FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BoBo]

[02 Warhawk]

Matt is getting a ton of snaps this evening....but is getting hit a lot. Been sacked 3  or 4 times this game.

[voice]

Matt is getting a ton of snaps this evening....but is getting hit a lot. Been sacked 3  or 4 times this game.

Blanchard entered the game at the 6:23 mark of the 3rd quarter and played the rest of the way.

He was 6 of 7 passing for 53 yds. 5 of his 6 completions were for eight yards or less.  Longest pass play went for 28 yards. His only incompletion actually ended in a pass interference penalty on the Broncos. 

As 02 indicated Broncos pass rush resulted in 3 sacks of Blanchard. 

It will be ineresting to see how the "talking heads" analyze Blanchards performance.  He seemed to be making good decisions.

[John Gleich]

Matt is getting a ton of snaps this evening....but is getting hit a lot. Been sacked 3  or 4 times this game.

Blanchard entered the game at the 6:23 mark of the 3rd quarter and played the rest of the way.

He was 6 of 7 passing for 53 yds. 5 of his 6 completions were for eight yards or less.  Longest pass play went for 28 yards. His only incompletion actually ended in a pass interference penalty on the Broncos. 

As 02 indicated Broncos pass rush resulted in 3 sacks of Blanchard. 

It will be ineresting to see how the "talking heads" analyze Blanchards performance.  He seemed to be making good decisions.

Actually, the incompletion was an interception. The WR didn't break on the ball. The pass interference wouldn't have counted as an incompletion (the play didn't count b/c of the penalty).

[voice]

Matt is getting a ton of snaps this evening....but is getting hit a lot. Been sacked 3 or 4 times this game.

Blanchard entered the game at the 6:23 mark of the 3rd quarter and played the rest of the way. He was 6 of 7 passing for 53 yds. 5 of his 6 completions were for eight yards or less. Longest pass play went for 28 yards. His only incompletion actually ended in a pass interference penalty on the Broncos. As 02 indicated Broncos pass rush resulted in 3 sacks of Blanchard. It will be ineresting to see how the "talking heads" analyze Blanchard's performance. He seemed to be making good decisions.

Actually, the incompletion was an interception. The WR didn't break on the ball. The pass interference wouldn't have counted as an incompletion (the play didn't count b/c of the penalty).

PointSpecial you are right my friend. Throwing an interception IS an incomplete pass. You'd think after nearly 40 years of broadcasting football I'd  understand the game more. Maybe its my radiation/chemo affecting my judgement this late in the evening. I think not! I still understand the game more than some of the replacement refs!

[BoBo]

Matt is getting a ton of snaps this evening....but is getting hit a lot. Been sacked 3  or 4 times this game.

Blanchard entered the game at the 6:23 mark of the 3rd quarter and played the rest of the way.

He was 6 of 7 passing for 53 yds. 5 of his 6 completions were for eight yards or less.  Longest pass play went for 28 yards. His only incompletion actually ended in a pass interference penalty on the Broncos. 

As 02 indicated Broncos pass rush resulted in 3 sacks of Blanchard. 

It will be ineresting to see how the "talking heads" analyze Blanchards performance.  He seemed to be making good decisions.

Interestingly, after the INT, the television show a close-up of Tice and he was shaking his head ever-so-slightly. I immediately thought Tice was reflecting on what was a rather poor performance, even for the first preseason game, for the bears offense/defense in general. And if he wasn't, he should've been.

I agree, Matt appeared to make good decisions from the plays I saw. All of this passes were tight spirals (short passes) and obviously due to the completions, were all thrown in a catchable location. On the 28 yard catch, he threw a nice ball that only his receiver could catch and he made a nice leaping grab. His o-line seemed to get manhandled by the Broncos the entire time he was in there. I have to admit, I was trying to watch two games at once (Packers/Chargers) and I may not have seen everything.

I did notice that Rosen & Miller the announcers said and they had a graphic on screen when Blanchard entered the game that he was 45-0 as a starter at Wisconsin-Whitewater from 2009-2011. I guess there were first game jitters for them, too.

I have to admit, seeing him out there was kinda cool!! 

[BoBo]

The Chicago Tribune (Dan Pompei) had this to say about Matt Blanchard's performance:

"Blanchard, it turned out, provided Bears fans with the most excitement of all the quarterbacks.

The undrafted free agent from Lake Zurich led the Bears to their only scoring drive of the night and completed six of seven passes in the fourth quarter. The roster longs shot was on his way to becoming the next darling of Soldier Field until he was intercepted by former Bears corner Joshua Moore late in the game."
 
The other QB's:

"Jason Campbell started the game and didn't make much of an impression."

"Josh McCown was similarly unspectacular..."

[02 Warhawk]

Matt is getting a ton of snaps this evening....but is getting hit a lot. Been sacked 3  or 4 times this game.

Blanchard entered the game at the 6:23 mark of the 3rd quarter and played the rest of the way.

He was 6 of 7 passing for 53 yds. 5 of his 6 completions were for eight yards or less.  Longest pass play went for 28 yards. His only incompletion actually ended in a pass interference penalty on the Broncos. 

As 02 indicated Broncos pass rush resulted in 3 sacks of Blanchard. 

It will be ineresting to see how the "talking heads" analyze Blanchards performance.  He seemed to be making good decisions.

Interestingly, after the INT, the television show a close-up of Tice and he was shaking his head ever-so-slightly. I immediately thought Tice was reflecting on what was a rather poor performance, even for the first preseason game, for the bears offense/defense in general. 

The bears sat their four best players. So I guess it was expected that the first team would struggle. Plus it seemed like the bears first team defense didn't give up a point, and picked off manning in his first drive.

[bleedpurple]

The bears sat their four best players. So I guess it was expected that the first team would struggle. Plus it seemed like the bears first team defense didn't give up a point, and picked off manning in his first drive.

Plus they are still the Bears... 

[badgerwarhawk]

Hopefully Matt's performance gets him more reps in practice and another extended look in the second preseason game.

[BoBo]

The bears sat their four best players. So I guess it was expected that the first team would struggle. Plus it seemed like the bears first team defense didn't give up a point, and picked off manning in his first drive.

Plus they are still the Bears... 

Which is one of the reasons why I wonder anybody in their right mind would pay, on average, $78 for a ticket to a preseason game, especially the first preseason game (unless your son was playing in his first NFL game!!) I don't think a team goes into a game expecting to struggle. Denver didn't, or so it seemed.

For the record, the Packers were probably more inept on Thurs PM than the bears.

[emma17]

Bears:
The Bear's o-line continues to be a massive cause for concern, be it the first, second or third team guys.  There is no excuse for the first team not being able to run the ball at least a little.  Although some of the sacks given up were the result of good coverage (or poor routes) and perhaps the QB's being a little reluctant to try and make a big, there was a big differnece in the amount of time and space the Indy QB's had versus the Bear's QB's.  All this talent in the skilled positions and still such uncertainty on the O-Line! 

Blanchard:
It was great watching Matt and hearing the announcers talk about him "all he does is win".  He showed poise and I feel great leadership in the huddle.  He looked like he was deliberately taking things a little slower as he acclimated to the big stage.  6 for 6 and the Int is mostly on the receiver.  The slant route should almost be a blind throw- the receiver has one job- get the DB on his back- and that didn't happen.  A  more experienced QB may have been able to pull that throw back, but it was unfortunate. 
I also got the feeling Matt wasn't using all his speed to break from the pass rush. We all know the pro game is super fast, but Matt is still faster than any of the D-Linemen. 
Can't wait for his next chance.
   

[John Gleich]

Matt is getting a ton of snaps this evening....but is getting hit a lot. Been sacked 3 or 4 times this game.

Blanchard entered the game at the 6:23 mark of the 3rd quarter and played the rest of the way. He was 6 of 7 passing for 53 yds. 5 of his 6 completions were for eight yards or less. Longest pass play went for 28 yards. His only incompletion actually ended in a pass interference penalty on the Broncos. As 02 indicated Broncos pass rush resulted in 3 sacks of Blanchard. It will be ineresting to see how the "talking heads" analyze Blanchard's performance. He seemed to be making good decisions.

Actually, the incompletion was an interception. The WR didn't break on the ball. The pass interference wouldn't have counted as an incompletion (the play didn't count b/c of the penalty).

PointSpecial you are right my friend. Throwing an interception IS an incomplete pass. You'd think after nearly 40 years of broadcasting football I'd  understand the game more. Maybe its my radiation/chemo affecting my judgement this late in the evening. I think not! I still understand the game more than some of the replacement refs!

... I guess if we want to get technical, we could say that he completed all 7 of his passes... one was just to the other team!

[Sakman 1111]

I agree Bobo......why would anyone pay that much for preseason tickets......simple answer our season/pre season tickets all cost the same....in all the years we have had season tickets I have never been to a preseason game and after last night I don't see it happening soon......

[bleedpurple]

The bears sat their four best players. So I guess it was expected that the first team would struggle. Plus it seemed like the bears first team defense didn't give up a point, and picked off manning in his first drive.

Plus they are still the Bears... 

Which is one of the reasons why I wonder anybody in their right mind would pay, on average, $78 for a ticket to a preseason game, especially the first preseason game (unless your son was playing in his first NFL game!!) I don't think a team goes into a game expecting to struggle. Denver didn't, or so it seemed.

For the record, the Packers were probably more inept on Thurs PM than the bears.

Agreed