Tag: T.J. Edwards

WATCH: T.J. Edwards comes up with third interception of the season

WATCH: T.J. Edwards comes up with third interception of the season

T.J. Edwards and the Chicago Bears defense put on a show on Sunday as they took down the Atlanta Falcons 37-17. Edwards has been one of the brightest spots for the Bears in a year that has been up and down to say the least in Chicago.

Edwards came up with his third interception of the season, and has thrived all season long in Chicago with 82 solo tackles and 143 total tackles on the year. After four seasons in Philadelphia, Edwards has found a home in Chicago:

WATCH: Bears LB T.J. Edwards makes diving interception to shut down Falcons

Bears LB T.J. Edwards made a diving interception against the Falcons before halftime.

The hometown kid continues to show out for his city.

Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards is part of an elite group of linebackers, with he himself being the best player of the group. He’s been instinctual and aggressive in his play, and he’s had a nose for the football. That tendency proved to be true once again in the first half of Week 17’s game against the Falcons.

With Atlanta shifting into the two-minute offense to try and steal a score before the end of the first half, Edwards read quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s eyes and bounded toward his intended target, diving for the thrown ball and securing an athletic interception.

The offense was not able to capitalize off the tremendous play — ending in a missed 55-yard field goal from Cairo Santos — but the pick shaved time off the clock and caused the Falcons to go scoreless in their endeavor to get some points before halftime.

Packers-Lions preview: Jordan Love’s improvement, and Jared Goff’s interceptions

Jordan Love of the Packers will look to continue his positive development against the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

When the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions face off today to begin the Thanksgiving Day slate of NFL games, we’ll be watching Packers quarterback Jordan Love coming off a game against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11 in which Love completed 27 of 40 passes for 322 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 108.5.

This included Love’s game-winning touchdown pass to receiver Romeo Doubs with 2:33 left in the fourth quarter.  Love took advantage of the Chargers’ busted coverage in Quarters, and made the right throw. Love is showing development both in and out of the pocket these days.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get further into Love’s quest to claim the title of Next Packers Franchise Quarterback.

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Conversely, Lions quarterback Jared Goff is coming off a 31-26 win over the Chicago Bears in which he threw three interceptions — something he hadn’t done since he was with the Los Angeles Rams in 2019. Greg and Doug look at what those interceptions mean, and what happened.

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” video, previewing all of Week 12’s biggest NFL matchups, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Week 11 picks: Who the experts are taking in Eagles vs. Chiefs

Philadelphia and Kansas City are just days away from a Monday night showdown and we’re looking at who the NFL experts are picking in Eagles vs. Chiefs

After a bye week that should allow both teams a renewed freshness, the Eagles and Chiefs are set for a semi-Super Bowl rematch at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

The two teams last met on Feb. 12 in Super Bowl LVII.

Kansas City defeated Philadelphia 38-35 in that matchup to earn their third Lombardi Trophy in franchise history. The Chiefs enter Monday’s matchup on top of the AFC with a 7-2 record after defeating the Miami Dolphins 21-14 in Germany on Nov. 5.

Kansas City is looking to lock up an eighth-straight AFC West title.

Philadelphia is 8-1 and on top of the NFC East after a 33-28 win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 9.

With kickoff fast approaching, we’re looking at who the NFL experts are picking.

T.J. Edwards is fired up after the Bears traded for Montez Sweat

Bears LB T.J. Edwards learned the news of the Montez Sweat trade during an interview with 670 the Score.

Jaylon Johnson’s shocking trade request before Tuesday’s 3 p.m. CT trade deadline seemingly positioned the Bears as sellers, as there wouldn’t be much rhyme or reason to deal star cornerback to only bring in talent to bolster the team.

General manager Ryan Poles is evidently in a buyer’s mindset, as he orchestrated a trade for Washington Commanders star pass-rusher Montez Sweat in exchange for a premium 2024 second-round pick. This bold move was the shot of adrenaline the fanbase needed, and it also went over well with at least one Bears player.

One player who’s excited about Sweat’s addition is linebacker T.J. Edwards, who was live on the air with 670 the Score when the news broke. Edwards was “fired up” when he gave his off-the-cuff reaction.

“That’s a helluva player,” Edwards said. “Hell yeah, that’s big time, no doubt.” He then added: “That’s an unreal addition.”

Poles’ aggressiveness in bringing in big-time talent sheds some light on what the angle could be for Chicago in the Johnson situation. His sudden demand to be traded paired with the front office agreeing to allow his camp to explore options seemed frustratingly careless on first glance, as it’s never a great sign when a team doesn’t reward their homegrown talent and opts to ship them off somewhere else.

With the element of the Sweat trade now being considered, it’s possible Poles may be playing the long game with Johnson. It’s possible what he’s willing to offer Johnson is not quite where Johnson wants it to be, so by allowing him to see what his others offers are, it may make him see that what Chicago is offering is right around the same ballpark as other teams. This could be a leverage tactic for Poles to bring Johnson back to the table with more reasonable expectations.

No matter what happens with Johnson, Sweat’s presence instantly makes a shoddy defensive line much more dangerous, and Edwards’ reaction shows that the players appreciate the help.

5 Bears players to watch vs. Chargers

Despite being 2-5, the Bears still have a few solid players.

The Chargers are looking to snap their losing streak when they face the Bears in primetime.

While Chicago might not be having the best season right now either, as they’re 2-5, they still present a few players that could determine the outcome of this game.

Here are five Bears players to watch for.

Key things to know about Chargers’ Week 8 opponent: Bears

Here are some important things to know about the Bears ahead of the Week 8 matchup with the Chargers.

The Chargers will host the Bears on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 5:25 p.m. PT.

To get you prepped for the Week 8 bout, here are five key things to know about Los Angeles’ opponent ahead of the matchup.

Tyson time

Ahead of the season, the NFL slotted this game with the thought that it would be Justin Fields vs. Justin Herbert in primetime. However, Fields will be out with a dislocated right thumb. The Bears will turn to undrafted rookie out of Division II Shepherd, Tyson Bagent. Bagent made his NFL debut last weekend in Chicago’s win over the Raiders. He completed 21 of 29 pass attempts for 162 yards and a touchdown while adding 24 yards on the ground.

Deadly weapon

The Bears aren’t a team that’s going to pose a huge threat through the air. But if they resort to it, they’re more than likely going to look to their top target, D.J. Moore. Moore, who was acquired by Chicago this past offseason, has the third-most touchdowns (5) and the fifth-most receiving yards (636). Furthermore, he is averaging 15.9 yards per reception.

One of the most efficient rushing offenses

The Bears have the fifth-best rushing offense, with an average of 141.3 yards per game. In the last four games, they’re averaging a whopping 171.0 YPG, which marks the most in the NFL in that span. Veteran D’Onta Foreman has been paving the way while they’ve been without Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson, who are dealing with an ankle injury and concussion, respectively.

Defense is clicking

The Bears defense is coming together at the right time after being one of the worst groups to start the season. In the past three weeks, Chicago is top three in defensive EPA (21.99), yards per carry (2.5), interceptions (4), yards per attempt (6.1) and third-down percentage (29.4). They are a week removed from limiting Raiders running back Josh Jacobs to his second-lowest rushing games of the season with 35 yards.

Look out for…

Jaylon Johnson. Bland, the fourth-year player, is one of the best cover corners in the league. Johnson has the second-lowest passer rating among all cornerbacks in the league entering Week 8 (24.7). He had two interceptions on Sunday against the Raiders, including a pick-6.

8 takeaways from the Bears’ familiar loss to the Vikings

The Bears are who we thought they were after the 19-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Here were our takeaways from the game.

It’s back to reality for the 2023 Chicago Bears. After an exciting victory over the Washington Commanders in Week 5, the Bears followed it up with a stinker on the lakefront, losing 19-13 to the Minnesota Vikings to fall to 1-5.

Chicago had 10 days to prepare for their divisional opponent, but apparently that wasn’t enough time to recognize Minnesota’s numerous blitz packages that thwarted the offense on the first play from scrimmage. Quarterback Justin Fields had a rough outing, completing just 6-of-10 passes for 58 yards and an interception before exiting the game with a dislocated thumb.

Backup undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent entered in relief and didn’t fare much better, committing two turnovers that thwarted any sort of comeback. The offense totaled just 275 yards and failed to capitalize when they had excellent field position, which they had often thanks to a strong defensive performance.

The Bears defense contained the Vikings offense for much of the day. Minnesota scored 12 offensive points, totaled 220 yards, and converted just 2-of-13 third-down conversions. With a (mostly) healthy secondary back and improved play from the linebackers, the defense played well enough for the team to win. That wasn’t the case, though, and now the Bears have to navigate an uncertain immediate future with key injuries sidelining players such as Fields.

Here were our takeaways from Sunday’s all-too-familiar loss.

Twitter is enraged with another Vikings fumble

Vikings fans are furious with another fumble

The Minnesota Vikings have been really poor with ball management this season. They have turned it over 12 times with four interceptions and eight fumbles.

In the second quarter, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was pressured quickly and pitched it backward to Cam Akers. He couldn’t corral the football and eventually tried to knock it out of bounds. The ball was recovered by Chicago Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards but he was ruled to be out of bounds and the Vikings kept the ball.

This was the first Vikings fumble that wasn’t recovered by the defense but it enraged the fanbase just the same. They took to Twitter to express their frustration;.

Game balls: 5 standouts from the Bears’ loss against Packers

The Bears were embarrassed by the Packers in Week 1. But we’re focusing on some of the brighter spots in an otherwise ugly opener.

The Chicago Bears kicked off the second season of the Matt Eberflus era on a low note, being blown out 38-20 by the Green Bay Packers. This was supposed to be a close game, with the Bears being favored to win. But that’s not how it unfolded.

What was supposed to give Chicago the edge – but ended up hurting them – was the debut of quarterback Jordan Love. With Aaron Rodgers gone, it was officially time for the Bears to take back the rivalry. They couldn’t do that, or at least they couldn’t, for now.

Despite the blowout, there were a few standouts on Chicago’s side. Given all of the bad coming out of the game, we’re looking at some of the positives. Here are those few Bears players who earned a game ball.