Bear Digest

Braxton Jones' removal no punishment for whiff says Chicago Bears OC

Declan Doyle is seeing separation in the team's starting left tackle battle but insists Braxton Jones leaving after a whiff in Sunday's game was coincidental.
Gene Chamberlain|
Declan Doyle see some separation in the Bears left tackle battle beginning but isn't saying who or that it's obvious yet.
Declan Doyle see some separation in the Bears left tackle battle beginning but isn't saying who or that it's obvious yet. | Chicago Bears On SI Photo: Chicago Bears Video

In this story:

Chicago Bears

Although Sunday's preseason game featured a play weighing down heavily against tackle Braxton Jones, Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle still sees it as a battle and not Ozzy Trapilo's job to lose.

Then again, he also added, "I think that, yeah, I think that they're starting to separate themselves each other," Doyle said. “I still think that batlle is wide open.”

Separation doesn’t seem to indicate a race being as wide open as it was before Sunday’s Bears tie.

They seemed to separate on one play in particular. Tyson Bagent threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to leaping Maurice Alexander and was under heavy pressure from the edge because Jones whiffed on his pass block.

Jones left after the Bears TD drive tied the game but Doyle insisted no one should read that to mean punishment by coach Ben Johnson or to see it as anything beyond one play.

"Those guys are on a rep count," Doyle said. "It's not like something happens and a guy gets benched. We go through before the game ever happens and we have a big chart of, 'Hey, we want this guy to get 15-20 snaps, we want this guy to get 35 snaps, we want ... .' In some cases, we're limited on numbers and it's like, 'Hey, this guy's gonna play the whole second half.'

"But that's just one of those cases where we're trying to make sure that everybody that we're trying to evaluate plays. It just so happens that that (whiff)takes place."

Pro Football Focus didn't give either left tackle a good blocking grade, although Trapilo's 58.3 was closer than Jones' 44.3.

It must be remembered, too, that Miami starters were on the field at the outset of the game both on offense and defense. So Jones did face the first team on the first series and a few were on the second series.

While Doyle said there is separation starting, he wouldn't classify either player as a favorite.

"I still think that battle is wide open," he said. "There's a lot of football left to be had.

"Ben said it today in a team meeting. We're really halfway through camp at this point. And so that's starting to become clearer but we are still very much in a battle."

This week's joint practice and game with Buffalo could be more telling.

"I'm really excited to see Buffalo come in here and a lot of our guys get work against their edge players," Doyle added. "You know, last week with Miami, they've got some guys that are really impressive, and so all of that tape is really valuable."

The watch will continue for separation, even though Doyle said he saw a little already.

“The tape doesn’t lie,” he said. “It will become clearer and clearer as time goes on that one of those guys is going to separate themselves–in the eyes of the decision makers, of Ben, of our front office, of the O-line coaches, of myself.

“But incomplete evaluation thus far. We still have a lot of football left to play.”

But with which left tackle lining up with starters is the question. The only certainty now is how Kiran Amegadjie no longer is in the battle after an injury that took him from the game and from the practice field for a week.

More Chicago Bears News

  • Chicago Bears preseason Week 1 report card: When tie means a win

X: BearsOnSI

Published | Modified
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.