Fordham Parts with Head Coach Masella - Sports - The Ram - Fordham University at Rose Hill#.Tsgf21Y2VCk

Fordham Parts with Head Coach Masella - Sports - The Ram - Fordham University at Rose Hill#.Tsgf21Y2VCk

Shamrock Series Helmet

Still not quite sure if I like this, LOVE the shamrock on the helmet just not sure on the helmet patterning

Domers fall

Just some ponderings after the game

That wasn't a lightning storm, that was the ghost of Knute Rockne showing his displeasure a stumbling bumbling Irish team that lost 23-20 to U.S.F & while doing so gave even more ammo to the Notre Dame haters.

For the first time ever a Notre dame game had to be held up by the weather, not just once but twice. Two hours & 53 minutes of delays led to a game starting at 8.30(Irish time) not finishing untill nearly 3am.

There was a lot of bad in this game some good & some ugly.

Notre Dame racked up 508 yards, 391 passing, Ciere Wood ran for 104 yads but the only stats that mattered in the end were -5 in turnover ration & only 2/4 in the redzone.

Tommy Rees threw for nearly 300 yards & 2 TD's with 1 interception that was clearly on TJ Jones. It's clear to me that Rees needs to be the starter the rest of the way. While Crist done nothing last season to lose the job the offense just seems to play better under Rees.

Malcolm Floyd is a BEAST. He set an Irish record in the game while making some great catches mongst his 12 for 154 & 2 TD game. Tyler Eifert also had a huge 2nd half.

The Irish D played pretty damned good only giving up 254 yards, while giving up no big plays (18 yards was the longest play from scrimmage)

Jonas Grays fumble after an excellent opening drive was a 14 point swing that the Irish never recovered from. TJ Jones needs to know that when your running a crossing route you have to look out for the ball it can come your way there should have been points on that drive & even a FG would have ended up making it a tied game.

Theo Riddick CAN be a big play guy but for the LOVE of God keep him away from punt returns. Maybe I missed some but it seemed to me that he muffed fumbled or bobbled every return. it was truly scary

.

Despite all this I'm really looking forward to next years Night game in the Big House & to make it better Gameday will be there

Wake Up The Echoes

Preseason Ponderings Giants game

This was not a pretty game, special teams & D got owned but the D started substituting guys on the 2nd drive so I'm not worried too much. After a quick first watch heres some thoughts

OL BIG improvement form the first game. the Line only gave up 1 sack & that was down to Cutler who at this stage of his career should know to just throw the ball away on that play. Both starting tackles got called for false starts but Carimi more than held his own against the wily veteran Justin Tuck. He looked very good.

WR Looking through my notes, 3 times I wrote Roy Williams sucks & he wan't in that often. He looks like I feared the receiver form Dallas not the receiver from Matz' Detroit days. Hester caught a lovely pass down the sideline & then stepped out of bounds when he could have gotten another couple yards, YES it's pre-season but I've seen this too many times in the regular season. He then dropped a TD pass badly. Earl Bennett is the man enough said. We got our first look at Dane Zansenbacher &he needs to make better judgement calls going out of bounds instead of trying to get an extra couple yards. Drops were the name of the game here. Who's going to drop more balls this year? Roy Williams or Des Clark? Onrea Turner had some nice catches in garbage time.

RB Forte didn't do a whole lot on his 4 carries but made a nice one handed catch on a screen 7 made a beautiful cutback showing off nice speed to get 37 yards on it. Chester Taylor is done. I look to have been wrong on Marion Barber he ran hard again & showed soft hands in the receiving game. Khalil Bell done what he has done before, an impressive first game followed by meh.

LB Briggs didn't play, Urlacher only played a couple series & the rest were meh. UDFA Diciccio was at fault for the blocked punt & didn't do much on D. Iwuh had a great pass break up on the goal-line.

DL Peppers was awesome on the 1 series he was in for getting pressure on Manning

DB Too many missed tackles & too many bad angles. Major Wright got punked by Brandon Jacobs. tim Jennings continues to impress me with his tackling.

ST Strangely a very poor performance from the third phase. A blocked punt, though not Spencers fault, Podlesh punted better than game 1, If Knox is going to be returning punts he needs to learn to let balls inside the 10 go into the endzone. HATED seeing Bennett return punts, I think he's going to be too important on O though he did return it hard. The special teams, it must be noted, was poor last pre-season too as Toub is basically evaluating new guys.

Our 4th down & short yardage woes look to be continuing the game was a loss but at least there were no injuries unlike the Giants.

Enderle, Webb & injuries

Nathan Enderle has been promoted to the number twos in camp to get more reps with Caleb Hanie being demoted. While most people look at this as the continuation of Martz' hate hate realtionship with Hanie I prefer to see it as getting the rookie some extra reps in a very complicated offense. Enderle done some very good things against the Bills on very limited reps. I'd be very surprised to see Enderle in the #2 spot once the regular season starts

J'Marcus Webb has come out & said he didn't match Shawn Merriman's intensity level in preseason game 1. Really? Maybe you should work on that. It definitely did not go down well with OL coach Mike Tice

After releasing a long sigh when asked about Webb's comments, Tice said, "I played for a long time, and I don't know that I've had that problem. I have a problem with that from a personal standpoint that a player is saying he didn't have the intensity level. I mean, (expletive), after sitting around for five months you should have plenty of intensity built up inside you. So I'm a little disappointed by that. I heard about that comment. He's got to understand that we put a world of weight on his shoulders. He needs to step up, play better, and he needs to grow up quickly because he's out on an island."

Corey Wootton is undergoing minor surgery today & while he's expected back for the season opener he could miss 4 weeks. Zachary Bowman was held out of practice but says he is good to go & didn't sufer a concussion

Preseason Ponderings

Well the Bears won 10-3 in a scrappy penalty filled first pre-season game against the Bills. Some good some bad, pretty much what ya expect from a first exhibition game especially with such a short camp.

The OL was horrible. 9 sacks against a pretty poor Bills team. J'Marcus Webb was not good in his first action at LT with drug free Shawn Merriman simply pushing him aside. Garza was poor at C and Spencer should start seeing time there.

khalil Bell & Marion Barber had outstanding days. Barber had runs of 11, 15 & 11 & Bell led the team with 73 yards. Harvey Unga saw time in the 4th & ran hard. Taylors time could be over.

It was strange seeing big plays from a number 91 but Okoye had an impressive debut & Melton continued to impress. Wouldn't surprise meto see Melton starting week 1.
Corey Wootton got hurt on the opening kick-off & saw no further action in the game.

Rookie Kris Adams had an impressive game with 2 great catches & rookie S Michael Holmes had an int to top of a nice game.

Johnny Knox showed why he'll see time on KR this year blazing a 70 yard return while Earl Bennett had a 33 yard PR. The Bears are very stacked at returner

Sam Hurd caused a fumble on a kick return but it was nullified by a penalty.

Robbie Gould missed 2 field goals & the special teams unit as a whole had numerous penalties lets hope it's just a matter of gettiing used to new rules & a new holder.

Looking forward to the Giants game to see if the RB's can have another good game & the OL improves any.

Knox "Returns"

With Danieal Manning now a Texan the Bears were inneed of someone to take the majority of the kick returns. Dave Toub says that man will be Johnny Knox. After a rookie season where he made the Pro-Bowl as a returner with a 29 yard average he only had 8 returns last season. After adding some weight to his frame I think this is a great move & added with Hester our return's should again be exciting.

Give me back the lockout

Remember when it was announced that the lock-out was over? Remember the flurry of UDFA signings? Remember the excitement? Try, try harder, no me either. It's all gone so wrong in such a short period of time, though, there is time to turn it around still.

I am not happy with the way things are turning out, theres been a few positives but way more negatives. So lets go through the positives first

Adam Podlesh - The Bears signed the former Jaguars P to a 5 year deal. Maynards replacement had a career year last season averaging 43.8 yards per punt. Dropped 26 IN20 & had a long return of just 19 yards . At only 27 we could be set at the position for the next decade.

Anthony Adams - resigned a very very good move.

Draftees - All of them are signed.

Olsen trade - Now I know not everybody will see this as a positive but the guy has not played up to his size as a Bear. He has had some great days as a Bear but also some dire performances. Bottom line is a guy his size who can't block & gets outmuscled by smaller C.B's can be replaced & Kellen Davis is that guy a better blocker & can catch the ball too.

Manu-useless cut - ENough said.

Now the negatives

Up to now we've added no O-line help & in fact are dangerously close to getting worse on the line. If kreutz fails to return we have no replacement other than an UDFA ( A very good prospect but nonetheless an UDFA) Garza will have to move to C which means we have an awful L.T, a rookie R.T, a L.T playing G, a G playing C & who knows what at the other G spot.

Danieal Manning - again like Olsen a lot of people will disagree with me & see this as a positive. However this kid is an amazing athlete who just had his best season in the NFL when the Bears finally decided to leave him at one position. he has also been very very durable, I'm not sure I can say that about the rest of our safeties.

Roy Williams - I nearly puked when I saw this signing & it wasn't from yesterdays wedding drinks. This guy cost Dallas a fortune in picks & done nothing. He has led the NFL in drops the last 3 years & likes to celebrate first downs when his team are getting hammered. EPIC FAIL.

At first i disliked the Sam Hurd pick-up also but now I'm pretty neutral on it. A very good special teamer who will replace Rashied Davis. I liked Davis & KNEW he could fill in as a receiver if needed(see big game last year). Hurd is younger but does nothing on O.

Theres a long way till F.A is over but the 3 Stooges of Angelo, Smith & Martz(who has WAY too much say for my liking) better step up their game or we could be looking up at the other 3 teams in our division come the end of the year.

3 in a row

How hard can it be? You win 1, then you win another 7 then a third. Yet the Cubs remain the only MLB team not to win 3 games on the trot.
But do they need to??



"Maybe we should just focus on taking two out of three, because if you do that all year, you've had a heck of a year, too," Cubs manager Mike Quade said. "Keep knocking at the door. Hopefully, you knock the darn thing down."

Yes you keep winning 2 of 3 & you can have a good season but somehow I doubt it will be a great season

Still a win tonight takes the series from the Yankees, I can live with that...... for now

Card of the week

My 1st card of a 2011 Bears draftee

Welcome to Chicago

Well thats the draft done for another year & with the lock-out back on for now there will be little to discuss NFL wise for a while. So how did we do? Well we started with a bang & ended a little more quietly

With the first rounder the Bears got the OL help they needed with Wisconsin tackle Gabe Carimi. I still can't believe he was available at the 29th pick. the Outland winner started 49 games at Wisconsin & looks like he can step in right away at either LT or RT.





Round 2 brought the DT that was needed to replace Tommie Harris. The Bears traded their 4th rounder to the Redskins to move up for Oregon State defensive tackle Stephen Paea. The Pac-10 defensive MVP last season recorded 45 tackles, 10 tackles-for-loss and six sacks & can play the 3 technique. Great run stuffer but doesn't add much to the pass rush.

Round 3 brought, wait for it, a FS. Yes another safety & for those counting thats 7 straight drafts where Angelo has took a safety. thats just ridiculous. California safety Chris Conte only spent 1 year as a FS after 3 years at CB & a LB in high school so the statement that he is a true FS seems a little strange to me. As a senior he had his best season & was named first-team All-Pac 10 . He had 1 interception last year & blocked a punt. Definitely DO NOT like this pick.

No 4th rounder & moving to the 5th where we still had plenty of needs withjust 2 remaining picks. The Bears decided to placate the MAD GENIUS with a QB. idaho's Nathan Enderle. I LOVE the player but this was without a doubt the wrong pick, with interior linemen & LB's still out there. Thankfully it should mean theres no chance of a Todd Collins type signing next season.

The 6th round ended our draft with a whimper,West Virginia linebacker J.T. Thomas, at best a special teamer.

So ends another season

Well thats another team done for another year.

The Penguins have done well this season considering how long they played without Crosby & Melkin. Lost 1-0 tonight to the Lightning

A feast of football

Navy will face Notre Dame in the newly constructed Aviva Stadium on Saturday 1st September 2012. The game will be a full NCAA regular season game and the outcome is expected to have a major effect on both teams National Championship prospects. Both teams have visited Dublin in the past, having played against each other in Croke Park, Dublin in November 1996. On that occasion, Notre Dame won 54-27

It will not, however, be the only football played in Dublin that weekend.


Div III team John Carroll will be making their 2nd visit to Ireland after previously playing the national team here. While Sherman Oaks (Calif.) Notre Dame and Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton and Loyola Academy from Wilmette, Illinois, and Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas, Texas will play their 2012 regular season opening game in Dublin, Ireland, on Friday, August 31.

101 Reasons to love Notre Dame Football

Nice handy quick little book that arrived in the post this week

Quarterback Caleb Hanie; running backs Garrett Wolfe and Kahlil Bell; wide receivers Devin Aromashodu and Rashied Davis; tight end Desmond Clark; center Olin Kreutz; defensive tackle Anthony Adams; outside linebackers Pisa Tinoisamoa and Nick Roach; cornerback Corey Graham; safeties Danieal Manning and Josh Bullocks; and punter Brad Maynard.

Caleb Hanie - Showed enough in the time he saw to show everyone except maybe Mike Martz that he is a more than capabe number 2. Needs to be brought back
Garrett Wolfe - Excellent special teamer but offers nothing to the team on offense. The staff has never shown the imagination to work out a way to use him properly. Wolfes time as a Bear is over.
Kahlil Bell - Could be brought back but is nothing special, just a guy
Devin Aromashodu - Ah the meatheads favourite. Another Mike Hass. Has the size needed & really should have been able to see the field but rarely did. Gone
Rashied Davis - Hopefully gets brought back excellent special teamer & showed he can still fill a need at receiver when he had a big game filling in for Earl Bennett.
Demond Clark - Has been a great servant of the Bears but spending more time inactive than not last season it look like he is no longer in the Bears plan.
Olin Kreutz - Not the player he once was but his replacement i not on the roster so look for him to be signed to a short term deal.
Anthony Adams - Needs to be brought back solid player
Pisa Tinoisamoa/Nick Roach - One of these will be brought back one won't. Hopefully Roach gets resigned.
Corey Graham - Special teams STUD. Hope we can bring him back but he gets no time on D & may want to try elsewhere.
Danieal Manning - Had his best season as a Bear once he was left in the one position however still does not make enough big plays. Would love him back but I think someone offers him more than the Bears are willing to give.
Josh Bullocks - UUGGHHH bye bye
Brad Maynard - Could be finally time to bring in a new punter that will actually challenge for the job. Richmond McGee or a rookie?

THE SHIRT

2011's Shirt

Really like this might just get one depending on shipping

Wembley 2011

Apparently it's gonna be BEARS v Bucs in London this year, assuming that the lock-out ends.

Card of the Month

Incoming from my group break on Tradingcardcentral

NFL Lock-out

UUGGHHHH the longer this lock-out goes on the less interested I'm becoming in football. Hopefully the draft can kick-start my interest. Find myself checking up on Notre Dame football more than I usuallydo & really looking forward to the college season. There will be some non Bears related posts up soon focusing on college ball(Notre Dame & Fordham) & maybe some Cubs news.