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Audibles From the Long Snapper: A Few on 52 & Urlacher, Urlacher, Urlacher…

| February 5th, 2018

Five Super Bowl Thoughts

  • First Half Note 1: That was a horrible half of a football. Was it entertaining? Sure. But so is college football and that is rarely good either. Blown coverages, horrible tackling, wide open receivers, college-level kicking. This game should be the showcase of the league’s two best teams. Sadly, when it comes to the 2017 season, this game may be all we got.
  • First Half Note 2: The Eagles didn’t just look tougher, they looked like they had the better sideline. And even in the two Patriots Super Bowl losses, that was never the case. Pederson was running circles around Patricia.
  • Halftime: The halftime show was one of the greatest I’ve ever seen. Oh wait, no, I was cleaning my crockpot and listening to Harry Nilsson tracks in my kitchen while some people pantomimed horn playing in the middle of a football field for no reason whatsoever. Would love to see the NFL skip this worthless musical display one year and instead replace it with a speech from the Walter Payton Man of the Year winner after a short video presentation saluting that player’s work. Why not use your largest platform to promote some of the good being done by those involved in the game instead of promoting Justin Timberlake to sell some Pepsi?
  • Second Half Note 1: Tweeted a question. If you were the Eagles, and you won the Super Bowl with Foles, would you consider offering Wentz to the Browns for their two early firsts? Watching the second half, if I were the Eagles, I would even hesitate. Wentz is a terrific player but this Eagles team is proving they can win with Foles and he’s affordable. So why not stack the roster around him?
  • Second Half Note 2: Let’s be honest. This game came down to one play, the Brandon Graham sack/fumble of Brady late in the fourth. It was the only defensive play made in this Big 12 affair.
  • Final Thought: Think about what Doug Pederson and Nick Foles and the Eagles just did. They beat (a) the defending NFC champs (b) the league’s best defense and (c) Brady & Belichick en route to the franchise’s first Super Bowl title. This is legendary stuff in Philadelphia.

All Urlacher…after the jump!

Urlacher Into Hall of Fame (I)

Urlacher into Hall of Fame (II)

There have been many Urlacher pieces. It’s almost like the Chicago sports media like Brian way more now than when he played because now they’re getting content out of him. Adam Hoge has some solid quotes from relevant folks in his column:

“I think he’s the smartest player that I’ve ever played against,” Rodgers said. “No one has played the position like he did, with the freedom to check in-and-out of coverages. And obviously the talent is second to none — a guy that big, that fast, that athletic, and with those instincts.”

When informed of Rodgers’ comments, Urlacher reacted with a “wow” and needed a second to gather a response.

“It’s a huge compliment coming from him. We had some good, good battles. We went back and forth. Most of our battles happened at the line of scrimmage before the ball was even snapped. So to have him say that means a lot to me,” Urlacher said.

Former teammate Charles Tillman echoed a similar sentiment on the red carpet.

“Football IQ, I think that’s what set him a part from everybody else,” Tillman said. “He was the leader. He was the cornerstone. He was the rock. He was like that point guard. He set the tone, he set the pace for everybody. He was that big brother that you didn’t want to let down.”

Panthers tight end Greg Olsen, who played with Urlacher for four years, focused on the linebacker’s character.

“I think the best thing I can say about Brian is that he treated everybody in that organization — from the star quarterback all the way down to the ticket guy — the exact same. He made everybody feel important, he made everybody feel special. He was the ultimate leader. I can’t say enough about what he did for me personally and so many other guys,” Olsen said.

One of the first people to congratulate Urlacher Saturday was former Bears head coach Lovie Smith, whose Tampa-2 scheme allowed the linebacker thrive.

“We didn’t play ‘run down the middle every play’ Cover-2, we played attack-and-aggressive pass defense and we rushed the passer,” Urlacher said. “So (Lovie) just let me do things with my athletic ability and be around the line of scrimmage more — more picks, more passing plays, so he developed me.”

Urlacher into Hall of Fame (III)

Urlacher into Hall of Fame (IV)

And here are some links!

  • Listen, I hate The Athletic’s approach to basically everything. (Has anybody at that bastion of journalistic integrity asked about Durkin’s Twitter followers yet? Spoiler: They didn’t all come free of charge.) But it’s worth reading Dan Pompei’s breakdown of how he intended to present Urlacher to the room on Saturday. He succeeded.
  • Urlacher and Lance Briggs talk about football stuff on NBC Sports Chicago.
  • The responsible parties for “oral histories” should be drawn and quartered in the public square. EVERYTHING does not warrant a fucking oral history. Bears/Cardinals in 2006, a miracle in the desert, Brian Urlacher’s greatest game, does. In 2016, Dan Wiederer did that work for the Chicago Tribune.
  • Our own Data wrote a thank you to Brian Urlacher at some point for some other website. Why not read it HERE?
  • Here’s Urlacher with MMQB on concussions, Trubisky, his new hair and much, much more. Lach’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier but he’s got some interesting things to say on football matters.

Urlacher into Hall of Fame (V)

Everybody has their favorite Urlacher plays. Mine was in Giants Stadium, 2006. Urlacher perfectly read a Chad Pennington pass in the end zone for a pick. I was right above it. (It is :30 into the following clip.)

Friday’s podcast will be dedicated to the Brian Urlacher HoF announcement. 

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