Socci's Notebook: Able To Run (And Catch), Bears' Forte No Longer Hides Among Game's Best
FOXBORO (CBS) –Hard as it would seem to hide as someone who's amassed more than 10,000 yards as a durable runner and receiver, the Chicago Bears' Matt Forte has been overlooked by far too many, for far too long in his seven-year NFL career.
Consider that only one player in league history reached 7,000 career rushing yards and 3,000 receiving yards sooner than Forte, who met those marks in 97 games. Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas needed 92 to do it. Now ponder, how does a guy this good get invited to just two Pro Bowls?
Then again, in noting that Forte frequently goes unnoticed, there are those who certainly grasp his relative greatness in today's game.
There's the Bears themselves, who kept Forte on the field for 940 snaps last year, according to Pro Football Focus. There are fantasy footballers who reap the rewards of owning an every-game, every-down back with 52 career touchdowns. And, of course, there are opponents like the New England Patriots.
They're next up to face Forte, who comes to Foxborough as the league leader in receptions and its fifth-leading rusher so far in 2014.
"He's a threat every time he steps on to the field in a number of different ways: passing game, running game," said New England head coach Bill Belichick. "He definitely has the ability to turn nothing into something in a hurry and he can turn something into a lot in a hurry too.
"He gets tough yards, gets yards in space. Catches short passes, runs downfield routes. He's a very, very complete player."
"He's definitely a big target for (Chicago quarterback Jay) Cutler," says Patriots defender Rob Ninkovich. "When (Cutler) gets in trouble, he likes to throw to check-downs. We've got to be on top of that.
"(Forte's) also a good outside runner. He's smooth. I think the way he runs is a very smooth style and he's able to find the openings and make some yards."
LIKE ANOTHER QUARTERBACK
More than a smooth operator, Forte's known as a shrewd student of the game. In a recent Sports Illustrated profile, Cutler told the magazine's Tim Layden that Forte helps him make last-second checks at the line based on defensive alignments.
"(Matt's) like another quarterback," Cutler said to Layden. "We run a lot of our offense through Matt."
When asked Wednesday on a conference call with New England reporters how opposing defenses have tried to stop him in particular, Forte described seeing just about everything.
"Like this past week the Dolphins were dropping a defensive lineman to play underneath," he said of last Sunday's 27-14 loss to Miami. "After they would drop the linebackers, they had a defensive lineman underneath to try to, I guess, stop the underneath routes, too. I've seen that before.
"And also, I've seen (teams) put an extra nickel back in to play man-to-man coverage on me because, obviously, he probably could guard better than a linebacker can."
WHAT TO EXPECT
What can he expect from the Patriots, knowing they know how vital he is to a Chicago's potentially explosive offense?
"We'll go back and look at film on some of the other running backs who catch the ball out of the backfield and see how they played them as well," Forte said. "You don't know what to expect, but the best thing is to try to be prepared to adjust for it."
Those other backs include Kansas City's Jamaal Charles. In September's 41-14 rout of the Pats, he caught three passes, with two resulting in touchdowns. Charles also rushed for a score, as part of an 18-carry, 92-yard performance.
Another might be Darren Sproles, who visited Foxborough this past preseason with Philadelphia after facing New England as a New Orleans Saint in 2013. In that contest, the Patriots' dramatic 30-27 victory last October, Sproles was targeted a team-high 12 times and had six receptions for 58 yards.
Of course, each is unique; of his own skill set, in his own offense. Including the way he's used.
Charles -- granted, coming off an ankle injury in a blowout win -- played 52 percent of the snaps against the Patriots. Sproles was utliized on 43 percent of his team's offensive plays last year at New England. Twice in seven games this fall, Forte -- per the NFL's game statistics information system (GSIS) -- was employed on every snap, including last Sunday.
IN ELITE COMPANY
As modern-era running backs go, he's the rare embodiment of the league's Play 60 (minutes) campaign.
"To be an every-down running back in this league...it's really important to me," Forte said, noting the increasing specialization at his position around the NFL. "I've grown up that way in that era where a running back played all three downs, so I take a lot of pride in trying to be good at all those."
Translating that pride into performance has put Forte in the company of the aforementioned Thomas, in addition to notables like Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett, Marshall Faulk and Emmitt Smith.
All are on the list of 20 players to gain 7,000 yards rushing and 3,000 yards receiving. And all have enjoyed the game's greatest recognition of all.
"Those guys are Hall of Famers, and to be mentioned among their names is just a blessing to me," Forte says. "It makes me want to work that much harder so that I can, eventually, maybe one day be where they are."
FROM THE 55-YARD LINE
After gaining the nickname of "Quarterback Whisperer" for his longtime work as an NFL assistant teaching primarily the West Coast Offense, Marc Trestman went north of the border to become a head coach.
Trestman spent the five years before his hiring by Chicago leading the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes. Twice, in 2009 and 2010, Montreal captured the Grey Cup championship.
Sure, it's still football. But there are significant differences in how the game's played in the CFL. Starting with geography. The Canadian field is wider (65 yards vs. 53.5) and longer (110 yards vs. 100), while the end zones are deeper (20 yards vs. 10).
Plus, there are more players to account for (12 per side vs. 11 on each play) and fewer downs with which to work (3 vs. 4 to net 10 yards). Furthermore, defensive linemen set up a full yard off the ball, while offensive backs and receivers are allowed unlimited motion, often getting a running start toward the line of scrimmage before the snap.
And let's not get started on the subject of the "rouge."
On Wednesday, speaking via conference call to reporters in Foxborough, Trestman recounted his CFL experience.
"When we went up there not knowing the league at all, I just basically took the offensive playbook that I used as a coordinator in the (NFL) for years and we just threw it on the table, added a guy, added more motions because you could do that – multiple motions," Trestman said. "We really played on a 53-yard field, even though it was 65 yards wide. We were playing with 12 guys, but actually you can't ask a quarterback to finish his progression to the sixth guy, so to speak.
"So we just developed an offense that really was just kind of a bridge from the NFL to the CFL."
Trestman crossed that bridge at the same time as current Patriot cornerback Brandon Browner, who played four seasons with Doug Flutie's old team, the Calgary Stampeders.
When approached about his time in the CFL in the summer, Browner said little other than to note the challenge of getting his hands on a moving target to play press coverage. Trestman believes that experience helped the 6-foot-4 Browner develop into an eventual Pro Bowler (2011) with Seattle.
"The fact that teams can run to the line of scrimmage had to help his game and the fact that defensive players, even when they're in bump-and-run, have to be a yard off the ball," Trestman explained. "So, there's quite a big difference there in terms of the bump-and-run technique. It's much more difficult to play bump-and-run in the CFL because you don't have to have a stationary receiver. You can have a receiver who can run vertically at you.
"When Brandon can line up and play bump-and-run without having to adjust to that (movement) and play tighter, certainly (it) is an advantage with his size and length."
The Patriots certainly hope so. They'll need that long reach Sunday, trying to defend the big weapons Trestman now deploys for the Bears -- i.e., the 6-3 Alshon Jeffery and 6-4 Brandon Marshall -- on the 53.5 yards between boundaries at Gillette Stadium.