Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune points out that the play of the Bears rookies will be a key to how they do on Sunday, particularly on defense. But its this quote from 11 year veteran safety Antrel Rolle that I found to be most interesting:
“‘[Rookie safety Adrian Amos is] going to fly around and make plays,’ Rolle said. ‘He doesn’t shy away from anything. More importantly, he’s excited about this challenge. I tell him, man, for a rookie to come in and play Aaron Rodgers in Week 1 starting with the Bears, that’s huge. And I couldn’t be more happy for him.'”
Maintaining confidence is going to be important when Amos and the others take the field on Sunday. Rolle and the other Bears obviously know that and they’re obviously talking big in an effort to instill the right attitude and build the rookies up.
Rolle is right. This is a huge opportunity. But there is also a huge risk that players like Amos will be permanently damaged by a poor performance against perhaps the best offense in the league. There are already some signs that may have happened to second year cornerback Kyle Fuller following last year’s series of debacles as he faded late in the year. Here’s hoping all of the rookies are tough enough mentally to hang in through the inevitable ups and downs of the coming season, especially starting on Sunday.