Aaron Roger’s Extensive Comments on Brett Favre and Other Points of View

Bears

“It was interesting to hear the Green Bay Packers praise the play of nose tackle Anthony Adams prior to the NFC Championship Game. It was also very telling. By nature, the position doesn’t produce much in the way of statistics, but he proved long ago to be a shrewd free-agent signing. Adams is a dependable and durable two-down performer and quietly he’s one of the real leaders in the locker room, making him a priority to re-sign as he’s an unrestricted free agent.”

“The 23rd overall pick of the Packers, Bulaga has mostly played at right tackle, and his performance has been inconsistent. One NFC scout told me that Bears seventh-round pick J’Marcus Webb has more upside than Bulaga.”

Elsewhere

“I bet two dozen [Steeler] players … Not one, not a single player, went to his defense. It wasn’t personal in a sense, but all kinds of stories like, ‘He won’t sign my jersey.’ ”

The original quote was reported by SI.com’s Peter King. King has admitted that he put the “Steeler” in brackets and that the commissioner never implicitly stated that this was the case. But it not exactly a denial by Goodell, either.

“I asked Ochocinco how [quarterback Carson] Palmer’s situation compares to when the receiver tried to get traded a few years ago.
“’The difference is I would be scrutinized,’ he said. ‘In Carson’s case, they would do everything they can to fix the situation.’”

Ochocinco thinks the Bengals fired offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski to make Palmer happy.

  • I know that football players are a superstitious lot.  But this is ridiculous.  Via Jim Litke at the Associated Press.
  • This expert is obviously better than most as he makes his Super Bowl pick:

  • Hmmm.  He makes a good point.  But I’m not so sure I trust that guy.  Let’s see what this expert has to say:

Yep.  That pretty much finalizes it.

“No.”

  • Steeler’s center Maurkice Pouncey speaks to Chris Berman at ESPN.  He really seems to think he can play.  We’ll see.


One Final Thought

Florio collected some interesting quotes from Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. This was among them

“’That’s what makes you enjoy this week so much: All those times getting your ass kicked,’ Arians said in reference to the times he was actually fired as a college coach.”

Thinking of Betting on the Super Bowl? Maybe Better Think Again. And Other Points of View

Bears

  • Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune does another positional analysis, this time of the offensive line. He concludes that the Bears need two linemen, probably one veteran and one draftee, probably one for the interior who can play center and probably one for the tackle position. I generally agree. Perhaps the most interesting point was his bottom line:

[General manager Jerry] Angelo has his work cut out for him. The Bears assign one person to be a crosschecker for each position in the draft, an overseer if you will. Angelo has been that man for the offensive line. The draft is his baby and the line has been his position. It’s time to produce.

  • David Haugh, also at the Tribunetalks to backup quarterback Caleb Hanie.  The Bears are in a bit of a bind with Hanie because they’ll probably have to pay $1.759 million next year to keep him.  I found this quote to be interesting:

“‘You think about fourth-and-4, if I had just pumped that ball into Earl (Bennett),’ Hanie said. ‘Or on (B.J.) Raji‘s (interception return for a touchdown) if I would have taken just three steps instead of five steps, would he have just missed it. Or if I had gotten reps on that play, I would have maybe progressed over to Devin (Hester). But that’s how it goes sometimes.”’

This is the classic “loser’s lament”, worthy more of a Lions player who is still learning how to finish a game..  Hanie should know than to make these kinds of statements.


Elsewhere

Tom Brady and Drew Brees averaged 44 attempts against the Steelers this year. They picked Pittsburgh apart with short precision passing for 655 yards, five scores, and one pick.

I doubt this fact has been lost on the Packer coaching staff.

In any case, hope that the Packers coaching staff will still be raided is not lost (yet).  Let’s not forget that Dom Capers would certainly still look good on that Titan sideline as head coach. Assuming Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy doesn’t decide to refuse to give him permission to interview, of course. After all, he might find his way from there to the Bears one day.

“Rush four—and drop seven. That’s it. Whenever you send the corner cat (Sam Shields in this situation, “C” in the white square), you are playing coverage in the backend and looking to steal a play.”

Raji is the defensive tackle that drops into coverage as Shields rushes.

“Dom has done more as far as moving people around,” Fox analyst Jimmy Johnson said. “LeBeau has done a fantastic job, but they are pretty standard with their zone blitzes. They let their players’ abilities be better than the guy across from them. Dom really moves his people around a lot. They can be coming from anyplace. He’s probably a little more diverse than LeBeau.”

  • Chris Erskine at the Chicago Tribune gathers hair advice for Troy Polamalu and Clay Matthews.  Sunday, for heaven’s sake, please come quickly.
  • Sam Farmer at the Los Angeles Times does a pretty good job of bottom lining this game for me:

“Tell me how the Packers do at stopping Rashard Mendenhall, and I think I can tell you who wins this game.”

Mustain was rated ahead of Tim Tebow and behind only Matthew Stafford among prep quarterbacks in 2006.

But don’t let that spoil the rest of National Signing Day.

  • Some of the Super Bowl ads are starting to hit the Internet.  This Doritos commercial looks promising.

One Final Thought

Via BenMaller.com we have this little nugget for those thinking of investing in the Super Bowl.  R.J. Bell at pregame.com says that Vegas has won money on 18 of the last 20 Super Bowls – the exceptions being 2008 (Giants vs. Pats) and 1995 (49ers vs. Chargers).  What’s the estimated net amount that gamblers have lost over that time period?  Over $11 BILLION dollars.

Don’t go betting the house on this one, folks.  Or barn if you live in Green Bay.

Fran Tarkenton Addresses Cutler Situation with Interesting Insights

I keep promising myself to let the issues surrounding Jay Cutler‘s injury during the NFC Championship game die. But little interesting points of discussion keep coming out of it.

Fran Tarkenton made some interesting comments on the “Mully and Hanley Show” on WSCR in Chicago (via the Chicago Tribune).

“It’s going to be very difficult. I don’t question Jay Cutler’s toughness. Anybody who plays in the National Football League is tough. I don’t question his courage. I question his judgment.”

“He made a bad decision by taking himself out of the game. I think he’ll have to live with this decision for a long, long time, and I think it will be a very hard decision to overcome, inside the locker room, outside the locker room, in the fan base, wherever he might go. I think it’s a very unfortunate thing.”

“We’re not football players like the rest of the guys. The rest of the guys are hitting people and knocking people down; we’re running away from them. We’ve got to be the emotional leader, the inspirational leader and the physical leader out there. That’s what quarterbacks have always been … in Chicago, from Sid Luckman, (Jim) McMahon, Bobby Douglass and on — the (Roger) Staubachs and all of them — that’s just what you do.

I’m not so sure I agree with the leadership part of this. Cutler is probably better off being who he is rather than forcing himself into this role. But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be setting an example.

As tough as Cutler is and as many hits as he took during the year, I have to wonder if Tarkenton doesn’t have a point. I’ve said before that Cutler’s history suggests that he might not be who handles the tough times well mentally. He was playing poorly you have to wonder if he just said to himself, “The knee is hurt. That’s it.” rather than deciding to fight through both the bad knee and the poor play simultaneously.

Tarkenon says that this is likely a problem “inside the locker room, outside the locker room, in the fan base”. As supportive as they’ve been publicly of Cutler is it possible that Brian Urlacher or Lance Briggs could watch Cutler riding that exercise bike and not wonder if they wouldn’t have been out there playing on that knee? How about Tommie Harris, whose knee hasn’t been right since 2006? As part of that fan base, I’m starting to wonder.

Defensive Tackle High on the List of Needs as Harris Shows Flashes and Toeaina Wears Down

Brad Biggs and the Chicago Tribune addresses the tackle position in his latest positional analysis, this time of the defensive line:

The talk of Peppers’ arrival impacting Tommie Harris was just that — talk. Harris was limited to six starts as Matt Toeaina took over the role for the majority of the season. At 27, he’s not the same player he once was and he won’t be again. But just as the former first-round draft pick did a year ago, he showed signs of being a disruptive force down the stretch.

The problem is, of course, that as Harris got his chance to come on late in the season because Toeaina wore down. This appears to be a problem with Toeania as it has happened virtually every year he’s played for the Bears. He starts with a strong training camp and plays well early. But he tends to disappear as the season wears on.

Biggs makes the point that Henry Melton might take a big leap next year at this position. He envisions a competition between him and Toeania for the starting position. But I’m not so sure I’m depend upon either of these guys doing the job. Melton did show flashes this year and was a contributor. But if I’m the Bears, I’m not holding my breath waiting for him to show more. He may well be as good as he’s going to get and “situational pass rusher” might be his MO.

Biggs calls the the position of “medium priority shading toward low”. I will disagree and put it higher on the list, perhaps just below offensive line. Israel Idonije did a reasonable job taking advantage of the attention Julius Peppers drew at the opposite defensive end. But the three technique tackle is still a central position in the Bears defense. They may, once again, be looking for defensive linemen.