Quick Thoughts - Week 3

[ChaosTheory]

1. First win of the season. First win for AR, right? At least that he finished. Hopefully that's a monkey off his back so he can continue to progress.

2. It was the Bears, so pump the brakes... but they did play the Texans tough a week ago and held them to 19 points.

3. Sticking with AR... another 50% completion day because of some, frankly, just shitty passes. I think Downs dropped that early one. His good throws are difficult to catch, his bad throws are bye bye.

4. I think I said this in another thread... Our receivers are having the inverse issue this year compared to last year. Last year we couldn't get it deep, everything was tight, Pittman feasted. This year, we threaten deep, miss the easy stuff, and Pierce has been our leading receiver all three games (not that he's been a superstar, though).

5. JT looked like '21 again. Plugging away and then busted a few really crucial explosives. The second long run, not the TD, was really awesome vision. Back to back very good weeks.

6. What AR lacks in refinement, he at least makes up for in fire. The Sermon TD, AR was the first one pushing. Just before that, be blasted a DB on a short run. Then he had one of the most important plays of the game with that 13 yard run to the goal line when he smashed a guy again.

7. ^^ As cool as that is, it's scary as shit. We'll see how sore he is this week.

8. Latu is going to be good. He wins a lot and that strip sack was the play of the game.

9. Run D was solid for the most part. Putting EJ Speed on the line to establish until they can back him off.

10. Pass D was frustrating at times. In particular, the third down conversions where we'd have the guy before the sticks, but couldn't get him down. Have to tackle in this defense. Surprised to see the Bears were only 9 for 21 on third down.

11. TOP was an issue again. Better this week, 25-35. But we allow sustained drives and also don't have our own sustained drives. Double whammy.

12. I thought the Pass D was ok overall, though. Took advantage when INT's were available. Almost 100 passing yards were on the Hail Mary (too close) and that long catch by Odunze which was a great play that's hard to defend. But again, this defense only works if you tackle every time.

13. Pass rush continues to look strong. 4 sacks, 6 QB hits, and 7 TFL's. Curious to see their win rates and total pressures because there were some missed ones, too.

14. Franklin looked like himself, finally. Flying around thumping guys. Speed looked better, too.

15. OL also looks solid to me. I know some were complaining, but I don't see it. Most time people only notice the OL when they fuck up, but that's going to happen. This has been our most solid unit on the team thus far.

16. Injuries suck. Flowers and Paye, first glance, seem bad. Glad Moore didn't die.

17. Ultimately, I didn't expect AR to struggle so much with the easy stuff this season. This year is looking more and more like a defacto rookie season for him. Kind of expected, but again, thought he would be further along with some basic stuff. Once (if) that element clicks, things will look way prettier.

Mini debate in the gameday thread about moving on from him... way too early. The concerns are there for sure. Some are the same as they were pre-draft. But there's too much potential and examples like Josh Allen to bail on him.

18. Two weeks in a row I haven't been impressed with Steichen, which is surprising. He adjusted later in the game for some key plays (the PA screen to JT), but he can do a lot to help AR out.