CubColtPacer

Yes, I'm fairly resigned to the idea that the Colts are going to get their yards against us. I'm confused and worried about that Colts run defense. Has there ever been a run D so bad that suddenly got so good? I can't figure it. Can't just be Sanders. What's Dungy been feeding those boys? We'll need to run on Mr. Sanders and his suddenly solid run D or else obviously we will lose the football game. The run defense by the Colts has been a combination of several things. 1) Booger Mcfarland has finally gotten comfortable, and now he is drawing constant double teams. That means more free passes for the linebackers. 2) The DE's for the Colts are not running quite as far outside as they did earlier in the season, which is tightening the running lanes 3) Rob Morris has taken over at SSLB-Morris is a good run stopper, even if he's terrible in pass coverage-he replaced Gilbert Gardner, who was the worst player I have ever seen. 4) Sanders-he lets everyone move a little faster, because Sanders can make up for mistakes that others make. He is truly a special player when healthy. 5) When Sanders moves into the lineup at safety, that means that Marlin Jackson can play more corner, and Marlin is the best tackler the Colts have at corner (with Nick Harper also a good tackler, but Jason David struggles against the run because of being tiny). Finally, it's confidence and attitude-the Colts defense was really run down near the end of the season, and that caused them to go a little slower-now they have that swagger back, and it has allowed them to play closer to what the defense did in 2005 with basically the same lineup, instead of the horrible run defense seen in most of 2006.

Last I checked it was one login per IP address. I would be suprised if you are able to login more than one time per game while still logged in on the original IP. When did you check??? I had used my same user id to login to multiple computers (anywhere from 3 to 6 computers were running games with my ONE user id) all the way up to game 5 of the 2006 WS. We did that almost every game. Suprised you accomplished this. Perhaps you are behind a firewall that broadcasts out the same IP. My understanding is that your login ID sync's with the IP address on the computer logged in. However, if you are behind a firewall, MLB's servers may see you as 192.168.x.x etc... Not sure, maybe others with a better understanding of IP Addressing and general connectivity can chime in. Again, I would be shocked if 1 username could populate several computers. If that is the case, I will buy a NSBB username and share it with everyone! When I read her post, that's what I thought. All of her computers are on the same network, so the site will treat them all as the same (there's probably just one line actually going out to the outside world-the computers only get differentiated after the information comes to the access point inside their network). She probably couldn't do it for both her home and her work, but all her work computers would be able to watch.

So if Dallas Clark goes in the slot, who would be assigned to cover him? Well, this isn't backyard (you got that guy I got that guy) football, that could change on any given play. It could be a lineback, it could be a dback, or it could be nobody if they are in zone. True, but usually one player gets the bulk of the responsibility-my main question was which linebacker usually gets coverage responsibilities in that sort of base-my guess is that in the Cover 2 system it's your WILL, but I'm not completely sure which outside backer your WILL is. Briggs. However, you are mistaken if you think we run a textbook Cover-2 . We change plenty of things around to fit Urlacher's skillsets. Yeah, I can tell-it's a testament to the Cover 2 being changed when your MLB leads the team in tackles-it should be the WILL who gets all the stats but is not completely deserved (for example, Cato June for the Colts got a Pro Bowl appearance last year, was tied with Urlacher in tackles this year (5th in the league)), but people are not calling him one of the top free agents this year with good reason, because his stats are inflated by the whole defense designed to bring the runner back to him. The fact that Urlacher has so many tackles shows both his extreme talent level, and the fact that the defense has been adapted in some way.

So if Dallas Clark goes in the slot, who would be assigned to cover him? Well, this isn't backyard (you got that guy I got that guy) football, that could change on any given play. It could be a lineback, it could be a dback, or it could be nobody if they are in zone. True, but usually one player gets the bulk of the responsibility-my main question was which linebacker usually gets coverage responsibilities in that sort of base-my guess is that in the Cover 2 system it's your WILL, but I'm not completely sure which outside backer your WILL is.

So much for the Colts SI cover jinx-this week's cover: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/covers/issues/2007/0205.html

So if Dallas Clark goes in the slot, who would be assigned to cover him? Probably Urlacher or Briggs. If Wayne is in the slot, likely Ricky Manning. Hmm-I could maybe see the Colts running the ball a decent amount in this rotation-but if they run the stretch play to that side, I'm going to scream! I want them to run it up the middle in a formation like this to take advantage of the linebacker out wide. I do not however see them running this formation as much as in previous games-I think the Colts may try to stay with a more standard look of the 2 tight ends in tight to try to condense the field a bit more, and allow their receivers to work with a little more room. If the Bears play the receivers 1 on 1, I see the 10-12 yard out working several times for the Colts (a staple of the Colts offense) because those corners will have to respect the deep threat. What I do not see is routes like the Saints took where they sent their outside receivers over the middle of the field. First, that's not the Colts way anymore to run a great deal of crossing routes. Second, it's simply too dangerous with the Bears linebackers out there.

So if Dallas Clark goes in the slot, who would be assigned to cover him?

I'm going to shamlessly bump my own post, only because I was silly enough to post it at 1:30 in the morning, and don't want it to get buried with only 1 or 2 responses. I really would like to know what defensive alignment Bears fans think they should stay in most of the time, and how they match up with the Colts in that particular alignment.

Didn't the Jets get into some kind of trouble this season because they ran the no-huddle without allowing the defense to sub. I think every time the offense subs someone in they have to allow time for the D to do the same. I imagine the Bears will be in the nickle a lot with Manning, Jr. on the field. Yes, every time the offense subs in they have to allow time for the defense to sub, and yes, the Jets almost got in trouble this year because they didn't allow the Colts time (in fact, the Colts demanded to know if what the Jets did was legal-because if it was, they promised to wreak havoc on the league using that particular rule :D). Like I said though, the Colts don't usually sub, so the Bears won't be able to either. With Stokely gone, most of the the time the Colts will be 2 tight ends, 2 wide receivers, 1 RB. Even when they go to 3 WR's, probably 3/4 of the time they shift one of the tight ends (Clark) out there, so no subbing there. So they really only sub when they either are putting their goal line package in, changing running backs (which they don't do more than once a drive usually at most), or occasionally using Moorehead as the 3rd reciever and putting Wayne into the slot, which they won't do much of if Utecht is healthy. Which way the Bears choose will probably influence the Colts game plan. If the Bears go to nickel most of the time, the Colts will bring Dallas Clark back to the line, and they'll run a large amount of the time. If the Bears play base defense, the Colts will try to exploit the passing game a little bit more, and will have an easier time picking up 3rd downs then if the Bears were constantly in nickel. The Eagles ran nickel all game, and the Colts ran it down their throats, but obviously the Bears have a much better run defense-so it should be an interesting situation to watch.

An interesting thing that hasn't been brought up, but I want Bears fans opinions on: The Colts will not allow the Bears defense to substitute often. The Colts substitute somewhat infrequently, and if the Bears try to substitute, the Colts will just go and snap the ball and take the penalthy. So-with that in mind, what defense do you think the Bears should try to stay in? A base defense, some sort of nickel, or what?

Man. Throw out the idea of having the game being shown on giant projection screens at Soldier Field. That idea was gone anyway. Mass viewings like that are strictly forbidden by NFL rules. Colts fans checked to see if they could watch it at the Dome, and were told that would be impossible due to these rules.

As usual, a national "expert" is about 2 weeks behind. Finley is out of play now that Soriano agreed to play CF and the Cubs signed Floyd. Hendry said after the Finley signing that he was now done with FA signings for this year. An easy mistake to make when talking about the two of them, but talk about a Freudian slip :D.

The Bears first TD next season you mean :D? Seriously-I voted for Benson. The Bears will have a good drive running the ball near the end of the 1st quarter, Benson will punch it in, and everyone will be saying about how bad the Indy run defense is again-just like the Patriots game. I just hope it ends the same way :D

Kobe's had 3 or 4 suspensions that were way too light, but after seeing the video, this suspension was absolutely ridiculous.

For Bears fans -on these down and distances, do you run the ball somewhat consistently? Or is it going to require more consistent gains on 1st down? 2nd and 6 2nd and 8 2nd and 10-12 3rd and 4 3rd and 5-7

Is this your first superbowl? Um, no. We showed up 1 day earlier than the Colts. 1 day wasted, IMO. The Colts didn't practice. Dungy gave them the weekend off to spend time with their families. The Bears practiced in Miami on Monday. No time wasted. Yeah, both the Bears and the Colts practiced on Monday-so they are really on the exact same schedule, other than the Bears having had off time in Miami while the Colts did in Indy. Yeah, this whole when they arrived issue is the biggest non-story in a long time. I would definitely agree with that. It's not like the Colts arrived on Thursday or anything-after both teams have had a media day and 3 days of practice, nobody will remember where they were a week before on one specific night.

Is this your first superbowl? Um, no. We showed up 1 day earlier than the Colts. 1 day wasted, IMO. The Colts didn't practice. Dungy gave them the weekend off to spend time with their families. The Bears practiced in Miami on Monday. No time wasted. Yeah, both the Bears and the Colts practiced on Monday-so they are really on the exact same schedule, other than the Bears having had off time in Miami while the Colts did in Indy.

This is always interesting-in honor of media day, the 20 dumbest media day questions of all time: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0701/gallery.nfl.SBfunnyquestions/content.1.html

How does he become available? Cha ching. Money talks and if the Cowboys want him I'm sure they'll "contact" him and let him know that the money is there for him. If the Bears decide to go on the cheap or in their words a "fair" price they may lose out on Lovie. I know he has a year left in his deal but something may be worked out. I like Lovie and I think he is a very good coach but the Boys may make a very good offer that the Bears my accept. This all depends on 3 things: -Do the Bears lowball Lovie -Is Lovie really interested in going to Dallas -Is Jones willing to pay the picks for Lovie While I think Jones is more than willing to pay the $$ for Lovie, I don't think he's willing to pay with picks. It's not his way. Jones has always believed the talent on the field is more important than the coach. My guess is that after interviewing Singletary, Jones will attempt to hire both Turner and Singletary away from the 49ers. I think his true desire is for Turner to come aboard to groom Garrett and have Singletary run the defense. Garrett and Singletary would give the Cowboys two young talents on each side of the ball and the one who shows the most promise would end up becoming the next coach when Turner steps down. I thought I had heard that Singletary could only leave the 49ers to become a head coach somewhere. This is due to his having the title "assistant head coach." I could be wrong on this, though. John Clayton reported earlier that the Cowboys probably only interviewed Singletary to comply with the "Rooney rule". While they already might have been covered due to their interview with one of their assistants, the NFL might have encouraged to interview another candidate, and Singeltary was a logical choice to bring in, as he will likely get a job somewhere in the next couple of years.

Wow-looking at those stats makes me feel a lot better about the rotation this year. I mean-3 people with 9 starts or more that had ERA's over 7. 3 more people with 24, 13, and 10 starts with ERA's in the mid 5's. While the rotation still has question marks, it should at least be a lot better than that.

I'm not terribly tech savvy, and really only know how to play games and spin the weather globe on the Wii. Is the browser up and running now? Do I need to do some sort of config? There's a trial version (more like a beta) of the browser available for download for free in the Wii shop right now. The full version of the browser comes out in March I think, and if you download it before the end of June, it's free.

no. it'd be similar if every online provider had an email program, then aol one day bought exclusive rights to email, and everyone else was shutout. this isn't a difficult concept. but that's NOT what is going on. If EI was the ONLY way to see ANY baseball, then fine, you have a right to gripe. But the truth is, WGN will still show its games, Comcast will still show its games, etc. DirecTV is not shutting everyone out of watching baseball directTV is shutting out cable subscribers who wanted to watch out of market games. they have only one source to watch out of market games on their tv. how can people defend this? It can be defended because people are saying it's illegal to buy exclusive rights to any product, and it's not. It would become illegal if cable companies wanted to buy it and couldn't no matter what-but that's not happening here. Cable companies are simply not willing to pay the money to be able to get it only for themselves, and DirectTV is willing to pay the premium for exlusivity. That's no different then CBS paying the NFL billions of dollars to be able to exclusively show AFC games on Sundary afternoons-another station could have got it, but CBS was willing to pay more.

I think it's a step back, but it's hard to change in our free market economy. Truthfully, we limit access to things every day in all sorts of things in the name of business, and it's just something that has to be lived with unless Americans want government to have a great deal more of regulation into the business world.

no. it'd be similar if every online provider had an email program, then aol one day bought exclusive rights to email, and everyone else was shutout. this isn't a difficult concept. Or like when games were shown on different channels, but then one channel bought the rights to show all the games of a particular sport? If this is a violation, then there are things all over the place that are a violation.

First off, you must have started watching football early if you can still remember the Baltimore Colts. Their last season in Baltimore was when you were 4 or 5 years old at the most. Second, I'm not completely sure how they got fans in strange places. Of course, Indiana has embraced them. A large part of TN and part of Mississippi and Louisiana have embraced the Colts as well because of Manning. Other parts of the nation? I seriously have no idea-but I do know the Colts are the biggest draw in football now, so apparently people like to watch them (the Colts have been involved in something like 4 of the 5 highest rated regular season games over the past 5 years, and the Colts-Patriots game last week was the highest rated non-Super Bowl in 20 years).