Give Bob Sanders Some Credit!" Why? How many tackles did he have? Does he have a track record like Buddy Ryan or the old fart at Pittsburg? Hell no! When he coaches up a top 5 defense year after year I'll give him some credit.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Actually, all week on WSSP they were talking about his high ankle sprain. That's the extent of my knowledge on it.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/1261635,bears-quarterback-kyle-orton-110508.article

Contrary to some media reports, Orton does not have a high ankle sprain and said he is day-to-day. He said he has felt much better each day since being knocked out of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/1263715,CST-SPT-bear06.article

Actions always speak louder than words, and Kyle Orton strode without a limp to the podium in the Halas Hall media room Wednesday afternoon, then exited comfortably after discussing the most overblown ankle injury in Bears history...

Nothing serious was detected -- certainly not a high ankle sprain that would put a player on the shelf for six weeks.

[Partial]

Actually, all week on WSSP they were talking about his high ankle sprain. That's the extent of my knowledge on it.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/1261635,bears-quarterback-kyle-orton-110508.article

Contrary to some media reports, Orton does not have a high ankle sprain and said he is day-to-day. He said he has felt much better each day since being knocked out of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/1263715,CST-SPT-bear06.article

Actions always speak louder than words, and Kyle Orton strode without a limp to the podium in the Halas Hall media room Wednesday afternoon, then exited comfortably after discussing the most overblown ankle injury in Bears history...

Nothing serious was detected -- certainly not a high ankle sprain that would put a player on the shelf for six weeks.

OK, that is good to know. The Wisconsin Media was ill-informed all week.

[channtheman]

As long as we're giving credit to coaches today... was the play calling any different against the Bears, other than the fact that this time the plays were executed properly?

I would suspect not, but I'm sure last week's idiot will be this week's genius.

No the playcalling wasn't really much different from McCarthy and it still bugs me sometimes. For example, we opened the game up with 3 straight runs and it was working. Then we go empty backfield and remove all doubt on 3rd and short that we are even going to attempt to run. Why McCarthy don't you slap Grant in the game and run a play action?

By the way, I have been hoping McCarthy would run more play actions this year since he hardly seems to ever do it. Today though he did it twice that I can recall and it worked beautifully, as I thought it would.

[Gunakor]

As long as we're giving credit to coaches today... was the play calling any different against the Bears, other than the fact that this time the plays were executed properly?

I would suspect not, but I'm sure last week's idiot will be this week's genius.

MM stuck with the run, that was a big difference in playcalling. He even called a couple timely draw plays which were successful. Having established the run, play action was open all afternoon. MM likes to use play action, but would often go to it before the defense was really selling out to stop the run. This time he let Grant loose in the first couple drives, and really set the table for the rest of the game offensively. I'd consider that a huge difference in playcalling vs. the last couple of weeks.