For the third week in a row, the Bears will face a team with problems on the offensive line.
The Arizona Cardinals have huge offensive tackles who have trouble with speed rushers, another mismatch for quick Bears ends Alex Brown, Mark Anderson and Adewale Ogunleye.
Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart was sacked four times by the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in a 23-20 loss. Two of the sacks were by quick ends Jared Allen and Tamba Hali.
Arizona used short drops and bootleg rollouts to keep Leinart out of trouble. One sack by linebacker Kendrell Bell was entirely Leinart’s fault when he didn’t throw the ball away.
Leinart threw 35 passes and many times the protection was good.
“I didn’t get touched very often,” he said. “The guys up front did a good job.”
But coach Dennis Green hasn’t been happy with tackles Leonard Davis and Oliver Ross, guards Reggie Wells and Milford Brown or center Alex Stepanovich.
“We didn’t run very well, and sometimes we had some holes and sometimes we didn’t,” Green said. “At the end where we needed it the most, we didn’t really have it.”
With the score tied 20-20 in the fourth quarter, Davis was penalized for holding at the Kansas City 41. Earlier, he was whistled for a false start.
Green was especially unhappy when the Cardinals had a second-and-1 coming out of their own end and Edgerrin James was stuffed twice to start the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t rise up and knock them off the ball,” Green said.
The Buffalo Bills played Sunday against the Bears without injured ex-Bears guard Chris Villarrial. Before the season, poor play prompted them to release a former No. 1 draft choice, tackle Mike Williams.
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The Seattle Seahawks, adjusting to the loss of Pro Bowl left guard Steve Hutchinson, were playing young Chris Spencer in his place against the Bears after starter Floyd Womack was hurt.
The Bears’ defensive line has been effective whether there are offensive line problems or not. Anderson beat all-world Seattle left tackle Walter Jones twice for sacks. Against the Minnesota Vikings, Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris beat Hutchinson.
No Fitzgerald
Green confirmed Monday the Cardinals will be without Larry Fitzgerald, their only Pro Bowl player besides kicker Neil Rackers, for two to five weeks.
The receiver suffered a hamstring injury against the Chiefs, Green said. “Real strong pull, maybe a slight tear,” he said.
If that’s the case, five weeks is optimistic.
“I’ve never had a hamstring injury, or really any injury period, so I’m just going to go in and do what the training staff tells me to do and try to get back as soon as possible,” Fitzgerald said.
No edge
James was perturbed by the play-calling against the Chiefs after he ran only four times for 10 yards in the fourth quarter when the Cardinals were trying to protect a lead.
“We just got away from the run,” James said. “That’s the stupidest thing. You have to be able to finish the game. You got to give us a chance, you know.”
James ended up with 71 yards on 24 carries.
On Monday, Green said: “I’m grumbling about not running the ball enough [too].”
Big Ben, bigger slump
Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is in the worst slump of his young career. The quarterback with the best winning percentage in football is 0-3 this season with seven interceptions and no touchdown passes, the only ranked quarterback in the league without one.
During the Steelers’ off week before their 23-13 loss Sunday to San Diego, coach Bill Cowher suggested maybe Roethlisberger needed to run more.
“I’ve kind of gotten away from running the ball. [Cowher] said, `Yeah, take your 6 yards and slide,'” Roethlisberger said.
Yet against the Chargers, Roethlisberger didn’t run at all and was sacked five times. The notoriously hard-running Steelers had only 18 rushes as a team despite getting off to a 10-0 lead.
Roethlisberger ran 56 times for 144 yards and a touchdown in 13 1/2 games as a rookie. He ran 31 times for 69 yards and three touchdowns in 12 games last season, then added 19 more runs for 37 yards and two touchdowns in four postseason games on the way to the Super Bowl. But this season, he has only two runs for minus-1 yard.
Roethlisberger told Pittsburgh reporters he did not know whether the head trauma from his June 12 motorcycle accident has had any lingering effects that might have affected his play.
“The doctor said nothing’s wrong with my brain and it seems like I’m having brain [cramps] out there,” he said. “It’s just one of those things, you make mistakes and you learn from it and hopefully I will learn quickly from those mistakes.”
Jaguars star out for season
Jaguars linebacker Mike Peterson, the team’s top tackler who has started every game the last three years, tore a pectoral muscle in the 41-0 victory against the Jets and is out for the season. Tests Monday determined the severity of Peterson’s injury.
“Mike is obviously a very good football player and a very spirited leader,” coach Jack Del Rio said “That’s a blow.”
Panthers rookie running back/kick returner DeAngelo Williams has a sprained — not broken — right ankle. . . . Bills rookie defensive tackle John McCargo is out indefinitely after surgery Monday to repair a broken left foot.
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