Category: New York Giants

Teams Who Have Things Like “Quarterback Schools” and Teams Who Don’t. And Other Points of View.

Bears

“You can’t be real excited about a guy’s play that year when they’re beaten out by someone else.  Zach went into the season as the starter, and didn’t play as well as he needed to early on, which allowed Tim [Jennings] to take advantage of that opportunity. So Zach needs to come back [strong] this year, which he’s capable of doing.”

  • John Mullin at CSNChicago.com (in my opinion correctly) points out the the Bears are probably looking to improve the interior of the offensive line rather than offensive tackle.
  • ChicagoBears.com is doing an interesting series of videos on the draft’s top 30 prospects.  I don’t think its likely Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smith will fall to the Bears but character issues might drag him down:

  • Most Bear fans would be extremely happy if Florida guard/center Mike Pouncey fell to them:

Kicking and Screaming – Ditka’s Soccer Practice
Tags: Kicking and Screaming – Ditka’s Soccer Practice

Elsewhere

“While Nawrocki concedes Newton’s physical skills are immense, he still considers the Auburn QB a risky gamble on greatness.

“Under ‘negatives’ for Newton, Nawrocki writes: ‘Very disingenuous — has a fake smile, comes off as very scripted and has a selfish, me-first makeup. Always knows where the cameras are and plays to them. Has an enormous ego with a sense of entitlement that continually invites trouble and makes him believe he is above the law — does not command respect from teammates and will always struggle to win a locker room. … Lacks accountability, focus and trustworthiness — is not punctual, seeks shortcuts and sets a bad example. Immature and has had issues with authority. Not dependable.’”

  • As are the Chargers:

“It would take a skilled psychologist to determine what goes through the mind of an NFL player that had the world at his fingertips and willfully let it all slip away.”

“Did the Jets know about Ainge’s problems before or after the draft?  If they didn’t know, it raises a lot of questions about drug-testing procedures in the league.”

  • Michael Silver at Yahoo Sports correctly points out the powerlessness of the NFL fan to do anything about the NFL lockout.  The only substantial thing you can do is to stop allowing the NFL owners and players from making money from you.  That is, to stop being a fan.  Which kind of defeats the purpose.
  • Now that AFLAC has fired Gilbert Gottfried, Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones wants to be the new mascot:

One Final Thought

Seifert, ESPN‘s NFC North blogger, quotes Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy in a nice entry about the team’s quarterback school, something McCarthy runs every March:

“…it’s to give those young quarterbacks that chance to go back to square one every year. You learn the base protections, all the adjustments, I’ve been in the same offense since 1989, and I still learn something new each year. You’re never too experienced or been in it long enough to not find a better way this year.

“Because today’s game, it’s just a big circle. The NFL is just a circle of adjustments, whether it’s the 3-4, or whether it’s the 4-3, whether you’re spreading them out or running the ball. You really don’t run new plays. There are so many great coaches and players that have come before us and you’re just reinventing the stuff that have been done over history. You try to stay one step ahead of your opponents.”

Its not hard to figure out why the Packers won the Super Bowl last year.  The players are expected to go the extra mile in preparation and they do it.

I’d suggest that the Bears should run on one of these “quarterback schools”, too.  But you’d need a coach who could teach something to quarterbacks who will listen.  I’ve seen little evidence that the Bears have either.  That tells you something.

NFL Considering Scab Owners and Other Points of View

Bears

“There’s not many perfect fits for that three-technique for Chicago but you could see maybe a Corey Liuget out of Illinois. I’ve got him going 14th to the Rams but after the Rams, there’s not many teams looking for a true defensive tackle. I personally think he’d be a better fit as a nose tackle in a 4-3…[but] if he’s there at 29 you’d have to think long and hard about passing on a guy like Liuget.”

“Most of our guys … they are smaller receivers, so to have a little bit of a different flavor wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

  • Omar Kelly at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has posted this interesting video of Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano talking about finding an NFL center.  He’s talking about moving guard Richie Incognito to the position.  Many believe that the Bears are looking for someone to either replace or groom behind Olin Kreutz:

  • Bob Sturm at the Dallas Morning News points to this video which demonstrates why he thinks offensive tackle Nick Solder is overrated.  Most experts believe that the Bears would take Solder if he fell to them.  This is not a flattering picture of a guy who was flat out dominated by a smaller, quicker man.

Elsewhere

  • Tom Pelissero at 1500ESPN.com in Minnesota adds up the clues and comes to the conclusion that the Vikings may be looking to trade up and take a run at Blaine Gabbert.
  • Elizabeth Merrill at ESPN profiles Gabbert.  I know that there are no character concerns for him but there’s something off when a guy has had a personal trainer simce the eighth grade.  I don’t want to make too big a deal of it but it hardly sounds like a normal upbringing.  I hope we aren’t talking about  Todd Marinovich.
  • Drew Sharp at the Detroit Free Press tries to convince us that the lockout will hurt the Lions “far worse” than most teams.  The Lions have a stable coaching staff with no scheme changes.
  • Chris McCosky at The Detroit News quotes Lions head coach Jim Schwartz on Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smith:

“I learned a long time ago that you can’t judge a guy on a quote, on what a guy said or what you heard that he said.  If you don’t know the guy, you can’t judge him.”

Smith has four failed drug tests.  I don’t think this is a case of “he said, she said”.

  • Schwartz and Tom Kowalski at mlive.com are still trying to find a way to twist poor coaching and Calvin Johnson‘s error into a catch.  These guys need to get together with Bob Costas and get it all out by throwing a pity party and having a good group cry.  I was at Missouri during the fifth down controversy and even we didn’t whine this much for this long with a lot more justification.
  • Vic Carucci at NFL.com has Bear fans weeping over the idea that the lockout as put a wet blanket on the Green Bay victory celebration.
  • Seifert makes the case that the Packers  might have a need at wide receiver.  Could be but I would still put it no higher than fourth on the list.
  • Kendrick Ellis appears to be the latest beneficiary of the constant need to nose tackles for the 3-4.  Via Aaron Wilson at The National Football Post.
  • Johnny Jolly we hardly knew ye.
  • Armando Salguero at the Miami Herald writes that Dolphins owner Steven Ross has told Sparano and general manager Jeff Ireland that they don’t have to win now and that they have guaranteed job security.  So basically they’re dead men walking.
  • Former NFL safety Matt Bowen at The National Football Postcomes out strongly against HGH testing because it requires drawing blood.  But I’m pretty sure players have to give blood already for AIDS testing.  Fear is almost certainly what is stopping testing for growth hormone.   But I doubt its fear of a needle.
  • Bowen also points out that rookies will be behind due to the lockout for a number of reasons including lack of a playbook.  Though he has a point, most rookies will almost certainly find a veteran to help them out with these issues.
  • The Charlotte Observer got beat writers for the top 5 teams in the draft to do a mock draft.  Its a neat concept that I’d like to see done for the entire first round.
  • Joe Reedy at the Cincinnati Enquirer does a comparison of the top two wide receivers in the draft.  A.J. Green is a possibility for the Bengals but that fourth pick would be awfully high for Julio Jones.
  • I’m way behind on my videos. The Seattle Seahawks are on the clock at ESPN:

  • So are the Saints:

  • and the Eagles:

  • and the Colts:

  • and finally the Chiefs:

“If you polled the entire league, I would guess the opinions are split on (Auburn QB) Cam Newton. Anyone that really knows the kid and did their homework will have him down on their board. We had him at the very top of our board before the Combine. He’s got talent — you have to give it to him. But I wouldn’t think about him until the end of the first (round), and even there, I’m not sure I’d want him. Now it’s a little different when you’re in the hunt for a quarterback. We got a good one. … I just think you’re asking for too much trouble with a guy like him. It’s just like Vince Young — all the warning signs were there. The lower (Newton) goes, the better his chances will be.”

and on a related note:

“What do you think the hit ratio is on one-year wonders in the first round. We did the study over five years. It’s not very good. What’s scary is how many of them there are in this year’s draft. I would not touch either of the two at Auburn that everyone is talking about. I hope they go early so that some good players fall to us.”

I’m on the fence about Nick Fairley but I’ll say out right that Newton in the top ten is a boat load of bust waiting to happen.  Both of these guys seem to me to have potential football character issues.

“Trading down is an option that I am sure they would love. I also here of several other teams that would love to move down, too – Washington for sure. So, you need a partner. That is why we look at 2 particular positions – QB and WR. Here is why you want those guys taken at 1-8 (Gabbart, Newton, Green, and Jones) – so that the good DE/OL/DT prospects get to you at #9. Here is why you DONT want them to be taken at 1-8 – so you have teams calling you to move up and snag them. This is the draft day chess game that the Cowboys have to play and have to play right.”

“(Georgia OLB) Justin Houston is very talented, but he could be the next Vernon Gholston. It’s scary, but he shuts it down way too much. He’s one of the draft’s great magicians. He can disappear with the best of them.”

  • Shocking news from the The Onion which is reporting that NFL is considering hiring replacement owners for the 2011 season.
  • And The Sports Pickle has obtained an official proposal for rules changes from the NFL Kickers Association.  Amongst the suggestions is the elimination of tackling on kickoffs to avoid injuries (i.e. humiliation, embarrassment and emasculation).
  • After paying a 16 year old girl for sex, former New York Giant Lawrence Taylor got sentenced to 6 years probation and to a lifetime of humiliating jokes and laughter from this blogger a total stranger who occasionally breaks in and hijacks my keyboard.  In Lithuania.

One Final Thought

The fifth Season of Mad Men looks like it will be delayed to 2012 as executives from AMC and Lionsgate Studio can’t agree on who gets more of the lucrative amounts of money that the show brings in.  Suddenly I have the urge to show DeMaurice Smith a picture of January Jones, wait about 30 seconds and then kick him in the balloons…

    Draft Strategy Around the League and Other Points of View

    Bears

    • Pat Kirwan at NFL.com doesn’t think the Bears are going to be filling their needs along the line of scrimmage in the first two rounds of the NFL draft.  He has them picking Texas cornerback Aaron Williams in the first round and Boise State wide receiver Titus Young in the second round.
    • Vaughn McClure at the Chicago Tribune writes a profile of Matthew Smith, who is Bears head coach Lovie Smith‘s son and his agent:

    “It’s valid if you disagree with a particular play call, but to say my dad is dumb because he doesn’t do what you do in a situation, that’s what gets my blood boiling.  Nobody gets to my dad’s position being dumb. My dad is very, very smart.”

    • The Tribune‘s Brad Biggs makes the point that the Bears, who have excellent special teams, will be hurt by the new kickoff rules which are being proposed by the Competition Committee.
    • The Bears are lucky in some respects.  Bart Hubbuch at the New York Post thinks its a good year to need a corner in the draft.
    • Bear fans who are still hurting from the Chris Williams fiasco won’t be too happy to hear that Wisconsin offensive tackle Gabe Carimi has knee problems.  Many mock drafts have the Bears taking Carmi in the first round.  Via Dan Pompei writing for The National Football Post.

    Elsewhere

    • Sad news as doctors have discovered that NFL Films president Steve Sabol has a tumor on the left side of his brain.
    • ESPN‘s NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert answers your questions.  Here’s a really good one:

    “Andy of Chicago writes: Much has been made about the Packers’ roster depth. Along with the 53 they had at the end of the season, they could return as many as 15 players from IR and perhaps Johnny Jolly from suspension. Throw in another 8 or 9 draft picks, and those first-year gems that Ted Thompson seems to find outside of the draft before the season (Sam Shields, Frank Zombo, Ryan Grant, etc.) and that’s a lot of bodies in camp. Figuring they’ll probably lose 7 or so players to free agency, do you think Thompson might change his strategy and package picks in the draft to prioritize quality over quantity, i.e., move up on the board?”

    Seifert:

    “If the Packers think (Texas A&M linebacker Von) Miller is as good as media analysts suggest, would it be worth them to trade multiple picks to get into the top 5 and draft him? The idea would be that any players the Packers take on the second and third days of the draft are going to have a hard time making their roster.

    “It makes some sense, but I it would require a significant departure from the way Thompson has built the team in the first place. I think the chances of him staying course — adding more and more talent on annual basis — are much higher than a one-time philosophical shift.”

    “I think that guy is going to be a great player.

    “You can’t win without one, and trust me, when I lost them, I got fired.”

    “I can teach a guy to get up under center.  But I can’t teach a guy to throw. He has a tremendous arm, and I think he’s going to be really effective no matter what he was doing in college.”

    “The concept of trading for next year’s picks value wise is pretty good.  Generally speaking, if you can bump up a round, that’s pretty good value.”

    “General manager Martin Mayhew has long championed taking the best player — within reason. For instance, the Lions won’t take a quarterback in the first round.

    “But if that yields an offensive lineman as most mock drafts suggest, the Lions could be left with the same gaping holes at linebacker and defensive back they finished with last season.”

    “A number of coaches throughout the NFL have been turned off by the overall way Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert has handled himself this post-season. They did not like the fact he didn’t workout at the NFL Combine and cited his overall demeanor and body language as turnoffs. The more info I gather on Gabbert the less I feel like he’s being endorsed as a high first round pick. He could end up being the one quarterback to slide a lot further than many think come April.”

    • Well, the Packers didn’t lose defensive coordinator Dom Capers as I’d hoped they would after he did such an excellent job in 2010.  But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a significant shake up in the Green Bay staff.  Pro Football Weekly‘s Dan Arkush reports:

    “But team insiders believe [new wide receivers coach Edgar] Bennett, in particular, will have a very tough act to follow in Jimmy Robinson, who left for a position on Jason Garrett‘s staff in Dallas. Robinson, who commanded great respect as a former NFL receiver, is widely considered to be the best WR coach in the business. While Bennett could not be more eager to prove himself in his new role, the consensus seems to be that he definitely will have his work cut out for him.”

    • Can’t imagine Staley doing this.  And I don’t want to:

    One Final Thought

    Fred Mitchell and David Kaplan at the Tribune quote Bears linebacker Lance Briggs on the departure of defensive tackle Tommie Harris:

    “We know the business and we know that one day we all won’t be together.  It was tough to see Alex (Brown) go last year, and now it is tough to see that Tommie is not going to be there in the locker room and sharing laughs. I have been in Chicago ever since Tommie was drafted, and we developed a relationship on and off the field. That’s how football players grow, being able to trust that man next to you to do his job.”

    Aaron Rogers Refuses Autograph to Dying Child and Other Points of View

    Bears

    • Steve Rosenbloom at the Chicago Tribune:

    “’As you go back to the preseason,’ Lovie Smith said, “no one really saw us being in this position.’ Raising my hand.”

    Mine too.

    “When. The. Bears. Have. The. Ball. Shut. The. Hell. Up. Already.”

    This leaves hometown American Idol winner Lee DeWyze to sing at halftime instead of the anthem (via Jeff Dickerson at ESPNChicago.com).

    “So we didn’t win a couple of years there. That’s not Lovie’s fault.  It wasn’t because we weren’t coached well or weren’t prepared. And this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, so, yes, I think Lovie should get an extension now.”

    So whose fault is it?

    Step carefully, Brian.  Perhaps you should stick to talking about the Packers.

    “At the same time, we know the Bears can do better. Would the Bears be playing for a playoff berth today if they had had the injuries the Packers’ have dealt with this season?”

    “A small, but not insignificant part of the improvement of the Bears running game is Greg Olsen’s improved blocking. The Bears always insisted Olsen was a true tight end when it was pretty clear that his ineffective blocking made him a wide receiver playing tight end. Tight ends coach Mike DeBord gets credit for improving Olsen’s blocking to passable for an NFL tight end.”

    Olsen’s blocking has improved and it was down right good against Seattle.  But I don’t think one good game makes it “passable”.  I don’t think he’s ever going to be a good blocking tight end.

    • Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune puts his finger on the problem that the Bears have with defensive tackle Tommie Harris, who they may have to pay as much as $5 million next season if they don’t cut him.  Harris did well against the Seahawks last week:

    “And it would be foolish to make a multi-million dollar decision based on one game. But if he plays against the Packers the way he did against the Seahawks, hold everything.

    “What needs to be defined is what Harris is, and why he is what he is. Is Harris the player you don’t notice because he is getting blocked or is he the player you can’t see because his feet are quicker than the eye?”

    “’There’s no question Mike could be a coordinator, if he wanted to,’ Billick said. ‘But he should be thought of as a head coaching candidate going forward.’”

    I would agree.  Tice strikes me as a leader but I’m not sure how he’d do calling plays.

    “ESPN.com columnist Rick Reilly took [Jay] Cutler to task last week for not working hard enough to be, in his view, likable.

    “‘Cutler could own Chicago if he wanted … (and) have his name on half the billboards,’ Reilly wrote, connecting dots to produce a portrait of a sullen brat who dates a former MTV reality star rather than the strong, silent type others might see in Cutler, especially if he manages to actually win a Super Bowl.

    “‘Mr. Reilly wasn’t very happy with me,’ [Cutler] said, grinning slightly after last weekend’s divisional playoff victory. ‘There are a lot of distractions, especially the situation we’re in now. We’ve just got to focus in and do our jobs.’

    “There’s plenty of time to pose for billboards and tape commercials later.”

    Yes, but Cutler won’t be doing any of that.  Because its not important to him and simply he doesn’t want to do it.  And, as is evident particularly when he deals with the media, Cutler doesn’t do things he doesn’t want to do.

    “’The first couple times we went up there, it was easy to be impressed, especially if you were a young coach. There was all this history and tradition, Vince Lombardi and all that,’ Ryan said. ‘But after they rubbed it in a few times, it gets under your skin.

    “’So, yeah,’ he added, ‘there were some games when we were more interested in making points than scoring them.’”

    “The question for the NFC championship game this week is whether Smith’s game plan Sunday will be more like the teams’ first meeting in Week 3, when he sat back in Cover-2 zones and gave up big yardage but kept the Packers from putting up many points in a 20-17 win at Soldier Field. Or will he play it more like the regular-season finale three weeks ago, when in the Packers’ 10-3 win Smith played mostly with a single safety deep and, very un-Cover-2-like, used extensive man-to-man coverage that included pressing receivers at the line of scrimmage?”

    I’d say both.

    • Rob Demovsky at the Green Bay Press Gazette got this interesting comment about the last regular season game when the Bears played the Packers:

    “At least one player on the Packers’ side questioned whether the Bears really did go all out in the season finale. To injured running back Ryan Grant, from his perspective on the sideline, something seemed amiss that afternoon.

    “’Honestly, it didn’t look like necessarily that they might have been giving it their all,’ Grant said. ‘But who knows? This is a different atmosphere. They’re going to want this game.’”

    I don’t know about the coaching staff but if the Bears players were giving all out effort during that game they sure had me fooled.

    • Most of us took note when it was announced that Terry McCauly, the referee when the Packers got called for 18 penalties in Week 3, would be officating this game.  But Demovsky makes a key point:

    “But it won’t be the exact same officials. During the regular season, the referee works with the same crew. But at this point in the playoffs, the NFL compiles what it believes to be the best officials at each position.”

    • Tim Hasselbeck at ESPN thinks the Bears are overrated:

    • ESPN’s Ted Bruschi thinks the Bears defense will stop Aaron Rogers:

    • ESPN’s experts this Heinz Field is worse than Soldier Field.  Warning, Skip Bayless is in this video.  Be prepared to scoff:

    • They also debate which defense is better.  I note that there are no debates about which is the better offense.
    • Mel Kiper has completed his first mock draft for ESPN.  Here’s the relevant video for Bears fans. The sharp fan will note that Kiper has the Bears picking THIRTY-FIRST:

    • Demovsky avoids autograph seekers.  At least he didn’t blow by a cancer patient:

    • Green Bay center Josh Sitton talks about the problems that come with preparing to play an opponent for the third time this season:

    • Here’s a little lesson in etiquette for those Packer fans who plan to attend the game at Soldier Field:

    Elsewhere

    • Hasselbeck thinks that the Jets became more conservative on defense as the season wore on and that has made them more unpredictable:

    • Vince Young makes a vain attempt to convince the sporting world that he’s a grown up:

    • Here are the Kiper picks that everyone who isn’t a freak like me cares about:

    “According to a report released this week by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, more than 86 percent of NFL wideouts became receivers as a way to compensate for the lack of things thrown at them during their childhood.”

    “Pittsburgh police issued an arrest warrant today for Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who allegedly racked up nearly 200 felony charges that were accidentally misfiled during his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

    They’re also supplying Ben Roethlisberger with police women to have sex with.  True story.

    “Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers created a controversy today while shopping at a grocery store near his home. Witnesses say Rodgers purchased his groceries and left the store without once acknowledging a child in the store who will one day die.”

    Eventually….

    One Final Thought

    This fan apparently wants everyone to know what he’s doing in the dark upper deck seats near the rafters.  Like the people who know him wouldn’t have guessed it already.  From the The Sports Pickle:

    (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.”

    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.

          Bears Must Address Defensive Backfield in the Offseason

          For all those Bears fans who are cover-2 haters, Andrew Furman at the ultimateny.com comments on the Giants use of it in their disastrous loss to Green Bay:

            “You get success vs weaker teams with these schemes, but when you play against the GOOD QBs, it does not work. Aaron Rodgers picked on the off coverage so often (slants, etc..) that he racked up 225 yds in one half.  (Terrell) Thomas and (Corey) Webster were playing on Pluto while (Greg) Jennings, (James) Jones and Rodgers were playing pitch and catch.  By the time the second half came and we began to see a little more press coverage, it was too little too late.”

            “To the untrained observer, the press coverage was equally unsuccessful.  That is a completely faulty conclusion.  Rodgers and his WRs were forced to make some terrific throws and catches.  They did, but at least they earned it.”

            Contempt for the cover-2 amongst offensive players weeks to be very common.  LaDainian Tomlinson‘s comment after the Jets game was typical (via Vaughn McClure at the Chicago Tribune):

            “‘I knew they were a tough defense,’ Tomlinson said, ‘but they’re predictable. We know the things that you can get against Cover-2 defenses no matter who’s out there. They’re a great defense, but we had a great game plan against this scheme.”’

            We hear this over and over again from opponents.  The cover two is fine.  It really is.  But it needs to be properly mixed with other defensive schemes to make it work.

            In particular the New England game and, to a lesser extent, the Jets game taught us that this is the case and, to their credit, though they still play too much of the zone, the Bears have tried to do mix it up.  But the problem is that they aren’t built for anything but the cover two and they don’t execute other schemes very well.  For instance, most of the time when the Bears play man-to-man the opposition’s worst wide receiver is better than the Bears worst defensive back.  That’s the simplest form of a mismatch.

            The comments above are yet another indication that the Bears are going to have to look toward improving their defensive backfield in the draft.  They are beyond the point where they can just attempt to load up on defensive linemen while ignoring everything else.

            A Committee of One Gets Things Done

            After quarterback Eli Manning called a players-only team meeting following the Giants collapse against the Eagles, Sam Farmer wrote a column appearing in the Chicago Tribune on the effectiveness of such meetings.  The conclusion was pretty much “not very”.  The while thing reminded me of the old quote from Robert Copeland:  “To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent.”

            Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman provided a similar assessment:

            “To me, they’re not very productive, especially when you give too many people a platform to speak.”

            Former Oakland Raider Tim Brown also agreed:

            “Once we had one guy stand up who was barely a special-teams player, and he decided he wanted to talk in a meeting.  He just went on and on and on. Finally, people had to talk over him just to get him to shut up.”

            As an academic I spend a lot of time in committee meetings.  They can be productive in that they do keep people informed of what’s going on.  But I’ve never seen a group of 3 or more people actually make a decision in such a meeting in my life.  Usually if anything gets done there’s one person leading the group who has the vision and conveys that with the opportunity to tune the plan from there.  If that’s what Manning did this week, I applaud him.  But more likely that kind of leadership has to come from the coaching staff.

            The real bottom line was provided by former Redskin quarterback Joe Theismann:

            “To be honest with you, the way that Eli has turned the ball over this year, a private meeting might have been more effective than a team meeting.  This is one of those meetings where you walk in the bathroom, you look in the mirror, and you start to talk to that guy.”

            If everyone did that, the Giants would be a better team.  And the world would be a much better place.

            New York Giants Stuck in Kansas City. Game at Vikings Could Be Delayed

            BREAKING:  The New York Giants team flight to Minneapolis has been diverted by a snowstorm to Kansas City (via profootballtalk.com).  The Giants were forced to conduct their Saturday walkthrough and pre-game meetings in Kansas City’s MCI airport.  Now according to Giants vice-president of communications Pat Hanlon says the team will be spending the night in Missouri.

            Its being speculated that the noon game could be delayed until 3:15 PM or even until Monday.  WFLD, the local FOX affiliate in Chicago, is currently scheduled to show the Packers at the Lions, which should be unaffected.

            UPDATE:  The games has been postponed to Monday night at 7 PM.  The game will only be shown in Minnesota and New York.