Windy City Gridiron
The NFL season is an evolving state of affairs, and week 8 on the road against a hobbled and desperate 1-5 Baltimore Ravens squad coming off a BYE is a prime example of how much can change in a short period of time in this league.
In this weekly series, I’ll be featuring one player from each team on each side of the ball who I believe to be integral to their respective team’s success. Like seasons past, you won’t see any QBs, and you also won’t see any star defensive players like Micah Parsons and Maxx Crosby.
No, these are more of the unsung variety. Yet, often just as critical to the success of the team. Here are the players that I will be keyed in on in this one.
With the emergence of so many rookie Tight Ends this season, it is somewhat baffling that we haven’t seen more from the first TE off the board in this years NFL Draft. Granted, no other rookie TE was drafted with as much target competition as Loveland was, but even still – Loveland has yet to make a statement. Now now, I know most of you diehards will point to a pancake block here or a toe-touch 3rd down catch there, but those are more for us Bears fans than the national crowd. However, Loveland’s selection for this column has nothing to do with what other rookie TEs are doing and everything to do with his opportunity. With Cole Kmet’s injury last week, Loveland saw his most extensive action and we were able to see more glimpses of what he can do. We even saw what he didn’t do that still resulted in a penalty, but I digress. Cole Kmet has not participated in practice all week, meaning Loveland may get his first start as TE1 against the Ravens. Baltimore, mind you, has two elite Safeties in Kyle Hamilton and rookie Malaki Starks, so it won’t come easy to him. But if the Ravens fool around and match up Loveland in the passing game with an LB, watch out. It could get ugly. But even if Hamilton or Starks are in coverage on the former Wolverine, I expect Colston to remind the world this week why he was the first TE off the board.
With the news that Lamar Jackson, Kyler Gordon, Austin Booker and Tyrique Stevenson, both teams will be depleted at key positions when the Ravens have the ball on Sunday. That said, I fully expect a heavy dose of the run game in Baltimore. Since the Bye week when Billings has been a regular starter along with Gervon Dexter Sr., the Bears run defense has improved their yards per carry allowed from 6.15 to 3.5. Granted, much of that should be attributed to schematic adjustments by Dennis Allen and co., but Andrew Billings has been a key reason for...
