Chicago Bears: James Daniels second start review

How did the Chicago Bears second round pick look in second full start at left guard?

While James Daniels had been playing in a platoon role for a couple of games, an injury to Eric Kush followed by an injury to Kyle Long has pushed Daniels into starting at left guard in what looks to be the foreseeable future. His first career start had some ups and downs in extended work for the first time.

Against the Buffalo Bills, we saw more of the same.

The Good

The play linked here was a great start to the day by James Daniels. You can see that he gets some help from Cody Whitehair. However, the two effectively take Star Lotulelei out. First Whitehair is able to help stand him up. From there, Daniels is able to seal him off, freeing up the rush lane for James Daniels.

This shows great flexibility by Daniels to shoot out of his stance, and turn his body into Lotulelei with force to push him aside. The Bears had a 50% success rate running behind the left guard last week, which was the second best spot behind center.

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Through two games he has been hit with a couple of stunts. The first time he played it absolutely perfectly and picked up the block. He does it again here. Kyle Williams, a seasoned vet slams into the rookie to knock him off. However, Williams is trying to push Daniels into Charles Leno, as Jerry Hughes tries to stunt around and beat the rookie into his gap.

However, Daniels recognizes, passes Williams off and is able to recover and pick up Hughes. It was not as clean as his attempt last week, but considering the two opponents it was a great effort.

The last play to highlight his pros is from a negative I took away from his last performance. There was a play where Daniels stood around blocking nobody as Cody Whitehair struggled beside him. One huge pro in favor of Eric Kush early into the season was his ability to recognize when help was needed and provide it.

You know that Harry Hiestand laid into Daniels this week for it. A huge positive from Quentin Nelson’s tape at Notre Dame was this worker ability of looking to help. Hiestand was not going to let that stand.

In the play clipped here, you can see a player with his head on a swizzle. The player he was looking to block showed blitz but dropped into coverage. It left him alone. However, he did not think for a second before reacting and looking to help. He quickly tried to help his center before keeping his awareness up and chasing a back side rusher. This is a complete 180 from the week before.

The Bad

While James Daniels got the better of Lotulelei to start the game, Lotulelei got him back on the play clipped here. You can see that he lines up inside of Daniels. Daniels tried to get out on him but with his strength and leverage he was able to toss Daniels to the side and force Trubisky to adjust in the pocket.

On this play here, he got his quarterback hit by Kyle Williams. Williams has outside leverage. He fakes one quick step inside, and then he is cruising by Daniels and into the quarterback. Kudos to Trubisky for standing in and making a nice pass despite getting nailed by the seasoned veteran. For Daniels, this will be a learning moment.

The last play is a run against Harrison Phillips. When Star Lotulelei and Kyle Williams beat you, it is no surprise. These players have made good money in the NFL and hold up a respectable defense in Buffalo. However, Phillips is a rookie drafted below Daniels.

In this spot, it was a chance for Philips to prove himself. He did just that, being able to get his hands inside of Daniels and hold him up. He was able to wait for Howard to cut outside, before beating Daniels and tackling Howard in the backfield.

Overall

Overall, it is tough to get disappointed in his performance. It is a strong defense and the game flow had him get little opportunities. Most of the downs were met with ups in similar categories. The biggest positive was seeing him take one of his negative plays last week and turn it into a positive play this week. It shows growth. As the weeks go, he is going to meet ups with downs. However, seeing growth in small areas shows progression which is what matters.

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