Taylor vs Pavlik – Is JT saying he’s going to lose ?

 JT seems visibly nervous during this video. Near the end he makes a comment about being at 164lbs and how he was thinking about going up to the next weight class, but  ”I might be sticking around and getting my belts back”

 Does that mean he’s conceded to losing them ? Very odd statement to make in my opinion.

Grossman out, Griese in

It’s now being reported by the Chicago Tribune that Brian Griese will be starting for the Bears this Sunday against the Lions.  Finally, many Bear fans prayers have been answered and Lovie has finally seen the light — or at least been forced by someone above him to make the change. Whichever it was, it’s a step forward.

No one expects Griese to come in and light up our passing game. I’d be satisfied if he just managed to avoid making the big mistakes that Grossman has managed to make on a consistent basis. God knows he probably has some rust on him by now, but I’m pretty confident that he can’t be worse than Grossman.

It takes a special QB to manage getting a sub 25 QB rating in 4 games last year. He had a 23.7, 10.2, 1.3, and the holy grail 0.0 rating. All in one season, and we still made it to the Super Bowl despite his many mistakes. I even hear some fellow Bear fans say “he led us to a Super Bowl”.  Silly… but it gets said all the time.

Countdown to Taylor – Pavlik

So now just under a week away from this fight, Taylor’s angle seems to be renaming himself the “Junkyard Dog”. He was “Bad Intentions”, and it was believable that he could have bad intentions…. But unfortunately he wasn’t able to really follow through with making them mean much in the ring – Corey Spinks managed to go the distance with those bad intentions.

 It’s almost laughable to rename yourself the “Junkyard Dog” while training in the Poconos. And in an article on HBO, you have Steward and Lewis trying to pump up the Poconos camp as a deciding factor. They keep saying that no one who’s trained there with Emmanuel Steward has lost. Of course, Emmanuel Steward trains with alot of guys who are the favorites and big name fighters already.

The true factor in the fight is whether or not Taylor truly listens to Emmanuel Steward for a change. A junkyard dog is out of control. What Jermain Taylor needs is to be a good listener and follow Steward’s strategy. Junkyard dogs don’t have strategy, they bite, maime, and kill.  Do we really believe that Taylor is a Junkyard Dog ?

 In the press conference before his fight with Spinks, Miranda and Pavlik were on the undercard. Both fighters made comments to obviously stake claim on fighting Taylor next — as the fight was billed appropriately “The Right to Fight”. So when Taylor reached the podium he said “I don’t do all this talking — ‘I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that.’ I will walk up to you and punch you in the mouth!”

Isn’t ironic that right now he’s doing alot of talking ?

Just cause you call yourself a “Junkyard Dog”, doesn’t mean you are. But it might indicate that you are trying to convince your own self that you are.

It’s now obvious to me that this fight is going to be an instant classic. Taylor is taking this bout seriously. So seriously that he’s now doing whatever he can to pump himself up, which has to result in something far better in the ring than what we saw against Spinks.

 If Pavlik tarnishes the Poconos as a training camp, it might just be haunted by the “Ghost” for years to come.

Everyone have enough of Rex yet ?

Sorry… just had to post that picture of Rex doing what he does best.

Before the Kansas City game, I had a heated discussion with one of my friends about Rex Grossman. I pretty much stated that I believe that although he has sufficient physical talent to be in the NFL, I didn’t believe that mentally he was performing at a level that could win us a Super Bowl. I even compared him to Mike Tomczack of Bears teams past, who was seeing a shrink to deal with being in the NFL.

Fast forward to after this last game against the Cowboys and I’m sure that there are alot more Bear fans ready to give Grossman the boot. I’m tired of hearing about how well he did early in the season last year. Does everyone forget that the scouting report on the Bears at that point was — stop the run and the Bears offense is incapable of scoring. Well… Doesn’t anyone remember teams designing game plans based on that line of thinking ? Stacking the line with 8 men in the box ? Guess what ? That makes it alot easier to pass and since you have 8 players defending against the run, you end up with 4 players defending against the pass. So does anyone else think it’s possible that a gameplan like that might make it easier for someone to be successful passing the ball ?

Of course that gameplan changed about midseason and it became we need to get after Grossman as he’s looking like a MVP Quarterback. Suddenly, Grossman’s weakness — pressure — is revealed. Now you got a guy who managed to get a 0 QB rating in one game, and became pretty much useless.

What made that portion of the season even more annoying is that everyone, including Lovie, were waiting for that MVP guy to return, and pretty much made passing our main focus instead of running. In the Championship game, Thomas Jones ran for like 120+ yards and everyone was talking about Rex Grossman’s 1 drive for a TD. Then… in the Super Bowl with horrible conditions Lovie decides to “pass” against the #2 pass defense, instead of “running” against the worst run defense in the league. I still don’t understand it, and apparently no one can explain that to me, even to this day. Was it ironic that the Colts “ran” the ball instead of passing ?

Ok.. I’m done with that rant. But I think everyone is getting closer to being on the same page now, and my prediction of Griese being the starter withing 6 games is well on track.

Even Madden and Michaels last night were talking about “long term”, which to me is ridiculous. We don’t have to abandon long term goals. Is it possible that what Rex needed all along is to sit on the bench and watch how someone like Brian Griese prepares and plays the game ? I mean, he was a Pro Bowl QB.. no ? What is the shame in that ? Now Griese is 2 years older, and probably rusty… Grossman is a complete head case… and we are 1-2.

Thanks Lovie.

Steward and Taylor call Pavlik Overrated

I’ve always respected Emmanuel Steward and he’s probably my favorite analyst when he does commentary on HBO fights because he’s usually spot on. He’s usually not the type to talk badly about a fighter, but in this case he’s actually come out and called Pavlik overrated and is basically saying this fight is going to be simple for Taylor. I’ll say that based on his knowledge of the sport, his comments and my respect for his opinion are the only reason that I would think that Taylor has a chance.

However, Steward himself knows that Taylor has a penchant for not listening to his instructions during a fight, and in turn making fights much closer than they need to be. I’ve even seen Steward in the corner seemingly at wits end with Taylor not listening to him.   I’ve heard Steward make comments about Taylor not listening to him in fights during other HBO broadcasts where he does commentary.

If Taylor listens to Steward, I think that he probably has a far better chance of winning the fight. But, do any of us believe that will happen ?

Steward makes note of Class A fighters that Taylor has been fighting, but we all know he’s looked pretty much lackluster in doing so. I really kind of wish they’d have matched up Corey Spinks with Pavlik first to really pump this fight up even more. I think we all know that Spinks would be pulverised by Pavlik. Then… everyone would realize that calling the Spinks win anything but the crap that it was, would be a ridiculous statement.  Luckily for Steward, that fight never happened so he can try and convince people that Spinks was a Class A opponent and going the distance with him was a victory in anything other than as a statistic.

Forget Mayweather vs Hatton , this here is going to be the fight of the year. Pavlik vs Miranda was a fan’s fight, and Pavlik is going to be considered a premiere fan’s fighter after taking out Taylor.  I will truly be interested in what Steward has to say about Pavlik after the fight. I think it’s possible that Steward might drop Pavlik after this fight if he doesn’t listen.

I also highly doubt that Steward is truly underestimating Pavlik, but I think it’s highly possible that Taylor truly is.

Rex Grossman – Mental Midget

I am surprised by the reaction that many Chicago Bear fans are having to Ron Rivera’s comment about Rex Grossman being a “mental midget”. I am a Chicago Bears fan, but I happen to be fully in agreement with Rivera’s assessment of Grossman.  I’ve seen alot of people attempt to discredit the comment by saying that Rivera is basically just a linebacker coach now, so obviously he’s not exactly progressing in his own coaching career. But…. I think if you watched the game against the Chargers, you’ll notice that the team pretty much followed Rivera’s advice — pressure Grossman — and got exactly the results that he predicted they would get. Can’t argue with reality.

Take into account Rex’s career to this point. He’s obviously had a great deal of trouble with consistency and undoubtedly is a far less effective QB when forced to make quick decisions. Rex is capable of being an NFL QB obviously, but when under pressure he’s no Brett Favre, Dan Marino, John Elway, Peyton Manning, or even Brian Griese.  He’s not very good at improvising, and I’d say that mental aptitude would play heavily into that particular aspect of a quarterback.

My prediction is that by the end of the year, if not sooner, there will be many more Bear fans that agree with Rivera on this comment. Sometimes the truth is hard to swallow, but in the end the truth usually comes out.

Bears – Is the Grossman charade over yet ?

 I know it’s just the first game of the season, and the first game is not always the best indicator of what’s going to happen in a season. But… I think I have seen enough of Grossman to know that he’s mediocre at best. He’s very prone to fumbling the ball and in many cases can’t get off a decent pass unless he’s completely unpressured. It’s a rarity to see him get off a good pass when he’s under any kind of pressure. That’s not the kind of QB that’s going to win us a superbowl.

 I think that Rex Grossman has talent, and can play in the NFL. I just don’t think at this point in his he’s a guy who’s going to lead a team to win a Superbowl. So do we tolerate Grossman’s mediocrity/inconsistency for another year or make the decision that we have potential to win a Super Bowl this year with a more qualified QB — Griese. 

With the devastating injuries in the first game of the season, the QB position becomes even more important now.

  Brian Griese please. Need I say more ?

Pavlik vs Taylor – It’s time to start believing in ghosts

If you saw Pavlik dispose of Miranda, you know that Jermain Taylor is about to lose his title. Pavlik is the real deal, and deceptively so. He doesn’t look like the guy who is going to destroy Taylor if you just look at him, but if you’ve watched any of his fights you are probably thinking someone should check his gloves to see if he’s hiding bricks in them.

I think Pavlik might just end up the #1 pound for pound fighter in the very near future. You heard it here first. It’s time to start believing in ghosts!

Pavlik vs Miranda – Best fight in a long while

In probably the best fight I’ve seen in the past few years, Kelly Pavlik knocked out Edison Miranda in 7 rounds. (TKO) If every boxing match delivered the same amount of action, there’d be alot more people watching the sport these days. This fight was on the undercard for the Jermain Taylor vs Cory Spinks fight which was the exact opposite — completely boring.

Pavlik was relentless in attacking Miranda, and had said before the fight that Miranda couldn’t fight going backwards so he would look to take advantage of that. Pavlik also showed quite a chin in taking some very hard shots from Miranda, and never really looked hurt. Around the 5th round it became apparent that one of them would have to give at some point. I actually thought that Miranda seemed to be closing the gap and appearing to be making the fight closer, but then Pavlik completely devastated Miranda in round 6, knocking him down twice. In the 7th round, Miranda came out looking slightly better than the end of the 6th, so at that point it was obvious that it was going to be over very soon.

Before the fight, Miranda had been talking more about Jermain Taylor than the task at hand — Kelly Pavlik. Now it’s Kelly Pavlik who’s likely to get Jermain Taylor next. In watching the two fights, I think Jermain Taylor might as well give Pavlik the belt and forgo the beating he’d get if he stepped in the ring with Pavlik. In the last two fights I’ve seen with Jermain Taylor, he’s been completely underwhelming. Pavlik’s proven he can take the monster punch as well as deliver them.

Chicago Bears -When will we stop featuring weakness ?

This last game of the regular season against the Packers was a complete disgrace. When does Lovie Smith wake up and realize that we don’t need to focus heavily on having a passing game ? Maybe it’s just me, but does Grossman look like a Super Bowl QB in this picture ? I think it’s time to end the charade.

In the preseason I thought it was very odd that Lovie Smith seemed to just hand the starting QB job to Grossman, even though Griese seemed to be the more capable based on performance. Now we are heading to the playoffs with a major question mark at QB. What happened to making a young player earn his position ?

Cedric Benson runs for 109 yard on 18 carries, and we throw 5 interceptions with our passing game. Isn’t it quite clear which is our strength ? I think that most coaches would agree that you should keep running the ball until the other team can stop it. Why take risks that you don’t need to take ?

It’s going to be interesting to see what the Bears gameplan is for their first playoff game. I still honestly believe that we could beat any team as long as we focus on running the ball and play a field position game. Why take risks in the passing game if we don’t have to ?

I do respect Brett Favre, and he quite possibly be the best QB of all-time. But the Packers winning this game was more about us featuring weakness and neglecting our strengths.