He did against one of the best left side offensive line tandems in the league.  Joe Thomas and  Eric Steinbach had a lot of trouble handling Harris.  I'd love to sit here and rip on Harris and blast on him and be just as pissed off and jaded as the rest of the fan base is at Tommie Harris, but for one game against legit players Harris looked good. 

There were times where the Browns tried to block him one on one with just Thomas and Harris essentially was able to run where ever he wanted to attack whatever gap he wanted to and penetrate where he pleased.  Other times Thomas had to drag him to the ground by the shoulder pad to keep him from making a play. 

Hopefully Harris plays this way against the best competition we face going forward. 

My Blog

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Midway Illustrated Blog

Roach is also a far better MIKE than Hillenmeyer.  It might be fair to ask whether we can allow Roach to grow into a solid comfort level with calling the defensive signals and getting the alignments correct be cause he is so much more productive than Hunter is at the MIKE position. 

Hunter for all his advantage with his 6-4 height seems real scrawny and gets bullied around at the POA.  Roach is a far better downhill player and is even arguably a better MIKE than he is a SAM. 

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Midway Illustrated Blog

MonstersoftheMidway51:

Roach is also a far better MIKE than Hillenmeyer.  It might be fair to ask whether we can allow Roach to grow into a solid comfort level with calling the defensive signals and getting the alignments correct be cause he is so much more productive than Hunter is at the MIKE position. 

Hunter for all his advantage with his 6-4 height seems real scrawny and gets bullied around at the POA.  Roach is a far better downhill player and is even arguably a better MIKE than he is a SAM. 

Umm, what games are you watching? HH actually knows how to get the Defense in the correct positions. Not only that, did you see how many times HH was in the backfield blitzing against the Browns? I was impressed.

HH > Roach at MLB.

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"Or... you can grow a conscience in the next five minutes and see where that takes you. " - Me

If that's the best Tommie has to offer, then... mehhhhhhhhhhh.

Also, you're dead wrong about Hillenmeyer vs Roach.

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Why wouldn't I believe it? Tommie has been bad so far, so anything better than bad would be good.

Get back to me after he has the best game of his career :p

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Les Grossman:

MonstersoftheMidway51:

Roach is also a far better MIKE than Hillenmeyer.  It might be fair to ask whether we can allow Roach to grow into a solid comfort level with calling the defensive signals and getting the alignments correct be cause he is so much more productive than Hunter is at the MIKE position. 

Hunter for all his advantage with his 6-4 height seems real scrawny and gets bullied around at the POA.  Roach is a far better downhill player and is even arguably a better MIKE than he is a SAM. 

Umm, what games are you watching? HH actually knows how to get the Defense in the correct positions. Not only that, did you see how many times HH was in the backfield blitzing against the Browns? I was impressed.

HH > Roach at MLB.

Hunter did look better than anyone else on the team at blitzing.  But he only made about two plays off of those blitzes. 

I'm also not denying that Roach struggled to get the defense into the right positions, but his overall body of work is far better than Hillenmeyer's  he holds up far better in the run game than Hillenmeyer. 

Roach you'll get better production from during the course of the game.  If he has the chance to learn the defense better and gets the correct alignments then you can probably cut Hunter.  Hunter is garbage for the most part and if his only contribution is he gets the defensive alignments right then that's not a lot of value. 

It's not as if Roach won't ever learn the defense, he will the more he plays the MIKE spot and the more he focuses on that position only.  He had never been asked to be the leader of the defense until this year so his prep time to be the chief of the defense was minimal. 

Hillenmeyer knows the defense, that's a learned skill which Roach can improve upon.  At this point Hillenmeyer is not going to suddenly become a better player.  He either has the talent and ability or doesn't.  He won't suddenly get that talent or ability that Roach has.  Roach can learn, so yeah that's precisely what I base my argument on. 

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Midway Illustrated Blog

Roach is clearly a superior athletic talent, but until he develops further and is completely comfortable playing MIKE, I'd rather see Hillenmeyer in there.

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MonstersoftheMidway51:

Roach you'll get better production from during the course of the game.  If he has the chance to learn the defense better and gets the correct alignments then you can probably cut Hunter.  Hunter is garbage for the most part and if his only contribution is he gets the defensive alignments right then that's not a lot of value. 

Uh, that's a lot of value. The differerence between the Cincy game and the Browns is night and day. I like Roach and agree he is much more talented than Hillenmeyer but Roach is not a middle linebacker. He does not have the personality for the position. Nor is he as good as Hillenmeyer thinking on his feet.

Right now Hillenmeyer is our best option at mike, at least until Urlacher returns.

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“Football players, like prostitutes, are in the business of ruining their bodies for the pleasure of strangers

MonstersoftheMidway51:

Roach you'll get better production from during the course of the game.  If he has the chance to learn the defense better and gets the correct alignments then you can probably cut Hunter.  Hunter is garbage for the most part and if his only contribution is he gets the defensive alignments right then that's not a lot of value. 

Are you serious? Do you remember the Atlanta game where Roach didn't get the right alignment and it led to a easy TD? I'd rather have someone in there making the correct calls, and not letting the other team get easy points.

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HE'S OUR QUARTERBACK!
WE LOST AS A TEAM!

pre-snap= hunter > roach
post snap= roach> hunter

hillenmeyer definitely understands how to make the right calls and audibles but he's still a bad middle linebacker who can't fight off a block, or hold the point of attack, is slow sideline to sideline and doesn't really offer anything other then pre-snap adjustments...

roach is faster, stronger and plays from sideline to sideline, but has no idea how to line up the defense...it's a tough call but ultimately hillenmeyer's coach like ability will win out...to bad he's not a good player...

as far as tommie harris, the truth is, he's still a good DT who demands double teams inside, even if he's not good enough to beat double teams, as he did before the injuries...

the heat he's taken is ridiculous, and shows the fundamental lack of knowledge of most fans...if you watch the bengals game, they did not even bother double teaming any of our tackles...harris is far and away our best DT...it's just unlikely he'll ever be the game changing player he was pre-injury...

Tommie was horrible early in the season and now he has improved to terrible.

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Godfather, Left Tackle Mafia

BringBackDitka:

pre-snap= hunter > roach post snap= roach> hunter hillenmeyer definitely understands how to make the right calls and audibles but he's still a bad middle linebacker who can't fight off a block, or hold the point of attack, is slow sideline to sideline and doesn't really offer anything other then pre-snap adjustments... roach is faster, stronger and plays from sideline to sideline, but has no idea how to line up the defense...it's a tough call but ultimately hillenmeyer's coach like ability will win out...to bad he's not a good player... as far as tommie harris, the truth is, he's still a good DT who demands double teams inside, even if he's not good enough to beat double teams, as he did before the injuries... the heat he's taken is ridiculous, and shows the fundamental lack of knowledge of most fans...if you watch the bengals game, they did not even bother double teaming any of our tackles...harris is far and away our best DT...it's just unlikely he'll ever be the game changing player he was pre-injury...

One is a skill you can learn; alignments and adjustments; the other is a skill you just naturally have; talent and athleticism. 

Roach can learn to be a better captain on defense if they allow him to focus solely on being a MIKE. 

Simple as that and not hard to agree with the above statement. 

People are stating the obvious (he struggled during the Atlanta game) yeah of course he did because it was his first time playing MIKE that's why there should be patience with him. 

They were patient with Omiyale for way too long, why not be patient with Roach and let him learn something that is something that can be legitimately be taught?

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Midway Illustrated Blog

Omeletpants:

Tommie was horrible early in the season and now he has improved to terrible.

Do you like ANYBODY on this team?

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It will be a rude awakening for Jay. No more 10-15 min breaks between possessions as the opponent scores TD after TD. We could have a McNabb situation, where he doesn't realize its within the rules that he actually gets to take the field before the other team has scored. He'll certainly get confused when he sees an opponent punt for the first time in 3 years...hope Lovie is on top of this...

MonstersoftheMidway51:

BringBackDitka:

pre-snap= hunter > roach post snap= roach> hunter hillenmeyer definitely understands how to make the right calls and audibles but he's still a bad middle linebacker who can't fight off a block, or hold the point of attack, is slow sideline to sideline and doesn't really offer anything other then pre-snap adjustments... roach is faster, stronger and plays from sideline to sideline, but has no idea how to line up the defense...it's a tough call but ultimately hillenmeyer's coach like ability will win out...to bad he's not a good player... as far as tommie harris, the truth is, he's still a good DT who demands double teams inside, even if he's not good enough to beat double teams, as he did before the injuries... the heat he's taken is ridiculous, and shows the fundamental lack of knowledge of most fans...if you watch the bengals game, they did not even bother double teaming any of our tackles...harris is far and away our best DT...it's just unlikely he'll ever be the game changing player he was pre-injury...

One is a skill you can learn; alignments and adjustments; the other is a skill you just naturally have; talent and athleticism. 

Roach can learn to be a better captain on defense if they allow him to focus solely on being a MIKE. 

Simple as that and not hard to agree with the above statement. 

People are stating the obvious (he struggled during the Atlanta game) yeah of course he did because it was his first time playing MIKE that's why there should be patience with him. 

They were patient with Omiyale for way too long, why not be patient with Roach and let him learn something that is something that can be legitimately be taught?

you're missing the point - Roach by nature is not a middle linebacker. He does not have the temperament. He is not mentally or emotionally equipped to play the mike position. Speaking of Omiyale how did that work out? Roach at mike would not work out much better.

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“Football players, like prostitutes, are in the business of ruining their bodies for the pleasure of strangers

Yeah, there was even an article about how Roach wasn't loud enough for the guys to hear the calls. I think HH is our MLB for now. I want to be excited about Harris but he was limited again in practise this wednesday. The coach says his knees in pain, he says it's fine, then the coach says his knees fine but not really fine, it just needs some rest. I'm so confused.

Omeletpants:

Tommie was horrible early in the season and now he has improved to terrible.

With Tommie's two tackles he increased his season total to nine, plus he actually touched a quarterback.  At this rate of improvement he is a lock for All-Pro by 2037.

Alfalfa:

Omeletpants:

Tommie was horrible early in the season and now he has improved to terrible.

With Tommie's two tackles he increased his season total to nine, plus he actually touched a quarterback.  At this rate of improvement he is a lock for All-Pro by 2037.

Not buying the 9 tackle "estimate". I have counted 5. In the last game they eroneously gave him credit for a tackle made by Brown

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Godfather, Left Tackle Mafia

Rhaegar:

Omeletpants:

Tommie was horrible early in the season and now he has improved to terrible.

Do you like ANYBODY on this team?

I like the good players and I like you

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Godfather, Left Tackle Mafia

Rhaegar:

Omeletpants:

Tommie was horrible early in the season and now he has improved to terrible.

Do you like ANYBODY on this team?

He love Wolfe, and every player on the OL. Ask him seriously

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Wise as the owl, Sly as the fox

And God said "on April, 2, 2009 The Bears will be granted their second franchise quarterback.

Tommie did play better than he's receiving credit for, I'm excited to see how he fares against Arizona's OL this week... Especially considering he practiced today.

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