Bears
- I’m sure all will join me in expressing our sympathies to the McCaskey family upon the death of Tim, second son of Ed and Virginia. He is in a better place.
- It seemed like every week I was talking about how the Bears would have liked to have gotten more turnovers. Despite that, according to Larry Mayer at chicagobears.com, it turns out they did pretty well in that department. At 35 take aways they generated the second most in Lovie Smith‘s tenure as head coach. Not surprisingly they generated the most in 2006 at 44.
Elsewhere
- Sam Farmer at the Los Angeles Times writes about the science of making a smarter football. Farmer also writes a separate article on developing improved helmets and shoulder pads.
- Forty-niners president Jed York talks about the challenges of building a better stadium in San Francisco. He thinks the key is to generate a more personal experience:
“‘As soon as [Vernon Davis] catches the touchdown,’ York said, ‘you might want to see where Vernon grew up, or hear the story of him being raised by his grandmother. Maybe you want to see his highlight reel from high school. ‘”
Or you might want to see an ad. Odds are good you’ll get one.
- The Titans are interviewing offensive line coach Mike Munchak for the head coaching position today. Indications are that the Titans want to make a quick hire, possibly by the end of the week. That would be bad news for those of us hoping to get Dom Capers out of Green Bay. It sounds like the Titans are unlikely to wait for him to be available to interview.
- Omar Kelly at the South Florida Sun Sentinel reviews some of the top quarterbacks in the draft that you may not know much about. The video below is of the rapidly rising Colin Kaepernick out of Nevada. I can’t help but notice that the vast majority of the throws in this video are to wide open receivers.
- Chad Ochocinco/Johnson is doing everything he can to get out of Cincinnati. This time he’s tweeting about owner Mike Brown. Via Gregg Rosenthal at profootballtalk.com.
- Mike Florio, also at profootballtalk.com, suggests the possibility of the league declaring an impasse rather than staging a lockout on March 4.
- Judy Batista at The New York Times does as good of a job as anyone as she reviews the current state of negotiations on the CBA. None of it has the spice of Florio’s speculations, though.
- Jeff McClain at the Philedelphia Enquirer makes the case that head coach Andy Reid is running out of time. I’ve been wondering about this for a while. The reversal of the decision to start Michael Vick over Kevin Kolb came a bit too suddenly for my comfort. My gut feeling was at the time that the order came from above and I’m thinking it hasn’t been the only one issued.
- Speaking of Vick, Adam Schefter at ESPN is reporting that the Eagles will be placing the franchise tag on him while listening to offers for Kolb:
One Final Thought
Kelly also describes the bind that Steven Ross, who to my eye is on his way to becoming one of the worst owners in pro sports, has put Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland in.
“Exactly how would you approach satisfying Ross, a glorified and powerful fan (he’s really just like you, just in power), while making sure you do what’s in the best interest of the football side?
“Deuces.”
For those who manage people for a living, this is a prime example of how you don’t handle things.
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