Lovie Smith is not particularly good at the press conference or the interview. He's got the things he loves to say, and he repeats them ad nauseam. A quick best-of list:
- We're a defensive football team.
- We get off the bus running the football.
- Rex is our quarterback.
So it's not a surprise that he'd say something in an interview that would stand out as, at best...odd. As quoted at the Daily Herald recently, he had this to say:
"Physically, he'll be good to go," Smith said. "(The wrist injury) could have been a good thing. He had a chance to sit out. No wear and tear on his body last year. We might have stolen a year."
Wait...what!?! That can't be right...
No. Just no. No part of this quote makes sense, besides "Physically, he'll be good to go." Let's take an in-depth look at the lines of this quote really quickly.
"(The wrist injury) could have been a good thing."
I was not aware that season-ending injuries to a playmaker in the first game of the season could possibly be a good thing. Especially when that person is your franchise middle linebacker, who leads the defense, and puts guys in position. The guy that you personally have described in this same article as this:
"He is a (defensive) quarterback,"..."A coach on the field. He calls out every formation, he knows what everyone is supposed to do."
So...how is this good? Oh, it's about to be explained to us, that's good. Some insight might be able to help me understand what you meant.
"(The wrist injury) could have been a good thing. He had a chance to sit out. No wear and tear on his body last year."
Wait, I'm still confused. Back to my original point, having your "defensive quarterback" out of the field and standing on the sideline isn't good. While it's great that he was able to rest a bit, and his body didn't have to take the punishment of an NFL season, ideally, you want him on the field.
You're a team that went 7-9. You had 5 games where you lost by a margin of 7 or less points. Having him out? Probably not a good thing. He has historically been, and likely would've been, a difference maker, possibly enough to pull out some of those games that were lost.
My absolute favorite part, though, is the last part of this quote.
We might have stolen a year.
What!?!?! What does that even mean? You didn't steal a year... you had a season stolen. Well, not even that, really. You lost a year that you maybe could've competed in. Yes, it still would've been tough, the wildcard teams were 11-5. But you didn't steal anything. Having Urlacher available to play in a couple years is not the same as having had him last year. You missed the playoffs... again.
As a matter of fact - you actually may have given away a year, with poor coaching decisions, poor front office decisions, and what appears to be a general level of smugness that doesn't suit the output level.
I can appreciate the idea that Lovie is trying to find the positive side of all of this, but as two popular radio guys in Chicago would say:
Lovie Smith... who are you crapping?