Researching the Pickup Artist (PUA) Community is truly one of the best and worst things in the world. There are a lot of times where you will find something so ridiculous that you will find yourself laughing about it days later.
There are other things that remind you that PUAs are basically the worst human beings in the world. Seriously, people make fun of Juggalos, but PUAs are so much worse. I could slam some Faygo and party with Juggalos; hanging out with PUAs may be the worst experience of my life. The release of a book called Day Bang has made me dive back into this dark, sad world where many of the people involved actually think that women are far more evil than Hitler.
Day Bang introduced something called "Elderly Game" as its backbone for seducing women during the day. My ears perked up like I was a dog about to go for a walk when I heard about it. Elderly game is talking to people like you're an elderly person. A better name for it would be "Seinfeld Game," because the main point behind it is making observations and talking to people about them. Here are some examples.
“Beautiful day.”
“Those shoes look comfortable."
"That's nice; where did you get that?"
“Hello.”
That's it. That's all there is to it. I have to say I was a little disappointed, but at least I got to post that picture of Mystery going undercover. Earlier I said "Seinfeld Game" might be a better name for "Elderly Game." The best name is "Human Being Game." If you talk to people like they are human beings, they will probably respond in kind. Of course, if you naturally thing of women as being sluts, bitches, and lizards (that one I just learned about), then treating them like human beings is probably a pretty foreign idea.
"Elderly Game" was pretty disappointing. The only thing unintentionally hilarious about it is the name for it, but they do get bonus points for encouraging men to treat women like human beings. Still, it loses major points for not pretending to be handicapped or removing one's teeth for sympathy bangs.
Finally, it is time to look at the Bears last pick of the 2014 NFL Draft, seventh rounder, Charles Leno Jr. If you are looking for a comprehensive breakdown of game film, you may want to keep looking on this one, because I am going to be spending most of my time looking at the intangibles that he brings to the table. Still, here are the only 42 seconds of cohesive game tape that I was able to find, so enjoy it.
He does his job on every one of these highlight plays. If he does that every time, he will be a perennial Pro Bowler. So that sounds good to me. Still, I am not quite able to fully sign off with that little bit of film. But there is one other thing about this late round pick that definitely needs to be addressed.
There is no way I can stop without talking about the elephant in the room. Although I did no actual research, I can confidently say that Charles Leno Jr. is related to Jay Leno. You may think with their difference in size, skin color, and first name that at best, they are only distant cousins. But after a complete lack of research, I learned that Jay is actually Charles's father. I have to say that it was a little surprising, but I learned that Charles "Jay" Leno earned his name early on in his life. He talked a little funny as a young lad, so when he introduced himself as Charles, everyone thought he said Jarles. Since Jarles is a ridiculously stupid name, they decided to call him Jay for short.
Obviously, this is a huge boon for the Bears locker room atmosphere. With Leno cracking wise with teammates, there is no way they won't have the best team chemistry in the entire league.
But it's not just inside the locker room that his quick wit will be a huge advantage. Imagine him lining up across from Ndamukong Suh and pulling a a newspaper out of his helmet just to show Suh the hilarious announcement of the Smelley-Kuntz wedding. Suh will be doubled over laughing while Matt Forte walks into the end zone. You can't make this stuff up, folks.
I will admit that things got weird towards the end of these Bears scouting reports, but I hope you have a better idea of what these rookies will be bringing to the table in their inaugural seasons.
Now is the time for the most exciting of all the Bears draft picks, sixth rounder Pat O'Donnell. The man who is a game changer anytime he gets on the field. Before we get into him, here is a list of the guys I have already looked at from the Bears draft.
As I said, Pat O'Donnell is a game changer. There is nobody who makes big plays as consistently as this guy does. If he's only getting a 40 yard play, you can bet that he's going into the red zone with it. Also, he's not some glory boy who is all about touchdowns. In fact, he actively avoids the end zone, as it "isn't his thing." A lot of prospects in the draft are seen as boom-or-bust guys. Well, this guy is definitely a boom, as every time he touches the ball, that is what shortly follows.
Obviously, you want to see the highlights. Well, that's kind of an issue. Since he is not a glory boy, nobody cared to make highlights of all of his greatest moments. Still, this minute long tribute video does a nice job of showing the highest of his highlights. It will definitely leave you wanting more.
When you watch video of this guy, you won't be surprised that he was asked to star in the remake of NBC's hit show, "Hang Time." I was unable to confirm whether they were going to make a parody cop comedy starring him and former Bears offensive coordinator, Ron Turner entitled, "Turner and Pooch."
What the Bears acquired here is the Tom Brady of this draft, except he isn't going to wait to take the starting gig.
Teams cursing themselves for not taking him? Check.
Pro Bowls every year? For sure.
Super Bowl Championships? Definitely.
Coitus with Super Models? Oh, yeah.
So, yeah, I definitely approve of this pick. Great job, Bears. And Pat, we're happy to have you on our side.
This is going to be my easiest review, because I broke down David Fales before the draft, and I have to say that I was excited with this pick. It shows that although Jay Cutler is their quarterback for the next three years, it may not be the direction that Emery and Trestman go in the future, because David Fales and Jay Cutler are about as opposite as two quarterbacks can be. The short version is that David Fales does a great job of everything a quarterback can do except for the physical gifts. He makes good decisions, has good accuracy, and can read a defense. However, he's not real athletic, and there isn't much zip on his passes. If arm strength didn't matter, he may have been the first quarterback taken. Unfortunately, it does matter, so he was picked in the sixth round. People like to point to the guys who improved their arm strength when reaching the pros, but that stuff gets overblown. If it does happen for Fales, he could be a stud, but considering Josh McCown set the world on fire last year, there's no reason Fales can't be a good backup for Cutler over these next few years. That's the quick version, for the full report on Fales, read below, as I have copied it from my report earlier this year. Also, you can check out all of my other reports before the jump.
David Fales is a very interesting prospect as people were very excited for him to come back this year and solidify his spot as one of the top quarterbacks in the draft. He went out and nearly duplicated his Junior season (his only real dropoff was completion percentage which went from a ridiculously high 72.5 to a still very solid 64.1) and everybody seemed to downgrade him. Also weird is that there are no 2013 game tapes on YouTube, but half of his season from 2012 is up there. Since I had not heard of any significant step forward that he made this past season, I took a look at his 2012 tape of his games against Stanford and BYU.
The mental side of the game is definitely a strength for Fales. He shows that he can smoothly work through his reads on this throw over the middle.
He starts off looking to his left, sees that his receiver is covered, then calmly bounces his feet to focus on the middle and throws a nice ball up the seam.
Fales does a really nice job of trusting his blocking on this play. He tries to stick with the deep route as long as possible, sees it is not going to happen, and then quickly looks to his right and fires a nice pass for a first down.
That sort of patience is an incredibly value asset for a quarterback to possess.
With that pocket presence, he also moves very well inside the pocket. Here he makes a nice move to avoid the rush, give himself space, and make a play.
This isn't a throw that is going to wow people, but considering he is on the move, throwing a well placed ball on the short route is very nice.
He's not going to wow teams with his athleticism, but he makes the most of his moves. On this play, he shows his maximum shiftiness, but it's a nice gain for him when nobody was open.
His awareness helps his mobility play up since he rarely wastes steps and knows the best ways to move when he is under duress.
The next play is an intermediate route where Fales successfully threads the needle. He does this with accuracy, as the lack of arm strength nearly gives the Stanford defender a chance to make an interception.
I'm still not sure how that pass was completed. The ball goes right through the defender's hands into his receivers.
I really love the anticipation here, as he knows his receiver is going to curl back right at the goal line, so he throws it so it arrives as the receiver is turning around in front of the cornerback who had coverage over the top.
The replay really shows the greatness of the timing of the throw and delivering it right to the receiver's chest makes it an easy touchdown.
He does a very nice job with intermediate throws as he places the ball right where it needs to be.
His receiver does get some separation on the out route, but Fales puts the ball on the outside shoulder so the defender has no chance of making a play and his receiver can pick up the first down.
Here is a deep ball that illustrates the worries that teams are going to have with Fales. Arm strength. On this pass, the ball flutters in the air and takes a long time to get to his intended receiver. Look at how the ball hangs in the air, and receiver has to slow down for it.
Yes, the receiver should have made the catch and had a touchdown, but that was more from the coverage falling down than the pass being great.
Here is the problem with a lack of arm strength. This receiver has a small opening over the top of the cornerback before the safety is over the top of the route. Fales sees that opening and throws the ball there.
Unfortunately, it hangs in the air far too long and the safety gets an easy interception.
These are the sort of windows that are common in the NFL, and this is why people are going to doubt Fales.
It's throws like this one that makes me want to believe in Fales. It's not wow arm strength, but it looks like enough on this throw over the middle.
It is thrown right as the receiver breaks towards the middle, and it is placed perfectly which saves his receiver from taking a big shot from the safety.
This was my favorite throw that I saw from Fales.
It's a throw like this that gives me hope.
Fales reminds me of quarterbacks that I've loved too much in the past. The name that comes to mind for me is Greg McElroy. The question that I struggle with when I look back is whether McElroy has not put it together in the NFL because of arm strength or whether I overrated him due to being surrounded by studs at the college level. Fales does not have to worry about the latter problem as San Jose State is not quite the football powerhouse that Alabama is. Still, I keep coming back to that arm strength. At times, it looks fine, but that's the high end of where his arm can be, just okay. Arm strength isn't everything, but there is still a minimum level that almost always must be met. On top of the arm strength issue, he is only an average athlete and has one of the lowest ceilings of any quarterback in this draft. But, he has accuracy, good pocket presence, and makes smart decisions with the football. Those are highly desirable qualities in a quarterback, but I still don't think it's enough to be any more than a late round pick.
The Bears traded their fifth round pick this year and another fifth round pick next year in order to move up to select Minnesota Safety, Brock Vereen. Although I would have loved for them to have used that extra pick to go up and get Timmy Jernigan (I'm not bitter; I'm just sad), but safety was a definite need for them, so it made sense to go up and get a guy that they clearly liked. I broke down his game against my alma mater, the Iowa Hawkeyes to see what Vereen brings to the table.
The first good sign that I saw for Vereen is when teams went to spread formations, he was the most likely safety to come up and take man coverage on a wide receiver. Unfortunately, he wasn't real great in man coverage. I feel more comfortable with him giving up size to a tight end as his technique leaves a little to be desired so wide receivers can beat him bad if he is forced to match up in man coverage, but he has speed to recover against a tight end. Here is an example of Kevonte Martin-Manley, who as much as I love is probably an undrafted free agent at best next year, burning Vereen on back-to-back plays.
The first play, KMM jukes to the outside and crosses in, leaving Vereen in his dust in the process. The second play is more of the same, although it could have been much more costly. The last replay of the second play is the most important. KMM jukes his head to the outside, and it is enough to get Vereen to turn his hips and even take a step backwards with his right foot. At that point, he's toast, and a slightly better pass probably leads to a touchdown.
I would describe his work in the run game as hesitant. He seems to shuffle his feet a lot and jump into piles as opposed to coming in like a missile trying to take a running back head on. I know that isn't exciting, but considering he is likely to be a free safety, this is not that big of an issue.
One positive that I saw was his acceleration. He gets up to top speed very quickly and seems to have good speed to go along with it. When he isn't burned badly in coverage, he has makeup speed that can get him out of some bad spots.
The one thing that I rarely got to see were his abilities to play in a zone and make a break on a pass. Luckily, the one time he did get a chance, he made the most of it.
Neither angle is ideal on telling whether the quarterback made a really poor read or if Vereen just made a very good play, but the end result of an interception is certainly nice.
Overall, Vereen displays the tools to be a good safety. He has shown that he can read a pass and make a good break and create a big play. He has very good acceleration and speed which helps him as he does make false steps. The false steps and his hesitancy in the run game are both concerns, with the former being far more important than the latter, although fans may get just as frustrated with both. Watching one game, I saw flashes of a good safety and flashes of things I have seen too much of from Bears safeties in the last few years. The Bears watched enough to trade up in the draft for him, so I am going to hope that he makes less false steps than Chris Conte. If he can do that, he can use his athleticism to make a difference in the middle of the field, and the Bears will add a vital piece to their secondary.
After being uninspired with the Bears first two picks, third round pick Will Sutton got my heart beating faster. I had butterflies in my stomach and wanted to give him heart-shaped candy that says, "Will You Be Mine?" Luckily, the Bears already drafted him, so he will be mine. But more importantly, I was hoping that this was a sign that the Bears were going to dominate the later rounds of the draft. Before we get to that next player, here are links to their first three picks.
Their next pick was in the middle of the fourth round when they selected Ka'Deem Carey from Arizona. He had great production in his final two seasons in Tucson, but would the tape match the stats? I decided to break down his game against UCLA to find out.
Unfortunately, the first thing that shows up on tape is average acceleration as he goes through the hole. There are guys who get up to top speed quickly, but Carey doesn't appear to be one of them. I actually think it is less of a hindrance for him in the NFL than it would be in the spread offense he played in during college as the quick backs are usually the ones that succeed in those systems.
The good news is that he delivers hits in the hole. This is not a guy who is afraid to lower his shoulder and take on a defender. This should make him a good short yardage back while Forte takes the bulk of the carries.
Another thing that he shows is good balance.
A lot of running backs lose their footing when faced with that sort of contact, but he keeps chugging forward until there is no place for his feet to land and picks up an extra five yards after the initial contact.
I really liked what he did in both run and pass blocking.
The first play is a QB draw where he nails the safety who tries to come up and plug the hole. He laid down the boom to the point that the safety was slow getting up from the block. After that, he does a nice job of seeing the blitzer from the opposite side, crosses in front of the quarterback and takes out the blitzer before he can get to the quarterback.
The reason he was able to rack up all of those yards despite not being elite in speed or acceleration is that he showed a great ability to make strong cuts when he got in the open field.
He did show some nice burst by getting through the hole, but then does a nice job of making the safety miss. He is still immediately wrapped up by the trailing linebacker, but the linebacker pushes him forward and since he loses such little speed despite cutting to make the safety miss that his legs keep churning him forward even with a player wrapped around his waist.
The big flashy things like speed are not his forte, so his slow 40 time is not really a surprise, but the little things are where he excels. He will do everything to help his team gain an advantage, and although it may never add up to an explosive game-changing back, there is no reason it can't lead to a good one. If he was picked in the first round, I'd be very disappointed, but in the middle of the fourth round, this is good value and Carey should complement Forte well.
It is now round three of my look at the Bears draft. After looking at the Bears first two picks, I was less than enthused, but the third round brought a guy that had impressed me in limited looks, so I was pretty excited to take a closer look. Will Sutton is a classic 3-technique defensive tackle and will hopefully have a similar impact to healthy Henry Melton and early career Tommy Harris (although I do have dreams of Warren Sapp and Geno Atkins). Below are links to the Bears first two picks scouting reports:
Now it is time to take a look at Arizona State's Will Sutton. If there is one thing I always want my teams to acquire, it is undervalued assets. One way that teams consistently undervalue players is when a prospect's production drops off. Will Sutton was an absolute monster in his Junior year, and his Senior year simply did not meet expectations. His numbers dropped across the board, but the good news is that he had multiple reasons for this. Like Jadeveon Clowney, offenses geared their game plans towards limiting his impact. Along with that, he gained weight to help his chances at the next level, and the weight did not suit him well. Because of those factors, I wanted to take a look at games from both years by watching his 2013 Holiday Bowl performance against Texas Tech and his 2012 performance against Oregon State.
More important than numbers on a stat sheet is the impact that he has on a team's game plan. This is a nice look at how Texas Tech minimized Sutton's impact.
The latter is not as important as Texas Tech uses the wide splits to nullify all defensive linemen, but the first part was important as they made a point to put multiple blockers on Sutton as they knew he had the talent to blow up a play in the backfield.
Here are examples of what Sutton's ability to penetrate can do to a running game.
Even with his extra weight, he showed quickness off the line to cause problems for the offense. With the first play, he doesn't let the lineman get between him and the back and swallows up the back immediately. On the second play, he knifes through the offensive lineman, and gets to the running back before he can make it to the line of scrimmage. The gist of this is that the reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated.
With that being said, the second and third play of the Oregon State game in 2012 made my eyes get misty from tears of joy. Him at a lighter weight is a different animal. The first play is a nice job of reading a play and realizing that the best option is not just charging forward.
He drops back in a zone as he recognizes that they are setting up a screen and absolutely obliterates the running back.
I know that I said he obliterated the running back, but I'm struggling with that now. He definitely did obliterate the back, but now I don't know what to call what he does to the quarterback on this play.
Murder? Murder feels like the closest word to describe what happens on that play. Maybe a tad strong, but he basically made the quarterback look like a GI Joe action figure where the torso gets stretched from the middle groin part, but luckily the rubber band springs him back together. He hit him so hard that the quarterback dropped the ball before he got there. This may be evidence that Will Sutton has broken the space-time continuum.
Here is a play that Sutton does not make, and yet I love it almost as much as his highlight plays.
He could stand and let the play in, he could jump in on the pile, but instead he goes for the strip from the outside. He doesn't get it, but I love where his head is at on the play, as it's the kind of effort that could lead to a turnover.
From watching his play in 2013, two things became abundantly clear. The weight he added did not do him any favors either in performance or aesthetic appeal. The second thing was that even if he hadn't been circled in this cut-up, he still would have been the guy that jumped off the screen. He had four tackles in the game, but he was almost always the guy who got by far the most penetration out of all of the defensive linemen. He displayed good quickness and a nice club move that caused issues for the Texas Tech line. If the Bears drafted this player, it's a solid pick for them.
Meanwhile, watching him in 2012, he's Geno Atkins good (that is absolute ceiling, but ceilings for 3-techniques don't get much higher than that). Like, it's scary watching him, because there are plays where it looks more like a high school highlight tape where the guy is just outclassing his competition. If the Bears got this guy, they may have gotten the steal of the draft. I was happy when the Bears drafted him, but I am now elated. Thanks, Phil.
I have long been an advocate of toe shoes, so I had many friends point me towards the backlash that has been on the internet as Vibram has had to settle a lawsuit for their FiveFingers (toe) shoes. What people have gotten stuck on is that these shoes don't work and nobody should wear them, because they are stupid looking and will ruin you as a runner. Let's take a look at the second claim first.
The shoe company had to settle because Vibram claimed that these shoes would reduce foot injuries and even make people's feet stronger. Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence to back this up. If you look at this at face value, it will mean that these shoes are bad for you, and everyone should immediately stop wearing them. Unfortunately, this is a misconception that shows a blatant disregard for other benefits that shoes can have. Those other benefits are why I will continue to wear my toe shoes, but even with that endorsement, I still plan on collecting my settlement money, because I more than earned it.
The claim on helping feet is bullshit. It isn't going to make your feet stronger, and it can cause stress fractures in your foot when switching to the shoe. I know, because I got a stress fracture in my right foot when using the shoes for a road race. It really sucked, and the shoes are definitely to blame. But much like Achilles had his heel, my weakness is foot bones, as I also got a stress fracture in my foot when I wore traditional running shoes. Vibram needs to make it very clear that people need to take it very slow and run very little before amping up your runs in those shoes. Trying to do a lot quickly will mess up your feet and not making this clear is the reason they are going to pay out a lot of money.
So these shoes broke my foot, yet I still wear them. Why? Well, the other benefits that I mentioned earlier have outweighed the costs compared to traditional running shoes. I started off as a hard-hitting runner as my feet really went heavy against the road. Likely, this was caused by being involved in sprint heavy sports like basketball, football, and tennis where speed is created by pushing hard against the ground with your foot. I ran in toe shoes with a heavy foot and I paid the price. But these shoes have made me adjust my running where at times, I feel myself gliding across the pavement instead of pounding it. When I first got the shoes, it killed my feet any time I would step on a rock, road grate, and especially tactile pavings. Now my foot strike is way softer, so I barely notice when I land on those things (although gravel is still very tricky, so I try to avoid it).
In combination with landing softer on the pavement, I have also adjusted where I land on my foot. I used to be a heel striker when wearing traditional running shoes. Even in my mid-20s, I would occasionally have pain in my knees as well as lower back pain that was likely a direct result of that pain in my knees. My Dad has bad knees and a bad back, so those were two things that really worried me as I got older. Switching to the shoes forced me to start landing on the balls of my feet instead of my heel. What this does is forces my calves to take the brunt of punishment when I run. When I first got the shoes, my calves killed me, but I kept using them, and my calf muscles have gotten stronger, and it takes a very long run for them to get sore. With the pressure in my calves, it took it off of my knees, and that is why I love these shoes so much. Since switching, I have had no pain in my knees or back, and that is the biggest reason that I absolutely love my toe shoes.
Honestly, toe shoes aren't for everybody. In fitness, everything gets disputed, so find out what works for you. If you feel good using traditional shoes, keep using them. If you are having knee and back problems, maybe give toe shoes a try. Vibram FiveFingers have no proven benefits for your feet, but they have had positive benefits for me. Because of that, I will continue to be the guy running in toe shoes.
And as for them being ugly? Yeah, that's probably a fair point.
