Posts tagged DevinHester at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Welcome to another successful installment of Five Questions with an Enemy Blogger, where each week, via email, I will be exchanging hot questions and [sometimes] answers with a rival blogger about their team and the upcoming matchup.

This week I sat down with Bo Vandy of From the Midway, a Most Valuable Network blog that covers the Chicago Bears.

Dan Benton: "Let's kick this off with a bang! Who would you rather have leading the Bears, Eli Manning or Rex Grossman?"

Bo Vandy: "Oh, [man] ... Neither one. I guess Eli, because he has more upside, I wasn't a fan of "Sexy Rexy" when he was at Florida, I wasn't a fan when he was drafted by Chicago, and I'm definitely not a fan these days. That question is a lot like asking me if I'd rather get punched in the nuts, or kicked in the nuts. Eli is the most over hyped QB since Akili Smith. Chargers fans the world over have got to include a thank you to the Manning family in their prayers every night that they refused to play for San Diego. If his name was Eli Jones, he'd be a 3rd team quarterback for the Jets right now."

The Giants have enough to worry about whenever Eli Manning drops back to pass, they don't need to compound their problems by playing right into Chicago's hands on Sunday. That's why their punter Jeff Feagles won't be kicking the ball to Devin Hester, who he refers to as "by far the best I've ever seen." Feagles knows what he's talking about. He's been punting balls to the best returners in the league for the last 20 years and has learned enough to know there are risks worth not taking.

"We're certainly not going to kick the ball right to him, I can tell you that. I'm not going to come out and say what Sauerbrun did."

He's referring to Todd Sauerbrun's statement that they weren't going to be "chicken-poop" and kick the ball away from the NFL's most combustible player. Feagles, 41 and bald, isn't worried about proving his machismo. It might not make for the most exciting football ever but it makes a good bit of sense.

The Giants and their first-class pass rush will be facing a quarterback who gets sacked once every 9.54 passing attempts. The Bears struggle to run the ball and are without their starting tailback. If their defense plays up to par they should be able to control the Bears on offense with little trouble. Why, then, would they risk disaster by kicking to Hester?

Now if they could just get Manning to make a similar pledge not to throw the ball to the Bears.

Let's just start by answering the headline's query in a purely qualitative way -- Devin Hester is worth the heaven, moon and stars to the Chicago Bears. He has scored six of their 23 touchdowns this season and his return ability keeps Bears in games when their offense and/or defense is losing it for them. He's their MVP and is so far ahead of the second place finisher that there's no reason to count the votes.

Quantitatively it's a much harder formula. With the salary cap there is a finite amount of dollars available to the Bears as they try to keep their stars and patch their holes going forward. Hester has two years left on the deal he signed after the draft last year and will earn $975,000 over those seasons. This year he's making $360,000, which is $73,000 less than his teammate Lance Briggs makes every game.

Briggs is playing as a franchise player this season and is angling for a long-term extension, the Bears will either resign Rex Grossman or bring in another quarterback and will need to sort out contract situations with Bernard Berrian. That won't leave a ton of space to take care of Hester straightaway and could also create a situation where Hester feels he's underpaid in relation to teammates who provide less of the team's spark.

Sometimes, Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan is too smart for his own good.

As Michael David Smith noted after Devin Hester's second return of the day: "The Broncos really need to re-consider the way they're playing special teams. I don't think you have to kick away from Hester on every single play, but I do think you have to avoid kicking directly to him, right in the middle of the field"

Look, when Woody Paige calls you out, you've probably screwed up. Too bad it'll probably cost the Broncos a shot at the playoffs.

Yesterday's thrilling 37-34 overtime win against the Broncos followed a familiar blueprint. The offense was doing absolutely nothing. There were turnovers, dropped passes, runners falling down without being touched and pass rushers cruising past blockers who looked disinterested yet the team was hanging around the game. For that they have their special teams and defense to thank.

Devin Hester's two touchdown returns have been much documented but their importance can't be overstated for a team that couldn't stay out of its own way offensively until the final drive of the game. His two touchdown returns were the only signs of life when the Bears had the ball in their possession and certainly helped set up the blocked punt that allowed the Bears back into the game once and for all. If it wasn't for some inspired defensive play, though, they wouldn't have gotten the chance at all.

The Bears had their struggles on that side of the ball. Brandon Marshall and Andre Hall broke off big plays and the Broncos scored four touchdowns but they held Denver to field goals twice on drives that began inside their own five-yard line. Charles Tillman, who blocked the punt, and Brian Urlacher made decisive plays to stop Jay Cutler passes. If the Broncos scored six on either trip, it's hard to think the Bears could have held on long enough to post a victory.

Go ahead and tug on Superman's cape. Hock the biggest loogie you can conjure into the stiffest wind you can find. Hell, walk right up to the Lone Ranger, kick Silver in the onions and use his mask as toilet paper. Just, for the love of everything holy Mike Shanahan, stop messing around with Devin Hester. The inimitable Bears returner gave his team a 37-34 overtime victory this afternoon with two heartstopping returns that should never have happened.

What in the world were the Broncos thinking? Up 13-6 in the third quarter and punting, what kind of masochistic exercise is it that makes you think hitting the ball in Hester's direction is a good thing? Your defense was playing well, Rex Grossman wasn't and you were winning on the road, why risk that? And after Hester has sparked the lifeless Bears back into existence with a 75-yard punt return and you're retaken a 20-13 lead, what kind of low self-esteem, what kind of gluttonous love of punishment does it take to kick the ball right back to him. 88 yards later the game is tied again.

Now you might say to me that Hester's heroics weren't the key to the game, it was Denver's inability to hold a 34-20 lead with nine minutes to play in the game.

Amazing.

Sorry, I'm running out of anything original to say about Bears return man Devin Hester, who just added a kickoff return for a touchdown to his previous punt return for a touchdown.

Hester now has five kick return touchdowns this year, tying the single-season NFL record, which was set by Hester last year.

The Broncos really need to re-consider the way they're playing special teams. I don't think you have to kick away from Hester on every single play, but I do think you have to avoid kicking directly to him, right in the middle of the field. Keep him near the sideline and keep him from being able to get a full head of steam before your coverage unit gets downfield.

Todd Sauerbrun, who handles both kickoffs and punts for the Broncos, has now slipped to the Soldier Field turf twice trying to tackle Hester, making himself look utterly ridiculous.

On the Broncos' first kickoff after Hester's second return, they squibbed it, giving the Bears the ball at the 50-yard line. Even when Hester doesn't touch the ball, he has a major impact on the game.

Broncos punter Todd Sauerbrun booted one right to Devin Hester at Soldier Field today.

Hester made him pay.

The punt came in the third quarter, with the Broncos up 13-6. Hester fielded it at the 25-yard line and burst upfield 75 yards for the score.

The Broncos' coverage unit never really had a chance at Hester, who had plenty of room to run. Sauerbrun did have a shot at him but slipped on the turf trying to get into position, where Hester jumped over him.

The return was Hester's fourth kick return touchdown this year. As a rookie last year he set the NFL record with five kick return touchdowns. (That record does not include either his missed field goal return touchdown against the Giants or his kickoff return touchdown in the Super Bowl.) The Bears probably aren't making the playoffs, but the possibility that Hester could break his own record makes them worth watching in December.

Gale Sayers, incidentally, is widely considered the greatest kick returner of all time. He had eight kick return touchdowns in his career.

To get you ready for week 12, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the Denver Broncos/Chicago Bears preview.

2007 Records:

Denver Broncos: 5-5 (t-1st in AFC West)
Chicago Bears: 4-6 (t-3rd in NFC North)

Last Week:

Broncos 34, Titans 20
Seahawks 30, Bears 23

When the Broncos have the ball: Jay Cutler had a coming out party against the Titans Monday night and he's got a good chance to continue turning the Broncos season around in Chicago on Sunday. He's getting Javon Walker back at wide receiver to go with Brandon Marshall and Brandon Stokely, while the Bears will be missing Nathan Vasher and will still be playing Adam Archuleta. That leaves their secondary overmatched especially if defensive coordinator Bob Babich insists on rushing just four men and dropping seven. Cutler has the arm to make any throw and the smarts to find the seams in the Cover-2. If the Bears do get a rush, he'll make a play on the run. Travis Henry and Selvin Young have both missed practice but whether its one of them or Andre Hall in the lineup they'll find yards against the disappointing Bears front seven.

This was one of my favorite moments of the NFL year:

Not the fact that Seahawks kicker Josh Brown tackled Bears return man Devin Hester, but the look of joy on Brown when he got up to celebrate, as if it were his moment to say, "Yes! I am a real football player!"

We as fans forget sometimes that NFL kickers are phenomenal athletes. They might not look like it on the field next to all those other NFL players, but an NFL kicker at your gym or your pickup basketball game would be by far the most athletic guy there. On this play, Brown got the opportunity to show that he really is an athlete, and he was right to be proud of himself.

The Buffalo Bills have not been a very good football team In the J.P. Losman era. All of that doesn't fall on the quarterback -- he can't block, or play defense -- but one unit that has excelled the last few seasons is special teams. Since 2004, the Bills have twice finished with the league's best special teams, according to Football Outsiders (though, oddly, Buffalo ranks 17th in '07).

Despite slipping in the rankings, the Bills have one of the most dangerous punt returners nobody is talking about: Roscoe Parrish. The team's 2005 second-round pick out of the U, Parrish had trouble getting on the field as a rookie because of various injuries, but played in every game last season, and through nine games in '07 he is emerging as a legit to-the-house threat every time he fields a punt.

Although Parrish has taken only one punt back for a touchdown, he is having one of the best seasons ever for a punt returner.

He leads the NFL with a 19.4- yard average, which would shatter the Bills' single- season record of 13.1 set by Keith Moody in 1977. Parrish also has an outside shot at the NFL mark held by Herb Rich, who averaged 23 yards on 12 punt returns for the Baltimore Colts in 1950.

By comparison, Devin Hester is fourth with a 15.9-yard average, and Joshua Cribbs, another emerging star, is 20th at 9.8. The Bills could use some of that 19.4 action this week against the Pats.

It's easy to get caught up in all the Devin Hester hysteria -- and rightly so, the guy's amazing -- but the Browns have somebody just as explosive returning kicks: Joshua Cribbs. Here he is embarrassing 11 Steelers special teamers on his way to the house:



That touchdown put the Browns up 28-24 in the fourth quarter, just seconds after Ben Roethlisberger had given the Steelers the lead for the first time all day. Cribbs also busted out a 90-yard return in the first half that set up Cleveland's second touchdown. It wasn't enough to overcome Cleveland's putrid defense -- the Steelers would win 31-28 -- but Cribbs is making a strong case for the NFL's best returner.

I'm not too proud to admit when I'm wrong. When Lane Kiffin promised to kick to Devin Hester last week I thought he was nuts and might end up costing his team a chance to take a winnable game. As it turned out the Raiders do have good kick coverage units. Color me chagrined.

Hester had eight chances to return punts and kickoffs yesterday but wound up with just 48 total yards on those touches. He did break one punt return, a 64-yard third quarter jaunt, but it was with the help of a hold by Brendon Ayanbadejo. And the one time they did kick away from Hester they nearly recovered a fumble when two bumbling Bears collided and muffed a kickoff.

I take my hat off to Special Teams Coordinator Brian Schneider for a job very well done. Unfortunately for Oakland he's the only coach worthy of kudos this morning. Kiffin didn't show fear when it came to Hester but apparently he never got the memo that you don't need to fear Cedric Benson either. How, up 6-3 with less than four minutes to play, do you run a defense that allows Bernard Berrian to get open deep? I know the prevent defense isn't anyone's friend but you can't get beat deep at that point in the game under any circumstances. The thing I thought would bite the Raiders in the rear didn't come to fruition but they still found a way to play themselves out of a win.

At 2-6 the Oakland Raiders are a safe bet to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season. That doesn't mean they should stop trying to win games, though. Isn't that what Lane Kiffin is flirting with by proclaiming that his team will kick to Devin Hester during Sunday's game?

"It's no fun to kick it out of bounds," Kiffin told the Chicago-area media, "so we're going to see how well we can cover."

Is it fun to lose, Lane, because that's a risk you're going to run if Hester rips off another return for touchdown. Hester is fourth in the history of the NFL with nine regular season kick return touchdowns and he hasn't even played his 25th game as a professional. Kiffin is to be commended for his faith in his coverage units but he should put away the Cyndi Lauper album and forget about fun.

Hester is the Bears most potent weapon and marginalizing him gives the Raiders their best chance to win on Sunday. That should be Kiffin's first and only priority even if it means the game is less fun than root canal surgery. Kiffin is the youngest coach in the league by several years. If he keeps putting fun above wins he won't get the chance to move up the seniority list.

If you're the Minnesota Vikings, I'm guessing this isn't how you want to end the half. FanHouse's J.J. Cooper has the details, and here are the moving pictures. Ryan Longwell came up short on a 57-yard field-goal attempt with four seconds left in the second quarter, and Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie was waiting in the end zone, Devin Hester-like, to return the kick.



And all he did was take it 109 yards the other way, to give San Diego a 14-7 lead heading to the locker room. And yeah, I think that's steam you see coming off Vikings head coach Brad Childress' bald head. Can't say I blame him, either. I mean, doesn't this team play in the same division as Hester? Don't the special teams practice this every week?

Meanwhile, Cromartie continues to impress -- he returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown last week, and now he has a nifty missed-field-goal for six.