Ten Who Must Show Improvement Or Take Charge Again

[JAF-N72EX]

8 hours ago, soulman said:

I fear it's more of what's between his ears that needs a workout.  The could be one of the best WR in the NFL if he'd focus on making himself one.

Absolutely. Miller has alot of potential but his attitude and immaturity are what's holding him back. And a difference in size, training regimen, and diet are not gonna change this until HE decides to change it himself and grow up, and realize what's at stake.

[dll2000]

On 5/25/2021 at 7:17 AM, dll2000 said:

I fell asleep watching Daniels in game 1 last night.

He had some awful efforts in first quarter and just a couple nice blocks before I fell asleep.

There was one rep that I wish I could have quick recorded on xbox and posted here.   It was crazy comical and/or tragic.   Leno and Daniels just both completely whiffed on blocks - Leno missed one guy and Daniels somehow completely missed two guys.  

I swear these guys are lucky I am not their O line coach.  Or maybe I am lucky because they would murder me.   But they would be hearing from me on Mondays.  We would watch these reps over and over and over.   

I seem to recall he had a nice start to season.  Maybe he picked it up later.   This is very small sample size.  

Watched some more of Daniels this time vs Giants.

Not good.  Not horrible, but not good at all.

Let me explain:

Football at its heart is a game of numbers.  It is math and geometry.

As an offensive designer you want to create an advantage in numbers or at least even in area you are attacking.  You do this with shifts, formation, moving blockers post snap, fakes, and route concepts.   You read a safety so you are only dealing with a corner 1 on 1, etc.   

You have force multipliers with talent.  A guy who is so fast or good it takes two people to guard him.  An OL who can drive a guy off ball and put his man in path of someone else.  A QB who can throw lasers, etc.

Defense is same.  You want to be able to bring superior numbers to point of attack or free up a player from a block, etc.

That being said the goal of O line is 5 hats on 5 hats.  Sometimes you can use a double team to move a guy in way of another guy, but typically goal is come off a double and put hat on other guy.

Two hats on one hat is advantage defense.  You have just given them an advantage in numbers.   Why huge DL are not worthless if they can occupy 2 OL for a snap without getting moved off line of scrimmage.

When Daniels is uncovered and goes to double he isn’t looking at this zone.  His eyes are only on the double team.   This is bad.   He is ignoring and often running by players and those guys are disrupting things.   Sometimes if he just threw a hand back with a guy on his hip he could have saved Leno and let him get on his block.   

When he is covered he is getting bullied too often.  He isn’t giving up sack, but he is anchoring his pass set 3 yards deep right on top and in front of QB.   It is disrupting the QB play and made things hard for MT. 

It looks on surface like he is doing his job, like I said its not horrible play.   But when you look closely he is doing a poor job.    A lot of it is poor decision making and poor fundamentals.   His eyes are not in right place, he is not anchoring quickly enough, etc.   

He is too talented to play like this.  In his rookie year he had some amazing fundamentals and made some really impressive plays. 

Maybe he gets better later.   I’ll try next game.   When did he get hurt?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dll2000]

Right now I am of a mind to let Daniels compete for his job rather than handing it back to him.  

[soulman]

8 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Right now I am of a mind to let Daniels compete for his job rather than handing it back to him.  

With as many bodies who are playing the right side as we have I don't see how it's possible for him not to have to show he's "the guy".

Daniels is still only 23 years old and has dealt with two different OL coaches with different approaches.  While that's not an excuse for poor fundamentals it may explain why he's missing some of his assignments.

Once Mustipher took over at OC it seemed that the OL began to get on the same page and run blocking definitely improved.  I'm hoping that will extend itself into this year as well.  It's a contract year for Daniels and while I'd hate to lose him clearly he has to step up and own that RG spot if he expects to earn a new deal.

[WindyCity]

32 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Right now I am of a mind to let Daniels compete for his job rather than handing it back to him.  

If Mustipher isn’t competing then Daniels shouldn’t be.

[WindyCity]

7 hours ago, JAF-N72EX said:

Absolutely. Miller has alot of potential but his attitude and immaturity are what's holding him back. And a difference in size, training regimen, and diet are not gonna change this until HE decides to change it himself and grow up, and realize what's at stake.

Best case for the Bears is probably that Newsome, Goodwin, or Byrd grab the #3 WR role.

I cannot see Miller being in the long term plans of the Bears because of the things you mentioned, regardless of performance in his contract year.

[dll2000]

24 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

If Mustipher isn’t competing then Daniels shouldn’t be.

I am fine with that.  

Who do you want Mustipher to compete with?

Daniels was bad at center and Whitehair has been much better at guard. 

I am thinking Bars and Borom should get a shot at RG in camp over Daniels and may best man win.

 Daniels is most talented, but he isn’t performing to his talent.  Light a fire under him.  

[dll2000]

This is what Nagy fails to get that Lou Holtz, Jimmy Johnson, Saban, etc do.  One of reasons I believe he is not a great head coach.  

He is frustrated with some guys like Miller, Wims, should be with Daniels and formerly Leno.

Guys not playing to their ability or being discipline problems or not listening to coaching.

Lou Holtz was known as this great and funny speaker.  He was often asked what his secret to player motivation was.  

He said nothing.  I don’t try to motivate them.  If I see they aren’t motivated then I replace them with a guy who is.

This goes even if guy you replace him with isn’t as good.  You do it to send a message to other guys on team.  There is no coasting in football and you do as your told.

It isn’t a democracy.   It is a dictatorship. 

You can treat your star QB who has proven over years himself different.  Or some other guys who are self driven.   You don’t have to treat everyone same.  You can have special rules for Aaron Rodgers or Michael Jordan. 

Good coaches know this.  I am not sure Nagy has figured it out.  

[AZBearsFan]

1 hour ago, WindyCity said:

Best case for the Bears is probably that Newsome, Goodwin, or Byrd grab the #3 WR role.

I cannot see Miller being in the long term plans of the Bears because of the things you mentioned, regardless of performance in his contract year.

Purely from a best case scenario Newsome grabbing the job and proving capable and reliable right away would be ideal. He doesn’t have burner speed like Goodwin or Byrd but he’s also 22 and on a 4-year deal making barely above the minimum. For every one of those guys you have as a starter you can pay upper tier money elsewhere. Having our top 3 WR locked in with 2 (Mooney and Newsome) on minimum deals for at least 2 more years would wholly offset the financial burden from whatever huge payday Robinson should get in the same way the Fields bargain the next few years should wholly offset expected large investments elsewhere.