Yakuza Rich
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Dallas vs. Chicago Game Preview
by Yakuza Rich
http://yakuzarich.blogspot.com/
DALLAS (+3) vs. CHICAGO
AT SOLDIER FIELD
SEPTEMBER 23, 2007 8:15 PM EST
WHEN DALLAS IS ON OFFENSE
The Bears use their patented Tampa 2 defensive scheme, but have made some changes from past years with new D-Coordinator Bob Babich. Under former D-Coordinator Ron Rivera, the Bears were not averse to blitzing as many people think. They often used 8 defenders in the box and the percent of times they blitzed was about the league average. However, since they were known for not having many different types of blitz packages they were mistakenly thought of as a non-blitzing team. Now under Babich they blitz quite often and put 8 or even 9 defenders in the box and frequently stack 6 or 7 defenders up on the line of scrimmage.
The Cowboys will probably use a similar attack that they used against the Dolphins by sending Jason Witten to attack the deep middle. Witten is likely to be negated by Chicago's MIKE backer Brian Urlacher who is one of the best cover linebackers in the game. On short and intermediate routes by Witten, he's likely to be taken on in coverage by Lance Briggs, another outstanding linebacker in coverage.
Against the Dolphins, the Cowboys attacked their defense with quicker passing patterns since the Dolphins front seven posed a bigger threat against Cowboys than the Giants defense did. I expect to see the same thing against the Bears because of their heavy blitzing style. Also, don't be surprised to see Julius Jones play an important part in the game. Regardless if the Bears blitzed or not, the Cowboys would likely want to run a lot of screens and draws at the Bears defense because their D-Line is instructed to get upfield as fast as they can. If the Cowboys can execute screens and draws to a moderate degree of success, that will force the Bears D-Line to slow down their rush. In essence, this is a similar gameplan that Parcells utilized against the Colts last year, who play a very similar defensive scheme.
The other key factors of play will be Flozell Adams and the interior O-Line against Bears Defensive Tackle Tommie Harris. Chicago Defensive End Mark Anderson is exactly the type of defensive end that gives Flozell problems, a speed rusher with a good motor. If Anderson starts having success, it will be a problem that Dallas will have to deal with since they are playing on the road and Romo likes to use the shotgun and the Chicago D-Line can jump his silent count. Dallas may have to use a tailback to help double Anderson, which could leave them suceptible to blitzes from the Bears or may need a tight end like Witten to help out which would constrict the passing game.
Harris was superb last season until he got injured. This is an interesting matchup since Harris' speed and explosiveness can give Gurode some troubles, but Gurode's size and the size of Leonard Davis can give Harris, a smaller defensive tackle, some issues as well.
Dallas would likely be in a much better position if they had Terry Glenn. Bears corners Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman are good, but the combination of Glenn and Owens could give them fits as Tillman tends to struggle against speedsters like Glenn and Tillman tends to have problems with bigger WR's like Owens. But with Glenn out, the Bears will try to double Owens at all costs. The Cowboys will probably continue to get Owens in the slot to see if he can take advantage of Ricky Manning, Jr. or Brandon McGowan.
WHEN DALLAS IS ON DEFENSE
Phillips has followed suit by continuing his heavy amount of blitzing and stunting and usually sending 5 pass rushers when he blitzes. However, as aggressive he has been with the pass rushes, he's been extremely conservative with his coverages as he's pretty much used zone coverage on just about every snap. His favorite zone coverages appear to be the Cover 3 and the Cover 4.
The Bears defense is run by Ron Turner, brother of Norv Turner. There are some similarities in Ron's style compared to his brother's and compared to Jason Garrett's. But Ron's style is pretty direct, they want to run mostly isolation running plays (fullback leading) and they want to throw the ball deep. By throwing the ball deep it may make for a more difficult throw from an accuracy standpoint, but it also allows for a simpler read for Grossman.
The key to stopping Grossman has been primarily taking away the deep ball from WR Bernard Berrian. Berrian is one of those WR's whose faster than he looks and thus is a great deep ball threat. But when Grossman doesn't have him open, he usually struggles to make consistent throws on short and intermediate patterns to others. He's also got a problem with pocket presence and teams with fast defenses usually frustrate him.
As long as the Cowboys continue to give up big pass plays and play so much zone, teams will probably continue to throw the ball deep on them. My guess is that Chicago will look for ways to send Berrian and another WR deep, like Rashied Davis or Muhsin Muhammad, and use the other WR as a decoy to allow Berrian to run free.
The main running backs for the Bears will be Cedric Benson and Adrian Petersen. Both are similar in style as they pretty much are set to run between the tackles and pound the ball. Petersen is the better pass blocker of the two and this may be the game where Ware records a sack as he can get by Benson in the pass rush. This will also be an interesting game to see how well NT Jay Ratliff does. He's played well enough so far that I've come to believe he could be the starting NT next season as well. But Kreutz is one of the best run blocking centers in the game and Ratliff will have his work cut out for him in that department. That being said, Ratliff has done well in pass rushing and that's an area of weakness for Kreutz, so we could see quite the intriguing battle.
PREDICTION
I think the Bears matchup quite well against Dallas here. They have Urlacher to negate Witten, their corners can probably take on Crayton and Hurd no problem and with help they can probably contain Owens as well. Anderson matches up well against Flozell and since this is a D-Line that likes to stunt, that could give the O-Line problems as well. The other problem is that Dallas will need to mix a combination of power and mobility against the Bears. They have a smaller D-Line so the size and power of the Cowboys O-Line works against them, but the Cowboys probably won't be able to just manhandle them and will have to find change of direction and screens/draws to slow their defense down, which probably isn't a forte of the Cowboys O-Line.
On offense the Bears struggle when they can't get the ball to Berrian on deep pass plays, something the Cowboys defense has struggled with so far. Not to mention that the the Cowboys pass pressure has been okay so far, but that may not be enough to get Grossman to put in one of his classic stinkers. Even on special teams the team will have to be extremely careful as Matt McBriar has provided Dallas with a weapon and Devin Hester could easily return another punt for a touchdown against the Cowboys.
Despite that, this certainly isn't the Bears team from last year. In 2006 the Bears would've blown the Chiefs out of the stadium with their defense and special teams alone and the Chiefs managed to make a close game out of it. I see the same here. Romo will probably struggle a bit because all QB's usually struggle against the Bears. The real issue is that the supporting cast around the QB usually struggles and the QB's play suffers because of it. It would be nice to get a win here and go 3-0 with the Rams at home next week, but I can't help but see the Cowboys losing here.
YR'S PREDICTED FINAL SCORE: Chicago 20 Dallas 17
by Yakuza Rich
http://yakuzarich.blogspot.com/
DALLAS (+3) vs. CHICAGO
AT SOLDIER FIELD
SEPTEMBER 23, 2007 8:15 PM EST
WHEN DALLAS IS ON OFFENSE
The Bears use their patented Tampa 2 defensive scheme, but have made some changes from past years with new D-Coordinator Bob Babich. Under former D-Coordinator Ron Rivera, the Bears were not averse to blitzing as many people think. They often used 8 defenders in the box and the percent of times they blitzed was about the league average. However, since they were known for not having many different types of blitz packages they were mistakenly thought of as a non-blitzing team. Now under Babich they blitz quite often and put 8 or even 9 defenders in the box and frequently stack 6 or 7 defenders up on the line of scrimmage.
The Cowboys will probably use a similar attack that they used against the Dolphins by sending Jason Witten to attack the deep middle. Witten is likely to be negated by Chicago's MIKE backer Brian Urlacher who is one of the best cover linebackers in the game. On short and intermediate routes by Witten, he's likely to be taken on in coverage by Lance Briggs, another outstanding linebacker in coverage.
Against the Dolphins, the Cowboys attacked their defense with quicker passing patterns since the Dolphins front seven posed a bigger threat against Cowboys than the Giants defense did. I expect to see the same thing against the Bears because of their heavy blitzing style. Also, don't be surprised to see Julius Jones play an important part in the game. Regardless if the Bears blitzed or not, the Cowboys would likely want to run a lot of screens and draws at the Bears defense because their D-Line is instructed to get upfield as fast as they can. If the Cowboys can execute screens and draws to a moderate degree of success, that will force the Bears D-Line to slow down their rush. In essence, this is a similar gameplan that Parcells utilized against the Colts last year, who play a very similar defensive scheme.
The other key factors of play will be Flozell Adams and the interior O-Line against Bears Defensive Tackle Tommie Harris. Chicago Defensive End Mark Anderson is exactly the type of defensive end that gives Flozell problems, a speed rusher with a good motor. If Anderson starts having success, it will be a problem that Dallas will have to deal with since they are playing on the road and Romo likes to use the shotgun and the Chicago D-Line can jump his silent count. Dallas may have to use a tailback to help double Anderson, which could leave them suceptible to blitzes from the Bears or may need a tight end like Witten to help out which would constrict the passing game.
Harris was superb last season until he got injured. This is an interesting matchup since Harris' speed and explosiveness can give Gurode some troubles, but Gurode's size and the size of Leonard Davis can give Harris, a smaller defensive tackle, some issues as well.
Dallas would likely be in a much better position if they had Terry Glenn. Bears corners Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman are good, but the combination of Glenn and Owens could give them fits as Tillman tends to struggle against speedsters like Glenn and Tillman tends to have problems with bigger WR's like Owens. But with Glenn out, the Bears will try to double Owens at all costs. The Cowboys will probably continue to get Owens in the slot to see if he can take advantage of Ricky Manning, Jr. or Brandon McGowan.
WHEN DALLAS IS ON DEFENSE
Phillips has followed suit by continuing his heavy amount of blitzing and stunting and usually sending 5 pass rushers when he blitzes. However, as aggressive he has been with the pass rushes, he's been extremely conservative with his coverages as he's pretty much used zone coverage on just about every snap. His favorite zone coverages appear to be the Cover 3 and the Cover 4.
The Bears defense is run by Ron Turner, brother of Norv Turner. There are some similarities in Ron's style compared to his brother's and compared to Jason Garrett's. But Ron's style is pretty direct, they want to run mostly isolation running plays (fullback leading) and they want to throw the ball deep. By throwing the ball deep it may make for a more difficult throw from an accuracy standpoint, but it also allows for a simpler read for Grossman.
The key to stopping Grossman has been primarily taking away the deep ball from WR Bernard Berrian. Berrian is one of those WR's whose faster than he looks and thus is a great deep ball threat. But when Grossman doesn't have him open, he usually struggles to make consistent throws on short and intermediate patterns to others. He's also got a problem with pocket presence and teams with fast defenses usually frustrate him.
As long as the Cowboys continue to give up big pass plays and play so much zone, teams will probably continue to throw the ball deep on them. My guess is that Chicago will look for ways to send Berrian and another WR deep, like Rashied Davis or Muhsin Muhammad, and use the other WR as a decoy to allow Berrian to run free.
The main running backs for the Bears will be Cedric Benson and Adrian Petersen. Both are similar in style as they pretty much are set to run between the tackles and pound the ball. Petersen is the better pass blocker of the two and this may be the game where Ware records a sack as he can get by Benson in the pass rush. This will also be an interesting game to see how well NT Jay Ratliff does. He's played well enough so far that I've come to believe he could be the starting NT next season as well. But Kreutz is one of the best run blocking centers in the game and Ratliff will have his work cut out for him in that department. That being said, Ratliff has done well in pass rushing and that's an area of weakness for Kreutz, so we could see quite the intriguing battle.
PREDICTION
I think the Bears matchup quite well against Dallas here. They have Urlacher to negate Witten, their corners can probably take on Crayton and Hurd no problem and with help they can probably contain Owens as well. Anderson matches up well against Flozell and since this is a D-Line that likes to stunt, that could give the O-Line problems as well. The other problem is that Dallas will need to mix a combination of power and mobility against the Bears. They have a smaller D-Line so the size and power of the Cowboys O-Line works against them, but the Cowboys probably won't be able to just manhandle them and will have to find change of direction and screens/draws to slow their defense down, which probably isn't a forte of the Cowboys O-Line.
On offense the Bears struggle when they can't get the ball to Berrian on deep pass plays, something the Cowboys defense has struggled with so far. Not to mention that the the Cowboys pass pressure has been okay so far, but that may not be enough to get Grossman to put in one of his classic stinkers. Even on special teams the team will have to be extremely careful as Matt McBriar has provided Dallas with a weapon and Devin Hester could easily return another punt for a touchdown against the Cowboys.
Despite that, this certainly isn't the Bears team from last year. In 2006 the Bears would've blown the Chiefs out of the stadium with their defense and special teams alone and the Chiefs managed to make a close game out of it. I see the same here. Romo will probably struggle a bit because all QB's usually struggle against the Bears. The real issue is that the supporting cast around the QB usually struggles and the QB's play suffers because of it. It would be nice to get a win here and go 3-0 with the Rams at home next week, but I can't help but see the Cowboys losing here.
YR'S PREDICTED FINAL SCORE: Chicago 20 Dallas 17
