Bears
- Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times quotes the Bears’ latest Hall of Fame inductee, Richard Dent, on why his sack numbers weren’t even better:
“On spending the bulk of his career in the NFC Central: ‘Playing in the NFC Central, the old black-and-blue division, people really didn’t throw the ball. .?.?. It wasn’t the NFC East, where they threw the ball a lot, or the NFC West, where they threw the ball a lot. I could’ve gotten more opportunities, but you have to take advantage of what’s there.’’’
- Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune on Dent’s induction:
“But those of us who had the privilege to see Dent play every week don’t need statistics or honors to justify his place in the Hall.”
- Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune breaks down the Bears’ safety position. What they do here depends largely upon who they bring back. If both free agent Danieal Manning and veteran Chris Harris are on the roster next season, they won’t do much of anything. Craig Steltz could be in some trouble.
- Biggs also reports that the Bears signed punter Richard McGee to a reserve/futures contract. It could be seen as a bad sign for veteran free agent Brad Maynard., who is a good directional punter but doesn’t have a great leg and who has been injured a bit more than you’d like of late. Jeff Dickerson at ESPNChicago.com indicates that the Bears have not ruled out re-signing Maynard.
- Steve Wyche at NFL.com has the Lions in the playoffs next year. Guess where he’s got Chicago.
- Former Rams star running back Marshall Faulk commenting upon the Bears wide receivers on Chicago Tribune Live. Via Fred Mitchell and David Kaplan at the Tribune:
“But every time I see Johnny Knox run a slant he goes behind the defender and you see an interception go the other way and everyone looks at Jay Cutler and says, ‘How did he throw that pass?’ That is going to be a mistake no matter who the quarterback is.”
“I see no pure wideout. When we ran [Mike] Martz‘ offense in St. Louis we had three or four pure wideouts. … If you are still teaching that stuff to your wide receivers then in this offense you can’t blame the QB.”
- Corey Wooton goes over goes over the getting off the ball in this YouTube video.
- Dan Berstien and Terry Boers at WSCR in Chicago – Lovie Smith is a Liberian?
Elsewhere
- From Pro Football Weekly‘s Audibles. This feature is a collection of anonymous quotes from NFL men around the league:
“Everyone got all excited about Michael Vick — and there was reason to be excited early — but if you look at how he finished the season, you see (that) teams started to figure out that if you make him play quarterback, he is not that good. He’s not a great three-step, five-step, read-and-throw-to-the-open-receiver quarterback. And he takes more hits because he does not read it quickly. Look at the Indy game when (Colts MLB Gary) Brackett drills him. If his primary (receiver) is not there and he has to go through the thought process, he holds it for an extra second to second-and-a-half, and in this league, that is the difference between a defender breezing by — like they do with Peyton Manning, barely touching him — or getting drilled. If I’m Michael Vick, I’m digging up every game that Steve Young played late in his career when he made his transformation, and I’m studying it.”
- Death is not an option: Carolina wins the Super Bowl or Big Foot is found in North Carolina. From Tom Sorensen at the Charlotte Observer.
- Joe Reedy at the Cincinnati Enquirer provides an update on the Carson Palmer situation. Despite a change at offensive coordinator, Palmer apparently still wants out of Cincinnati. And despite the owner stating that he won’t be traded he still apparently believes he will be. He is selling his house.
- Speaking of the Bengals, I can’t wait to see new offensive coordinator Jay Gruden run a West Coast style offense with a running back who flat out refuses to catch the ball out of the backfield.
- Pat Williams says he’s done fighting the NFL over Star Caps. Via Brian Murphy at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
- James Walker at ESPN.com reports that the Cleveland Browns have made some interesting roster cuts. Included on the list of players is defensive tackle Shaun Rogers and former Bear – and Ram – offensive tackle John St. Clair.
- The Sports Pickle thinks that the Packers Super Bowl title should be revoked over this video. Sounds good to me.
- They also “report” that the NCAA will suspend a player who received a kidney from his coach. You laugh… but then you think about it… Are you sure they won’t do it?
One Final Thought
Mitchell quotes Dent further:
“I was very, very thirsty for (the Hall)… Once you play the game a certain way, people start telling you, ‘You know, you may have the opportunity to be in the Hall.’ A bunch of people don’t understand the (Hall) process. I don’t understand the process.”
“I was patient, didn’t care to call anybody out… My day has come.”
The video is from the Chicago Tribune website.