Archuleta lands on familiar turf with Smith, Bears

Veteran safety Adam Archuleta is getting a shot at redemption with the Chicago Bears this fall. Second-year man Danieal Manning hopes his second chance comes soon. Archuleta, who starred in Bears' coach Lovie Smith's defensive system with the St. Louis Rams but rode the bench with the Washington Redskins last year, is the key figure in a shuffle that could give Chicago two of the hardest-hitting safeties in the National Football League.

Source: USA Today

 

Arch has been very promising so far this season. Think Snyder might actually learn something from this? Of course not, but if Arch comes in and has a great year it will be yet another great object lesson for the following truth:

It's not and never has been about bringing in big names for big money...It's about bringing in people that can do a certain job for you and putting them in a position to be successful.

 

Knowing Joe Gibbs and Gregg Williams were totally clueless on how to use Archuleta last year, I look for him to have a bounce back year and be a key part to the Bears success in 2007.

 

Arch isn't ging to be worth a pot to piss in. He has lost it and won't make it too far.

 

Bullcrap

 

nice argument. made me change my mind. not.

 

And quite the argument you put forth Poindexter.

Anyways, I thought it was obvious from my earlier post, but here you go:

Adam Archuleta is a converted linebacker. Therefore, his strengths are hitting, blitzing and run stuffing...perfect for a strong safety in Lovie Smith's scheme. Consequently his weaknesses are coverage and speed.

The geniuses over at the Washington Redskins tried to make him a coverage safety and left him on an island more often than not. Amazingly...he failed as this situation played on zero of Arch's strengths and all of his weaknesses.

You shouldn't take it too hard on the coaching staff though; they did the best they could I guess. Snyder should get the blame for selecting a guy unsuited for the D from day one...and paying him a record breaking salary

Meanwhile, Lovie Smith has been pining for Arch since he started coaching at Chicago. When he wanted to teach his strong safeties how to play the position in this scheme, he showed them tape of Arch. He wanted him here last year but some goober in Virginia got trigger happy and bought him out from under us.

Lovie Smith's scheme utilizes all of Arch's strengths and minimizes his weaknesses, and that's why Arch had the best years of his career under Lovie in St. Louis. That is the reason why he will "be worth a pot to piss in" this year.

 

we shall see.

 

He can't cover, he doesn't wrap up, and misses open field tackles, he hasn't been the same since his back injury.

 

That's one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is 2004, the year of the back injury, was his first year without Lovie as his coach.

Therefore another statement would be that Adam Archuleta hasn't been the same since he stopped playing for Lovie Smith. That situation has been remedied.

 

I don't think Lovie leaving had anything to do with him missing tackles because he's always looking to get on the Jacked Up highlight reel.

 

Archuleta's gonna be a nice player for Chicago.. He's a play-maker and he'll be surrounded by top-tier players..

He'll fit right in..

 

yep have to agree with you... Lovie wanted him even since he arrived at Da Bears..:icon_wink:

 

$100 says Cooley, Portis, Moss, Randle El, Lloyd, Jason, Betts, O line, and everyone else on the team work his butt this year.

 

He's coming into the season with a chip on his shoulder and he's ready to prove that he is not what he was in Washington

HAIL!

 

:homer:

Well which is it, a back injury or a selfish playing style.

Regardless though I disagree with the statement. That problem is fundamentally coachable. The enormous chip on his shoulder from the disaster that was his time with the Skins should get him to evaluate his playing and listen to his coaching.

 

Worst case scenario is that he doesn't work out for us, he will still do well enough to be a useful backup and we slot in manning alongside brown, but to be honest I think he will do well because Lovie understands his strengths and weaknesses and will know how to get the best out of him.

 

I'm actually on the side of the Bears fans in this discussion, he was a bad fit and just a bad mistake. The fact the Skins split his signing bonus so got out of it pretty much scott free from a cap point is view is the only slight saving grace.

I don't think the Skins tried to turn him into a coverage safety, they knew his strengths were to play nearer the line and be a tackling machine, the problem was two fold. First, I do think Arch realised his mistake early on and he looked disinterested - he had officially lost his starting job in preseason, before any action had taken place only for Pierson Prioleau to blow up his knee on the opening kick-off.

Second, the Skins had to make some changes due to injuries all round, yes, that included asking Arch to do a bit more coverage but the times he was put near the LOS< he didn;t have much effect.

It was just an all round mistake, the Redskins, Gibbs, Williams, must take the majority f the blame but Arch is not 100% innocent, when you are paid that much dollar, you put the effort in regardless of if you are being used right or wrong and I ddn't see that from him.

He should be much better in 2007 for a scheme and coach that knows how to use him better, but just maybe 2006 has exposed him and he may never fully recover.

 

I agree totally. I still feel like Snyder picked him up just because the Bears wanted him so bad.

I also agree that he wasn't 100% innocent in the whole deal. But man, what a bad situation. I wasn't sure if he could bounce back from what went down in Washington. However, where he was disinterested and frustrated in the preseason last year, he has played with fire and renewed vigor this year.

If he turns out to be a scrub though, at least we have a backup plan.

 

Call me what you want, but it's going to happen bud :icon_wink: