Bears Blitz

Published by Andrew Garda on June 5, 2012
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

There are times when Brandon Marshall shows the immense talent at his fingertips, and the Bears‘ 2012 season hinges a great deal on how often he can show it.

While the game we’re about to look at involved no Bears at the time, it is a great example of what Marshall can accomplish.

Consider what he had to work with in this game. Matt Moore at quarterback. Davone Bess and Brian Hartline pulling coverage (or not, in reality).

Yes, the New England defense was not particularly good last year but still, shutting down one receiver was something it could have done. In other games, it had.

Not Marshall, not this game.

Marshall ended up with seven catches on 12 targets for 156 yards and a touchdown.

Moore was erratic early on—he’d make a nice pass one down and then follow it up with an overthrown or underthrown ball. He was never comfortable in the pocket—a theme for last season—and so never really set his feet.

The first two balls thrown Marshall’s way did not set the tone for a great day. The first pass was well over Marshall’s head and the second was a very slow pass which Marshall dropped, although looking at it closely, the defender had too much time to get in position to make a play.

Moore didn’t have any heat on his short passes, so the Patriots were able to defend. Devin McCourty made an outstanding play on a ball that should have been caught.

Marshall got his revenge with the first pass of the second quarter.

On the play, McCourty played off of Marshall a significant distance—about eight yards. That’s a testament to Marshall’s explosiveness and speed. Despite covering Marshall well before the play, McCourty wasn’t taking any chances.

On the other hand, it allowed Marshall some distance to get up to speed.

Marshall got behind McCourty, but even then the defender was in a perfectly good position. However, as you can see in the picture above, McCourty never turns his head around. He completely keys his actions off of Marshall, which puts him a moment behind the receiver’s actions.

I know the picture is a bit blurry (I was unable to get a stream from game rewind, which was crisp, and I don’t own this particular game), but I have circled McCourty’s face and put an arrow in the direction it’s pointed at.

That 47-yard reception was a big chunk of Marshall’s yards for the day, but put the team in a position for his next catch two plays later.

On the play, Marshall was sent in motion (pictured with the arrow in the attached screencap) toward the right side of the formation.

At the snap, Marshall ran straight at the covering linebacker, driving him backward, and then cut in at a sharp angle.

His slant route split the zones and left him pretty wide open. Moore’s pass still lacked any real heat but Marshall easily scooped the ball in and backed into the end zone for a touchdown.

Both plays showed what Marshall can do when he concentrates and is on his game. While there were some errors on his part, he executed his routes well and used his body to box out defenders.

Marshall was only targeted four times in the second half. I can’t be sure as to why—while the Patriots altered their coverage a bit, he still had some room. Moore just often looked elsewhere.

He caught three of the four passes, including one for another 41 yards. On the one missed pass, Marshall again appeared to have the catch but McCourty came in and knocked the ball loose.

McCourty and Marshall had a pretty good battle in the game but Marshall definitely won more matches than he lost.

On what would be Marshall’s final catch of the game, McCourty once again gave him about an eight-yard cushion. When Marshall burst off the line, McCourty did a good job of giving ground, but stopped when Marshall cut in and back at an angle toward the line.

When Marshall again changed direction, running towards McCourty, the defender was caught flat-footed and—as you can see—off balance.

Marshall easily got behind McCourty and, if he hadn’t had to slow down for the pass, probably would have scored a touchdown that might have changed the complexion of the last few moments of the game.

The quarterback never threw in Marshall’s direction again, which, given how he was able to score by splitting the defense and how he kept getting behind McCourty, seemed odd.

Despite the game being a loss for the Dolphins and a few dropped passes, Marshall definitely owned McCourty for most of the game.

Games like this bode well for the Bears and this offense.

In Chicago, Marshall has Jay Cutler throwing to him—not only a clear upgrade over Moore but the quarterback who threw to Marshall during his career years in Denver. He also has legitimate threats around him in Earl Bennett and Alshon Jeffery, though admittedly Jeffery is a rookie.

Matt Forte and Michael Bush easily surpass the running game in Miami, despite Reggie Bush‘s career year in 2011.

As this game shows, Marshall has enough speed to make cornerbacks second-guess playing too close to the line, but enough speed and athleticism to make it difficult to hang too far back.

While I agree with McCourty’s general idea—get back far enough to have room and gauge Marshall’s route—Marshall shows enough speed and route-running ability to make that an equally dicey proposition.

Also, McCourty very rarely had safety help over the top on Marshall’s catches. With the array of weapons at the Bears’ disposal, opposing defenses may be unable to attach an extra safety in support.

As we saw here in this game, Marshall eats up one-on-one matchups.

Marshall’s biggest flaw is his drops. If he can overcome those, you will see more than enough of these types of games to satisfy.

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