New personality' of offense: Speed it up

[Chewie]

i mean like how Julio Jones got his 3 TD games. All on go routes.

You can bump this and say I told you so when it happens.

[heir_jordan22]

Also take into consideration that we play the Colts and Rams, so that prediction of a couple games with 3 receptions for 3 long TDs could very well happen. They have terrible safeties.

[Chewie]

When you guys get this confident, I start to want to make bets.

When I make bets, other people get fruity sigs. Ask our mod.

[emperorjones]

Chewie....Did Obe Wan tell you the truth about your father?

That said, I have no idea what they mean when they say Hester runs the best routes in the NFL. Maybe what they really mean is Hester runs great routes but doesn't get open?

[Chewie]

Ahhhh !!!

What happened to that sig ?!?

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

With still over a month left on the calendar until players are required to report to training camp, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler told reporters on Tuesday he already has a strong comfort level with the club's new offense installed this offseason by coordinator Mike Tice.

"It's kind of surprising to see where we're at and how well the guys have picked it up," Cutler said at the onset of the team's mandatory minicamp. "It's a testament to how hard they have worked. There are a lot of fun guys. It's a good group. It's the best receiver group I've worked with. A lot of guys on this team like coming to work and like football so that makes my job a lot easier."

The non-contact nature of the NFL offseason program has made it counterproductive for the Bears to devote a huge chunk of practice time to the run game, but according to Tice, the group has been exposed to the entire offense.

"The whole offense is in," Tice said. "We've put it in more than once. We don't install everything in one day because that would be hard to install your whole playbook in one day, but we install big sections of our playbook each day.

"In minicamp, we've actually taken plays from our entire installation and narrowed them down to almost like a game-plan week where we've said, ‘OK, this percentage of play-action, this percentage of three wide receivers.' Not very man runs, though."

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears/p ... ew-offense

[fleet]

Bears' new looks could give defenses fits
Alignments show early promise offense will play to players' strengths

By Matt Bowen
1:47 a.m. CDT, June 13, 2012

Focusing on offense at Bears minicamp Tuesday provided a glimpse of how new offensive coordinator Mike Tice will tailor his playbook involving alignments, personnel and scheme displayed on the field at Halas Hall.

Here are some notes from practice:

•"Ace" (two wide receivers, two tight ends, one back) and "Posse" (three wide receivers, one tight end, one back) were the top two positional groupings. The Bears evidently will use 2-by-2 alignments, wear out the Inside Vertical Seam (vs. Cover 2, Cover 3) and align players in multiple positions.

•Tice wants to move the pocket. There were various bootleg concepts shown with Ace and "Regular" (two wide receivers, one tight end, one back) personnel. There was also play action that gives quarterback Jay Cutler opportunities outside the pocket to create, look up the underneath crossing routes or target the deep 9 (fade) down the field.

•Brandon Marshall can run the entire route tree. No questions there. Even though a long strider, he has controlled footwork in his cuts, speed throughout the route and legit size. Marshall is the split end in the Bears system, however Tice did use him in the slot Tuesday with three wide receivers on the field. That's an ideal position from which to run the seam, skinny post, 7 (corner) and dig route.

•The Bears ran the ball from the shotgun alignment and used the "stretch" (one back run) in Ace personnel. Zone blocking up front in the "stretch" gives the running back the opportunity to press the edge of the defense or cut back. Without Matt Forte at camp, Michael Bush ran with the first team. The former Raider doesn't have the same first step as Forte (or the speed through the hole), but I'm eager to see his power when he gets downhill with pads on during training camp.

•There was a much different look from Mike Martz's scheme last season at tight end. With Ace on the field, Tice used both Kyle Adams (first unit) and rookie Evan Rodriguez (second unit) as the "move guy." This allows the Bears to give a three-wide receiver look at the line of scrimmage, create inside matchups and work the ball between the numbers.

•Tight end Kellen Davis has to be what I call a "leverage player" at the top of the route stem. I didn't see the burst you look for coming out of cuts to create separation and he does have some stiffness to his game, but with his size (and length) the inside dig and seam can lead to production. He should be a red zone option from my perspective.

•Either aligned or with pre-snap motion, the Bears created multiple stack looks (two wide receivers close together) with Marshall and Earl Bennett. This allows a free release at the line of scrimmage with Bennett on the underneath option route and Marshall working the top end of the route tree. It's a high to low read for Cutler and tough to defend.

•I'm curious with Devin Hester. He spent a lot of time today at flanker, but how will the Bears work him inside of the numbers? Bennett is the slot man in this offense, however, I still see Hester's skill set as a route runner best used in the middle of the field. Occasional deep ball aside, Hester has the ability to win consistently inside.

•One route to keep an eye on when the games count is the outside vertical stretch. It's a three-level concept that works the clear out 9 (fade) along with the 7 cut and the flat concept. I saw it a couple of times Tuesday and it is a nightmare to stop in Cover 3.

Special contributor Matt Bowen, who played at Glenbard West and Iowa, spent seven seasons in the NFL as a strong safety. You also can find his work at nationalfootballpost.com.

I love to listen to Matt Bowen BTW. Can't define why exactly. I just like his seriousness and ex-player point of view takes which are never dumbed down.

[emperorjones]

^^ yea, hat article was a great read. You really need to be focused when reading his contributions

[Air Poohdini]

This is going to be great for Devin Hester.