rawaction

[expletive] Pittsburgh. I get Ravens/Bucs at 4pm.

Win-Win. If Brandon Webb pitches, he will pitch well. If Brandon Webb doesn't pitch, the Cubs hopefully throw a young guy in there (Cashner, Jackson, Archer later in the season) and see what he can do.

The thing about the Eagles D is that the CBs don't have to be great. The pass rush and the blitz scheme has to be great. The Eagles CBs are very well coached. Dmitri Patterson looks like a mirror of Asante Samuel from what I've seen. The Eagles know if they send a safety, the offense is going to look to throw the quick slant to the blitz side, and all they have to do is beat the WR there. Knox and Hester both have a history of being beaten to the spot by DBs. If the WR gets behind the CB on a double move, it's more of the fault of the guys up front for not getting to the QB soon enough. Hopefully, the Bears will not throw where the Eagles blitz dictates them to throw the ball. The quick hitter to Olsen up the seam and the screen game will be key. The Eagles LBs can be exposed, but you have to get past an athletic DL and likely safety at the line first.

the sixers suck so badly. i hope we trade iguodala since he's a good player and has some value as a solid scorer and very good defender. we're not going anywhere this year or the next couple of years; get some draft picks and young players and tank the season. Rumors of Iguodala to Dallas are floating around. Wish the Bulls could get him, but Deng is the only salary that can match, and the Sixers don't want a 4-year contract on their roster.

Obviously, I'm not an IU hater, but I think IU can beat BC. They are not overly big inside. They aren't overly quick and athletic. They aren't a great shooting team. The teams that are going to make IU look bad this year are going to be teams with size and athletic ability. I think this is a 5-point game either way, but I'll give the edge to BC at home.

Word out of Philly is Asante' Samuel is not making the trip. That would mean the Bears would see a lot of rookie, Trevard Lindley on the outside.

Well, you can call him mediocre, but you can't call him stupid. He'll get his 8 Mil this year. He gets to pitch 15+ times in a great pitcher's park with about 4-6 more in SD and SF, so 20+ starts in great pitchers parks where a flyball pitcher like himself can give up rockets that will be out of most parks and have them caught at the warning track. He'll post another mid 3s ERA season and possibly get a multi-year deal from some team that thinks he's a lot better than he really is.

Asante Samuel is not practicing today either. He hasn't practiced all week. Meaning he is questionable at best for Sunday.

My keys to the game: 1. Make them work. The Eagles have scored on big plays, and they've shown they can score on long drives. But it's pretty clear they would rather strike quickly and hit you with big plays. Vick's QB rating is 83 on throws under 10 yards, and an opportunistic Bears defense can make him pay if he gets impatient and tries to go for the big play. I'd rather Vick run than be able to throw the ball over 20 yards down the field. 2. Make them pay. Vick, McCoy, Maclin, and Jackson are all small guys. Gotta get hits on them whenever you can. Jackson and Vick have already missed games due to being hit. McCoy has played with broken ribs. Maclin has been banged up a couple times this year, but played thru it. Hit any of them and I think they lose a step. 3. Remember the TE and RB. Eagles pass D is pretty solid, but they have been exposed by teams w/ good receiving TEs and RBs. Had a stretch where they gave up 360 yards and 4 TDs to TEs in 3 games. Week 2- Jahvid Best- 9 catches, 154 yards, Pettigrew 7 for 108. Week 5- Vernon Davis 5 catches, 104 yards. Week 8- Jacob Tamme, 11 for 108, Brown 3-47 Olsen and Forte are huge matchup problems for their LBs. Gotta make a strong effort to get them the ball. 4. Stay away from Samuel. Asante Samuel is a better version of Deangelo Hall. When the Eagles blitz (which is a lot) he will jump the quick short routes. He is susceptible to the double move though, so if you do pick on him you better have time in the pocket. Also, there is no need to really throw his way because the Eagles other CBs aren't anything special. Patterson has been decent since entering the lineup, but he and the nickel can be beat in man coverage.

The defensive backfield is not that good. And Urlacher is not back to his old self. The DBs have been solid this year, but like any other team they've been exposed when there is no pass rush. Luckily, there has been enough of a pass rush and the run D has made teams 1-dimensional, so the DBs probably look a lot better than they really are. DJ Moore has been great this year, but Tillman is probably having his worst year in about 4-5 years and Chris Harris is still just serviceable. As for Urlacher, I don't think he's the same player he was like in 2006. But he's still a very good player. I think it's pretty clear that Briggs is the better LB at this point, but Urlacher is still a quality player and better than any possible alternative the Bears would have at MLB. It may be all smoke and mirrors, but the key is that the players believe. They believe the crap about getting the same OL unit in there together for consecutive weeks, they believe Martz is a genius (even though they are still a bottom 1/3 offensive team), they believe in Rod Marinelli (even though it's the same system they've been running w/ no success for the previous 3 years), and they believe in Lovie Smith. I guess that's all that matters.

Jets get the break back as 85 had a TD there.

He mentioned that because ESPN has Jurkin as a 4 star and 53rd on their list of Super 60 prospects for 2012 (actually only 11 spots behind Perea who is ranked all the way back at 42nd on that list). I'm not a big believer in ESPN's rankings so I don't put a lot of stock in that but it is out there. I actually meant to put Patterson. But I guess I had Peter Jurkin on the brain.

Wow. That's sad. I hope for a full and safe recovery. He's probably one of my top 3 favorite candidates to be the next Bears head coach.

Yep. :D http://www.insidethehall.com/2010/11/24/video-yogi-ferrell-commits-to-indiana/ From reading some of the stories on his commitment, he mentions over and over again that he (Yogi) is making it his priority to get Harris on board as well. That would be a hell of a class. Most importantly, you got a nice little trail of talent coming in now. You got a 5-star in Zeller coming in 2011. At least couple of Super 60s coming in 2012 (Ferrell, Perea) and possibly 2 more in Jurkin (borderline) and Harris (if he comes). Two 4-star recruits in 2013. And even 2 potential 4-5 star guys in 2014. Crean is setting up the program to be really good for a long time.

Yeah, if Dallas can pull off one more "rally" game for Garrett that would be wonderful. If not, the Saints should win the rest of their games easily, except for at Baltimore and at Atlanta, which I think they are a better team than the Ravens. I got a strange feeling about the Bears/Eagles game. I feel like the Bears win a close one or Cutler completely craps the bed and the Eagles win easily.

Winning the Superbowl is still not reason to give Lovie an extension, IMO. Like you said, last time he took the Bears to the Superbowl, it didn't start any sort of consistent winning. So, why extend him when history shows you could just go 7-9 again next year? With 1 more year on his deal, the decision doesn't have to made this year at all, and shouldn't by any means. Bears go deep into the playoffs, and start next season 7-3, then talk extension. This is not even close to a rush situation no matter how much they win this year. While I see no reason to rush, a Super Bowl victory is obviously a reason to extend him. He's only signed through next season, and a super bowl winning coach doesn't work in lame duck fashion. If all they do is make the playoffs then I don't talk extension until after the CBA is finalized, and even then it has to be done without a raise, because he certainly hasn't earned one. Haugh is claiming he's done more with less this year which is absolutely absurd. This team is talented enough to make the playoffs. They are light on the line and WR. But they've spent big money on big time players, Peppers, Urlacher and Briggs are huge investments. Not to mention Harris and Tillman. And they have gone out and acquired a big time QB. I don't know man. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but the last time Lovie went to the Superbowl, he was made the highest paid coach in the league and proceeded to go .500 with 0 playoff appearances. Granted, winning the Superbowl is another thing entirely, but that would likely mean Lovie would again command one of the highest coaching salaries in the league and he is clearly nowhere near being the best coach. I don't know if you can just put yourself in the same position again (overpaid coach, that you can't afford to fire) for just 1 successful year, albeit the ultimate success.

Winning the Superbowl is still not reason to give Lovie an extension, IMO. Like you said, last time he took the Bears to the Superbowl, it didn't start any sort of consistent winning. So, why extend him when history shows you could just go 7-9 again next year? With 1 more year on his deal, the decision doesn't have to made this year at all, and shouldn't by any means. Bears go deep into the playoffs, and start next season 7-3, then talk extension. This is not even close to a rush situation no matter how much they win this year.

I'd take Berkman. As far as stopgaps go, I don't think you can do much better (at any position) than Berkman or Pena at 1B, right after that is Nick Johnson because of health. Even if they all hit at the career lows they hit at last year (which they won't) you still get a guy in the middle of the lineup that will get on base 36-42% of the time and hit for some power from the left side. None of them are a super old, Moises Alou type signing. None of them are going to require a deal more than 2 years. And I think all of them could get back to a .900 OPS sooner rather than later.

I haven't been starting Garcon anyway. I've been starting Cal Johnson, Fitz, and Tamme.

Matt Ryan has only lost 1 time at home, and that was his rookie year. The Jets haven't even established a home field advantage yet, as the stadium has only been open for 2 1/2 months. I think there's a huge difference, and that's not including the noise factor in the dome vs. being outside. Not saying you can't win in Atlanta, but winning in the Meadowlands isn't nearly as tough a task.

Wow, I guess I got Vincent Jackson coming back this week too. But do I start him over any of these guys? Larry Fitzgerald- TD on last play really helped me this week Jacob Tamme Pierre Garcon Calvin Johnson is in stone in my lineup.

What makes that graphic so funny is that many of the games between 2 good teams were relative blowouts (Ex: NYJ over NE by 14, NE over PIT by 13). And then a lot of the games between a good and a bad team were all pretty close (16-14 NO over CAR, Redskins over Eagles by 5).

Not 1972!!! Probably easier when everybody has 2+ losses by week 11. Didn't every team have 2 losses by like week 7 this year?

Hakeem Nicks of the Giants out for 3 weeks. With Steve Smith out at least 1-2 more, the Giants (who are already 1 game behind the top of the NFC) look to be in trouble....which is to the Bears advantage. However, they do have some winnable games at home vs. Jax and Washington then @ Minnesota the next 3. They'll get Nicks back in time to face Green Bay, Philly and go to Washington. If the Giants lose a couple of the next 3, the Bears are in very good shape, as I still don't believe Tampa is good enough to go any better than 3-3 or 2-4 the rest of the way. Meaning ATL, NO, GB, PHI, CHI, NFC West champ are the 6 playoff teams.

Huge game. Lose this, and the Bears have no possible wildcard tiebreakers, at least at the moment. That would put them at 5-4 in the conference, while NO (assuming they beat Dallas) is 7-2 and Tampa 5-2 vs. the NFC. Then you have to sweep the division games just to get to 8-4 in the NFC, and to get the tiebreaker over GB.