LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Rome Odunze has scored a touchdown in each game so far this season and found the end zone twice in the Week 2 matchup against the Lions.
His latest touchdown against the Cowboys, a 35-yard reception on the Bears’ second offensive drive of the game, showed plenty of positive traits from the second-year wide receiver and his quarterback Caleb Williams.
Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs lined up a yard away from the 6-foot-3, 214-pound wide receiver, ready to jam him at the line of scrimmage. Diggs reached out aggressively with his right hand, but Odunze quickly reacted and got outside leverage on Diggs as he lost his footing on the Soldier Field grass.
Then, as Odunze began to separate, he raised his left hand, signaling a mailbox to adjust his initial route and go for the explosive play. Williams recognized his playmaker running down the field and hit him in stride for the first points of the game.
“That’s the natural connection that they have,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said on Wednesday. “It was a great release by Rome. And we see growth all across the board from Week 1 all the way to Week 3. That’s a good example of it. In Week 1, we had one of those mailbox plays and we weren’t able to connect. In Week 3, we did.”
For Odunze to make that play happen, there’s plenty of prep work that occurs throughout the week to help the Bears’ wide receiver make the most of each rep. That’s why he didn’t hesitate to use the specific release off the line of scimmage against Diggs.
“It’s all in the toolbox, you know what I mean,” Odunze told Marquee Sports Network. “It just comes from reps and reps and reps and going against the DBs. You know and watching film obvioulsy and seeing some of those tendencies. …”
To find out exactly how Williams and Odunze connected on the explosive passing play, you can watch the full break down on the Marquee Sports Network app.
Also check out Bears defensive lineman Gervon Dexter’s video break down after his impressive performance against the Cowboys.