T.J. Edwards called it an exaggeration and optical illusion but in the end had to admit to some attempted chicanery when facing his former team, the Eagles.
The veteran Bears linebacker was caught by TV cameras unusually close to the Eagles huddle before a play during Monday night's telecast . He couldn't deny intention, only results.
"Yeah, I think it's more so the camera angle because when I was doing it, I didn't even feel like I was that close," Edwards said. "And then my wife was showing me after the game, I was like, 'I look like I'm offsides.'
"So I think it was more so like the angle of the camera, but to me I was kind of just like leaned over seeing what was going on."
At least Edwards was honest about it. Doing things like this are entirely common and in Bears lore they went on regularly back in the Dick Butkus/Doug Buffone era.
"I really try to pick up anything I can throughout the door, whether it's protection or something like that," he said. "Again at that point, too, I knew that they were just checking a lot of things. And I was just like leaning over to just kind of see if I could hear anything, see what J. Hurts was talking about. But really couldn't get much."
At least it wasn't anything he called "useful." It definitely didn't help him make the interception he had in the second half that helped seal the Eagles' fate, anyway. He had already nearly picked one off earlier.
"Again, I know most of those guys, so if anything, I was just getting in there just to see what's going on and I was just curious. But yeah, I don't know what they were talking about, anything like that. I'm just trying to pick up really anything that I could. But yeah, didn't pick up anything useful for sure."
The defense did quite well without that information. Three takeaways and single-digit points allowed for the second straight week after an opener with 37 points allowed shows the new players added could be paying off.
That would be rookie safety Dillon Thieneman and rookie cornerback Malik Muhammad as well as linebacker Devin Bush, defensive back Cam Lewis, defensive tackles Neville Gallimore and Kentavius Street and rookie defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg.
It's also the group executing coordinator Dennis Allen's scheme, and it's led to six takeaways. They haven't allowed a TD since the first quarter against the Vikings.
"I think we're trying to do anything we can to kind of get the offense away from ahead of the sticks," Edwards added. "I think that anytime it's second-and-4, third-and-2, third-and-1, that's a tough down to live in.
"For us, we really want to win first and second down so that we can get to our third down stuff no matter what that is, whether that's just playing our regular four-down front and getting to the ball, or whether that's bringing some pressure to try to make them think about some things. I think (Allen's) done a good job of mixing it up, too."
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/bears/onsi as Bears Defense More Successful Than Attempts to Spy on Opponent .
