The Cohen Watch - Rookie Season (2017)

[oleschoolaggie]

more good stuff about the human joystick...

www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/

Bears rookie RB Tarik Cohen proving fearless

By Dan Wiederer•Contact Reporter


Reason for optimism: No Bear was more impressive Saturday than rookie running back Tarik Cohen, who rushed for 77 yards on his 11 first-half carries. With Jordan Howard left home after suffering a corneal abrasion during a walk-through Friday, Cohen got the start in the backfield and made the most of his extra opportunity. He had three runs of longer than 15 yards, showcasing his vision and elite burst.

The 5-foot-6, 181-pound Cohen is quickly putting to rest any concerns that the level of competition and physicality in the NFL might prove too challenging for him. He has also demonstrated the toughness and fearlessness needed to flourish.

Cohen's first run was as good as it gets. He used his speed to get around the edge on a sweep, accelerated downhill near the sideline, then spun off a tackle by safety Tyrann Mathieu to pick up 5 extra yards for a 16-yard gain. On his longest run — a 25-yarder two drives later — Cohen broke two tackles and carried safety Tyvon Branch for the final 6 yards before being ridden out of bounds.

[bluehaze]

[bluehaze]

Cohen turning heads with performance
Posted 4 hours ago

Larry Mayer
Bears Senior Writer
Tarik Cohen has admired Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu since the “Honey Badger” starred at LSU. So when Mathieu sent a Twitter message to the Bears running back after their teams met in a preseason game last Saturday night, Cohen was excited to say the least.

“I wanted to scream like a little girl,” Cohen said Thursday after practice. “But you’ve got to be a man about it, so I said ‘thank you, I appreciate it.’”

Mathieu encouraged Cohen to “keep grinding and stay humble” after the fourth-round pick rushed for 77 yards on 11 carries in just over a quarter against the Cardinals’ No. 1 defense in a 24-23 win over Arizona.

When he was playing at North Carolina A&T, Cohen and his teammates would watch highlights of Mathieu before their games. If the Bears rookie continues to perform like he did in Arizona, college players may soon be studying tape of him.

Starting in place of the injured Jordan Howard, Cohen rushed for 72 yards on nine carries in the first quarter, including runs of 16, 16 and 25 yards. The 5-6, 181-pounder displayed the same slippery elusiveness that earned him the nickname “The Human Joystick” in college, but he also showed that he could break tackles.

“I feel like that’s something I can do,” Cohen said. “I feel like that’s something I wanted to prove to everybody watching, that even though I’m a small back I have good knee drive and I can break tackles.”

Mathieu apparently wasn’t the only Cardinals defender to notice him. Cohen said he did a double-take when 6-3, 280-pound defensive end Frostee Rucker was eyeing him after a play.

“Frostee Rucker really stared me down on the sideline, but it was nothing big,” Cohen said. “He’s like seven feet. I had to make sure he was staring, and he was staring. So I walked back to the huddle like, ‘Why’s that dude staring at me?’”

More people likely will soon be focusing on Cohen. But he clearly has heeded Mathieu’s advice to stay humble. When discussing his performance against the Cardinals, the 22-year-old praised the Bears offensive line and said that he felt that he left some yards on the field.

“The main thing I liked was the o-line blocking,” Cohen said. “I felt like I didn’t get touched until I really got like 10 yards. That was amazing. Never had that happen before. Things I want to improve on is when I get to the next level, making the move. I feel like a couple of my runs, when I got to that next level, I didn’t make any moves, I just conceded the tackle. So I’m going to get better at that.”

Cohen’s success begins in practice, where he’s always one of the Bears’ most active players.

“The unique thing about Tarik is that he’s an energy guy,” said coach John Fox. “He practices hard. We have GPS systems on our players and he’s one of the higher load guys every day. He likes to play football. He practices hard and you see evidence of that in games as well.”

“It’s really the only way I know how to go,” Cohen said. “In college, that’s what we did, we practiced hard and my coach really instilled that into me. I feel like the best players are the players that practice the best. That’s what I’m trying to be, so I’m going to practice hard.”

Cohen’s rare ability is easy to see on tape, but the Bears have been just impressed with his intangibles, especially his desire to “keep grinding” as Mathieu advised him to do.

“You watch tape and there are measurables in different areas,” Fox said. “But what you don’t know until you get them is: How fast are they going to learn? How are they going to study? How are they going to work? There are a lot of successful people that maybe did not have great ACT or SAT scores. You don’t know the grit level of a guy until he gets here, but I’ve been impressed with that.”

Cohen has been just as impressive in his interview sessions with reporters. When asked what animal he would be if Mathieu is the “Honey Badger,” the Bears running back said: “I’m thinking the chocolate badger. I’m going to ride off his wave a little bit.”

[Brandmasta]

Is anybody going to the Bears-Titans game on Sunday? I'll be there, and hopefully I can get a couple of good shots of Tarik.

[oleschoolaggie]

Aug 24, 2017 20:44:29 GMT -5 bluehaze said:

“The main thing I liked was the o-line blocking,” Cohen said. “I felt like I didn’t get touched until I really got like 10 yards. That was amazing. Never had that happen before. Things I want to improve on is when I get to the next level, making the move. I feel like a couple of my runs, when I got to that next level, I didn’t make any moves, I just conceded the tackle. So I’m going to get better at that.

cohen is right about his o-line in that game, no doubt they won the line of scrimmage on most of tarik's runs. but what i also agree with is that cohen didn't make any "cutbacks", he primarily ran straight ahead. i mentioned that in one of my previous posts, that he had a couple of opportunities to "cutback" to gain more yardage but he didn't do it.

so i think i know exactly what plays cohen is referring to in that statement where he says he didn't make any moves. i think he's still trying to figure out what he can do and what he can't do at the nfl level. sounds like we might be seeing some "human joystick" moves coming from tarik in the future...

[oleschoolaggie]

by the way, for the 2nd week in a row, i watched cohen play "before" i watched my redskins play and will probably do the same this week. i'm really becoming a bears fan solely because of tarik...

[Aggie Monster]

"The Chocolate Badger" . He gave himself the perfect nickname, LOL.

[bluehaze]

[Aggie77]

Good Stuff! That boy is living in the moment and enjoying every minute.

[oleschoolaggie]

i like how tarik credits our coaching staff for things that he learned at a&t such as working hard in practice. but the one that i like most is when he said that coach broadway always taught them not to do anything that would embarrass themselves, their team, their parents, or their university.

man, this dude is putting a&t on the nfl map! he's a pr "treasure" for our university, a&t couldn't have picked a better ambassador of our beloved alma mater...

[aggie62]

Aug 25, 2017 8:51:54 GMT -5 bluehaze said:

Good interview, this kid has it all. He'll do well in the NFL...

[bluehaze]

[aggielaw]

I'm already locked in to my Fox station (WBFF45) for todays game.

[aggielaw]

The announcers were dead on when they said that the Bears had scene enough of Cohen and would see limited action today. I can't wait until they show his catching out of the backfield.

[aggierattler]

Aug 27, 2017 14:56:32 GMT -5 aggielaw said:

The announcers were dead on when they said that the Bears had scene enough of Cohen and would see limited action today. I can't wait until they show his catching out of the backfield.

Did he play at all today??