Jake

The crazy thing about Jo is that during his rookie year, I grew to hate him. I loved the pick, but then he just looked lackadaisical out there. He was a hustle guy who was constantly caught napping and didn't look like he took things seriously. I'm glad he grew up (but kept having fun)

I can tell that I'll be a little less enthused about the weather now that my commute is a bit more involved, since I have a bit of riding/driving in addition to a half-mile or mile of walking to do. I try not to sweat it too much. I dislike complaining about the weather because there's nothing I can do about it. I'll b**** about things for which my b****ing might change things. Too little time in my life to constantly worry about the weather. Anyway, I'll show myself out of the weather complaint thread...since I am not making any complaints...

Joc Joc Joc Joc Joc Joc Joc

I actually love winter. Having lived in a cold place (Illinois) and then the South, where there MIGHT be a single snow all year, I realized that I actually want the seasons to change and to have a real winter. I'm especially ready to make that trade when it means avoiding brutally hot summers.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 17, 2014 -> 05:28 PM) PFFers can you telll me how long Jay has had to throw this year vs last? He seems to consistently have no time and it wasn't until yesterday that he really started to create time with his feet. Why it took so long for that to happen is beyond me. Perhaps Trestman wanted him to be more of a pocket passer, for whatever reason, and he stuck to it to a fault. I'm going to preface this with the fact that there's no good way to definitively say how much time he averages - every time he throws, we don't know whether he had to do it right then to avoid a sack or might have had several more seconds. Likewise, we don't know if the plays he is sacked are just like every other play - with the exception that he held on a split-second longer - or if he gets sacked because the rush was much faster. You'll notice that the best QBs tend to have the lowest times. Anyway... 2014 averages times: To throw - 2.57 (7th fastest out of 29 QBs, Peyton Manning fastest) To sack - 3.36 (13th fastest, Matt Ryan and Peyton Manning fastest) To scramble - 4.65 (9th fastest, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning fastest) 83.0 NFL QB rating on plays that take 2.6 seconds or more before throw/sack/scramble. 102.5 NFL QB rating on plays that resolve quicker than 2.6 seconds. In terms of pressure, he's at 30% of drop backs, making him only the 20th most pressured QB out of 29. 2013: To throw - 2.75 (13th out of 27, Peyton Manning fastest) To sack - 3.81 (9th out of 27, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning fastest) To scramble - 4.59 (5th out of 27, Eli Manning fastest) 80.3 NFL QB rating on plays that take 2.6 seconds or more before throw/sack/scramble. 99 NFL QB rating on plays where one of those things happens before 2.6 seconds. Was pressured on 39% of drop backs, 8th most out of 29. By most indications, not much has changed in terms of pass protection. Time to sack is the only thing that has really changed in terms of timing, but it's hard to make meaning of it when the line is allowing fewer pressures per drop back.

Notes from PFF: Worst cumulative day of grades for the offense this year, ironically enough. Alshon and Brandon both had strong positive grades, nobody else shined. Cutler was harmed by turnovers, penalty. Brian De La Puente had the worst grade, but the entire line short of Long had a bad game. Defense has its best game of the year, grade-wise. Zero players fell into the strong negative grade range. Jared Allen with top grade of the day on strength of pass rush. Lance Briggs, Tim Jennings, Ryan Mundy all had strong showings as well. Everyone else was in the okay range, basically. We had 16 hurries on 33 passing downs, which is pretty impressive. For the season, in terms of rank, the offense and defense are converging. Defense has 19th best team grade now. Offense 15th. Our offense doesn't have any particular weakness by these measures. For the defense, we ironically have a strength in run defense, ranking 10th in that. Unsurprisingly, special teams ranks dead last. Worth noting that Shea only played 18 snaps yesterday (also note that MIN only managed 47 snaps, by far the least our defense has faced this year).

I don't know how you think that a good offense for Jay is one where he is given less structure. He's had the most success in offenses that most resemble west coast offenses, and for good reason. He can't think on his feet. The more thinking that is done for him by the play design itself, the better. He sometimes makes fabulous plays when things break down and he has to get creative, but that's also when he comes up with inexplicably bad decisions

QUOTE (Baron @ Nov 16, 2014 -> 03:55 PM) Sure and obviously getting more than one reliever is probably in the works. I think if they dont sign Miller it wont be for a lack of trying. I just dont think they'll try what they did last year again. Yeah I think it will certainly look like we tried to address the pen by the end of the offseason, which likely means signing at least one recognizable name to a contract

All told, not a bad day for Bears. We still saw flashes of head-scratchingly bad play, but both sides of the ball can sleep well tonight. I assume special teams never sleeps at night

I love not being able to know how much time is left as we get under a minute

At this point, if Thompson makes it, it will likely be a deal where he's hitting pretty well in AAA - something like a 115wRC+ and gets called up due to injury. He then just hits in that limited trial and stays on. More likely, we never see any of that and he is a role player for a few years before he gets squeezed out of the 40-man. I still love his upside, though, and he's young.

You almost invariably overpay for the top guys in the reliever market, but there are always great values just after that first tier

For as good as the offense has looked much of the time today, it's baffling how infrequently they've been able to convert into points. That has been true throughout the year. No ability to close. Looks like we'll win this one, though

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 02:25 PM) I have never gotten the impression that Kenny and Rick aren't of the same mind set when it comes to the direction of the club, so I am not even sure if a "veto" exists, if it would be all of that important anyway. I agree, that's how I assume things work. I collaborate with some people at work with whom I have a great rapport. We disagree sometimes, but never to the extent that I think a "veto" needs to exist. We just agree on a direction to go in and move on. I assume that's how things are in our FO. Everyone knows that their plan is laden with uncertainty so it is rarely going to be black and white.

I'm very happy that my parents are now paying less for their premiums and getting loads more stuff covered. They have no illnesses, but are growing older and are overweight, and they were constantly getting nickeled and dimed on everything to the extent that they were just avoiding the doctor. My poor mother had to pay around $2k for a colonoscopy. I can't remember what reason it wasn't covered, I think it was actually just built into the plan that way. They own a small business, so they're doing fairly well for themselves (relative to the average American, who is not doing well), but were still paying around 30% of their income for health insurance before the PPACA

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 16, 2014 -> 03:01 AM) Serious question. I know a lot of people without health insurance. They can't afford it or are unemployed. Let's say you have no health insurance and have the start of a heart attack and call 911. Take me through what happens to you in terms of getting treated then charged for services. Thank u p.s. read another good op/ed story today that said Obama flat out made his plan incomprehensible to get it passed and lied about certain things in Obamacare knowing full well they were lies to the public. A non-politician who was hired as a consultant for the creation of Romneycare and Obamacare commented that the law might have benefited from people not knowing exactly how it all worked - he was commenting on the fact that it used taxes to pay for poor people's health insurance. Of course, anyone with a head on their shoulders knows that all kinds of harmful rumors were spreading about the PPACA and therefore it's rather doubtful that they benefited at all from Dems not shouting from the rooftops that it involved taxes - especially since there was all kinds of huffing and puffing about "the biggest tax in US history" and all kinds of false garbage along those lines

How long does Jimmy have to play this good before we start to regard him as a breakout star?

I think he'd get a similar dollar figure for 9-10 years on the open market right now

It's worth bearing in mind that 13 years from now, $30 million per year is going to be the number that guys like Nick Swisher get

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 12, 2014 -> 05:02 PM) Is that the phrase? I always that it was "I'll be damned" QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 12, 2014 -> 05:06 PM) Gage has his own language. LOOOOOOOOL He writes like a CPA QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 09:53 AM) You're being really selective with statistics to make him look bad. Why didn't you include some of these statistics? -- 6th cheapest defense in the league saves the Bears money so it can afford some weapons for Cutler, who has none -- #1 ranked practice defense in NFL for two years in a row -- Defense broke Aaron Rodgers' clavicle more times than any other defense in NFL history Keep pushing your agenda FWIW, that season where JAX had the 4th-ranked defense was the first season in which Mel Tucker was calling plays. Before that, Del Rio was doing the play calling.

See, the thing is, Briggs has still played well. That's why there hasn't been much huffing and puffing at this point. The problem is that he is clearly sabotaging the unity and leadership of the defense. Releasing him would be a bold move that I could get behind, though - especially since we are all but eliminated from playoff contention.

When I played HS basketball, we quit buying Nikes. We couldn't get a pair that cost ~$150 at group pricing to last an entire season for around a quarter of the team. They did stuff like Manu's, though a bit more gradual

The circumstances of Kenny's "promotion" - that is, his stated desire to be less involved in day-to-day management - leads me to believe his role isn't comparable to Epstein/Friedman. I think he has a lot of sway, but Hahn is the GM. My guess is that when push comes to shove, which may never occur, KW defers to Hahn (even if he might technically possess some sort of veto power).

DeRozan 3/17 against Jimmy/Bulls D

Derrick can't take days off for his sore ankles, that would make him a giant p**** that doesn't care about winning! You saw him walking, he should be playing!