Bazuin, the Bears' second-round pick out of Central Michigan, asserted himself late in Monday's game. Bazuin, who missed much of training camp and offseason workouts after two separate injuries to the same knee, played with the second team Monday. He made three tackles on defense and two more on special teams.
Bazuin hadn't been impressive in training camp, but blamed it on conditioning -- or rather, non-conditioning.
"My conditioning was not as good as I want it to be," he said. "It's got to come with time, because I have to give my knee some rest still and I can't be doing a whole lot of extra stuff."
Because of the competition at defensive end, Bazuin might need to pick up his play on special teams just to make the 53-man roster.
"I want to contribute as much as I can. I am just trying to show them that I can contribute in some areas, because I've got some great defensive linemen I am competing against," he said. "I may have to show them other avenues where I can definitely contribute."
the numbers say he had 5 tackles. They were 5 of of the quietest tackles ever then. I missed about 3 of them. I did watch him against the scrub Colts tackles on pass rushes though, and I can't say he beat them once. Not once. Either he was engulfed, or just pushed aside. And he wasn't very quick or fast to me. He better still be hurt and out of shape. Smallish fella, light in the pants
