Mojo Speaks:

 

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So how much of yesterday was really on Lovie?

 

First of all, it appeared that since the Bears believed they were not up against a "Top 5" defense, all they had to do was play conservatively, not make mistakes, and they would readily prevail 7 to nothing against the young Falcons.  Only against a Top 5 defense does the Bear offense seem to open it up and take chances in order to score.  Result:  3-9 at the half.  Bad Lovie!  Bad Ron!

 

Next:  Against a rookie led offense, if you punch them in the mouth early and often with your own "Top 5" defense, they'll get confused, cry and curl up into a ball.  Well, we never laid a satin elbow length glove on their rookies and it was only through single great plays against each of those Falcon drives that we held them to those field goals.  We were not playing good enough to win anyway.  They in fact kept us in this game.  Bad Players!  Bad Bob!

 

In terms of mouth punching, I saw several instances of Falcon players shoving Bear players after the whistle and the Bears this time wisely did not retaliate.  Good Lovie!  Good Players!  So where are the unsportsmanlike flags for shoving?  Lovie has got to point this out to the home field officials and get flags.  Bad Lovie!

 

Then we have the Tommie and Brian show.  Bad Players!  Bad Home Field Officials!  One week it's a quick whistle.  Next week there's no whistle.  Just lay there, Tommie!

 

Second Half.  Hey, the plane landed and we're in a football game?  Good 2nd half Lovie appears!  Mojo channels for a rare Elam shank.  We still got a chance.  It's a SCORE!!!!!  Good Players!

 

11 seconds.  It was a weird 11 seconds.  I think if we could have immediately kicked without the interminable booth review, Atlanta would not have had the time to regroup and see that 11 seconds can still be an eternity, which is what I said at that moment at my Sunday gathering. Watch out!!!  I saw them lining up in a squib formation and yelled "Kick it away, don't squib!"  The most important thing at a moment like this is yardage, especially with Elam waiting for redemption.  The next is time.  You're in a freakin' Georgia Dome where even our diminutive Robbie has kicked 3 touchbacks.  If there's a touchback, you got the yardage covered.  If there's a return, the time is chewed up, leaving only a Hail Mary.  With an anti-touchdown coverage formation, keep your fastest guy back and let 'em try it.  Lose like men if you're gonna lose.  Bad Lovie!

 

So Robbie flurbs the squib.  Bad Player!  Then somebody instinctively makes a shoestring tackle on the ball carrier instead of keeping him corralled until he's out of bounds, taking off a few more ticks.  Bad Player!  But I want a stopwatch on the replay.  Only five seconds off on a squib and return like that?  Home Field Timekeeper.  Is that challengeable?

 

So they're at their 43 with 6 seconds or 5.6 real seconds.  Where do they have to get to with an aging Elam?  Between the 30 and 35?  That's a 22 to 27 yard pass play.  They actually got to the 31 so that's 26 yards downfield plus let's assume 10 yards from the sideline is a 36-yard run.  A wideout should run a 4.4 40 so in 5 seconds that's 45 yards

so that's reasonable ground to cover to leave one second, but still, Home Field Timekeeper and is that challengeable, not whether his feet were in bounds, but was the clock started and stopped accurately and honestly?

 

I would have put a guy at the 30 on the sideline, a guy at the 32 on the sideline, and a guy at the 35 standing on the sideline!  Same across field.  5 yards long from the 30 to the 35 times 6 inches wide for both toes is a total of 7.5 square feet to defend.  Anywhere else outside the six inches doesn't matter!  So those 3 guys should be standing on the sideline so that's 2.5 square feet per man of territory to cover.  These guys take up 2.5 square feet standing in their pajamas!  Don't line up against the man in coverage.  Get near the sideline and let him come to you and push him back in bounds.  Game over.

 

What about down the middle you say?  Dash to the sideline just before the hike and the rookie QB won't have time to change the play. But if they went down the middle, I've got 5 guys unassigned still.  Rush 2 and put 3 down the middle, one at the 20, 25 and 30.  Bad Lovie!  Bad Bob!

 

So what we get is one wideout running 36 yards to the 31 in 5 whole seconds while 3 Bear defenders converge on him in a triangle from a distance, Bearly laying a hand on him.  Bad Players!  I tried to Mojo the kick but the embearassment kept me from penetrating that damn dome twice in one afternoon.  11 seconds.

 

I bet the stopwatch said 10.6 but nobody thought to ask.  3-3

 

So my count is 4 Bad Lovies, 1 Bad Ron, 2 Bad Bobs, 5 Bad Players, and 4 Bad Home Officials, partially offset by 1.5 Good Lovies, and 2 Good Players.

 

I guess he gets another week.  Division Game.  Better win it.

 

Convincingly.

 

Mojo

10/13/2008