Bears Preseason Week 2: Position Battles (Offense)
Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
Position: Back-up OLs
Up: Robert Turner – For a guy that just joined the Bears this week Turner played very well on the interior line. He played more snaps than anyone on the Bears offense (46) and played mistake free football. Turner had the key trap block on Senorise Perry’s game winning TD run. He was also the Bears highest graded lineman overall by PFF and had the 2nd best grade overall behind Jay Cutler.
Up: James Brown – One of the most impressive of the Bears backup lineman for the 2nd week in a row. Brown played guard last week and most of his Bears career, but lined up at left tackle Thursday and played surprisingly well. Two plays stood out to me; On the first Brown was beat by a quick first step, but he drove the DE way outside of the pocket giving Palmer plenty of time to throw. The second was on a short dump off to Senorise Perry. Brown hustled to the 2nd level and helped Perry gain a couple extra yards. He didn’t crush anyone, but he made the effort to give Perry some help.
Up: Ryan Groy – The undrafted rookie had the key block on Ka’Deem Carey’s 15 yard run. Groy pulled from the right and sealed the LB out of the hole. Groy isn’t known for his mobility, which makes it that much more impressive. He was beat bad on one pass play resulting in a hit on Palmer, but Groy was the Bears highest graded run blocker by quite a bit (1.2) according to PFF.
Down: Michael Ola – He wasn’t terrible, but after playing so well in week 1 Ola lost some momentum in week 2 with a hands to the face penalty and no push in the run game.
Down: Joe Long – Got absolutely roasted on a pass play but luckily Palmer got rid of the ball quickly. The only time I have noticed Long in two weeks is when he is getting beat.
Down: Taylor Boggs – Had a bad shotgun snap and was pushed around in the running game for the 2nd week in a row.
No Change: Charles Leno Jr – Some good, some bad. Leno got beat bad by former 10th overall pick Tyson Alualu for a sack and had a false-start penalty, but outside of those two plays Leno was really solid. That’s a wash in my book.