why was josh norman benched today

[Silent Majority]

If Norman was benched for giving up too much cushion, then RR should be fired right now. Today. How the fug do you bench a guy 13 games in, for doing the same thing he has all season? That would make the Bears game even more unacceptable.

[CRA]

Probably bc teams throw on Norman and pick up easy yards week after week.....

Meanwhile, Captain and Thomas don't allow it to the same degree. He has been the 3rd best overall CB of those 3

[Carl Spackler]

Nakamura wasn't benched why, then?

[Who Said What?]

This.......guy gives up way too much cushion in coverage.

This makes me seriously wonder about these dudes knowledge of team sports. Especially Jack Of All Trades, cause I respect dude's opinion. If a rookie is giving a cushion, the coach has called that coverage and dictated to the player what he is supposed to do. This is especially true for a physical corner like Norman who plays great man to man, press coverage. No corner in the league is so scared of WR speed that he chooses to play a ten yard cushion. Hell, look at Naka playing thirty yards back. Its just bad scheming. The Bears players all said that even they knew it was the same coverage in that game. Norman is a good player and like all players will look bad when being out-coached.

[SOJA]

I like Norman, I think he has heart and intensity. However, CJ remarked after one game that some guys (in the secondary) hadn't been doing their homework essentially. I'm betting Norman is/was one of these guys. I'm betting this benching was from a lack of professional preparation.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

i willing to put money on him being benched for excessive jaw jacking.

[jarhead]

This makes me seriously wonder about these dudes knowledge of team sports. Especially Jack Of All Trades, cause I respect dude's opinion. If a rookie is giving a cushion, the coach has called that coverage and dictated to the player what he is supposed to do. This is especially true for a physical corner like Norman who plays great man to man, press coverage. No corner in the league is so scared of WR speed that he chooses to play a ten yard cushion. Hell, look at Naka playing thirty yards back. Its just bad scheming. The Bears players all said that even they knew it was the same coverage in that game. Norman is a good player and like all players will look bad when being out-coached.

He does not play great man to man.He has been burned all year long

[jarhead]

This makes me seriously wonder about these dudes knowledge of team sports. Especially Jack Of All Trades, cause I respect dude's opinion. If a rookie is giving a cushion, the coach has called that coverage and dictated to the player what he is supposed to do. This is especially true for a physical corner like Norman who plays great man to man, press coverage. No corner in the league is so scared of WR speed that he chooses to play a ten yard cushion. Hell, look at Naka playing thirty yards back. Its just bad scheming. The Bears players all said that even they knew it was the same coverage in that game. Norman is a good player and like all players will look bad when being out-coached.

He does not play great man to man.He has been burned all year long

[SOJA]

to also be fair, Dockery would have given up a bomb touchdown yesterday if Rodney White hadn't tripped over himself

[Swaggasaurus]

This makes me seriously wonder about these dudes knowledge of team sports. Especially Jack Of All Trades, cause I respect dude's opinion. If a rookie is giving a cushion, the coach has called that coverage and dictated to the player what he is supposed to do. This is especially true for a physical corner like Norman who plays great man to man, press coverage. No corner in the league is so scared of WR speed that he chooses to play a ten yard cushion. Hell, look at Naka playing thirty yards back. Its just bad scheming. The Bears players all said that even they knew it was the same coverage in that game. Norman is a good player and like all players will look bad when being out-coached.

Again, he was benched. You get benched for doing stuff coaches do not want them doing. Rivera actually said that Naka lines up that deep like he did in Baltimore and he would like for him to play closer.

[Swaggasaurus]

Even IF the coaches require Norman to give a 15 yard cushion he shouldn't be on the field and obviously sucks. Can anyone tell me if Dockery played that far off?

[Floppin]

Again, he was benched. You get benched for doing stuff coaches do not want them doing. Rivera actually said that Naka lines up that deep like he did in Baltimore and he would like for him to play closer.

This could also be a disconnect between McDerp and Rivera. Rivera saying he would like him to play more up, isn't necessarily a indictment on Naka, or Norman for that matter, but may be directed more at their defensive coaches.

Ultimately, positioning is the responsibility of their position coaches, and scheme coaches. Not the head coach. Rivera can talk to his DC's and OC's about what he wants but, in most cases, the actual implementation is left up to the respective coaches telling their players what to do. Of course a Headcoach can always overrule their coordinators, but Rivera hasn't shown that he does this very often.

Rivera makes the decision on what players to send out on the field however. There could be any number of reasons why he sent the younger players out. He very well might feel like he has a good chance of coming back next year and he wanted to see what his depth really has, to evaluate. He may have felt that the younger players would be better able to play in the cushion/zone defense that Chud likes to call when we have a lead, as Norman excels in press coverage.

[Who Said What?]

He does not play great man to man.He has been burned all year long

I remember how good he looked against VJax in the opener, Julio Jones the game in ATL, and Brandon Marshall. Oh, and lets not forget how well he played against Colston who usually murders us. These were the few games we played some man press coverage all year. I know you are not talking about the Giants game or the last drive of the Bears game because I thought we all knew that was a schematic problem. He has gotten beat over the top from press coverage once all year and that was against Miles Austin. Kid has skills and tackles well. Our D-coordinator is weak and our schemes have been mediocre all year. A kid shuts down VJax one week and then is so scared he gives Ramses Barden a thirteen yard cushion all game the following week. I can see why given the option he would choose to do that.

[beastson]

It's definitely the scheme, definitely

No way if it was up to Norman he wouldn't play press