Pre-Game Thread- Bears @ Pats

[patfanken]

BTW- What's the story on Ty Montgomery. Has he started to practice as he's to come off of IR. Anyone know what his current status is?

 

[BritPat]

The Eberflus effect has taken hold of that Bears D and it looks potentially very good. The offense has some decent pieces, run game for example - don't fall into the trap of thinking Fields can't play either. Their O-line has been indescribably bad, as bad or worse than the turnstyles in Washington. Need to pressure like crazy keep but him in the pocket. Would imagine the game plan might be similar to the old ones for Roethlisberger, or look something like 'Lamar-lite' one.

 

[PScottman]

Wait...someone named their kid "Sauce"?

What's good for the Goose is good for the Gardner.

 

[ashley]

Getting everyone ready for a Tuesday:

 

[Triumph]

BB can pass Papa Bear George Halas for 325 wins in Chicago.

BB is old skhool and a student of NFL history and tradition. I contemplate that he might put loser Mac back in because beating the Bears for win 325 might be disrespectful. The Bears and Patriots have always had a good relationship. When the Bears traded Ted Washington to BB the Super Bowl was a given.

 

[Salsalife]

If Mac starts final score Pats 23 Bears 14.
If Zappe starts final score Pats 55, Bears 3.

 

[Keyser Söze]

No way Fields and that offense is scoring more than we do.

 

[Triumph]

Keep in mind that when I say "absolute garbage," I am comparing to MJ. Cletus is a good backup. A great backup, even. Maybe even the best backup QB of all-time.

That's still garbage when you compare him to MJ.

Let Macaroni play.

Chicago's defense is pretty good. After the Pats lose, everyone can reset and go back to blaming Patricia, Judge, the OL, Nike cleats, the Refs, Goodell, the WRs with no separation, Harris out, Bourne in the doghouse (Macs favorite), the 3 mph wind.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Let Macaroni play.

Chicago's defense is pretty good. After the Pats lose, everyone can reset and go back to blaming Patricia, Judge, the OL, Nike cleats, the Refs, Goodell, the WRs with no separation, Harris out, Bourne in the doghouse (Macs favorite), the 3 mph wind.

You forgot the QB with a pop gun arm.

 

[Triumph]

Through 3 games Zap is @ 72.9 % completion rate - 596 yards - 4 TDs - 1 INT - 5 sacks

If he is lucky enough to play vs Chicago, they have some very good defensive players. Namely Roquan Smith.

 

[ashley]

This is a must read by Lazar. Touches on Zappe vs Mac and numerous players and positions:

After Further Review: Breaking Down Bailey Zappe's Performance and More From Patriots Win Over Browns

The Patriots rookie quarterback's decision-making and processing speed impress once again.

www.patriots.com

 

[sb1]

Remember the debate on whether we should trade up for Fields? Good times…

 

[ashley]

Remember the debate on whether we should trade up for Fields? Good times…

LOL SB, remember that very well...I think we ended up making the right decision there

 

[Zuma]

This is a must read by Lazar. Touches on Zappe vs Mac and numerous players and positions:

After Further Review: Breaking Down Bailey Zappe's Performance and More From Patriots Win Over Browns

The Patriots rookie quarterback's decision-making and processing speed impress once again.

www.patriots.com

Lots of good info there

 

[Lagaffe_07]

This is a must read by Lazar. Touches on Zappe vs Mac and numerous players and positions:

After Further Review: Breaking Down Bailey Zappe's Performance and More From Patriots Win Over Browns

The Patriots rookie quarterback's decision-making and processing speed impress once again.

www.patriots.com

The article is interesting but I am getting tired of the opponent strength narrative to diminished what Zappe did but ignoring it to pump Mac performance. I don’t remember Lazar bringing the opponent strength last year when Mac was doing the same thing.

How many good team did Mac beat last year? 0. Maybe I can give you the Chargers but he was bad in that game.

Mac Jones had 7 games last year with a passer rating over 100. Those 7 games were against:

- w1 against Miami. A team that started 1-7
- w4 against TB. A team that was missing half their starter on defense.
- w6 against Dallas. Nothing to say here. Good game
- w7 against Jets. I repeat, the 4-13 jets.
- w10 against Cleveland. His best game IMO
- w12 against Ten. Injured depleted team.
- w17 against Jacksonville. No comment needed

He was ok at the start of the season. Had a good stretch in the middle against bad teams and was bad at the end when it mattered.

he has now a good stretch of game from end of last year to the beginning of this year where he is not good. He was not good in training camp and it carried over into the regular season.

 

[Rob0729]

if zappe plays Monday night, and plays well against the 4th best ranked passing D in the league, you have to wait until Mac is 100%, probably until the Bye, and then make the decision then...but then he's also beaten the jets and colts by the bye, so then you let him keep going until he proves otherwise

don't refuse a present when one is given to you

That is a bit misleading. Part of the reason why the Bears are statistically so good against the pass is because they are the fourth worst defense against the run. If you look at the yards per passing attempt and opposing QB's completion percentage, the Bears are middle of the pack. Teams are just more successful at running against them. Plus look at some of the QBs they played. Trey Lance, Davis Mills, Carson Wentz (who broke his finger), and Daniel Jones. The only good QBs that they have faced are Aaron Rodgers who is struggling this year and Kirk Cousins who is an above average QB.

But to that. I expect the Pats to run the ball a lot and not throw it a ton no matter who is under center. As I said the Bears run defense sucks and I guessing Belichick will want to grind it out on offense and force Fields to make mistakes.

 

[Pape]

Interesting tidbit, or at least I thought so...

If the Patriots win, BB takes over second place on the all time wins list with 325 victories ( 293 regular season & 31 playoff wins), supplanting Bears legend George Halas, with 324 wins (318 regular season & 6 playoff wins) ...

If the Bears lose, and Green Bay holds court vs the Washington Commanders, the Bears fall to 2nd place on the all time wins list (785 vs 786 regular season wins)

 

[ashley]

Meyers is pretty good, nothing spectacular, but always reliable and dependable:

 

[Rob0729]

This is a must read by Lazar. Touches on Zappe vs Mac and numerous players and positions:

After Further Review: Breaking Down Bailey Zappe's Performance and More From Patriots Win Over Browns

The Patriots rookie quarterback's decision-making and processing speed impress once again.

www.patriots.com

I like Lazar's analyses after the game, but I hate that he relies on Pro Football Focus for any of his analysis. Football Outsiders and their DVOA is ok even though I don't really buy into advanced analytics, but PFF is trash even if they get things right some of the time.

That said, it was a good breakdown of the game.

 

[JMC00]

This is a must read by Lazar. Touches on Zappe vs Mac and numerous players and positions:

After Further Review: Breaking Down Bailey Zappe's Performance and More From Patriots Win Over Browns

The Patriots rookie quarterback's decision-making and processing speed impress once again.

www.patriots.com

This thing bringing up DVOA kind of ignores Zappe is a rookie who as of 2 weeks ago was getting scout team reps. Ya they might not be good defensively but still a rookie vs an nfl defense. Go look at what Herbert did a week before against the Browns. Zappe honestly had the best game a QB has had this season against the Browns.

It's funny that the offense being simplified and Zappe being good so far is a being used as kind of a knock on him. Like huh? Maybe Chicago will make him struggle a little more. But the 0 big time throws thing is lol. He was 8/9 for 200 yards and a perfect qb rating targeting receivers past the 1st down marker