Bears
- A sad week for the Bears franchise continues as Lovie Smith‘s mother, Mae, joins Tim McCaskey in the after life. Our sympathies go out to all of the family.
- Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune comments upon underrated defensive lineman Anthony Adams as he writes another of his positional analyses.
“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.”
- Sean Jensen at the Chicago Sun-Times on Packers right tackle Brian Bulaga, who grew up in Barrington but was never a Bears fan:
“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.”
- The San Diego Union Tribune reports that Lance Louis has finally settled a lawsuit brought by former San Diego State teammate Nick Sanford.
- Caught on video: Rex Grossman shows the Redskins that he knows the two minute offense.
Elsewhere
- Roger Goodell on his investigation into the allegation that Ben Roethlisberger sexually assaulted a college student in Georgia (via Ed Bouchette at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette):
“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.
- The neogotiations between the NFL and the NFLPA continues to be an exercise in litigation in court rather than an exercise in negotiation at the table . Via Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com.
- Florio also talked to Chad Ochocinco/Johnson about his situation with the Bengals:
“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.
- “Frank Caliendo” weighs in on the Cutler situation in this video.
- Mike Vandermause at the Green Bay Press Gazette quotes Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers on whether he called Brett Favre or Favre called him to talk about the Super Bowl:
“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.”