Category: New England Patriots

Jon Stewart Has a Message Just for You Patriots Fans and Other Points of View

Bears

  • A shout out to Bear Goggles for the Packer jokes found in this post.
  • Kudos to Packer running back James Starks for being classy, at least publicly, about being passed over by the Bears in the draft in embarrassing fashion (via Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times):

“Starks said he had no hard feelings over being snubbed by the Bears, who told him they were going to draft him in the sixth round, then had to tell him they had changed their mind. The Packers selected him 12 picks later.

‘‘’I was thankful, actually, that they thought of me,’ Starks said. ‘Most teams wouldn’t have thought of me in situations like that. I prayed on it. I knew things would fall my way. Now I’m a Green Bay Packer, and I’m lovin’ it.'”

  • —

A first grade teacher explains to her class that she is a Cheesehead.

She asks her students to raise their hands if they are
Cheeseheads too.

No one really knowing what a Cheesehead was, but wanting
to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like flashy
fireworks.

There is, however, one exception. A girl named Kristen
who has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has
decided to be different.

“Because I’m not a Cheesehead.”

“Then”, asks the teacher, “what are you?”

“Why, I’m a proud bear Fan,” boasts the little girl.

The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks
Kristen why she is a rebel.

“Well, my mom and dad are Bear Fans, so I’m a Bear Fan too.”

The teacher is now angry. “That’s no reason,” she says loudly. “What if
your mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron. What would you be then?”

A pause, and a smile. “Then,” says Kristen, “I’d be a Cheesehead”

“We won’t play a player unless we feel like he can be effective and won’t hurt the team – that he can help the team. I don’t think any of our players would put themselves out there knowing that they can’t do their job and that would definitely be the case with Chris. He’s making progress. There’s no reason really to think that he can’t and won’t be able to perform the same way he normally does.”

  • The obligatory intermission:

“That’s who we are. We believe in our basic philosophy of eventually it’s going to come down me beating the guy across, a one-on-one battle no matter how you get in it. There is only so much you can do. The teams who have a philosophy just blitzing every snap, eventually, though, as you blitz you are going to have to beat someone to get there most of the time. You are not going to have a free guy. If you have a free guy, it’s someone on the outside. So it still comes down to a one-on-one football game. For us it’s the same situation. We just do it a little bit differently, but in the end, as our players said, we’re not going to change a whole lot. For the most part, you are going to know what we are going to do and we are going to try to out-execute you.”

We’ll see.

  • —

Q: Did you here about the Packer fan that died at a pie eating contest?

A: The cow kicked him in the head!

“The one thing we did see when we looked at Tim was he was a tough, competitive guy, but he’s taken that to another step. Both our corners are so physical. I’m so proud of what these guys do and how tough they are and how well they tackle and how well they compete. They have good ball skills, man coverage, but in our system you have to tackle. You have to be physical, there’s no ifs, ands or buts about it and both of them have done a great job with tackling. To answer your question, he’s a heck of a ballplayer.”

I would agree.  But I’ve been waiting all year for someone to take advantage of Jennings short stature.  Hopefully I’ll still be waiting next week.

  • —

Q: What’s the difference between a porcupine and Lambeau Field?

A: The pricks are on the outside of a porcupine.

  • Marinelli, again via the Tribune, on Brian Urlacher, who the Bears were missing all last year:

“The biggest thing he does is he brings a calming effect to the entire defense because he they know if something comes up that is a surprise or whatever, he’s going to handle it. It’s a tremendous calming effect for the defense. His verbiage, his communication, is always right. He’s able to put the players in the good situation all the time. So it’s a comforting feeling for a coach, but also for the defensive team.”

  • —

Q: What do you call a Packer fan with a sheep under his arm?

A: A pimp.

“It’s part of what we are, built in. You have to adjust all four guys that are rushing, unless we’re blitzing, they’ve got to work together. I always tell them four equals one. We have to know where each other is. Each guy has got to do his job and be accountable. You can’t let it take the aggressiveness out of our pass rush.”

  • —

Q: Why is it a good idea to bring a Packer fan along to a Vikings game?

A: You can park in the handicap zone.

  • Fred Mitchell at the Tribune points out that beginning Friday, the bronze lions guarding the Art Institute will sport a Bears helmet (south Lion) and earmuffs and scarf (north Lion) throughout the weekend.
  • —

Q: What do you call a sober Packer fan?

A: A liar.

Q: How do you save a drowning Packer fan?

A: Take your foot off his head.

  • Mark Schlereth at ESPN makes his pick. Jerk:


Elsewhere

  • Eric Mangini discusses how the Jets might go about beating the Steelers Sunday with profootballtalk.com‘s Mike Florio:

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

  • Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu missed practice again yesterday.  I’m guessing he’ll play but if he’s less than 100% it could be a huge blow to the Steelers.  Via Florio.
  • We’ve heard repeatedly about how good Bears long snapper Patrick Mannelly is but Pro Bowl coach Mike Smith chose to go in another direction (via Michael David Smith at profootballtalk.com).
  • Todd McShay at ESPN has released his first mock draft:



One Final Thought

Jon Stewart has a message just for Patriot fans (via The Sports Pickle):

Patriots are a Cautionary Tale as Preparation Still the Key for the Bears This Week

Former NFL safety Matt Bowen describes the preparation for such a familiar foe in the Packers:

“Maybe offensive coordinator Mike Martz can install a new route scheme to take advantage of the Packers’ pressure defense, or get Devin Hester free in the open field on a new wide receiver screen that hasn’t shown up on tape. But those plays are small in comparison to what we will see Sunday. The Cover 2 defense from the Bears, Matt Forte in the run game and the empty, wide open looks from [Green Bay quarterback Aaron] Rodgers and the Packers offense.”

It would seem that this kind of preparation can be a challenge because players feel that they’ve seen it all before.  In this respect cornerback Tramon Williams had some interesting comments on how Green Bay handles the problem:

“It’s going to come down to the small details. When you play a team like that, you may not feel that you have to put in as much studying because you feel you know that team. But you don’t take that approach. You have to go back in, pay attention to more details, and kind of go into Chicago Bears locker room and see [whether you] can understand their players like they understand it. That’s something that my coach just finished telling me that he’s going to do, detailing this work like that. That’s something that our defense has been doing, detailing their work all year. I think that’s what made us play the way we’ve been.”

Hopefully the Bears won’t be complacent in their study either.  I doubt they will given how hard fought the last regular season game against the Packers was.  Nevertheless, despite the comments of both Williams and Bowen, I wonder if someone won’t try to pull a major change this week end.  ESPN‘s NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert wonders the same thing:

“Will that really be the case? This game features two of the most creative coordinators in the NFL. I heard Hawk’s quote and wondered if he wasn’t feeding into the cliché in the name of gamesmanship. With a Super Bowl berth on the line, do we really think that Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz and Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers will simply let ’em play?

“The smart money says no way, a sentiment Bears center Olin Kreutz expressed in the moments after last Sunday’s 35-24 divisional playoff victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

“‘With the coaches that are going against each other, Coach Martz and Coach [Dom] Capers, there will be some new stuff out there,’ Kreutz said. ‘So we’ll be ready.'”

Let’s hope so.  I’m sure Tom Brady was thinking just as Bowen describes last week before the game against the Jets.  He then walked into a buzz saw as Jets coach Rex Ryan designed what was by all accounts a brilliant game plan to take away the middle of the field.  It was a scheme that Brady never solved and the result was an improbably Jets win.  Michael Silver at Yahoo Sports describes the players reaction:

“When Ryan’s defensive players saw the X’s and O’s their coach had cooked up, there was no mistaking them for hugs and kisses.

“’It was an unbelievable game plan,’ veteran defensive lineman Trevor Pryce (notes) said. ‘It was out of sight. We did some stuff I’ve never seen a football team do. We flooded coverages, had man schemes that looked like zone, and zone that looked like man. Our first reaction was, ‘How are we gonna do this? How is this gonna work?’ I mean, 14 years in the NFL, and I’d never seen anything like it. Rex came up with some Madden [expletive], like it was a video game. He said, ‘Hey, let’s try this.’ And it worked! They couldn’t figure it out.'”

Such things are undoubtedly exceedingly rare.  But nevertheless lets hope the Bears players and coaches are on their toes for anything this weekend because anything could still be what they’ll see.

(Thank you for supporting my sponsors.)

Bart Scott Sounds Off and Other Points of View

Bears

“’No, I’m not satisfied,’ Tillman said after one of his best games of the season. ‘We’re in the NFC Championship Game. Great. But those two plays, you’ve got to make those plays because they could’ve been the keys to the game.’”

Tillman’s right.  I loved the aggressive man-to-man defense that the Bears played.  But it also leaves zero room for error.  Usually that kind of pressure in on the safeties.  With that defense, its on the corners.

“But you simply cannot overstate how much losing Carlson in the first quarter threw the Seahawks off their game on offense. One veteran Bears defender said in the postgame locker room that without Carlson, Seattle lost its ability to run numerous formations and attempt numerous plays that otherwise might have been successful vs. the Bears’ defense.”

  • Quarterback Jay Cutler says that Greg Olsen wasn’t his primary receiver on his first touchdown in the first quarter:

  • No surprise that coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck were disappointed after the loss:

  • The Chicago Tribune goes back in time for what I thought was an interesting look at the 1941 playoff game against the Packers – the last time the two teams met in the postseason.
  • I hope Devin Hester was kidding when he said this of Sunday’s game against the Packers (via Brad Biggs at the Tribune):

“Its going to be a shootout”

I think a good defensive game might be more likely to work in the Bears favor.

  • Steve Rosenbloom at the Tribune reports that the Bears opened as 3 point home dogs to the Packers and that most of the money immediately started pouring in on Green Bay.  I wouldn’t touch that game either way with a ten foot pole at that number.  Too much depends upon which Green Bay team shows up.
  • Dan Pompei at the Tribune gives one key stat for the Packer game:

“The Packers have sacked Jay Cutler nine times this year; the Bears have sacked Rodgers twice.”

“I don’t care about what happened late in the game, I still believe Charles Tillman made Mike Williams want to quit. Can he do the same to Green Bay’s Greg Jennings?”

  • Cornerback Charles Tillman sounds like he’s already tired of the hype (via ESPNChicago.com).  Its only just begun, baby!

  • Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris would seem to agree (via Michael C. Wright at ESPNChicago.com):

“‘I don’t know all about the history,’ he said. ‘I just know my gap. I have to control that gap. I will next week.'”

“Indeed, there will be ungodly hype, especially on this blog. From this point forward, I’m tagging this game “Epicenter of Humanity.” So I don’t want to minimize how big and fun this is going to be for fans and media members alike. “

  • Brian Urlacher knows that there won’t be many big surprises Sunday (via ESPNChicago):

  • Kenny Mayne at ESPN describes the Seahawks-Bears matchup as only he can.  The video was, of course, shot before the game but its definitely worthwhile:

“While the Bears’ offense is still particularly average by today’s NFL standards, their preparedness ranks right there with the best of ’em. They haven’t had a moment of controversy, a moment of off-the-field idiocy that undermines the team. That speaks to the coach, in this case [Lovie] Smith, the same way it spoke to the respect Tony Dungy‘s players had for him all those years.”

Elsewhere

  • WBAY-TV has taken down a video of Aaron Rogers blowing past a cancer patient who wanted an autograph.  Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com comments:

“The folks at WBAY, who probably should have realized that the station’s relationship with the only team in town may have been undermined with the publication of the video of Rodgers treating a cancer patient like a panhandler with leprosy, apparently have taken down the clip.  The key moment has been uploaded to YouTube.  Check it out before it disappears, too.”

Here it is.  For now.

  • Fortunately Clay Mathews chose to show more class:

“Asked if he’s stunned the season is over, Brady said: ‘You always are. It’s like you’re on the treadmill running at 10 miles an hour, and then someone just hits the stop button.'”

“It is tough.  Your emotions are going to be at one extreme. You’re either going to be really happy or really sad, and I hate that we all have to feel this way.”

“Well you work on one thing all week and then you get something different. We adjusted, but at the end of the day it’s about us making plays and moving the ball down the field. We didn’t do that on a consistent basis.”

One Final Thought

I love Bart Scott.  He sounds off, starting with a statement that the Bears need to remember this week.  Via ESPN:

What Coaches Should Really Say and Other Points of View

Bears

“‘You know what we have? We have the best offensive line coach in the league, period,’ said Olin Kreutz, a 13-year veteran who was a third-round pick by the Bears in 1998.”

The Bears offensive line coach is former Vikings head coach Mike Tice.

“[Offensive coordinator Mike] Martz is one of the best in the world at what he does.”

Jensen also mentions in passing that Martz will be calling the game from the press box.  That would be a change from the regular season where he stayed on the sideline.  I’m not sure what the reason for the change is but ti would seem odd to be changing a formula for success right as the post season begins.

“The biggest thing for them, when Jay [Cutler] tries to make things happen, is in the red zone,” [former Ram quarterback Kurt] Warner said. “You can’t have turnovers. You have to score points when you have opportunities.”

I have quoted someone or said this in some form every single day.  The surest path to disaster for the Bears is for the Bears quarterback to try to do too much.

“The good thing is the Bears won the division and earned the bye.
“The bad thing is the void of fresh, local football analysis. I’m pointing the thumb as much as the finger because I have participated in the blather.
“‘The quarterback doesn’t smile.’ … ‘A contract extension is due Lovie Smith.’ … ‘ ”Enlightened’ Greg Olsen finally realizes he should contribute more.’
“I feel shame.”

“The remarkable array of NFL coaches spawned by the 1985 team — [Leslie] Frazier, Ron Rivera, Jeff Fisher, [Mike] Singletary, plus ballboys Rex and Rob Ryan, not to mention [Jim] McMahon successor Jim Harbaugh — help keep the Bears of the ’80s on the front page.

“Standing ovations get tiresome after 25 years, but don’t sit down yet.”

  • Biggs interviews former NFL safety Matt Bowen for the Tribune.  Not surprisingly, they focus on the Bears-Seahawks matchup.  Bowen comments on Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch in this little nugget:

“The one thing Seattle is doing, what they did a lot against the Saints, is they ran the ball on the slot side. What that does for a running back is it gives him more room to choose. He gets the ball deep in the backfield and he has the ability to cut back, take the first hole or stretch it all the way to the edge. Marshawn Lynch is an excellent cutback runner.”

Though it hasn’t been as evident this season, speed teams like the Bears can be beaten by cutback runners as they flow rapidly to the ball.

  • I couldn’t find the video but former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski broke down the Bears-Seahawks matchup on ESPN‘s Pardon the Interruption.  When Bears fan Mike Wilbon asked him why he should be worried about the Bears chances, Jaworski pointed out the the Bears led the league in negative plays.
  • Profootballtalk.com‘s Mike Florio picks the Seahawks to win:

“Sometimes, football makes no sense.  Last week, a clearly superior Saints team went to Seattle and lost.  This week, the Seahawks return to Soldier Field with plenty of confidence and a lot of momentum, against a Bears team that isn’t as good as the Saints team that the Seahawks beat last weekend.”

“Besides, the Bears could be tight and the Seahawks could catch them flat-footed and Seattle could do that which no one — including the Bears — expects them to do.”

Reserve your spots on the roofs of the best buildings now Bear fans.

Elsewhere

  • The Browns hired Rams offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur as their new head coach:

  • And the Broncos hired John Fox:

One Final Thought

Kyle Koster at the Chicago Sun-Times provides a day-by-day look at how the Bears good fortune could continue to a historic Super Bowl run.  Here’s a sample:

“Wednesday, Jan. 19: [NFL commissioner] Roger Godell unilaterally abolishes instant replay. Despite the outcry, Bears fans take to the streets celebrating the end of [Bears head coach Lovie] Smith’s long red-flag follies. [Packers head coach Mike] McCarthy appears on “SportsCenter” and calls for Goodell’s ouster.  The emboldened commissioner bans the Packers coach for life.”

Ryan, Belichick and the Fine Art of Leadership

The Patriots-Jets feud has been heatin gup over the last week.  But what’s interesting to me isn’t the comments that are coming out of both sides but the nature of those comments.

Jets head coach Rex Ryan led off early in the week by saying this (via FOX Sports):

“‘This is about Bill Belichick vs. Rex Ryan,’ the Jets’ brash coach declared Monday. ‘There’s no question. It’s personal. It’s about him against myself, and that’s what it’s going to come down to.'”

Belichick‘s response (via ESPN):

“We’re gonna do our best to win on Sunday.  They’re a good football team across the board: good on offense, defense and special teams. They beat the Colts in Indianapolis. We all know how tough that is. Everything concerns me [with them]. They’re good across the board.”

So what?  Typical Ryan.  Typical Belichick.  But let’s take a look at what happened yesterday in relation to the players feelings about the game and each other.  As was the case early in the week, the Jets threw the first salvo.  Antonio Cromartie said this when ased if he had ever seen Patriots quarterback Tom Brady pointing after a Patriots score late in their blow out win over the Jets earlier in the season (via Gary Myers at The New York Daily News):

“‘We see that a lot. He does it a lot,” Cromartie said. “That’s the kind of guy he is. We really don’t give a damn, to tell you the truth.’

“Okay, what kind of guy is Brady?

“‘An ass—-.

“‘—- him.'”

Brady’s response (via ESPN):

“I’ve been called worse. I’m sure there is a long list of people that feel that way.”

“But he’s a good player. [Darrelle] Revis is a great player. They have a great secondary. They’re one of the best defenses we’ve faced. We spend a lot of time preparing for them, and what they’re capable of doing over there. To shut down the Colts’ offense like they did is pretty impressive, because we know how good that offense is. We’re going to be ready to play.”

Or perhaps more humorously according to Ian Rappaport:

“Belichick has called me that. My offensive coordinator has called me that. They like me, so maybe he likes me.”

So what’s my point?  When you assess the comments by both players you come to the same conclusion as I did above.  Typical Rex Ryan.  Typical Bill Belichick.

Its a source of constant amazement to me how true it is that those who follow take on the personality of those who lead.  Individual players and, indeed, entire teams are affected and can be characterized generally by the way their head coach acts and reacts.  On some level every good coach knows it and when you see the way they react publicly you can consider it to be a sign of how they expect their players to react.

The Patriots-Jets contest isn’t just a game of talent of even a game of wills.  It also a philosophical conflict in terms of leadership.  Just one more aspect of the game that makes the NFL so interesting.

Marshawn Lynch or Mario? And Other Points of View

Bears

“’I was on the phone for a minute or so with Starks when [general manager Jerry] Angelo walked in my office and told me he had changed his mind and was drafting [quarterback Dan] LeFevour,’ Gabriel wrote. ‘I put Starks on hold, and then said to Angelo that [contract negotiator Cliff] Stein already had talked to the agent and I had the player on the phone. We couldn’t do business like that. He said he was sorry, but he decided he wanted LeFevour and the card had been turned in.

“’I then had to tell the player (a player that I had developed a good relationship with over the previous two years) that in fact we were not drafting him. Hearing a kid go from being extremely excited to silence was not easy. It was the most embarrassing moment I had experienced while scouting. In my mind everything is about integrity, and I felt our integrity had been damaged.’”

“’The Bears won a lot of games this year, but didn’t get a lot of respect,’ said John Avello, director of race and sports book operations for the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas. “I don’t see them losing this game. The only X factor for me is (Bears quarterback Jay) Cutler. He can make some bad decisions. He doesn’t have to do that in a game like this.

Exactly.  If Cutler tries to do too much on the big stage, it will be the surest path to disaster for the Bears.

“[Matt] Forte still managed 91 yards on 15 carries in that defeat, and he carries the momentum of averaging 5.8 yards per attempt over his last three games. But [Chester] Taylor, the team’s designated short-yardage runner, has to be more productive, especially against a Seattle team that ranked 21st in the league against the run.

“’I don’t know if I have to do anything differently,’ said Taylor, who has played in four career playoff games. ‘I just have to make a play whenever I get the ball. That’s it.’’’

And, of course, he has to hope the coaches haven’t called a time out when he does.

Elsewhere

  • Why the Colts really lost.  I still think she should be a linebacker.
  • Congratulations to former Bear Ron Rivera on being hired as head coach of the Carolina Panthers.  The Bears will face Carolina next season at Soldier Field.

  • Rivera will be using a 4-3 scheme, presumably similar to what he used with the Bears, rather than the 3-4 he coached in San Diego.
  • Tedy Bruschi says that Bill Belichick actually respects Rex Ryan.  Whatever… :

  • Marshawn Lynch’s run was more like something you’d see in a popular video game:

  • Former Bears wide receiver coach and current Kansas City head coach Todd Haley may call the plays next year.  That should help him attract a competent offensive coordinator.

One Final Thought

Fred Mitchell at the Chicago Tribune overheard this:

“New Cubs pitcher Matt Garza on WGN-AM 720’s ‘Sports Night’ when he was asked about people who say he is too emotional: ‘When you care about something as much as I care about pitching, you get emotional. I don’t think of it as emotion. I think of it as passion. I’m very passionate for what I do because I love what I do. People who love their jobs are very passionate about their jobs. They are going to pour their heart and soul into their job. That’s the way that I feel about it.’”

–Please support my sponsors.

Browns Provide Blue Print to Beat the Patriots

A friend (who is rather anti-Bear) and I were debating the merits of the Green Bay Packers when he brought up this observation:  the Packers are team in the NFC playoff picture with the best chance to beat the Patriots.  An anonymous quote from the Audibles feature at Pro Football Weekly reminded me of his comment:

“If you want to beat the Patriots, you need to look at the job Cleveland did on them. The one thing (Eric) Mangini definitely knows is how to beat New England. They had a phenomenal game plan. I’ve never seen Tom Brady so confused. They had 11 guys standing, and (Brady) had no idea who was coming and who was dropping. No team is good playing from behind, especially if the offense can run at you. Colt McCoy made a few plays early, and (Peyton) Hillis ran at them. That is the winning formula to beat New England. It’s a copycat league, and you have to know where you could pull from.”

Defensively this is exactly what the Packers did to the Patriots and they almost beat them.  They run a look with only two down linemen and everyone else stands around so you can’t tell who is coming from where.  It’s problematic but it also looks to me like the type of defense that you could beat with the run if you had the right blocking scheme.

Frankly I don’t see anyone in the NFC beating the Patriots in a Super Bowl matchup.  But I said that the last time they were there and they lost.  It will be interesting to see if more teams do, in fact, copy the Cleveland game plan and what the Patriots do to try to stop it.

–Please support my sponsors

Do the Bears Need a “Big-name” Wide Receiver? And Other News

Bears

“‘[Johnny Knox is] really learning how to set guys up,’ Drake said. ‘Just using his head and his eyes and not breaking stride.

“‘Body language tells everything from a receiver running routes. When you can control that body and not allow that guy to read where you’re going … the biggest thing in young receivers is they have a tendency to look where they’re going, look down at the ground. Now, these guys are playing with their eyes up. When that DB sees you looking at the ground, he’s sitting on steps. That’s something these guys have done a tremendous job of learning.”’

“They obviously don’t have one big-name receiver. But do they need one? I think they work pretty well together.”

I do, too.  Though this might be a topic better left to closer to the draft, I think you can, in fact, make the case that the Bears don’t need one.  For instance, in this video former Patriot linebacker Tedy Bruschi makes the point that the Patriots might actually be better without Randy Moss for reasons other than simply the loss of his attitude in the locker room:

Elsewhere

“The move raises obvious questions regarding the relationship between Weis and head coach Todd Haley, a coach of the year candidate regarded by some as a first-class pain in the rear.  The potential for a lockout that would reduce dramatically the salaries of NFL assistant coaches also may have been a factor, although Weis presumably is getting the bulk of his compensation from his Notre Dame buyout.”

“Mara declined interview requests last week. But he will not fire Coughlin, win or lose Sunday, unless the Giants’ performance is so unfathomably embarrassing that it would prompt Mara to rethink Coughlin’s future.”

“The Giants simply do not do knee-jerk. They do not fire 9-win — or perhaps 10-win — coaches. They do not issue statements of support, only to retract them a few hours later, as happened with the Denver Broncos this season. They do not operate a coaching carousel, as they do in Washington, with the circus music on a loop. And most critical to the current crisis, they do not conflate what happened to them last year with what is happening now.”

  • I have to say that I’m becoming a Battista fan.  Here the Times writer does a really well-thought out article on the growth of the passing game in the NFL.  The article ends with this debatable point by Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman:

“I still hear people say, ‘We’ve got to run the ball and stop the run,’ ” Aikman said. “No, you don’t. I don’t know when that cliché is going to die. If you’re playing the Giants or Steelers, that’s pretty important. When you’re playing the other teams, you can stop the run all you want and they’ll still score 40 on you. If I had my choice, I’d rather be able to stop the pass.”

One Final Thought

Former All Pro linebacker Carl Banks gives a classy response as he concentrates what’s important when commenting on not being included in the Giants’ Ring of Honor.  Via Joe Brescia at The New York Times:

“I didn’t spend much time on it. The Giants have a legacy of great players. I know without a doubt that my contributions have always been greatly appreciated by the organization. In due time, if there’s another opportunity, I’m sure they’ll consider it. But I didn’t feel slighted. If it doesn’t happen, I know the organization appreciates my contribution to its success.”

Slot Receiver the One to Watch in Packer Offense

Matt Bowen, writing for the Chicago Tribune, provides his always insightful look into the Xs and Os for the average fan.  He looks at how the Packers will use Greg Jennings to target Brian Urlacher in the cover-2.  The graphic that comes with the article, shows how a typical red zone play develops.  The X receiver in the graphs carries the free safety away from the middle of the field while the strong safety worries about possible vertical routes from the three receivers from on that side of the field.  Urlacher has the slot receiver, Jennings, in the middle:

“This is a tough play for any Mike linebacker. Brian Urlacher is responsible for covering the Z vertically up the field. He will open his hips to the passing strength (closed side) and carry Jennings on the post to the middle of the end zone. Safeties Major Wright and Chris Harris will break to overlap Jennings on the throw from Aaron Rodgers, but the play initially has to be made by Urlacher. That’s a tough assignment versus the speed of Jennings.”

But it won’t be just Jennings who will be challenging Urlacher today.  The play reminds me of an article I read an article last week from Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  McGinn points out that the slot was always the position that Donald Driver occupied but that now, with age catching up to Driver, its falling more to James Jones and Jennings:

“Sunday against the Giants, coach Mike McCarthy sent out three wides on 17 snaps. Nine times Driver was in the slot, but on the other eight he was either by himself outside or outside the slot receiver.

“Because the slot receiver has an easier two-way go against the defender and often is covered by the No. 3 cornerback, slot has been the money position.”

“Jennings, a classic X (split end) receiver in his first four years, has played the slot more than ever before. Jones, who generally lined up wide right in three-wide sets, also has worked extensively inside. [Jordy] Nelson can go anywhere now, too.”

I used to think that the safeties had the toughest assignment in the cover 2 defense.  But gradually I’m starting to realize that if they’ve got it the worst, middle linebacker Brian Urlacher‘s job can’t be far behind.  Many will remember that it was Wes Welker, lining up all over the field but most often in the slot where he got a free release and could go in any direction, who did the most to ruin the Bears when they played the Patriots.  Its obviously going to be an important position to keep an eye on today as well no matter who lines up there.

Current Bears Linemen Long-Term Answers? And Other News

Bears

  • While answering a fan’s question, Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times surprised me with this revelation:

“As for offensive line prospects, it’s too early in the process for me to give you an educated answer. I did think it was interesting that a veteran scout whose sole job is evaluating offensive linemen told me that he thinks Frank Omiyale, Chris Williams and J’Marcus Webb can be long-term answers.”

That’s not going to make some of the fans who think the line needs a major overhaul in the draft very happy.

“‘He has a lot more left,’ Toub said. ‘He probably didn’t have the kind of year he would love to have, that’s for sure, but you have to consider his value.'”

  • I’ve raved about how gutsy the Packers have been this year as they’ve fought through injuries.  But there is still some doubt about whether they know how to win.  Rob Reischel, writing for the Chicago Tribune, notes that the Packers are 2-6 in games decided by four points or less and 2-14 since 2008:

“‘When I look at the Packers in the fourth quarter, it is awful,’ ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer said earlier this season. ‘You can’t be a good team and choke in the biggest moments.'”

Elsewhere

    • Jack Betcha at the National Football Post gives an inside look at how misleading agents can be when trying to recruit rookie clients.  I’m not sure there’s a dirtier legal business outside of politics.
    • We are led to believe that its best for Bears players to be held out of a “meaningless” game in order to stay healthy.  But the Patriots’ Wes Welker, injured in a similar situation, tells Ian Rapaport at the Boston Globe that he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
    • For those outside of St. Louis and Seattle who are looking for a reason to watch Sunday night, Matt Bowen at The National Football Post suggests you take a good look at Rams quarterback Sam Bradford and how he handles the situation.  I was on the record as saying that I thought Jimmy Clausen was the better pick.  Certainly for this year it looks like the scouts were right and I was wrong.
    • Judd Zulgad at the Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting that the Vikings are in serious negotiations with Leslie Frazier which will result in the removal of the “interim” tag from his head coach title.  Stay tuned.
    • Am I the only one who still thinks that Jets ticket holders have a legal case against the Patriots for Spy-Gate?

      One Final Thought

        R.J. Bell at pregame.com computes the chance that the Bears will obtain the number one seed in the NFC playoffs Sunday from the Vegas odds (via Joe Fortenbaugh at The National Football Post):  “Scenario: Bears win (21%) AND both Falcons and Saints lose (2%)”.  The bottom line?  There is a 98% chance the Bears will have nothing to play for against the Packers and there is a 0.5% chance that they will actually have home field throughout the playoffs.

        Don’t expect to see a lot of the Bears starters Sunday.