Bears
- I made a big deal about the Bears handling cold weather better because they practice outside. So its not surprising that today’s opponent, New England, who also is used to handling cold weather, is also doing so.
- Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network reports (via Brad Biggs at The National Football Post) that Lions defensive end Cliff Avril was fined $15,000 fine for unnecessarily striking Jay Cutler in the face area.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. High hits lead to bad things. Period. Get used to it.
- Matt Bowen reviews a classic cover-2 beater that he expects to see the Patriots use against the Bears for the Chicago Tribune.
- Dan Pompei, also at the Tribune, highlights Robbie Gould‘s amazing (to me) increase in leg strength.
Elsewhere
- Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times answers your questions:
“Q: In your opinion, over the last 15 seasons, who has been the league’s best quarterback, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning? — Kevin Armstead
“A: That’s like asking which super model you’d rather take to the prom. Both are great, obviously. If I had to chose I’d probably take Brady because he hasn’t had as much consistency with surrounding personnel or with coordinators and he has won three Super Bowls to Manning’s one.”
Give me Manning any day. He does more to carry the Indianapolis Colts with less talent than Brady generally has to with the Patriots.
- In a move which Michael David Smith at profootballtalk.com described as “scraping the bottom of the barrel”, Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt has decided to start rookie John Skelton at quarterback today.
Expectations for Skelton are and should be low. But I’ll say this. I watched the quarterbacks workout on the television broadcast of the NFL combine last spring and the microphones picked up Skelton’s ball literally whistling as it left his hand. He’s got some physical tools. It should be interesting to see what he can do with them.
One Final Thought
I loved the reason special teams coordinator Dave Toub gave to Vaughn McClure at the Chicago Tribune for keeping kicker Robbie Gould after a try out involving four other kickers in 2005:
“Out of those five guys, Robbie had the best kickoff leg. Nobody came in and just blew us away. … He wasn’t crappy, so we kept him.”
It’s always nice to impress with your brilliance. But sometimes it pays just not to screw up too badly.