What an interesting week it's been. Jay Cutler went from the most hated Bear to a sympathetic figure, and he did this all by not speaking to the media. But Aaron Rodgers went from one of the great stories of the 2010 playoffs to kind of a jerk because he opened up to the media. I wonder if Trent Dilfer thinks his dig at his injured teammates make him a better leader?
Last week Sean Jensen of the Sun Times had a great quote from Olin Kreutz in regards to Jay Cutler. It tells me all I need to know about how his teammates feel about him. And you can find that quote after the jump.
‘‘We always say in our locker room [that] we take guys for their actions and not their words,'' Kreutz said. ‘‘And a lot of guys in the NFL will give you a lot of smoke, a lot of ‘I love my team, I love this and I love that.' But their actions don't show it.
‘‘Jay won't give you a lot of smoke. He just shows you. Day in and day out at practices, he works, and you don't see him promoting himself. He just wants to be one of us. Guys can blow smoke and shake your hand and be your friend in your face and be a total [expletive]. So we appreciate that about him.''
Before the 2010 season I made some NFL picks you can take to the bank, I got a few right and a few wrong. I had Brett Favre not playing all 16 games and Bernard Berrian still failing to reach 1000 yards. But I missed on my AFC pick of the Ravens and I thought the Jets were all hype and would miss the playoffs. So I'll make some Super Bowl NFL Picks to try and redeem myself.
1) The Steelers will beat the Packers 17-10.
2) Rashard Mendenhall will be the MVP
3) The opening coin toss will be tails... because everyone knows tails never fails.
4) I saw an over/under for the length of Christina Aguilera's National Anthem set at 1:50. I'd take the over. Big voiced divas always belt out a little something extra on the big stage.
5) I saw another site place the over/under on Brett Favre mentions at 2.5. It's Joe Buck, take the over.
Now a few more random thoughts...
6) The Zone Blitz will get a ton of hype, and with the NFL being a copy cat league I'd expect a few teams to switch their defense for 2011. Here's a great article from nfl.com on the Zone Blitz. And I just want to go on record again by saying that the Tampa 2 and the Zone Blitz should be a perfect marriage. Both defenses are predicated on speed.
7) Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey is more than likely not going to play in Super Bowl XLV because of a fractured ankle. Jack Youngblood played in Super Bowl XIV with a broken freaking leg! I'm just saying...
8) I think Twitter is the worst thing to ever happen to professional athletes. More often that not players stick their foot in their mouth with their regretful comments. How refreshing in this day and age to have a QB in Chicago that doesn't play that game.
9) The NFL Pro Bowl... yawn...
10) Did any players stand out in the Senior Bowl that you hope your favorite team will draft?