Bears Blitz

Published by Cian Fahey on October 13, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears wide receiver Alshon Jeffery has had an inconsistent start to the 2014 NFL season.

Jeffery’s production wasn’t awful over the first four weeks. On 20 receptions, he compiled 262 yards and one touchdown with one fumble. The plays Jeffery was making weren’t an issue, but the plays that he wasn’t making were.

Because of what he did for stretches last season, Jeffery’s expectations are elevated. He has proved that he can consistently make athletic receptions against tight coverage on a regular basis, but those kinds of plays weren’t being made with the same consistency to start this season.

It clearly wasn’t helping Jeffery that he was dealing with some health issues that slowed him.

Whether it is simply coincidental or one has caused the other, Jeffery’s comfort on the field has seemingly returned with his health. The 24-year-old has almost doubled his yardage total for the season over the past two weeks. On 11 receptions, he accounted for 233 yards and a touchdown.

Jeffery was good against the Carolina Panthers in Week 5, but he elevated his game to another level against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6.

Against the Falcons, Jeffery had five receptions for 136 yards. He didn’t have a touchdown but was unfortunate to have a catch in the end zone ruled out when he stepped out of bounds while extending his route.

Most importantly, Jeffery didn’t have a clear drop or even lose out on a contested catch that you would expect him to make.

On his very first reception of the game, Jeffery made an important play on 3rd-and-15 when Jay Cutler extended the play into the flat. Jeffery is initially lined up to the top of the screen, and he appears to be running a deep in route.

Importantly, when Cutler leaves the pocket, he keeps his eyes downfield. He doesn’t simply drop the ball off to his open receiver in the flat and allow the defense to come up to make a tackle. Cutler needs one of his receivers to come free so he can extend the drive.

Because of his physical size and overall athleticism, Jeffery is typically thought of as a player who wins with his physical talent rather than his intelligence or awareness. On this play, he shows off his awareness by finding the soft spot in the Falcons zone coverage, which is just past the first-down line.

Jeffery understands where he needs to be and makes the reception comfortably before turning away from the incoming hit underneath to brace himself and protect the football.

This isn’t the type of play that you put on a highlight reel, but it is the kind of play that speaks to the continued development of the young receiver. Jeffery has previously shown off an ability to dominate opponents with a narrow skill set.

Where he wins on routes or with the ball in his hands has overwhelmed defenders to the point that he didn’t really need to be a well-rounded receiver to be fully effective. The more he plays, the more natural he looks in every facet of the game—and the more he looks like his teammate, Brandon Marshall.

Marshall may be the best current example of a wide receiver who is a physical freak but is able to do everything that you need a well-rounded receiver to do. Jeffery will likely never be as good as Marshall is as a route-runner/possession receiver, but he doesn’t need to be. He is more of an explosive threat down the field than Marshall is.

This is something that was shown on multiple occasions in this game.

Once again, Jeffery is lined up to the top of the screen. This time, the play comes on 2nd-and-10, with the Falcons secondary respecting the deep threat of Jeffery by initially lining up in off coverage. The Falcons alignment hints at quarters coverage, and that appears to be what they ultimately play.

Jeffery isn’t challenged at the line of scrimmage. He takes advantage of his free release to veer inside and approach the seam. This draws him onto the safety and widens the outside cornerback, who turns his attention elsewhere.

Although that safety had a notable cushion, Jeffery very easily closes to him and runs past him.

Jeffery ultimately veers back toward the sideline when Cutler throws the ball, but he has a huge amount of time to adjust to the ball in the air because of the separation that his athleticism has created. The young receiver costs himself yards after the catch by turning back to face the ball, but that was the smart thing to do.

By turning to face the ball, Jeffery turned his catch attempt into a high-percentage play. Jeffery already had a huge play, and he showed good balance to turn back toward the goal line and extend the play.

He didn’t score the touchdown, but he set the offense up in the red zone, and Matt Forte scored on the very next play.

That play went for 74 yards, Jeffery’s longest of the season. The result of the play isn’t what stood out the most. Instead, it was the ease at which he got down the field and created a huge amount of separation. It was the kind of play that Randy Moss used to make on a regular basis.

Many receivers get compared to Moss, and Jeffery certainly isn’t close to that level yet, but he has the size and speed combination that allows him to make big plays with similar ease.

In this game, he had a 26-yard catch in the second quarter when he created a huge amount of separation on a deep crossing route. Those became two of his eight 20-plus-yard receptions so far this season. Three of those eight receptions have eclipsed 40 yards.

Those numbers are phenomenal considering that Jeffery hasn’t been fully healthy or fully effective to this point in the year.

Marc Trestman and Aaron Kromer look to take advantage of Jeffery’s explosiveness in different ways. He obviously runs plenty of deep routes, but the Bears also look to get the ball in his hands on screen passes and end-around plays.

He had one effective screen play for a first down in this game, but his two rushing attempts were well contained by the defense.

In spite of those plays stuttering, Jeffery was still able to have a huge impact on the game because of that developing all-around game. When he becomes capable of being consistent in every facet of his game, and that appears to be something that he is working toward, he might reach his potential to put up record-setting numbers.

Even without being completely consistent or an exceptionally well-rounded receiver last season, Jeffery managed to catch 89 passes for 1,421 yards and seven touchdowns.

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