Player Trades In-Season Are Rare But…

The Oakland Raiders are dreadful while Charles Woodson is playing every snap at an apparently high level. From an ESPN mailbag:

Woodson, who turns 38 next month, has been one of the Raiders’ best and most reliable defensive players. He has played every defensive snap. That is remarkable for a player of his age. When the Raiders brought him back in 2013, they were just hoping for some leadership and situational help on the field. But Woodson is giving him so much more. He is ending a Hall of Fame career on a high note. It’s really cool to witness.

Does he really want to wrap his career on a 2-14 Raiders team? If you’re Phil Emery, and you know what you’re fielding at safety, why not make an offer? Woodson would not only be the Bears best safety by a wide margin but also has a brilliant knowledge of the divisional opponents and leadership the secondary is now lacking with Peanut’s absence.

JERSEY SALES CHART

Thanks to Pat Caraher, friend of the blog and decent golfer, for sending along this graphic. Interesting to see which teams are supported in regions without teams.

Should Bears Fire Mel Tucker?

Mel Tucker’s defense allowed only 20 points a game over the first three weeks and then was pantsed Sunday by Aaron Rogers. No joke, I received almost 20 emails that used capital letters when demanding Tucker  be fired.

The answer is no. Mel Tucker should not be fired. Not after four weeks and a 2-2 start. But if the defense is terrible after 8 weeks the Bears would not be wrong to make the move, elevate Paul Pasqualoni or Jon Hoke to DC and hope to light a spark under the unit. If Sunday is a sign of what’s to come from the Bears defense, Tucker has no shot to return in 2015.

Zaidman/Trestman

Three Tweets from Zach Zaidman’s account, detailing the Marc Trestman Monday presser.

Trestman on where he got the idea for Jeffery TD: “It was a great idea that the Rams had.”

Trestman on Bostic penalty: “There was nothing we could see on our end.”

Trestman on the 2nd INT: “They had a communication error there. You can’t put it on any one person.”

On the first, I completely forgot the play until this statement. Still a wonderful call. On the second, Bears coaches couldn’t see anything because it was one of the first calls in the history of sports. Third, this is Trestman backing off his criticism of Marshall from Sunday.

Trestman goes out of his way to point out wide receiver errors for one reason: he sees defending his quarterback as part of his job. He’s right. It is.