BEARS OFFENSE V. FALCONS DEFENSE

• Bears pass game featured quick drops, with the ball coming out of Cutler’s hands fast; Protect an average pass blocking OL
• Bears passing game very controlled and managed, They didn’t attack downfield very much and when they did they did not protect very well
• Forte looked slow, Did not see much lateral quickness, Did not change direction or stop and start with much decisiveness – No juice
• Cutler looks down-the-gun-barrel, He’s oblivious to pressure – He’s a big time thrower, as gifted as any passer in the NFL
• Falcons zone blitzed on consecutive plays (final play of first quarter, first play of second quarter): Bennett 21 yds, Knox 23 yd TD – Knox TD was a great read by Cutler, and a great throw; Knox beat the press coverage of CB Houston
• LT Pace really struggled to anchor, It looks as if there is no strength left in his lower body – He has no movement skills anymore, He is a liability as a pass protector
• Falcons predominant pressure package was zone blitz concepts
• Bears have a below average OL, and no running game; Without Cutler they wouldn’t move the ball, They would have trouble getting a first down
• Noticed the difference immediately when Wolfe ran the ball, He was quicker and faster than Forte – He had the juice that Forte lacked
• Bears offense very constricted, My sense is it’s by design – They are trying to protect a bad OL, and they don’t want Cutler running around trying to make individual plays outside the framework of the offense
• Cutler forced to make far too many throws with pressure in his face, Very few clean pockets
• RT Williams struggled with pass protection in this game, Tough to develop any kind of downfield passing attack when both tackles have troubling protecting – One reason TE Olsen has not been a big factor in the passing game at the intermediate levels
• When CB Williams got hurt, Jackson replaced him in the nickel package; Jackson aligned in the slot, with Grimes on the outside
• Olsen probably won’t be a big factor in the passing game on a consistent basis because of the Bears OL inability to protect

FALCONS OFFENSE V. BEARS DEFENSE

• Bears played “cover zero” behind all-out pressure on the Falcons first 3^rd + long of the game: Ryan hurried incompletion – This surprised me, The Bears normally not a high risk pressure defense
• MLB Roach very impressive on film, Showed great ability to work through traffic and congestion to find the ball in the run game
• DT Harrison flashed on film: Played with leverage and strength in the run game
• What was noticeable in this game was that the Falcons OL could not get the linebackers blocked in the run game
• Through the first 3 or 4 series Ryan was forcing the ball to Gonzalez
• White 40 yd TD on 1^st + 10 came on a WR screen out of an empty set; Bears blitzed but they clearly made a coverage mistake, They only had 2 defenders on the 3 receiver side (White was on the 3 receiver side) – The Bears made no adjustment to the empty set and 3×2 formation
• Bears defense had problems with the Falcons empty sets, Did not have a good sense of how to match up form a coverage standpoint; They seemed confused and out-manned from a numbers standpoint, especially to the 3 receiver side – Bears finally went man-to-man against the empty set in the fourth quarter: Snelling 9 yd catch
• Ryan and Falcons passing game did not attack down the field, White and Jenkins rarely targeted on intermediate and deeper routes
• Jenkins aligned at TE on the second snap of the second half: White 3 yds; First saw this against the Panthers in week 2 when they threw to Jenkins for 24 yds out of TE position
• Ryan first interception a poor read, A forced throw to Gonzalez; He did not read the zone coverage concept, and it was not a difficult read – A good example of Ryan being too focused on Gonzalez
• Bears were aggressive with blitz, and they played a number of snaps of “cover zero”
• Ryan not very comfortable or patient in this game, He did not wait for routes to develop down the field; He got the ball out quick
• Ryan second interception was an inaccurate throw to a wide open Jenkins at the intermediate level – Overall, this was not a strong game for Ryan
• Falcons offense did not really have any rhythm or flow to it, No consistency running the ball and no downfield passing game