|
|
February 5, 2007
Article 44
Though this article is being released on February 5, it actually was wrote on the evening of the Super Bowl,
following the game of course. Though the game was not the most exciting in the National Football League's
history, it was a brilliant display of great coaching. I say that not as a fellow Michigander (much like Jackson
native Tony Dungy) but as a person whose career is tied to this great sport.
The comment was that is was a great display of coaching; the surprise part to that is I am saying it in terms of
both sidelines. Though the Bears were unsuccessful and withstanding the Indianapolis Colts "come back," the
fault was not so much on game plan as it was simply on the lack of offensive athlete ability. The Bears offense
lacked players in key positions (yes, primarily at quarterback) that had the experience and over all physical
ability to over come the Colts. Though the last offensive series for the Bears did seem to lack great play calling,
what you may find in review is a QB who "may" have checked down to his short reads instead of having the
patients (often earned through experience) to wait for the thread openings in a colts secondary that was there at
times, and somewhat exploited by decent play calling. However, the Bears were not able to take advantage of
this. Take note to the interesting Bears QB stat of 20 completions on 28 attempts. Which would be a solid
performance if the total yards was not considered (154). Upon further review, it can easily be deducted that
many of these completions came to the wrong receiver in a quarterbacks read system. One specific third and
medium play was a good example of this, where the hot read receiver had space on his defender near the first
down marker, but the QB failed to make that read and threw early to his running back, for a negative loss. I have
not named this QB, who is obvious to all who read this, as I am sure the majority of all media outlets will be
abusing it enough over the coming weeks.
Also, a lot of heat is being put on the supposed failure of the vaunted Bears defense. When a defense is on the
field for 38:00 plus minutes, it can be expected that they would give up an increasing number of offensive yards.
Two interceptions and 3 lost fumbles does not help a defense get much rest, let alone give a balanced enough
time frame for people to consider the yardage that was gained against them.
None of this takes away from the Colts performance though. Their offensive line played outstanding, while their
defense played exceptionally well against the run versus expectations. Coach Dungy earned his first Super Bowl
ring as a Head Coach and made most all people proud of him (outside of Chicago of course) regardless of skin
tone. Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts organization.
In short, what we can take from this in relationship to the Patriots is that all things must be considered before you
rate the success or failures of either a staff or the team's players. That is why I am happy to say that come our
2007 Meet & Greet (February 13, 5:30-7:30 PM, Sharky's Sports Bar, 4312 South Dort Highway, Flint MI) it will
be obvious that a great focus has been made on all areas of the program and we are excited about the many
moves we have made. I expect all of our fans will be exited too!
|
|
