scarey

I hope that's his girlfriend sitting next to him laughing.

Hammons obviously is ready now. Not sure how long Painter can convince him to stick around, but they should get at least one more year out of him. Ronnie really needs a lot of polish. A LOT. I'm hoping he can get that shot under control this summer. I'm confident Davis will be the go to player starting next year. Hale and Lawson look to be very good role players. I think Lawson will be a solid starter his junior and senior years. Simpson is a wild card. If Stephens can come in next year and make people respect Purdue's outside game, Purdue could quickly find themselves back at the top of the Big 10 standings. I hope so at least.

Who are you talking to? This dejected Purdue fan that has not mentioned the refs at all? Or the one that was complaining about fouls in the first half and admitted defeat long ago regardless of the foul situation?

Crean has done that all year. Not sure why. I honestly don't like the idea of wishing injury on a player, especially a young guy that is in line to get payed next year like Zeller. But the thought is certainly creeping into my mind only so I could see Crean have to explain that one. Seriously though, I don't hope injury on anyone. This is just... upsetting.

I feel like some people are relying far too heavily on completely unproven ranking systems to determine the value of football players. Isn't this like the antithesis of NSBB? I mean, I understand that baseball advanced metrics are a million times more reliable and proven, but there was a time when they weren't as widely acclaimed. Also, there's a lot of discussion of PER in NBA threads, FO ratings are used as gospel in most NFL threads, and even pass blocking efficiency (which is the ranking system I assume you're referring to) has been used to make many an argument without being questioned. Why all the sudden is this system "completely unproven"?

And my concern is Long could be the Bears version of Orlando Pace too. A second coming. Pace was 34 when the Bears signed him. Jake Long is 28. Age doesn't really factor into my concern though. Long's performance over the past few years does. I'm not predicting he's going to continue his trend of mediocre play, I'm just saying I'm concerned.

And my concern is Long could be the Bears version of Orlando Pace too. A second coming.

He didn't make it into the top 20 in pass blocking efficiency for the second year in a row. I'm a little worried that he will be the Bears version of Orlando Pace. Wait... wasn't Orlando Pace the Bears version of Orlando Pace? What I meant was: Long = Orlando Pace when he was on the Bears not: Long on the Bears = Orlando Pace Sorry for the confusion.

He didn't make it into the top 20 in pass blocking efficiency for the second year in a row. I'm a little worried that he will be the Bears version of Orlando Pace.

Does he really have the right to be making such demands? I know his first few years in the league he was absolutely dominant, but the last two have been injury plagued and his performance while on the field has been pretty shoddy. He of course should be payed as one of the better LTs in the league; but to blow away pretty much the rest of the LT market? I don't think so.

I made an Ace Ventura Pet Detective one that I think got overlooked.

My money is on Lennay Kekua being Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's cross dressing identity. We'll start hearing stories about how Te'o remembers Lennay's gun digging into his hip.

Awesome. Freaking. Name.

I disagree. I think Cutler has pretty good footwork. He vastly improved his footwork coming into the 2011 season. Hell, Moose Johnston was commenting on how well Cutler was moving in the pocket against the Lions. Just because he will throw off his back foot doesn't mean he doesn't have good footwork. It just means he throws off his back foot... and he's pretty damn good at it. I think the only reason Esiason mentions Cutler's footwork is because prior to 2011, it was the go to criticism on Cutler. That and his "bad attitude". Coomer is just regurgitating what he's heard before because he's not good at his job. Why is our crappy 3B/1B from 2001 offering opinions on NFL quarterbacks? Because, as you pointed out, he's not good at his job. It's clear as day. Thought I got away with one there.

I disagree. I think Cutler has pretty good footwork. He vastly improved his footwork coming into the 2011 season. Hell, Moose Johnston was commenting on how well Cutler was moving in the pocket against the Lions. Just because he will throw off his back foot doesn't mean he doesn't have good footwork. It just means he throws off his back foot... and he's pretty damn good at it. I think the only reason Esiason mentions Cutler's footwork is because prior to 2011, it was the go to criticism on Cutler. That and his "bad attitude". Boomer is just regurgitating what he's heard before because he's not good at his job.

Yeah, but they'll re-sign Jay is my point. People hoping that the new coach will come in and send Jay away are going to be disappointed. I'm honestly more worried about Jay retiring than not signing with the Bears. If he takes 1 or 2 more concussions in the upcoming season, I would think he starts thinking about it at least. That's why I think there has to be a huge emphesis on getting the O-line straigtened out. It needs to be number 1, 2, and 3 on the off season to do list. I realize there are other needs with the aging defense and TE situation, but without a healthy Cutler, this team will go nowhere fast.

How in the world can you possibly say what style of offense the Bears will play in the future? Especially if Jay isn't here after next season. There's been a lot of talk radio wishful thinking that the new coach will try to get a new QB in here, but I seriously doubt that happens. Ugh. I'm not a person that thinks it is Cutler or bust. I do think you always have to be on the lookout for the next guy in line, but that doesn't necessarily mean you force your current guy out. Especially when that guy is a major asset like Cutler. I would be a proponent of drafting a Kirk Cousins type QB to try and groom as a possible replacement only because Cutler's contract is coming up and he obviously has a history with concussions. It's never a bad idea to stockpile talent, especially at the most important position. If the new coach were to come in and immediately start looking for an immediate replacement for Cutler though, that would be incredibly depressing.

Nobody's saying Purdue was cheated out of the Final Four. However, fault them for not making the Final Four and I think it's only fair to point out that they had a pretty good excuse why they didn't.

I've seen these complaints for games in Champaign though...

Because the big ten is ok with a physical style of play that doesn't fly outside of the conference. A one point last night with about 10 to go Tyler griffey drove, pump faked, got DJ Byrd to jump and land on him. No call was made so we reset the offense. In no way can that happen, thats not good aggressive defense. Thats a mugging. How can you not think there isn't a little something to this when you guys and Wisconsin, the two best defensive big ten teams every year, never do as well as you should once the tournament starts? I mean you guys had a great team for three straight years and never really sniffed a final four. Robbie Hummel blew out his knee two years in a row. The 'Baby Boiler's only played in two NCAA Tournaments together, as Freshmen (second round) and Sophomores (Sweet 16). Their third year they won the B1G and were ranked #3 in the nation when Hummel blew his knee out with three games left in the regular season. If we had Moore, Johnson, and Hummel all healthy as Juniors/Seniors in the tournament... Man, that's a really depressing thing to think about. You still had more than enough talent left to make a deep run, it sucks he got hurt but that's clearly not the only issue that purdue has had in the tournament. Hummel did so much for those teams though. Sure, Moore and Johnson had talent for miles, but it was a totally different team without Hummel. Do you realize that in 2010 in the Sweet 16 6'3 Chris Kramer was guarding 6'8 Kyle Singler? After Hummel went down that year, there was a huge size mismatch after Hummel went down, there was just no way of over coming that. 2011 had Byrd filling in for Hummel and we all know that Byrd is a fraction of the talent that Hummel was. I digress, you are telling me why Purdue gets beat in the tournament. I also wanted to know why Purdue doesn't get whistled for fouls, but Illinois gets called for touch fouls. Why is that?

I was listening this morning too. I got the feeling that if Myers was asked to choose between Holmgren and one of the up-and-comers like McCoy or Clements, he would have went with an up-and-comer. I agree with him that I would prefer Holmgren over John Gruden though. Personally, I worry that Holmgren cannot keep up with a head coaching gig any more. I would pass.

Every time Purdue and Illinois play, I find comments on this forum about how Purdue gets away with fouls, but Illinois gets blown for touch fouls constantly. Do you have a reasonable explanation for why the refs do that and why they don't continue to do that in the tournament as as been proposed?

I was hoping to see more talk on player personnel, but I guess the HC talk is understandable with the decision looming. I thought I was told over and over again that the Bears were going to be in a tough place in terms of cap space this upcoming off season. Then, I read this article: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/17253566-606/bears-enjoy-the-luxury-of-salary-cap-space.html Is it actually a possibility that Clady could be a Bear next year? If they could grab Clady, draft a good center or guard in one of the first two rounds, I think I'd be pretty happy with where the Bears O-line stands. Lance Louis will have to be resigned, I wonder if he lost a bit on his price tag after the injury? After that, I would be fine with cutting Garza, Spencer, and Scott loose. Webb can stay on as a swing tackle and maybe Carimi is given one last chance at RT. Of course, Urlacher and Melton are UFAs as well. I think Urlacher will sign a cheap 1 or 2 year deal to stay with the Bears if Lovie stays. If not, he may well do it anyway. Melton? I like Melton, but I think they may have to let him go. Maybe draft a raw DT with upside and let Okoye, Collins, and Toeina fight for time (assuming they're all Bears next year). I was actually wondering if the Bears felt comfortable enough with McClellan next year to have him start, maybe move Peppers in as a permanent three technique (assuming Lovie and/or Marinelli are retained). I know the guy is dominant, but we all know what a good three technique can do in this defense. The 2005 season for Tommie Harris was one of the very special seasons by an interior lineman I've EVER seen from ANY team. It may be wasting the talent of Peppers by not playing him at end, but we do have a first round pick in McClellan as well as Wootton who showed me this year he can be a starter. Other than that, Emory just needs to plan ahead for Tillman and Cutler next year. Just make sure there's enough money to sign Cutler next year to an extension and if you need to start developing a replacement for Tillman, it may be time to do it this year. Urlacher too. Oh and TE... fix it.

Since Hester, Knox, Sanzenbacher, etc. aren't the ones blocking. There are other advantages to having a giant athletic freak at WR besides the highlight reel catches.