bluv

It does if you try to get players to run schemes that they are not able to handle or not suited for. It's one thing to occasionally take a chance and open up the flood gates if you have a less than talented O-line and a young QB who holds the ball; it's another to do it %85 of the time. This O-line is better than last year for if the same number of deep drop pass plays were called there would be 3 times as many sacks given up with Wiliams at RT and Gandy & Anderson paired on the left! It would have definetly been an open revoling door every down not given JP a chance to setup instead of every 3 or 4 pass play.

So he had one terrible game. The rest of the season while he might give up an occasional sack he hasn't been the revolving door some make him out to be. To me he is in the same situation as McGee: while they are not lockdown players they are OK players who occasionally have a bad game or stretch. They are not good enough though to be consistently put out on an island for they are not elite players and if they are then eventually they will get beat. It is up to the coaching staff to not get them exposed and adjust their gameplans to give them help. So while they both can be upgraded and we could do better, we could consistently game after game be doing much worse at those positions. No team has a Pro Bowl player at every position. But the good coaches know how to hide their weak players to get the most out of them.

The running game isn't working either for teams know our tendencies. Whenever SHelton is in the game %75 of the time it is a run. And when they do pass with him in, he or the TE's are either not a threat or underutilized in the passing game. I have no problem with occasionally passing on 1st down. I do hate that more quicker developing pass plays aren't called. So that when we fail on 1st, a run is called on 2nd and then we are left in 3rd and long sitting in shotgun allowing the D to just tee off on JP. JP has a tendency to hold onto ball if his initial read is covered. And then we wonder why Gandy and the line struggles to protect. We need to get a rhythm going on offense and we haven't had that all season.

For this year I wouldn't make any wholesale changes at the O-line. While Gandy was terrible yesterday, he or the O-line hasn't played as bad as some has made them out to be. JP holding onto the ball and Fairchild's infatuation with deep drops and deep passes have a little to add to the problem. There were definitely 2, maybe 3 of those sacks in which JP didn't have a chance to setup. With as many 7 step drops called I'm suprise it hasn't been more. They need to simplify the offense and call more quick developing, high percentage pass plays and get the TE's and RB's involved more in the pass game. And why is there such a big cry to move Peters to LT; especially this season? Since he is playing pretty well at RT, leave him there. Maybe next year we can find an upgrade to Gandy at LT and shift Gandy to LG or to the bench. But leave well enough alone and leave Peters at RT!

Gandy layed an egg today but JP or Fairchild didn't help. Now that whif on that playaction that caused the fumble in the 4th was just awful technique. But half of those sacks JP held the ball too long. And what's up with Fairchild's season long infatuation with calling 5-7 step drops %90 of the time? That combined with JP tendency to hold on to the ball too long to try and make a play I'm suprised that there haven't been more 5 plus sack games. Also why not try more plays with a moving pocket or rollout? They tried one yesterday in the shoutgun. We have played against much better pass rushing teams this season and Gandy and the O-line while they haven't been flawless they haven't look that bad so I'll give them a pass. This team and O-line can ge salvaged if there were better gameplanning and playcalling. First they need to find a personell group that can be a threat to both pass and run as the FB and TE's are no threat in the passing game. Once they do that they should then stick with the run and combine that with more quicker developing pass plays. That way we will have a lot more manageable 3rd downs and allow our WR to get RAC yards. And when defenses start cheating up close then you use our speed to burn them deep. It seems as if our playcalling is all or nothing. One minute we are run happy, the next we are looking for big plays. Then we may run 5 yard routes for 10 straight plays. Where is the mix? And finally I think JP has been overtrained to not run and to hold onto the ball to make a play downfield. While he hooked up with Parrish yesterday on a broken play, there are a lot more 3rd and 5 or less plays this season where he could have easily picked up a 1st down with his legs if he had chose to run. Instead he'd scramble around, looking for a receiver and throw the ball away. I'm not saying turn into Vick but use what you got.

Who cares about Flutie or RJ? Go play Madden 98 or something and get off this board talking this nonsense!

Amen to that. We never can establish any consistency all year long as we don't call enough high percentage short quick pass plays. Everyone knows we will pound Willis and try to go deep. Without involving the TE's or RB's into the passing game or throwing more short passes that allow RAC yards how do you expect to develop a rhythm? It's a shame that our rookie safeties are playing better than our veteran supposedly lockdown cornerbacks!

And that is when more quick 3 step drops were called. There was no consistency whatsover; there has been none all year. If WM is shutdown, there are not as many high percentage passes called; especially in the 1st half of games. And since the TE's and RB's aren't involved much in the passing game, the personell easily dictates what our intentions are before we snap the ball.

I'm more upset with the DB coverage. It was not the rookie safety play that has hurt us the past 3 weeks it has been veteran cb getting owned!

I wouldn't say plenty but half of those sacks were coverage sacks. If Kitna held the ball as long as JP did on a couple of plays Schoebel would have had about 5 sacks. JP did better in the 2nd half; I think playcalling is as much to blame.

There should have been more 3 step drops called as it would keep the chains moving and our D off the field. Plus our WR's have shown the ability to run after the catch. There is never any consistency or rhythm in our offense.

One big thing would be to run more high percentage pass plays to put us in more 3rd and 5 or shorter situations. We all know we have fast receivers and that JP has a rocket arm. Where are the throws to the TE's or HB's? It's also about time we put our players on offense in the best position to make plays to fit their strengths. WM should be run more to the egdes and off tackle where our best blockers are and where he seems to run the hardest utilizing his stiff arm. Lee Evans should just get the ball anyway he can. Josh Reed and Parrish should be given chances to run after the catch in the slot. JP should be rolled out at least 3 times this game. And oh my god: where are the playaction passes? I know defenses focus on WM so why not?

I'll agree to an extent as you can always use a run plugging 4-3 DT. It's not like having to find a 3-4 nosetackle or DE's or OLB that can only fit in a 3-4 or 4-3 but not both. I know I will get burnt for saying this; even though Big Sam had his issues, he had a quick first step for big man. For the money he was being paid I would have kept him and not release him just because he didn't fit into this particular quick penetrating scheme. To the very least he could be brought in as part of the DL rotation; especially on running situations and goal line as currently we don't have a DT that fits such roles. I know some will totally disagree but I know they would much rather see Big Sam lined up over the nose than Tim Anderson as he is bigger and has a quicker first step!

I wouldn't place all the blame at JP but against a good D the O-line held up better than expected. If I was told beforehand that the Bears would win 40-7 I'd expect a jailbreak by the Bears and 7 plus sackswith no ball movement whatsoever. For most of the game JP had ample time to throw the rock and we moved the ball . He shouldn't have force the passes that he did throw as he had our best receiver Lee singled up and open for most of the game. If he were more patient in that game and didn't give the Bears good field position by turning the ball over then that would have been a different game as the Bears would have had to adjust. We would probably still would have lost but not in the manner in which we did. Granted the D, especially run D wasn't great but Grossman tried many times to give us the ball back and we didn't grab the opportunity. By us dropping numerous picks and JP turning the ball over giving the Bears short fields the Bears could then stick with running the ball while we had to depart from our running game. Our DE's were providing pressure on the ends and if this game had been more competitive I believe Grossman would have allowed us to get back in the game. And even when the Bills had a good O-line they still had those games; mainly against KC where they just looked terrible! I mean how many times did Derrick Thomas own Wolford back in the days? The O-line played awful in all the Super Bowls losses. My point is that they don't have to play great all the time just not stink the joint up. On Sunday, just like so far this season, while they weren't playing flawless like the rebirth of the Hogs, they haven't played so bad and stinking up the place either and while they can certainly be upgraded, they can't be soley blamed either. I'm a big JP supporter and want to see WM run well but I'm not blind either. WM danced too much in the first few games and JP has had decent pass protection these first 5 games. To throw the blame soley on the O-line is just masking and not admitting that these players have faults as well, need to improve and bring their best games to get full potential from the line. Once JP and WM become more consistent and come to play every game, this O-line has shown so far that they can average; block well enough for good skill positions to get the job done.

Whatever. I'm not saying that he had the Hogs blocking for him but it was better than expected and certainly adequate. I mean we rushed only 4, rarely blitzed and Grossman was hit a couple of times in the first half and forced into a couple of passes that should have been picked off; was his pass protection so great? As far as run blocking and run D goes, I can see where some can shed bad light. But pass protection was not the reason this game was lost. Sure he got sacked and hit a few times but what QB doesn't? It is the glass half empty half full theory. Some who want to bash JP will make it seem as if he sucks and will never amount to anything. Others will make up excuses and put the blame anywhere but on him or excuse him for being green which is understandable. But the game on Sunday, JP was given ample time to go through his reads on numerous occsaions and he just had a bad game. While he did get sacked, there was no constant pressure, man in his face, hitting him evertime he threw the ball like some claim. Blaming his poor play on the fact that he had no time in the pocket is absurd! I have seen games were protection was much worse. I'll bet Drew wish he had half the time in the pocket against the Eagles that JP had against the Bears!

I didn't say that he didn't have a helping hand in the loss. The defense was a bigger letdown than JP was; even though the turnovers left them with short fields to defend. I want to defend JP but deep down I can't as he only has himself to blame for his poor play yesterday. This wasn't one of those games where he had no time in the pocket and when he did throw a good pass half were dropped. He had good pass protection most of the afternoon playing against a good defense and while Price dropped 2 passes it was not as if they were for big gains or TDs. The only pick yesterday in which he had a hand in his face was the blind screen pass he attempted in which defenders are let free so the lineman can block downfield. Face it: Losman had a bad game; all QB's do. But don't make up excuses for his play. I'll bet most on this board (including myself!) isn't making up any excuses for Bledsoe's performance yesterday agasint the Eagles and he had half the time in the pocket that JP had yesterday! Face it: the kid had a bad game along with the team as a whole, no excuses and let's move on to Detroit!

He only has 14 starts so give him a break. But yesterday he mostly has himself to look at in the mirror for his performance yesterday as he was given time in the pocket. And while we didn't run the ball enough, the fact that JP turned the ball over given the Bears a short field added to the running game being a nonfactor. This will just be a game he will have to learn from as he is a young QB. But at the same time no one should make up excuses for his performance yesterday as he flat out sucked.

I wish we had kept Posey just for insurance if nothing else

Most teams take about 10 runs to get a rhytm established. Even the BillsDaily postgame analysis pointed out that the O-Line was not the reason for the lost. Based on the past few seasons they are everybody's whippiping post but today they played an OK game.

I'm not placing all the blame on JP. But pass protection was pretty good facing the Bears. The playcalling, not involving McGahee enough early on was just stupid. I don't think WM or the O-Line was given a chance to establish a running game. JP compounded that by throwing stupid int's. The thing I don't understand is that last week we repeatedely tried to ram the ball up into the strength of the Vikings D. This week it seems as if they didn't try to attack Chicago's perceieved weakness up the middle.

While I'm in no way saying that he played a good game, he did get a few pressures.He did get around the corner and pressure Grossman a few times; he was held a couple of plays I as well. There wasn't much pressure up the middle. Now Clements and McGee...; NEXT QUESTION?

Like I've said I want badly to defend JP and throw the blame elsewhere but in this game pass protection was not a big issue. There were a few breakdowns; that is to be expected. But overall he had ample time to throw the ball. With the D struggling, he threw 3 stupid picks that gave the ball right back. Dropped passes by Price didn't help. I can live with miss passes but not turnovers. Jp usually doesn't turn the ball over much and in this game he wasn't pressured into any of those picks as he played like he did last year. But the will learn from this game and bounce back. But the next time a reporter reminds him how good a D the Bears have and that they have only allowed this or that he will just say "yeah I know!"

Sacks and pass protections were not the reason we lost 40-7. From my prospective the O-Line, Lee Evans, and maybe McGahee were the only players who showed up today!

Couldn't agree more. I try to defend JP as much as I can but today it was all on him and the WRs excpet Lee as he had ample pass protection against a good D and they stunk up the joint!

Even opened a few holes for Willis later on. I was really suprised to see JP have as much time to throw as he did. This poor showing falls squarely on JP and all receivers not named Lee as well as poor coaching. I mean if the D had held the Bears in check maybe we could have snuck back in the game. The run D really disappointed me. Who was those who say we wouldn't or shouldn't miss Takeo. TAKEO COME BACK PLEASE!!!