Category: Carolina Panthers

Jay Cutler Dazzles with His Usual Rainbows and Sunshine at the Podium And Other Points of View

Bears

  • David Haugh at the Chicago Tribune writes about Jay Cutler‘s attrocious behaviour with the media and, indirectly, the fans.  For those who wonder why the national media will seem to be biased against the Bears:

“By now we in Chicago have learned to judge Cutler only by his behavior on Sundays. Just a hunch, but I doubt that’s going to happen across football America after Wednesday.”

“‘I didn’t have as many catches but I had as many impact plays if not more key catches, third downs, touchdowns, whatever the case,’ Olsen said. ‘I contribute in the running game, pass protection in the backfield, blitz pickup, so it’s not always about stats.

“‘This year kind of opened my eyes to that. In the past, I wanted to catch the ball more. This year, ‘Hey, you can be a tight end and have a huge impact on the game and maybe only catch one or two passes.’ There is no doubt I am a better all-around player.'”

The guess here is that Olson’s eyes may have been opened by Brandon Manumaleuna‘s contract numbers.  Manumaleuna is a blocker who isn’t known for his pass catching ability but the Bears paid him a decent chunk of change to bring him here in free agency last year.

“But perhaps as importantly, running the ball means not passing the ball, which is a good thing in my world when Cutler has some Carlos Zambrano in him. It’s the mentality that he’s just going to do it because he has always done it and now he’s going to do it harder and faster, and then it’s times 10 because it’s the playoffs, and then his head explodes. We’ve seen the Zambran-O-Meter go to 11. Not all the time, but enough.

“The fear is Cutler doing the same thing when he doesn’t have to. He doesn’t have to be a hero. He just can’t be the reason the season ends.”

Elsewhere

  • Adam Schefter at ESPN talks about the CBA hang up over the expansion of the regular season to 18 games.  Everybody, repeat after me:  “Follow.  The.  Money.”

  • Texans center Chris Myers demands that running back Arian Foster come bearing gifts the next time he sees the line.

  • Seattle coach Pete Carroll was at the podium when a reporters phone, which was being used as a recorder, started ringing.  Carroll answered it. (via the Associated Press):

“‘Someone’s phone is ringing here. Let’s check this out. … Hello? No, not right now. This is a press conference. OK. Sorry, I’ll get back to you,’ Carroll said. ‘Old friend from high school.'”

“[Colts head coach Jim] Caldwell was outcoached in last year’s Super Bowl, but most of the blame for the Colts loss still went to Manning. Caldwell appears to be coaching like someone who is afraid to lose the game – not someone who is trying to win.”

“An argument could be made that Manning is the offensive coach of this team. If that’s the case, then maybe Manning has too much on his shoulders.”

One Final Thought

Les Miles‘ job application at Michigan has been somehow leaked to the public.  From The Sports Pickle:

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.’”

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Packers Rip Off Shareholders and Other News

Bears

“I don’t know why they keep bringing up me. This was 38 years ago that I played.”

“We have the best offensive line coach in the league, period.”

‘‘’If I look up right guard in the dictionary, I see a picture of Lance Louis,’ Tice said in August.”

“Tice proved adept at not only acknowledging a mistake but correcting it — both rare commodities at Halas Hall in recent years. It took the Bears four years to realize Mark Anderson wasn’t a starting defensive end. It took Tice four games to realize Louis wasn’t a starting right guard.”

“I never thought anyone would say this, especially in Chicago, but go Pack go!”

Elsewhere

  • Tom Kowalsi at mlive.com breaks down the Lions roster.  Big needs in the back seven of the defense should tell us what direction they’ll go in free agency and the draft.
  • Here’s the Detroit Lions season wrapup with Brian VanOchten and Bill Simonson at mlive.com.  Some good points made here including the fact that the Cleveland Browns ended on a winning streak last year (though the Lions are probably different):

  • This week’s Audibles at Pro Football Weekly was particularly good.  Here’s yet another astute observation:

“Coaches remember what a player did. Personnel guys are supposed to be on top of coaches to remember what (players) can do. Every team has different power structures. What you have to realize with coaches is that very few of them can separate the emotion.”

  • Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh gets a few warm comments from the Kansas City fans  yesterday after their win:

“You can put Aaron Rodgers in that elite quarterback class. He’s got his first playoff victory.”

  • Mike Lupica echos my thoughts on Jim Harbaugh‘s hiring for ESPN:

One Final Thought

Another reason to hate the Packers as they blatantly rip off loyal shareholders:

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“Vince Lombardi” Motivates the Teams for Wild Card Weekend and Other News

Bears

“I don’t even know why that is even important to anybody,” Angelo said. “I’ve heard it. … It’s no big deal. … I am very fortunate to be here, and as long as I am blessed with health, I continue to do what I love to do, and that’s being a part of football.”

I haven’t seen a transcript of the press conference so I don’t know what else was said.  But that’s not a denial.

“Maybe [Angelo] was referring to his litany of personnel mistakes when he admired the team for overcoming ‘all it has been through.’

“What?

Angelo would be correct if what he meant was that not fielding a professional offensive line can be an obstacle. It also is problematic that he plopped an eternally mortal cast of receivers in Jay Cutler‘s lap.

“Did you ever dream you’d be thinking “Man, we gotta get Earl Bennett back” as you were after the Bears’ 10-3 loss in Green Bay on Sunday?”

To be fair, the column should be balanced against Dan Pompei‘s more positive article yesterday.

“A No. 2 seed is usually a solid team, a team people feel is a favorite to win everything,” said John Avello, director of race and sports book operations at the Wynn. “But that’s not the case with the Bears.

“Eleven-to-1 to win the Super Bowl for a second seed is the biggest number I can remember putting up. But once you get to this point, we’ve seen the Giants run the table, and the Steelers too.”

For what its worth, the Bears seem to have beaten the odds all season.

Elsewhere

“In any event, the Panthers had better choose wisely [in the draft]: They have the first pick for a reason, and that reason is that they were the worst team in the league this season. Oh, and they don’t have a second-round pick because they traded what turned out to be the 33rd pick in this year’s draft to the Patriots to acquire the 89th pick in last year’s draft. They used that pick to draft Armanti Edwards, a wide receiver who played in three games and didn’t catch a single pass as a rookie.”

  • Florio says that Miami GM Jeff Ireland was breaking the unwritten rule that says that you don’t interview people for head coaching jobs that are currently occupied, in this case by Tony Sparano. In fairness, Jay Galzer at FOX sports said last night on the Tony Bruno Show that Ireland has been pushing owner Stephen Ross to retain Sparano. Its more than likely that Ross, who is less likely to understand or care about such niceties, is the one who wanted to interview Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh without firing Sparano first.
  • Former Bear Adam Archuletta is reportedly engaged to this:

  • “Vince Lombardi” opens Wild Card weekend with words of encouragement for the teams involved in Saturday’s playoff games. (I wish I could have embedded this video into the page. It’s absolutely beautiful.)
  • The Vikings are reportedly interviewing Josh McDaniels for offensive coordinator and Mike Singletary for linebackers coach (via Seifert). McDaniels is likely a candidate in Kansas City as well, where he’d be a better fit. But it might depend upon whether he wants to work with head coach Todd Haley.
  • Mark Schlereth at ESPN thinks the Packers will beat the Eagles this weekend by blitzing Michael Vick:

One Final Thought

Isreal Idonije on Brian Urlacher (via McClure):

“He hasn’t changed. He’s the same guy. He worked tirelessly to get back to the player he was after last year’s (wrist) injury. Adversity never got him to the point where it changed his attitude. Through everything, he just has been an incredible leader.”

Do Defensive Coordinators Make Better Head Coaches?

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune had this nugget today:

“Former Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera has been mentioned as an early candidate to replace John Fox in Carolina. One league insider said it was the preference of owner Jerry Richardson and general manager Marty Hurney to hire a coach with a defensive background.”

Like most Bear fans I wish Rivera well though I’m not as inclined as I once was after Rivera released the hounds on the Bears in their first preseason game.  A Bears offense that really needed the practice under new coordinator Mike Martz got almost no work done and young backup quarterback Caleb Hanie got hurt, stunting his growth in the offense.

But what really struck me was the general preference of Richardson and Hurney for a defensive head coach.  They aren’t alone.  Adam Schefter at ESPN is reporting that former Bear defensive coach Perry Fewell will be interviewing in Cleveland and Carolina (via Michael David Smith at profootballtalk.com).

All of this reminded me of this anonymous quote from Pro Football Weekly‘s Audibles feature:

“Why is it that defensive coaches can pick good offensive coordinators, but good offensive coordinators don’t always pick good defensive coordinators? I don’t think they understand matchups as well. Every situation is different. If I’m looking for a head coach, I’d be more interested in a coach with a defensive track.”

I’m not entirely sure I agree with this, particularly after seeing the Bears struggle to find the right offense under Lovie Smith.

Statistically speaking offensive ranking correlates almost directly with team winning percentage.  The correlation is much stronger than it is for defensive ranking (and special teams) and its particularly strong for passing offense.

Bottom line, if you find a good offensive mind, it seems to me like you grab that first to be the head coach, then find a defensive coordinator who understands match ups.  Nevertheless it looks like it might be the year of the defensive coordinator as far as head coaching interviews go.