| 26 December 2009
But beyond that, I can't blog because there's so much hype, hyperbole, rumor and conjecture going around about the Bears' coaching situation and management situation it's been numbing. Basically it's caused a lack of focus on my part and for that I apologize.
However I am deciding to blog on the obvious big match up between Chicago Bears left tackle of the future and All-Pro DE Jared Allen.
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This is the popular match up coming out of this game because Williams is going up a very legitimate very big and as much as it pains me to say it, bad ass pass rusher. The Chicago Tribune covered this match up recently and while it was inspiration for my blog I did read over their version. The Tribune story says this will be the ultimate litmus test for Williams. One that he will surely fail because Allen is a beast and there are not many LTs in the league that can block him in one on one situations. Allen can beat just about anyone in the league in one on one match up situations and to expect Williams to go against him for the majority of the game on his own will only hurt Williams' confidence.
It would be completely unfair for anyone to expect Williams to deal with Allen alone. It's in no way the only way we'll be able to measure Williams future value or future success to the franchise. Should we expect Williams to play well? Yes, but we can't expect this to be the ultimate decider of success for his draft status.
Allen is second in the league in sacks and has been a terror in the league for the last five years. He only seems to get better year after year and has good size, speed and power. This shouldn't be the ultimate decider for how good Williams will be in his career.
Bears fan cannot and SHOULD NOT expect Williams to win this match up very often. Not only that, the Bears coaching staff should not expect Williams to hold Allen off all by himself. Expecting that will be a recipe for disaster for the Bears. The Bears need to give Williams all the help he can get, not because Williams won't some day be a good OT but because Allen is simply that good.
Chipping, double teaming, and cutting Allen all day long has proven to be the most effective way to deal with him.
More over Allen is a highly emotional player whose game thrives on emotion, on the flip side the best way to slow him down is to frustrate him. The more frustrated Allen becomes, the less effective he is in a game. The more he has to deal with being cut chipped and double teamed and the more he is knocked around the less effective he is.
The Bears need to approach Allen with this strategy firmly in mind. No need for the Bears to think, let's just throw the young LT out there and let him deal with Allen, nope....deal with him with all sorts of help and once Allen is frustrated then Williams will be more able to deal with him in one on one situations and then the Bears will be able to take their shots down the field.
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