Bears
- Fred Michell and David Kaplan at the Chicago Tribune got this quote from Bears safety Chris Harris on what the Bears will do against the Patriots:
“‘It’s not really what our opponents do, in our eyes, especially on defense,’ Harris said. ‘It’s about what we do. … If we read the keys in this defense, you should be able to play pretty good football.'”
One of the most fascinating things for me this Sunday will be to watch the matchup between the philosophies involved. Lovie Smith believes in doing what you do and lining up your best eleven against theirs. Bill Belichick is a tinkerer who believes you can get more out of your best eleven by scheming your opponents quite a bit more than that.
- The NFL fined Lions defensive tackle was Ndamukong Suh for his hit on Jay Cutler last Sunday. So no matter what Lions head coach Jim Schwartz or anyone else says, its obvious that the league did something wrong. I would agree.
- David Haugh at the Chicago Tribune made an interesting comment that caught my eye:
“So anybody else cringe at (offensive coordinator, Mike) Martz promising to include more deep passes against the Patriots?”
The answer is, “Yes, I cringe.” The offensive line still isn’t ready to protect Cutler as he takes deep drops. But the fact remains that someone eventually is going to take away the Bears running game and short to mid-range passing game and dare them to throw deep. It could happen this week and if it does, the Bears are going to have to do it whether they are ready or not. When that time comes, the media and fans will blame Martz. But the real culprit will be the people who patched together that line.
Elsewhere
- I don’t have anything much to add but many kudos to Jim Litke for writing a wonderful column which appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times on why Bill Belichick‘s disciples don’t succeed as he has.
- Mike Florio was on point as he went after LeBron James for stupidly criticizing ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer:
“And while watching on DVR Thursday’s edition of The Dan Patrick Show, Dan pointed out this two-pack of tweets from LeBron’s Twitter page: ‘Watching [SportsCenter] and Trent Dilfer is talking bad on how Peyton Manning is playing as of late! In his wildest dream [Dilfer] could never do the things Peyton does on the field. Good or bad! People get on TV and think they can say whatever they want! And it’s always former players! Crazy!!’
“Dilfer is now an analyst. Whether Manning is a better player than Dilfer was is irrelevant to the analysis of Manning’s current struggles.
“Then again, a guy who is constantly surrounded by enablers and sycophants likely can’t grasp the concept of criticism, constructive or otherwise.”
Its the total lack of logic in the argument that really struck a cord with me. I find this constantly when discussing issues with people. Instead of addressing the topic, they’ll bring up a peripheral issue that is totally irrelevant and consider it to be a defense. Its irritating under normal circumstances but its particularly so when it comes from a source like James.
One Final Thought
Haugh also had this interesting interview with Blackhawks senior advisor Scotty Bowman:
“Who does a legend call to talk?
“‘You have a few people in the game that you’ve known to lean on, maybe some astute businessmen who have some sort of formula that works. (But) it can be lonely,’ Bowman said. ‘I remember once talking to Don Shula about this, and we said the same thing. I never said it publicly, but my biggest regret with some of the teams I had was I never told them how good they really were and how I appreciated them.'”