adam

It was really bad if the kicker saw that. Now the only things to add for context, we had just lost to Detroit, were 5-7 and essentially eliminated from playoff contention. Two games later Cutler was benched for Clausen, and then we played Minnesota. So I can see how there would be even less leadership visible at that point as we all were just trying to get the season over with. When Urlacher was not re-signed, this was mentioned, he was the leader of the team and rallied the troops. Cutler just doesn't have that in him. He has shown it more on the field, but obviously he doesn't do it in the locker room. The positive out of that article is that even Feely acknowledged that we are "loaded with talent".

Everything is a gate nowadays. So I guess it was a water scandal in the 1970's. The Blount thing is crazy. So you purposely get released by a team to go back to your old one without any repercussions? They should prevent this from occurring in the future. The Blount-Rule to prevent a Blountgate.

Cody Prewitt looked pretty good at Senior Bowl.

His attitude and dedication really soured on me over the past year, and I was always a huge Briggs fan. To me it would come down to pay as I think he can still play at a high level.

Which makes it way less of a big deal because 1 psi is close enough to be within the margin of error when you account for the weather conditions. However, it seems like they may have been doing this for a long time: http://www.wsj.com/articles/patriots-alway...ball-1422054846

I want nothing to do with anyone from that defense now. I will pass on Collins at 7.

I like Shelton too, my only issue is that we just drafted Sutton and Ferguson, but if he is the best player at #7, then take him.

Yeah, there are a couple of these, but that site seems to be one of the best for watching full game videos of the players.

To me, after Mariota, Winston, Gregory, and Williams, there is not much difference from 5-15. That is a great opportunity to trade down (if possible). Cleveland at #12 would be an awesome trade target as they have a 2nd 1st rounder. Just dropping from 7th to 12th would give us an extra 3rd and 4th rounder (#76 and #112) and give us 6 picks in the first 112. That would be awesome as we have a bunch of holes to fill. Looking at a bunch of mocks, it seems that if we do pick 7th, we will be picking from the best player from these: Shane Ray DE/OLB Landon Collins, S Dante Fowler, DE/OLB Ereck Flowers, OT Andrus Peat, OT Brandon Scherff, OT/G DeVante Parker, WR Danny Shelton, NT Kevin White, WR Also, I found a pretty decent website that has some videos of each prospect: http://draftbreakdown.com/players/?draft_class=2015

I just don't think this is Fox's MO to do that. Was anyone brought in to Denver specifically for Manning? There could be something to this, or it could be that he was the best available QB Coach out there. We will definitely see how this plays out. Obviously Cutler lobbied for him before. So now, just like we thought he had zero excuses left, now he is really down to zero.

Yeah, RIP Ernie Banks. For me it would be Michael Jordan/Bobbie Hull/Walter Payton/Ernie Banks/Frank Thomas

Grizz, Then you know that teams still do it all the time. The pit crews and Crew Chiefs were sometimes more important than the driver, because they would tweak things out of spec and back in during a race to give their car an edge. I just think in this case, why even give a team the ability to do something like this? Let the game be won and lost between the lines. This is easily remedied by the league taking control of the footballs and inspecting them at every quarter. This reminds me of things like "pumping in crowd noise" or "not cutting the grass". The crowd noise has a huge impact on the game, on both sides of the ball. Not cutting the grass can play into your teams strengths and slow the other team down. There should be more enforcement of these types of advantages, especially ones that have been around for a long time. The inflating or deflating of footballs was never seen as a big deal as long as they kept them within the range. In this case, they were outside the range, and someone messed up.

Lol, I thought you were talking about the Super Bowl with the comment about the Ravens or Colts playing in this game. My bad.

Coaches have the biggest impact on younger players. For the QB coach, I don't see this as catering to Cutler. This guy came from Cleveland and was in Tennessee, so was he brought in to help with Locker or Hoyer (after we sign one of them)? Also, I am sure he was told who he was coaching, and obviously knew the risk if it was going to be Cutler. In the end, I trust Fox more than I trust any HC in a long time to make the right move which is best for the team.

When did we lose a 4th rounder? We traded this year's 5th with last year's to move up and snag Vereen in the 4th. We have the following picks this year (before compensatory picks): 1st Round - #7 2nd Round - #39 3rd Round - #71 4th Round - #103 5th Round - None 6th Round - #167 7th Round - #199 To me, we have to hit Homeruns with the first 4 picks.

Mongo, the balls were re-inflated at halftime and NE outscored IND 28-0 in the 2nd half. The ball psi didn't have that much to do with the outcome of the game. For the Ravens game, how do we know the Ravens balls were not deflated too? If the Indy game was close or this was discovered during the Baltimore game, then I would have more of an issue with it, but this really didn't impact the Indy game, and there is no way to know if this was done in the Ravens game too. Again like I said in the other post, this comes down to the league and the mismanagement of the officials. Don't even let the team have the ability to provide the balls. Let the league provide them for every game with the refs. Let them control them until kickoff and then test at the end of every quarter.

Why doesn't the NFL provide the balls? Just like the ones they get directly from Wilson for kickers? Just have the NFL provide the balls for every game, and test them every quarter for accuracy. The QB's should not have the ability to doctor the balls to their liking. To me that is the bigger problem. Yes it does not make it right just because everyone is doing it, but most drivers exceed the speed limit everyday (against the law) and knowingly do it. Seattle commits a penalty on every play (usually holding), yet they do it knowing that the refs will not call it on every play. Normally leading the league in penalties was a bad thing, but for Seattle, they have led the league the last two years, so it obviously working for them. I think NE should be fined if there is evidence that they actually did something, but I don't see it as that egregious of an act like the national media (even non-sports media) has made it out to be. Should they be fined, if guilty, yes (25k per ball); should they lose draft picks, yes ( 2-3 since it was a playoff game). Besides the grip, a lower inflated ball will be more affected by the wind and will not travel as far. So besides grip, there is not many other benefits. To me there are two issues here, obviously NE has a track record that really needs to be looked into, and the NFL officiating needs to be cleaned up. Either enforce rules or don't have them. I am sick of the game to game, crew to crew differences. They are worried about player celebrations, but rarely flag coaches who come onto the field, or players without helmets.

My only concern is that it is another scheme and OC for Cutler. Fox is known for maximizing player strengths, so it will very interesting to see what they have planned for both sides of the ball.

Here is a great article on the topic: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/not-for-attr...-184104713.html Basically it almost happens all the time, and in almost every game (depending on QB). I don't think it is a big deal, but the league should do a better job of policing the rule. There are enough TV timeouts to have a side or back judge check the balls, hell they can carry a small air pressure valve in their pockets. To

Now that we have a staff in place, as well as other teams, lets look again at the 2015 schedule: Home: Detroit Lions - W - I think we split with Detroit this year Green Bay Packers - L - We are probably another year from truly competing with GB Minnesota Vikings - W - We should've beaten them twice last year, but the last game actually put us in a better position Arizona Cardinals - W - Bowles gone, team played over their heads, 4-4 on the road last year, this one could go either way San Francisco 49ers - W - Brand new coaching staff, watch Tomsula's Comcast interview, and we will have a lot of insight into their schemes Washington Redskins - W - Horrible team with no real direction Denver Broncos - L - This will be an interesting one, but I am going to give it to them right now. Really depends on Manning's status. Oakland Raiders - W - Bad team still bad So I see 6-2, or 5-3. Not bad. Away: Detroit Lions - L - Split with them Green Bay Packers - L - Still have our number Minnesota Vikings - W - I think we are better than them and now have better coaches St. Louis Rams - W - I like their defense, but a lot of questions on offense, 3-5 at home last year Seattle Seahawks - L - Probably the toughest game on our schedule, probably 14 pt underdogs Tampa Bay Buccaneers - W - LovieBowl 2.0, I see this as a solid win Kansas City Chiefs - L - I think we split these last two San Diego Chargers - W - I think we split these last two Looks like 4-4, but could be 3-5 or 5-3 (beating KC). So at worst I see 8-8 (losing to SD and ARZ) or 11-5 (beating ARZ, SD, and KC). So a 9-7 seems pretty realistic.

Based off that list, we got 4 players from the top 50 (Fuller-30, Carey-35, Sutton-36, and Sutton-46). Pretty surprised Carey ended up 15th for rookie RB's in rushing, even as a backup. Hill, Mason, Williams, West, Crowell, Oliver, and Sankey all had more productive years. Just shows how bad our offense was, but he did have a decent YPC.

Timing is everything. If the Bears gave Trestman another year, we miss out on this entire new staff. Fox+Gase+Fangio+Rodgers are light years ahead of Trestman+Kromer+Tucker+Decam. We had high expectations going into 2014 with the current roster and those coaches. I still believe the talent is there, but the coaching, schemes, adjustments, leadership was not there. With the new group I would expect an immediate improvement before any other offseason acquisitions to improve the team. I think Fox saw the same thing and believed this could be a quick turnaround. Gase must also see something in the offense to take this job knowing he will be dealing with Cutler or an unknown QB. Fangio had numerous interviews and felt good enough about the job to accept the position.

49ers have Borland, Bowman, and Willis, and all play the middle, so it would make sense to move one of the higher-priced injury-risk players.

That would be awesome if they didn't want him back for the money.

I would say Iupati or Franklin via FA and Grasu in the draft would be awesome. Shift Long outside like you said and we have Ola, Mills, DLP for depth. Bushrod/Slauson/Grasu/Franklin or Iupati/Long would be a very strong line.