Speaker 1: Welcome in Tough.
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Speaker 2: Here your hosts Jeff Chilliac aka the Mayor of Bearsville
Speaker 2: and his sidekick, Tom the Surfmaster Thayer.
Speaker 3: Everybody, it starts to get real right aim on the corner.
Speaker 4: Here a new and start for the Bears on Saturday,
Speaker 4: preseason Week one in Buffalo. The starters are going to
Speaker 4: give it a go, including rookie quarterback Kato Williams. Bears
Speaker 4: Weekly right here on ESPN one thousand of the Bears
Speaker 4: Radio Network with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Thayer.
Speaker 4: I'm Jeff Joniyat coming up. We visit with Bears linebacker TJ.
Speaker 4: Edwards and we're getting ready for Week one of the preseason.
Speaker 4: Josh Allen and the Bills starters also expected to play
Speaker 4: at least a quarter in the ESPN studio spending the
Speaker 4: dials tonight. We've got Sean Grany thanks to Dan Brilliant,
Speaker 4: Jordan Tredip and the Bears and the executive producer of
Speaker 4: the Bears rady A Network is Eric Ostrowski. Tom, this
Speaker 4: is I got a game on the television right now,
Speaker 4: New England and Carolina getting underway.
Speaker 3: So it's here.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 4: I know we had the Hall of Fame game, but
Speaker 4: now you're going to see starters, and that's what I'm
Speaker 4: most excited about.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm most excited that it's a noon start
Speaker 5: because if you think of the first regular season game
Speaker 5: for the Chicago Bears, it's a noon start and Soldier
Speaker 5: Field against the Tennessee Titans. Now you really get to
Speaker 5: fall into that pregame rhythm of how it's actually all
Speaker 5: gonna happen. What are the times of the pregame meals,
Speaker 5: the pregame meetings, What time do the busses leave, What
Speaker 5: bus do you want to be on? When do you
Speaker 5: want to get into the locker room and start getting
Speaker 5: yourself prepared? And I really do think having a noon
Speaker 5: start in Buffalo plays an important role in the preparedness
Speaker 5: for week one of the regular sets.
Speaker 4: The funny thing is, you never looked at the schedule,
Speaker 4: and so you thought, just you know, assuming it's Saturday.
Speaker 1: Night, Yeah I assume, Yeah, you know, that's you know.
Speaker 5: That's why you should never assume, as you know, during
Speaker 5: a football season. And I'm super happy that as a
Speaker 5: noon start on Saturday. But for forty years, preseason games
Speaker 5: have always been at seven o'clock at night, especially in
Speaker 5: Buffalo where you know.
Speaker 1: That seems to be when the fans want to come out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they'll be out, they'll be out, we heard Tevin
Speaker 4: Jenkins say, And we're going to hear from a bunch
Speaker 4: of guys who are at the podium today.
Speaker 3: We'll start with Matt Eberflus here in a second.
Speaker 4: But everybody's talking about how things are working out here.
Speaker 4: We've been to every practice. We've got our thoughts as well,
Speaker 4: so we'll share those with you. Injury concerns remain some
Speaker 4: of the storyline here. There's nothing quite serious in terms
Speaker 4: of something that season ending or going to be out
Speaker 4: a super long time other than what we heard on
Speaker 4: THEO Benedette could be about five or six weeks. We
Speaker 4: learned that from what we saw in Hard Knocks the
Speaker 4: other night. But Kyler Gordon's been out for several weeks,
Speaker 4: a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: Here now, so it sounds like he he's on the
Speaker 3: mend on.
Speaker 4: The way back, and hopefully he'll be getting out there
Speaker 4: promptly because that chemistry. We're only focusing on the offense,
Speaker 4: it seems, but that chemistry in the back end of
Speaker 4: the defense is also as important as anything.
Speaker 6: Well.
Speaker 1: I have no worries about Kyler Gordon.
Speaker 5: I really think he'll be there to start the regular
Speaker 5: season and hopefully a little bit before. But what was
Speaker 5: one of the results of some injuries in the defensive
Speaker 5: backfield last year.
Speaker 1: It's the development of depth.
Speaker 5: So if we're sitting there and Kyler Gordan's missing a
Speaker 5: couple weeks of training camp practice, we're not scratching our
Speaker 5: heads saying, oh my god, this sea is already in
Speaker 5: a downward spiral. No, there's other guys, other candidates up
Speaker 5: there that have had time to play and prepare, that
Speaker 5: can step in and this defense can function efficiently.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: One of the guys that has really done well is
Speaker 4: Jalen Jones. He has been here for several years. He
Speaker 4: knows the defense, He has done great on special teams.
Speaker 4: Is he core special teams player as well? Josh Blackwell
Speaker 4: is one of them as well. Ready Steward, an undrafted
Speaker 4: free agent, is also turning some heads as well.
Speaker 3: Tom.
Speaker 4: Without further ado, let's listen in how Matt Eberfluss is
Speaker 4: looking at this preseason game in terms of snap counts
Speaker 4: for the starters.
Speaker 7: About that, guys are just about it in terms we
Speaker 7: have a really good plan and a good process for that,
Speaker 7: and we have a range of plays that we feel
Speaker 7: that are going to be good for those particular groups.
Speaker 7: I'm not going to get into talking about numbers, but
Speaker 7: we want to see a good flow and a good
Speaker 7: rhythm to it. But the starters that are available to
Speaker 7: us will play on Saturday. But we're excited about the
Speaker 7: opportunity to show our execution and really for the individual
Speaker 7: battles that we have across the team. Those guys are
Speaker 7: going to be battling in there as well once the
Speaker 7: ones get out.
Speaker 6: Of there from going offense Saturday.
Speaker 7: Just more what we see now where he is in
Speaker 7: terms of the progress, you know, and this is this
Speaker 7: first time in live action. He's been getting a lot
Speaker 7: of good reps with our one defense, so I think
Speaker 7: he'll it'll feel similar to him. But I really feel
Speaker 7: that when it's live there in the pocket, to be
Speaker 7: able to move, maneuver in the pocket, ride the pocket, escape,
Speaker 7: either on the outside, b gaps, all those things and
Speaker 7: be able to deliver the ball, keep your eyes down field,
Speaker 7: and really just the operation of it getting in and
Speaker 7: out of the huddle or no pre snap penalties, just
Speaker 7: clean operation.
Speaker 5: Kyler Gordon and probably about two weeks, can you kind
Speaker 5: of update U something.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he's it's a work in progress. We're getting close.
Speaker 7: We feel good where he is. And again, this is
Speaker 7: something that in training that he did and then it
Speaker 7: just kind of came in with it, you know, So
Speaker 7: we're just kind of making sure that it's right. And
Speaker 7: there's a delicate balance here because we have to make
Speaker 7: sure it's right, but also he's working hard, diligently to
Speaker 7: get back because we know we have to have that
Speaker 7: conditioning level, the playing with the other players in terms
Speaker 7: of the continuity for that unit to be able to
Speaker 7: thrive that we wanted to. So we have to get
Speaker 7: him back as soon as possible. He understands that he's
Speaker 7: working to get there. What's your perspective of on Caleb's
Speaker 7: growth in terms of you urgently need him to be
Speaker 7: ready for the start of the season, especially with the
Speaker 7: roster leading, but also these.
Speaker 6: Are in theory very small, very early steps and what
Speaker 6: you expect to the alarm room.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's that's a good point. And I would say
Speaker 7: that he's right where he needs to be right now.
Speaker 7: He's having some good days, some good periods and then
Speaker 7: some other ones that you know, he's learning from adversity,
Speaker 7: you know, and a setback, and I told him to
Speaker 7: just lean into that. So when you have a setback
Speaker 7: or have adversity, don't shy away from it. Lean into
Speaker 7: it and then learn from it and then get better
Speaker 7: from it, you know, because a lot of people want
Speaker 7: to hie and shrink, shrink away from adversity. That's not
Speaker 7: what we do. We lean into it and get better
Speaker 7: from it. Invest our time, grow and improve. And that's
Speaker 7: what he's been doing. And he's got some moments out
Speaker 7: there today that he's going to need to do that
Speaker 7: in today's practice, and I'm sure he's going to have
Speaker 7: some in the game. So it's again the exposure and
Speaker 7: experience that we can give him, you know, throughout the
Speaker 7: course of this camp, the reps in pre season, the
Speaker 7: reps with the joint practice next week, all those are
Speaker 7: very valuable.
Speaker 5: Matt Billis he's been a running back for three days now,
Speaker 5: it's not enough to get him a couple of carries.
Speaker 6: In the preseason game.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think that he's done well back there.
Speaker 7: He's certainly got speed. We know that he's very durable.
Speaker 7: You know, he's got some good lean mass to him,
Speaker 7: so he can knock it forward pretty good. So he's
Speaker 7: got some good acceleration. He's going to be a threat
Speaker 7: out of the backfield in terms of the passing game.
Speaker 6: So I'm excited for him.
Speaker 7: And again we're going to evaluate that. Like I said,
Speaker 7: I believe earlier in the week Stacked by Stack in
Speaker 7: terms of the practices, and we'll reevaluate that after Buffalo's
Speaker 7: Pro A trickier.
Speaker 1: Topic with some of you.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 7: It is because it's new. It's new to him. He
Speaker 7: doesn't have that experience doing that, so again it's new.
Speaker 7: But I know he's stout, I know he's tough, So
Speaker 7: I just we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we saw some of that the other day.
Speaker 4: What are you just having that one on ones with
Speaker 4: the linebackers and pass pro And yeah, that will be
Speaker 4: an adjustment. So a lot to unpacked there. Let's hit
Speaker 4: on the key points, the things that stick out for you.
Speaker 4: And obviously there has been a lot of discussion, a
Speaker 4: lot of things written and discussed about how the offense
Speaker 4: is behind the defense right now, a defense that has
Speaker 4: been in the same system for three years, an offense
Speaker 4: that has a new offensive coordinator and a rookie quarterback
Speaker 4: trying to find its way.
Speaker 1: You know, that's the one thing about defense.
Speaker 5: If guys have experience in the system, they're playing at
Speaker 5: a faster tempo on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 5: And a lot of times, defensive football can be taught
Speaker 5: simply as when the ball is snapped, you go do
Speaker 5: your assignment and you chase the guy that has a
Speaker 5: football and tackle him. Whereas an offense development, especially when
Speaker 5: you're teaching a new system, from a new offensive coordinator
Speaker 5: to a new quarterback, the difficulty of that whole process
Speaker 5: takes time. And one thing that I like about Matt
Speaker 5: and talking about Caleb is leaning into something if he
Speaker 5: doesn't do it so well, Because our offensive line coach,
Speaker 5: Dick Stanfeld used to say, eventually, I have to stop
Speaker 5: coaching you and you have to start coaching yourself. If
Speaker 5: you recognize a mistake, whether it's a fundamental or some
Speaker 5: type of technique, then you've got to be able to
Speaker 5: correct that with me without me always telling you. And
Speaker 5: I think that's the same thing for any position on offense.
Speaker 5: And when you go back into the meeting room and
Speaker 5: you start watching tape and you go, Okay, I could
Speaker 5: have made this read more efficiently, or I could have
Speaker 5: had this ball placement another foot over in this direction.
Speaker 5: Those are all questions that Caleb eventually is going to
Speaker 5: be able to answer for himself.
Speaker 1: And I also agree with Matt.
Speaker 5: I think Caleb is progressing at the rate that you
Speaker 5: expect a guy coming from college to professional football.
Speaker 4: There have been wins, there's been past plays downfield, swing
Speaker 4: passes out, DeAndre Swift really shining out of the backfield,
Speaker 4: all the backs, and this one offensive line is still
Speaker 4: trying to get the five guys they want, trying to
Speaker 4: get healthy up front. So there's been some change and
Speaker 4: experimenting going on as well. All right, hold that thought.
Speaker 4: We're going to go to our first break when we
Speaker 4: come back. We joined by Bears linebacker TJ. Edwards here
Speaker 4: on Bears Weekly on a ESPN one thousand and The
Speaker 4: Bears Radio Network is.
Speaker 2: Bears Weekly with the Voice of the Bears for twenty
Speaker 2: three years Jeff Jonak on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 4: This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by
Speaker 4: CDW IF people to get it with Tom Dare, Jeff Joniak,
Speaker 4: and our guest this week is Bears linebacker Taj Edwards.
Speaker 3: Thanks for taking the time. How you feeling doing?
Speaker 8: Good?
Speaker 3: Man who always has a smile on his face?
Speaker 4: I tell you that right now, bless hey, hey, right,
Speaker 4: tell us, Why tell us why you're blessed?
Speaker 8: You know, my dad told me a long time ago.
Speaker 9: Anytime you can go to work and put sweatpants on
Speaker 9: to enter the office, you're doing something right.
Speaker 8: So keep being blessed for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And the man playing a kid's game, absolutely right.
Speaker 4: Ever since the early days of those Bears jerseys on
Speaker 4: is now that you're deep into your Bears career, do
Speaker 4: you reflect it all again back? I know you've been
Speaker 4: asked many times, but you wear that uniform with a
Speaker 4: lot of pride, and you're one of us, You're one
Speaker 4: of the fans of the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean absolutely, you know, I take a lot
Speaker 9: of pride in the hometown team and now being able
Speaker 9: to you know, obviously play for it and try to
Speaker 9: make a name for myself. Is it's really cool? You know,
Speaker 9: you try to take it all in because it goes
Speaker 9: quick for sure.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: Jay Hilgenberg always used to say football is a great
Speaker 5: job when you don't have to shower before you go
Speaker 5: to work. I also want to bring him up again, TJ,
Speaker 5: because I've heard so much about you crushing a golf
Speaker 5: ball throughout the whole offseason, and Jay said, and Jay's
Speaker 5: a really good golfer, but he says, one of the
Speaker 5: most impressive big hitters he's ever seen is TJ.
Speaker 1: Edwards.
Speaker 5: How did that come about? Who taught you that? Is
Speaker 5: it just natural talent that you have?
Speaker 9: I mean I think, I mean you said natural talent
Speaker 9: makes it seem like I'm really good. But I think
Speaker 9: growing up as a baseball player and it kind of
Speaker 9: it kind of just related. And my dad loves the
Speaker 9: golf and something I did at a young age, and
Speaker 9: I just enjoy it, man, being outside, being you know good,
Speaker 9: three four hours off there and uh yeah, I can.
Speaker 9: I can hit it a decent way. I couldn't tell
Speaker 9: you always where it's going, but it's going to go
Speaker 9: a long way.
Speaker 1: Well, I hear your crush.
Speaker 5: And I know you got a birthday coming up, so
Speaker 5: happy birthday in advance.
Speaker 1: Mine's the sixteenth, yours is the twelfth.
Speaker 5: So TJ, when you think about a year ago when
Speaker 5: you came to the Chicago Bears and you started training
Speaker 5: camp and the speed that you picked up throughout the
Speaker 5: course of the season, are you playing at the speed
Speaker 5: that you left off at the regular season or are
Speaker 5: you and Tremaine playing a faster pace of linebacker play
Speaker 5: now that you're kind of more familiar with each other
Speaker 5: in the system.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, I think you know, even coming in
Speaker 9: last year, it's a it's a unique system in a
Speaker 9: lot of ways, and just in terms of the movement
Speaker 9: that we play with and kind of the read and
Speaker 9: react things off of the D line, which is which
Speaker 9: is awesome when.
Speaker 8: It when everyone's working on all cylinders.
Speaker 9: But it definitely took a second, and I think you
Speaker 9: can really feel kind of what it looks like right now,
Speaker 9: you know, and and guys are flying around, guys are
Speaker 9: confident what we're doing.
Speaker 8: It feels like we're off to a really good start.
Speaker 9: And obviously you know, it's camp, and the offense knows
Speaker 9: us pretty well by now. We know them pretty well
Speaker 9: by now, but I'm excited just with kind of the
Speaker 9: chemistry that we have and kind of knowing how each
Speaker 9: other play. It's gonna it's gonna definitely translate for sure.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: One of the things that you're you're seeing a lot
Speaker 4: of screens, so it'll set you up for the regular season.
Speaker 4: Sniffing out those screens is always a challenge. I mean,
Speaker 4: if it's done right, it's done repetitiously by the offense
Speaker 4: at nauseam.
Speaker 3: Does that help you guys flow quicker to the ball?
Speaker 8: Absolutely?
Speaker 9: I mean I think you know, it's it's one of
Speaker 9: those things where you want to see all the all
Speaker 9: the problems you can't right like, you want to see
Speaker 9: all the plays that are tough and all the plays
Speaker 9: that maybe don't fit how they should on paper, just
Speaker 9: so you can talk about them and see them. But
Speaker 9: our offense, I would say, is definitely given us a
Speaker 9: good amount of them, and they're they're good at them right,
Speaker 9: and they've got good good speed, good skill. You know,
Speaker 9: I think seems like Swift is catching them with one
Speaker 9: hand every day I'm out there.
Speaker 8: But it's really good for us to see it is.
Speaker 3: What's different about the defense this year.
Speaker 4: I'm not you're not getting into scheme with me by
Speaker 4: any means, But do you feel there's more pages in
Speaker 4: the playbook from the jump? Is that going to create
Speaker 4: some more creativity maybe and some more frequency of things
Speaker 4: that maybe we all like to see a little more
Speaker 4: pressure from all levels.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, and it's again, it's camp, right, so
Speaker 9: you're kind of trying out all those things against a
Speaker 9: really good offense and you're you're getting to kind of
Speaker 9: see what's what's going on. But I think we've done
Speaker 9: really good job of mixing things up and just kind
Speaker 9: of seeing how we handle certain things and with with
Speaker 9: new looks every day and kind of giving the.
Speaker 8: Offense a new look too.
Speaker 9: So it's been it's been really good, and I think
Speaker 9: Flus and coach Washer have handled it really well.
Speaker 5: You know, TJ and all the stats, you had one
Speaker 5: hundred and fifty five tackles, two and a half sacks,
Speaker 5: three interceptions. So last week I go back and practice,
Speaker 5: they're running a sleep to the left and Carrie blasting
Speaker 5: game as a lead blocker.
Speaker 1: You go and you meet him in the backfield.
Speaker 5: It was a pretty good collision and it's not something
Speaker 5: that you don't make the tackle, but you make the play, okay,
Speaker 5: and then I'm gonna say, Okay, that's part of TJ's game.
Speaker 5: And then you look at the receivers that you're playing
Speaker 5: against this year and the interception and everything.
Speaker 1: What part of your game do you enjoy the most?
Speaker 5: Is that a line of scrimmage physical style or is
Speaker 5: it the athleticism downfield style?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, I think growing up and kind of
Speaker 9: the first thing that attracted me to football was the physical,
Speaker 9: you know, the physical aspect of the game. Being able to,
Speaker 9: you know, especially at linebacker, being able to run downhill
Speaker 9: and kind of just meet someone right where they're at
Speaker 9: and see, you know, who's gonna win. I think I
Speaker 9: enjoy that a lot. And also I think, you know,
Speaker 9: I kind of enjoy doing both. I think, you know,
Speaker 9: all the athletic parts and getting able to, you know,
Speaker 9: get in windows and make plays.
Speaker 8: It's something I enjoyed too, especially.
Speaker 9: You know, people don't think I can do it, so
Speaker 9: I love, I love, you know, proving people wrong in
Speaker 9: that aspect as well.
Speaker 3: Which leads me to this.
Speaker 4: NFL dot COM's Kevin Patrack at the end of the
Speaker 4: last season called you the young Sun, hero of the Bears, defense,
Speaker 4: the glue and Pro Football weeklyes excuse me, Pro Football
Speaker 4: focuses Thomas Valentine, the secret superstar, the tent highest rated
Speaker 4: linebacker Top twenty, and run defense and coverage.
Speaker 3: I know none of that that matters to you.
Speaker 4: But when you said people don't think I can do it,
Speaker 4: you know these terms of unsung and secret. You're not
Speaker 4: a secret or unsung. You're just a damn good football player.
Speaker 4: I think you would agree. And how do you process that?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 9: I mean, you know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 9: I feel like I know what I bring and I
Speaker 9: know what my you know what my best football looks like.
Speaker 9: But i'd be lying if you know, those things will
Speaker 9: seem to keep me going, right, I think you know,
Speaker 9: still it's still going back to coming out of you know,
Speaker 9: being one of the guys that was supposed to go
Speaker 9: and didn't get a call. You know that, you know,
Speaker 9: every single team passed up on me, and I still
Speaker 9: keep that ship with me knowing that I got something
Speaker 9: to prove.
Speaker 4: Every single day I call general manager Ryan Pulls the
Speaker 4: quiet Storm because he's he's very transparent, but he really
Speaker 4: never shows you that emotion that may take different ranges neither,
Speaker 4: do you would you also be classified in that quiet storm.
Speaker 8: I like to think that I live kind of right
Speaker 8: in the middle.
Speaker 9: Right, I don't live kind of in that range of
Speaker 9: you know, I'm too amped up or I'm too louder.
Speaker 9: You know, I'm not as quiet as I'm Also I
Speaker 9: like to I like to kind of right in the
Speaker 9: middle and keep people guessing, but also knowing that I
Speaker 9: got something to prove for sure.
Speaker 5: At this stage of your career. What's your preseason game attitude?
Speaker 5: Are you all for taking you know, a couple series
Speaker 5: and just to you know, get your pads broken in
Speaker 5: and maybe have a collision that happens after this, you know,
Speaker 5: after the snap of the ball of an offense, you're
Speaker 5: not seeing that much. Or do you like you know,
Speaker 5: do you like the fact that Cincinnati's coming in here
Speaker 5: and you're gonna be able to have an equally as
Speaker 5: important practice as some of the preseason games.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean I think it kind of goes both ways.
Speaker 9: Right again, you know, coach has a pretty good plan
Speaker 9: for I feel like what we kind of want to
Speaker 9: do this preseason, and you know, it's always good to
Speaker 9: kind of get the pat set a little bit, you know,
Speaker 9: go out there and get under live bullets and kind
Speaker 9: of go play, you know, just be free and kind
Speaker 9: of have a menu going into the day and then
Speaker 9: just go play and kind of see where it is.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 9: I enjoy a little bit of that not you know,
Speaker 9: you know, I'll go out there as long as I
Speaker 9: need to, as long as as long as coach feels.
Speaker 9: But with Cincinnati, those joint practices, man, I've been a
Speaker 9: part of a couple and they're big time right right.
Speaker 9: Those are full out games. They've got a bunch of
Speaker 9: their install in. We've got a bunch of our install in.
Speaker 9: You kind of get to see where you're at a
Speaker 9: little bit. So I think the importance of the joint
Speaker 9: practice is huge, and I know our coaches understand that too.
Speaker 9: So we'll kind of see where it lands after that.
Speaker 9: But I definitely know we're gonna get out there a
Speaker 9: little bit for sure.
Speaker 5: Well you're gonna get in the team meeting, you know,
Speaker 5: Cincinnati is gonna come in and coach Flus and say, look,
Speaker 5: we don't want.
Speaker 1: Any fights out here.
Speaker 5: We need to get some productive work and let's just
Speaker 5: control to that. So you know, one thing that's impressed
Speaker 5: me as being a lifelong Bears fan.
Speaker 1: Is the back seven of this defense.
Speaker 5: It's probably one of the best that I've ever been
Speaker 5: around in the history of this organization. Is there an
Speaker 5: alpha standout in that group or all you guys kind
Speaker 5: of like confident and competing against each other.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's every day we
Speaker 9: come out and we kind of look at each other
Speaker 9: like who's gonna go get the first turn? We're right,
Speaker 9: and who's gonna who's gonna be the one that start
Speaker 9: it off. But it's such a solid group, Like you said, man,
Speaker 9: I think there's there's leaders everywhere with you know, with
Speaker 9: kV coming in now, I think he's been great for
Speaker 9: that group. You know, briskers looking at the chops to
Speaker 9: kind of get back in and get going, and I'm
Speaker 9: excited to see him. And then again you got you
Speaker 9: got Jalen Johnson, who my opinion is is one of,
Speaker 9: you know, if not the best, one of the best
Speaker 9: corners in the game. And you know, I think it's
Speaker 9: a lot of people who are still just hungry for
Speaker 9: their respect kind of like I am.
Speaker 8: So it's a it's a great group to be around.
Speaker 5: It is I know a lot of people were talking
Speaker 5: about the attitude Jalen had at the podium the other
Speaker 5: day when he said he I like that though, TJ.
Speaker 5: Because someone has to speak their mind, and whether it's
Speaker 5: Montese talking about beating Green Bay or the confidence that
Speaker 5: you guys have in yourself or the self confidence that
Speaker 5: Jalen has in himself and one of the most difficult
Speaker 5: positions to play.
Speaker 1: I was I was actually happy to hear that.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, and we know we know Jalen, right,
Speaker 9: He's gonna speak his mind and he's gonna speak what
Speaker 9: he feels, and that's one of the things you love
Speaker 9: about him, right, He's and just kind of like you said,
Speaker 9: like for me, like I want my corners to be
Speaker 9: super confident and everything that you're doing, right, that's a
Speaker 9: tough position to play, and as long as they're confident,
Speaker 9: it makes me feel a.
Speaker 8: Whole lot better too, So I love it.
Speaker 4: I do you have some chrippers out there with t J.
Speaker 4: Edwards Bears starting linebacker. What's the huddle like after a
Speaker 4: big play? Even you know, we hear it, but when
Speaker 4: they're they're lining up or after play, But what's the
Speaker 4: huddle like?
Speaker 8: It's it's fun man.
Speaker 9: I think you got you got a bunch of Like
Speaker 9: I said, you know kind of earlier, there's just so
Speaker 9: many different personalities, right, there's just a lot a lot
Speaker 9: going on. You got Test saying whatever he's saying. You
Speaker 9: got d Walk saying what he's doing.
Speaker 3: I forgot about d Walk. I mean, I mean, are
Speaker 3: you laughing? I mean forget you guys? Is there times
Speaker 3: when it's just funny?
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's just I think we're just having fun out
Speaker 9: there in general, right, Like it's it's one of those things.
Speaker 9: We've been together for you know, a year now, but
Speaker 9: we're just going out there and you know, playing ball man.
Speaker 9: Like I said from the start, you know, doing what
Speaker 9: we love to do and doing it with some great people.
Speaker 3: All Right, Tom mentioned you know, fights and stuff.
Speaker 4: You know, I didn't know this, but the league set
Speaker 4: out of Membo last week, Tommy and two hundred grand
Speaker 4: each team. The Giants and Lions got fined for their
Speaker 4: dust up the other day. So I'm thinking, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 4: when you have joint practices, you almost can count on
Speaker 4: a skirmish what they're doing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that is what exactly.
Speaker 4: Back to golf real quick, before we let you go,
Speaker 4: and I appreciate all the time your favorite foursome. Oh
Speaker 4: from the team, what would you use or or it
Speaker 4: could be anybody.
Speaker 9: I'll do from the team because I've done a couple
Speaker 9: Cole Comett fund of golf with He hits the ball
Speaker 9: a long way. That's a baseball swing if I've ever
Speaker 9: seen things a million miles in the air. You know
Speaker 9: who's who surprised me was uh Brett Rippin and we
Speaker 9: actually trained together, uh coming out in the combine. We
Speaker 9: were with the same agency coming out. But you know,
Speaker 9: I've known for him for a long time. But dude
Speaker 9: is like a scratch golfer, Like he is a stick
Speaker 9: out there. So that's that's insane, and I think I
Speaker 9: have to put my guy in there because I saw
Speaker 9: his swing. Finally, the team outing Tremaine, No kidd, we
Speaker 9: got some work to do for sure, like no doubt
Speaker 9: about it. But he wants to be he wants to compete,
Speaker 9: and he's a He's going to compete in anything that
Speaker 9: we do.
Speaker 8: And i'd have to, I'd have to throw him in.
Speaker 3: I feel bad for that.
Speaker 8: Golf ball would be a lot of fun with.
Speaker 4: The golf ball is getting whacked pretty good. Well, you know,
Speaker 4: I played baseball too in high schooling. I'm on awful golfers,
Speaker 4: so I.
Speaker 3: Wish it would have transferred.
Speaker 4: I got the baseball swing still instead of the proper
Speaker 4: golf swing. Anyway, appreciate all your time and great success
Speaker 4: last year, and I hope he continues in a big
Speaker 4: way for you. You're a very important player in this city,
Speaker 4: very important player for this football team.
Speaker 3: And a leader.
Speaker 8: So thank you.
Speaker 3: Have a great season, stay outthy good luck.
Speaker 4: Back with more here on Bears Weekly, and he has
Speaker 4: been one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 2: Is Bears Weekly with the Force of the Bears for
Speaker 2: twenty three years. Jeff j on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: This segment of.
Speaker 4: Bears Weekly is brought to you buys d W people
Speaker 4: to get it Jeff in Tom here on Bears Weekly.
Speaker 3: As we said many today, they've.
Speaker 4: Been really coming up with a lot of guys like
Speaker 4: for a day, so we're getting to really hear a
Speaker 4: lot from players Tevin Jenkins today. But before we get
Speaker 4: into that, and it leads into some of the continuity
Speaker 4: issues on the offensive line at the moment, as regarding
Speaker 4: the absence of a Nate Davis, an occasional Darnell Right,
Speaker 4: who was back at practice today, but trying to get
Speaker 4: those five guys sort out the center position, Tommy, I
Speaker 4: know it's number one on your list in terms of
Speaker 4: getting ready for the season and helping out this offense
Speaker 4: and a young quarterback. As much as anything is the
Speaker 4: health and the continuity and performance. So they get to
Speaker 4: know each other very well.
Speaker 5: Health continuity, and get to know each other very well.
Speaker 5: And I think getting to know each other very well
Speaker 5: is instrumental in success on the offensive line. But the
Speaker 5: entirety of the offensive line, performance and continuity affects every
Speaker 5: part of the offense. So you just need these guys
Speaker 5: to develop that understanding of each other, have a combination block.
Speaker 5: With the right tackle you work with, you have to
Speaker 5: know every little thing, every little nuance about his game,
Speaker 5: how he bends, where is his pad level, where does
Speaker 5: he like to strike with his hands? And then if
Speaker 5: you're a garden you're gonna work with the center. You
Speaker 5: have to understand everything about his balance, the timing of
Speaker 5: his snap, what does he like to step with first,
Speaker 5: how does he want help in his past protection responsibilities.
Speaker 5: There are so many little, these little types of things
Speaker 5: that you have to learn of the whole group to
Speaker 5: make the whole group one. That That's why I always
Speaker 5: say in order to get everything right, you better have
Speaker 5: a thousand reps together.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's nuanced. Nuance is a success of the game,
Speaker 4: the little details. More on this from Tevin Jenkins.
Speaker 10: I wouldn't say so. I mean it's football. You sign
Speaker 10: up for a sport and it's like what I have
Speaker 10: sent injuries all the time and day. So I have
Speaker 10: people who betened up. You have people up and down
Speaker 10: throughout the whole year. It's about being available and being
Speaker 10: there for your teammates right now. So being there throughout camp,
Speaker 10: getting those reps, learning from each other and being there
Speaker 10: for each other. Does it feel good for you just
Speaker 10: knowing that with Ned's injury right now, they're not moving
Speaker 10: you back and forth the way they did last year
Speaker 10: at Card.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 10: I do like being in one spot right now.
Speaker 6: Soccer.
Speaker 10: Tried to be the best I can in one position.
Speaker 10: Like you said, no problem being versatile and switching around
Speaker 10: doing everything. But it does feel nice to have one
Speaker 10: position to do in one position.
Speaker 5: To Folcus on how important is for you to know
Speaker 5: who's going to be to your right at center into
Speaker 5: building that chemistry.
Speaker 10: It does matter like quite a bit because especially going
Speaker 10: into we're going to Buffalo, so I heard their games
Speaker 10: are pretty loud for preseason games as well. Their fans
Speaker 10: are there, their Mason fans, so you know, learning that
Speaker 10: silent cadence with that center's head, bob head turns and
Speaker 10: all that stuff. It's very it's very crucial, not only
Speaker 10: for guards, but especially for tackles because they got get out.
Speaker 10: I'm not sure if von Miller's playing, but like to
Speaker 10: fight like their ones are out there and they got
Speaker 10: the best pass rushers. They're jetting up the edge and
Speaker 10: they got a time with the center's head and it's
Speaker 10: gonna be a big difference.
Speaker 9: We'll qualify as a productive Saturday for you guys as
Speaker 9: an offensive line.
Speaker 4: Just in whatever limited work you do, get what you
Speaker 4: want to see, a complin.
Speaker 6: Whatever makes my coach on yell on me.
Speaker 10: That's whatever that whenever whenever he's he's happy, we could
Speaker 10: be happy. I mean, Loan's that grade sheet doesn't have
Speaker 10: too many loafs. We have a very strict loaf loafing
Speaker 10: system and that's the standard we have here, so little loafs.
Speaker 10: No coach is angry, be good Saturday.
Speaker 3: Kevin, where have you seen prime signs of progress.
Speaker 6: In the offense?
Speaker 10: Uh, I'll definitely say we have honed on I would
Speaker 10: say our scheme really and a lot of like I
Speaker 10: DS mics and uh standing safety rotation, and it starts
Speaker 10: from inside out with the centers. Centers have been really
Speaker 10: good with it. Our screen games that went way up.
Speaker 10: It's really it's really productive right now. We're getting a
Speaker 10: lot of those things. I know, you guys see the
Speaker 10: clips of swift getting out and run and everything, and
Speaker 10: we've had a lot more that doesn't get shown that
Speaker 10: they get that pop for like twenty thirty yards right now.
Speaker 10: So our offense is really clicking on a lot of
Speaker 10: like a lot of things right now.
Speaker 11: Caleb said that heat like improve most between now on
Speaker 11: week one is like his blitz recognition, whether that's checking
Speaker 11: out of it or doing whatever. Where are you guys seeing?
Speaker 11: I mean the people continue to bring some of those
Speaker 11: pressure practices in the eleven or eleven What are the
Speaker 11: things you guys can do to kind of help him
Speaker 11: expelite that process?
Speaker 10: For offensive line, it's about our killed words like we
Speaker 10: have fire calls like it alert danger, certain sides and everything.
Speaker 10: So if we're like third and fifteen, it's covered four
Speaker 10: and you see knows that Like it's just that the
Speaker 10: wide recess were pressed out over there, and uh, it's
Speaker 10: only one million linebacker over here. And d N's looking
Speaker 10: a little like light on his feet. He say, hey,
Speaker 10: light one, we have pressure pressure right, most likely you
Speaker 10: know you turn around and.
Speaker 8: Say light one, light one, you go over there.
Speaker 10: He was ideas to a four man slide that way,
Speaker 10: helping with the pressure recognition. You know, it's a lot
Speaker 10: of things that we can help like put that like
Speaker 10: I don't want to say put an idea in his head,
Speaker 10: but like get him more knowledge to like, all right,
Speaker 10: they see something over here that doesn't look threatening, but
Speaker 10: over here it looks like a problem. Like trying to
Speaker 10: like like make sure he can see what we see
Speaker 10: as well.
Speaker 6: You can't fully tested running game and training camp.
Speaker 7: But Coulson the other day that there's some things coming
Speaker 7: together with the running game BAT that really encourage. What
Speaker 7: from your perspective are you optimistic about with the way
Speaker 7: the run games coming together.
Speaker 10: I'll say, all of our runners very physical. They do
Speaker 10: a lot of quick jump cuts. They're getting a lot
Speaker 10: better about pressing balls. They're written a lot about uh,
Speaker 10: sticking the foot of the ground as well, Like they're
Speaker 10: just right on top of double teams. Will help us
Speaker 10: get on top of those beckers, which helps us with
Speaker 10: their angles.
Speaker 1: And they have been more Uh.
Speaker 10: I would say I had a lot more. I wouldn't
Speaker 10: say a lot. It's been really good about it this year.
Speaker 10: You know that they're there. They have improved instead of
Speaker 10: their game that it's also been helping us as well.
Speaker 3: Tom, is he talking your language?
Speaker 4: A lot of offensive line lingo there at the line
Speaker 4: of scrimmage, all important communication.
Speaker 3: Uh, so decipher it for us.
Speaker 5: You know, there's just a lot of details to the
Speaker 5: game of an offensive line because you know, whatever Braxton
Speaker 5: Jones is looking at and understanding at the left tackle position,
Speaker 5: he has to convey that message all the way back
Speaker 5: to the right tackle, possibly the tight end or even
Speaker 5: a running back. And then the recognition of the responsibilities
Speaker 5: according to the past pass protection called in the huddle,
Speaker 5: and then Caleb has to know that everybody understands who
Speaker 5: their responsibility is so he doesn't have to worry about
Speaker 5: it once the ball is snapped. And then and George
Speaker 5: Allen used to be a stickler for this. He wanted
Speaker 5: you to know the rotation of defensive backs when they
Speaker 5: brought in a nickel or a dime defense, because if
Speaker 5: they got into a blitz position, you had to recognize
Speaker 5: that number as a responsibility. And so Tevin is speaking
Speaker 5: the language of acknowledgement of personnel on the defensive side
Speaker 5: of the ball. And that's one of the things about
Speaker 5: breaking a huddle or early, having enough time to patiently
Speaker 5: approach the line of scrimmage, take in all that information
Speaker 5: and then run the play aggressively, accordingly and properly.
Speaker 4: And cadence control that's big too, you know, making sure
Speaker 4: that everything is taken care of so your guys don't
Speaker 4: move before the snap period.
Speaker 1: And you know, and and.
Speaker 5: He did bring it up because Buffalo is going to
Speaker 5: have a supporting crowd, especially when the Bears are on offense,
Speaker 5: and if you're running a silent count for the first
Speaker 5: time at an NFL level, it is difficult for the
Speaker 5: offensive tackles to be able to get off the ball
Speaker 5: on time when they have dynamic pass rushers because you're
Speaker 5: trying to use periphial vision without getting without losing eye
Speaker 5: contact to the defensive ends, so it's almost like having
Speaker 5: lizard eyes, having one go to the right, one.
Speaker 1: Go, one go to the left.
Speaker 4: Well, as DeAndre Swift said in Hard Knocks to Caleb
Speaker 4: when they were micd.
Speaker 3: Up, you got the keys, use it drive well exactly.
Speaker 4: Coming up next, Tremaine Edmunds, the former Buffalo Bill, goes
Speaker 4: back home where he started his career with the Bills.
Speaker 3: That's next. On ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio.
Speaker 2: Network is Bears Weekly with a Voice of the Bears
Speaker 2: for twenty three years. Jeff Jonik on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Gunning off.
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Speaker 4: at Soldier Field this season. Official ticket packages are now
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Speaker 4: Tom here on Bears Weekly Time for Tom's thoughts. He
Speaker 4: already snuck some in on Caleb. What else like? For example,
Speaker 4: the kick return we know it debuted last week, average
Speaker 4: was about the twenty six yard line. Watching the game
Speaker 4: tonight New England and Carolina, it's been that way so far.
Speaker 3: Do you want to throw some curveballs just for the
Speaker 3: heck of it? Give give teams something to think about?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, there's nothing better than making a team
Speaker 5: waste time in their preparation for in preparation to play
Speaker 5: the Bears or whatever team you play for. So do
Speaker 5: you kind of feed these guys fallse information on this
Speaker 5: kickoff return and make them start preparing for unrealistic things?
Speaker 5: Or are do you stay so vanilla that they have
Speaker 5: no idea how you're going to go about regular season business?
Speaker 5: And I think that you know factors in more than
Speaker 5: just the kicking game. But you know, you called the
Speaker 5: first kickoff return in the new history of the NFL,
Speaker 5: which is pretty cool when.
Speaker 1: You think about it.
Speaker 5: But how are they going to advance this thing moving
Speaker 5: on in the preseason? And will look in the preseason
Speaker 5: for the regular season or is it going to be
Speaker 5: completely a different approach by every coordinator.
Speaker 4: We got to remember one thing about this. We're loving
Speaker 4: the fact that the kickoff return is back in business,
Speaker 4: but this is a one year experiment, this particular brand,
Speaker 4: this particular version. So hopefully you might think that well no,
Speaker 4: I'm well, hey, you know, as long as as long
Speaker 4: as the safety numbers stay in a reasonable category, I mean,
Speaker 4: I just want it to remain. So whatever tweaks are made,
Speaker 4: let's let's let's hope it remains.
Speaker 5: Keep the kickoff return some way, shape or form on
Speaker 5: the field of play.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I think.
Speaker 5: It's really has an important role in the attraction of
Speaker 5: the viewing audience. And like we saw Devin Hester going
Speaker 5: to the Hall of Fame, he did it on return greatness,
Speaker 5: and I think somebody is gonna show us again what
Speaker 5: return greatness is by this new kickoff return formation.
Speaker 4: All right, So Tremaine Edmunds, the Chicago Bear, had a
Speaker 4: terrific season last year, paired with TJ Edwards that great
Speaker 4: chemistry at that linebacker level. He was swiping passes in
Speaker 4: this defense that had eight from the linebacker position overall,
Speaker 4: and now headed back to Buffalo, where he started his
Speaker 4: career at a young age out of Virginia Tech.
Speaker 12: It's my first time obviously going back since I left,
Speaker 12: so you know, obviously it'd be a lot of emotions,
Speaker 12: but it should definitely be a good time. I think excitement, man,
Speaker 12: you know I was there for five years, so you know,
Speaker 12: just getting back there, No, I'm gonna be It's gonna
Speaker 12: be exciting.
Speaker 6: Horn has been for you and TJ. To be out
Speaker 6: there every day together.
Speaker 12: Yeah, very important, you know, I think us just taking
Speaker 12: those steps day in and day out, learning off one another,
Speaker 12: you know, just just growing, you know, seeing what he sees,
Speaker 12: seeing what I see, and being able to come and
Speaker 12: look at it after practice and not just talking about it. Man,
Speaker 12: it's very essential, you know, just leading, you know, leading
Speaker 12: out front and you know, just pretty much just putting
Speaker 12: our brands together.
Speaker 6: You know what I mean.
Speaker 12: Two heads is you know obviously bigger than one, so
Speaker 12: you know, being able to take what he see, take
Speaker 12: what I see, and you know, just be able to
Speaker 12: take our game to the next level. Not just for us,
Speaker 12: but you know, just being able to like you know,
Speaker 12: just pull up everybody along and we're not out there
Speaker 12: by our sales.
Speaker 6: We're not doing it by sales now.
Speaker 12: We got great leadership, great guys that you know that
Speaker 12: we can depend on, and that's what it's all about.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 12: Training camp is meant to be hard. Training camp is
Speaker 12: meant to strain a little bit. That's what we've been doing.
Speaker 12: You know, we've been focusing on taking that next step.
Speaker 12: And you know that's what all the focus is right now.
Speaker 13: Even without even without playing a game, appreciating your regulars.
Speaker 13: Can you already see where you're familiarity with the defense
Speaker 13: that you didn't have last year is going to payoff
Speaker 13: and just being on the field, which you know, drinking
Speaker 13: but you weren't as much. Can you see how those
Speaker 13: are gonna pay off for you and with even bigger years.
Speaker 12: Yeah, you know, I think it's off to a good start,
Speaker 12: you know, not just with me, but just defensively, defensively
Speaker 12: all together. I think obviously your most availability is being
Speaker 12: out there and uh, you know, being out there seeing reps,
Speaker 12: going game speed, going full speed, and just you know,
Speaker 12: just adding those reps to your to your belt, you know,
Speaker 12: day in and day out. I think it's definitely gonna
Speaker 12: set you up to be, you know, starting off at
Speaker 12: a high level, and that's what the focus is just
Speaker 12: for the whole defense. You know, coming out, you know,
Speaker 12: starting fast, you know, not weighing, you know, applying that
Speaker 12: pressure early, so you know, being able to be out
Speaker 12: there and you know, obviously going full speed is definitely essential.
Speaker 10: Man.
Speaker 11: You talked about lofty expectations for yourself, but have there
Speaker 11: have been several love to expectations for the team in general?
Speaker 11: How does that affect you all mentally worthy to be
Speaker 11: for positive or not.
Speaker 12: Yeah, when I said that, I kind of caught myself
Speaker 12: because I'm like, hold on now, expectations is really it's
Speaker 12: no such thing, because at the end of the day, man,
Speaker 12: we got to focus on taking it one day at
Speaker 12: a time. I mean, obviously everybody's going to put expectations
Speaker 12: on it, put expectation on what this player should do.
Speaker 6: What this player should do.
Speaker 12: But at the end of the day, man, we got
Speaker 12: to take it one step of the time because it's gonna.
Speaker 6: Be up, it's gonna be down. That's just the way
Speaker 6: the league go.
Speaker 12: And I mean it's really just going out there expecting
Speaker 12: to win. If any expectations, that should be the expectations
Speaker 12: to go win.
Speaker 6: But everything else that we can't control.
Speaker 12: I mean I can't we as a team can't sit
Speaker 12: in the pass and worry about what if this happens,
Speaker 12: what if that happens? Like, you got to take it
Speaker 12: one step at a time, because when you start worrying
Speaker 12: about the outcome, that's when you.
Speaker 6: Really, you know, become effected the most.
Speaker 12: So it's really just you know, taking it one day,
Speaker 12: looking at each other in the eye and showing up
Speaker 12: the work each and every day.
Speaker 6: And then at the end of the day, like when
Speaker 6: you do.
Speaker 12: Everything to prepare yourself to be a certain way, I mean,
Speaker 12: you got to you know, accept whatever comes behind it.
Speaker 12: But you know, we're setting ourselves up, you know, for success,
Speaker 12: Like we expect to win. We get on the field,
Speaker 12: and we have extreme confidence in that. So you know
Speaker 12: we're going to work every day.
Speaker 11: Are you excited about Kayler Willims first laugh game?
Speaker 6: Actually?
Speaker 11: I mean you excited just to see to find out
Speaker 11: in the game, like do y'all got one of them guys?
Speaker 11: A lot of all semple stance you expained.
Speaker 12: About that, I think all of us are, you know
Speaker 12: what I mean, Like it's a new time, and but
Speaker 12: I understand how the NFL goes as well, Like I'm
Speaker 12: not saying you got to come out here and be
Speaker 12: a superstar from day one, because I'm a realist as well,
Speaker 12: Like I understand it's gonna take repetition, it's gonna take
Speaker 12: going through some stuff, it's gonna take experience.
Speaker 6: Experiences are number one teacher.
Speaker 12: So just getting those live reps though, I know, just
Speaker 12: me being a rookie, like I know how centraal that is,
Speaker 12: so just I'm excited for him just to see how
Speaker 12: it feels, you know what I mean, because at the
Speaker 12: end of the day, I understand, you know, all the
Speaker 12: sucessity have, but the NFL is different, and just so
Speaker 12: it's just so he can feel how that is and
Speaker 12: just get that full experience.
Speaker 6: It's gonna help him out.
Speaker 12: But I mean, I got a ton of respect, from
Speaker 12: a ton of confidence in them. But I also understand,
Speaker 12: like I don't have any expectations on the first game, man,
Speaker 12: because I understand like nothing's gonna be perfect. So all
Speaker 12: he has to do is just be himself and that's
Speaker 12: good enough because I seen it on the practice field.
Speaker 4: Snap to snap growth, that's the key, day to day progress,
Speaker 4: that's the second key. What are you looking for from
Speaker 4: this defense. He's certainly a big part of it. In
Speaker 4: the middle of that defense, there can drop, use that
Speaker 4: big wingspan, swipe some footballs, clout some passing lanes. Obviously,
Speaker 4: he did a nice job in coverage as well. And
Speaker 4: I just love the size and length of this player.
Speaker 4: But in Tom's thoughts, what do you want from this
Speaker 4: first team's defense.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I want pressure on the cornerback. Well, I want
Speaker 5: them to limit the success of the run game first
Speaker 5: and foremost. And then when they're successful at limiting the
Speaker 5: success of the run game, I went them to get
Speaker 5: into the quarterback space. If it doesn't result in a sack,
Speaker 5: then you interfere with his fundamental foundation of footwork. You
Speaker 5: interfere with his arm, follow through, you interfere with his
Speaker 5: space to make him uncomfortable. And I think the Bears
Speaker 5: have that ability when you're talking about using all three levels,
Speaker 5: and that might not happen until the regular season gets here,
Speaker 5: But when you think about what do you want to
Speaker 5: see initially in a kind of a vanilla platform, you
Speaker 5: want to see Jervon dexter Win back on the inside.
Speaker 5: If Montes sweat plays, which I don't know if he
Speaker 5: will you would like to see him get pressure, and
Speaker 5: I know that's gonna come in the regular season. But
Speaker 5: it's the other guys. It's the Zach Pickens, and it's
Speaker 5: the repeat performance by Hardy. It's Austin Booker being able
Speaker 5: to get some pressure as well. You know, we're all
Speaker 5: waiting to watch Dominique Robinson to see if he develops.
Speaker 4: Josh Allen, we'll be at quarterback wearing number seventeen of
Speaker 4: the Buffalo Bill's Mitchell Trubisky, Shaane Bouchell, the three quarterbacks
Speaker 4: on that Buffalo roster.
Speaker 3: All right, one more segment to go. We'll hear from.
Speaker 4: Big Dog Mercedes Lewis as he looks at from a
Speaker 4: different perspective than everybody else, something never been done before.
Speaker 4: Another year in the NFL is at tight end, this
Speaker 4: time a second year with the Bears.
Speaker 3: That's Tom theare.
Speaker 4: I'm Jeff Joniak and this is Bears Weekly on ESPN
Speaker 4: one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 2: You were tuned into Bears Weekly with Jeff joniac on
Speaker 2: the Bears Radio Network. This is Bears Weekly with a
Speaker 2: force of the Bears for twenty three years, Jeff Jact
Speaker 2: on the Bears Radio work.
Speaker 4: This segment of Bears Weekly brought to you by Pletico
Speaker 4: Physical Therapy, Visit Athletic with do Comma question in clinic
Speaker 4: or virtual the appointment that's start feeling better tomorrow, Jeff
Speaker 4: and toom At our final segment, Marcedes Lewis beginning his
Speaker 4: year forty age in the NFL with unique perspectives on quarterbacks,
Speaker 4: including this rookie Caleb Williams.
Speaker 14: Obviously, you know he's made a lot of plays in college.
Speaker 14: He's come in and you know, take this offense really
Speaker 14: about right now. He's in the process of really making
Speaker 14: it his. So there are gonna be some you know,
Speaker 14: some mishaps or some things where the timing is off
Speaker 14: or but this is where you get your swag at
Speaker 14: is in practice, right And I'm a big proponent of
Speaker 14: you know, I'm gonna play like I practice, and I
Speaker 14: think he's the same way based on the conversations that
Speaker 14: we've had.
Speaker 6: You gain your confidence in.
Speaker 14: Practice, and practice is your opportunity to make mistakes and
Speaker 14: to try things out and see if you can fit
Speaker 14: a ball here and do certain things. And so when
Speaker 14: the game you're just flowing it, should they And yeah,
Speaker 14: he's a special cut.
Speaker 4: Yes, and that's the feeling from many of his teammates
Speaker 4: Tom and so I'm excited to hear it from his
Speaker 4: perspective as well. Now against this team they're playing on Saturday,
Speaker 4: it's one of three four to three defenses that he
Speaker 4: will face in the preseason should he play against all
Speaker 4: of them, that include Cincinnati and Kansas City. Is this
Speaker 4: a good thing when you got Tennessee running a three
Speaker 4: four to start the season or will this enhance or
Speaker 4: hamper the learning process?
Speaker 5: Well, you know the thing about it is you're going
Speaker 5: to face a four man line throughout the preseason and
Speaker 5: every day in practice because your practicing gets your own team. However,
Speaker 5: the responsibilities of a three to four defense change mostly
Speaker 5: in pass protection, so you have the ability to run
Speaker 5: the complete running game.
Speaker 1: That's a handoff. You understand the screen game.
Speaker 5: But it's more of the responsibilities of the blockers and
Speaker 5: pass protections that have to understand the different responsible abilities
Speaker 5: when they face the two different fronts. So it won't
Speaker 5: be the extreme for Caleb, however, it will be different
Speaker 5: as how the running backs hit the holes in the
Speaker 5: running game where the protection and the linebacker responsibilities fall
Speaker 5: from the running backs to the offensive lineman. But I
Speaker 5: still think the coaches will do a great job of
Speaker 5: getting these guys prepared for that first regular season defense.
Speaker 5: But they're gonna have plenty experience with four man fronts
Speaker 5: throughout the preseason.
Speaker 4: I know it's a preseason game, but it's his first
Speaker 4: NFL game. There will be a lot of emotion. I'm
Speaker 4: sure there'll be some adrenaline rush. What do you anticipate
Speaker 4: right out of the gate, And how will we know
Speaker 4: if he's calm or if he's amped up. You've played
Speaker 4: with young quarterbacks in our final minute here, Tom, You've
Speaker 4: seen young quarterbacks throughout your twenty eight years down of
Speaker 4: the air as a broadcaster.
Speaker 3: What do you think you know?
Speaker 5: Just get the language out of your mouth correctly and
Speaker 5: allow everybody to understand what their assignments are. Make sure
Speaker 5: you can do it in a timely fashion where you
Speaker 5: can break the huddle so you can watch the play clock,
Speaker 5: you can see what the defense is offering you. If
Speaker 5: you have to make any changes before the ball is snapped,
Speaker 5: you have the time to do it, and then.
Speaker 1: You just play football.
Speaker 5: But a lot of it has to do with the
Speaker 5: way you come out of the huddle and you understand
Speaker 5: what you just said, because there's no looking back at
Speaker 5: the sideline, there's no asking questions that you have to
Speaker 5: You just have to play the play like you just
Speaker 5: said it.
Speaker 4: How can offensive coordinator Shane Waldron help him settle in
Speaker 4: in the early going, It's all about the pass protections.
Speaker 5: Don't give him unrealistic responsibilities on the offensive line. It
Speaker 5: take advantage of play action passing. Run the ball well
Speaker 5: first of all, and then take advantage with play action passing.
Speaker 5: Use the screens that we heard about. Make sure that
Speaker 5: you're able to use the type of protections that allow
Speaker 5: Caleb to get rid of the ball instead of holding
Speaker 5: on to it in looking around. And then I think
Speaker 5: the more plays he gets on the field, the more
Speaker 5: he's gonna feel that comfort zone and he's gonna, you know,
Speaker 5: just continue to improve as time goes by.
Speaker 4: Get twenty seconds, one player each side of the bar.
Speaker 4: You're absolutely looking forward to seeing play no matter what
Speaker 4: quarter of the game.
Speaker 5: I'd like to see how Roma Doonza plays what he's
Speaker 5: gonna offer. And on defense, I'm still intrigued by what
Speaker 5: Austin Booker kind of looks like.
Speaker 1: He has the inate ability to do sounds good.
Speaker 3: Thanks Tommy, That'll do it for Bears Weekly.
Speaker 4: Thanks to all our producers and for TJ Edwards, our
Speaker 4: guest bleck and have Dona our next. Have a great
Speaker 4: night here on ESPN Chicago and the Bears Radio Network canight.
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