No formality or preamble necessary for this short week.
Time for Mike’s thoughts while I process Caleb Williams» 24-for-24 performance with a clean sheet in the Bears’ win at Atlanta on Sunday.
We return to the nitpicky part of the program with Drake Maye. His accuracy and ball placement weren’t always at the level they were the previous two weeks. He sailed from a height above DeMario Douglas‘ header on a 3rd down, threw behind Douglas on a cross, preventing a potential YAC, and berated himself for doing Romeo Doubs have on the TD pass. All of these throws were “easy”. He also wasn’t willing to open the door to a few guys, including AJ Brown in the red zone (on what turned out to be Douglas’ touchdown). But otherwise, your 24 year old QB is in trouble. I wrote about him after the game, citing his patience, pocket presence and composure. Not much more to add here other than how often he kept his head up and made plays with his arm instead of giving up a play and relying on the run. Good things.
If I told you AJ Brown would have four drops, a fumble (and his own recovery) and let an onside kick go through his hands (Douglas with the stop) and the Pats would still win, I’m not sure you would have believed me. His stat line was bad but… the guy opened up – a lot. I didn’t consider any of the throws to be “forced.” Brown will have to be on his level if they want to get to Chicago and win.
Will Campbell certainly didn’t look like a guy who injured his knee the week before and was limited in practice all week. He gave in to a few pressures, blocked well in short distances due to an off-balance look (he moved to the right), and climbed to the second level for a nice running block in the low red.
Meanwhile, Caleb Lomu came for injured and struggling Morgan Moses. (two pressures during his short relay) and, if he still has this habit of abandoning short turns, which means that he is sometimes already in Maye’s air space when he commits, had a
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