[CBFF] Inside the Bears: Combine: Lovie Smith transcription - Sent Using Google Toolbar

[Kenny Claxton]

lol

On 2/21/08, Phil DeNomme <pdenomme at gmail.com> wrote:
> Vague?  Lovie is never vague....
>
> On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 12:43 PM, Victor Waldron <victor19 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Wow, his answers are about as vague as they could be.
> >
> > V
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 12:39 PM, Tom Shannon <tshanno at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Inside the Bears: Combine: Lovie Smith transcription
> > >
> > >  Combine: Lovie Smith transcription
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >  LOVIE SMITH
> > >
> > >  OPENING REMARKS
> > >
> > >  After a disappointing season as you look at the body of the work I was
> > >  excited the way we were able to finish the last couple of games and
> > >  beat a couple of good football teams. I feel like that started
> > >  hopefully our climb back on top for the 2008 season. Since then, for
> > >  the most part, we have been able to keep our coaching staff in place.
> > >  We've lost one coach, we'll probably end up losing two coaches, but I
> > >  feel like we have someone in place to fill all of those positions.
> > >  Then from there it is about our personnel, No. 1 trying to keep as
> > >  many of our core players as possible, which hopefully we'll be able to
> > >  do. We have a couple issues with that, but we feel like we're making
> > >  progress with some of them. And we've had to release a couple players
> > >  that have meant a lot to our ballclub, guys like Fred Miller, Muhsin
> > >  Muhammad, Darwin Walker, players that played a big part in what we did
> > >  this past year. But with the new year change comes about. We feel
> > >  excited about the direction we are going. Of course it is always good
> > >  to come down to the combine. You feel like you get a chance to look at
> > >  some other players that will be a part of your ballclub the next year.
> > >  So, that's where we are, I'll take your questions.
> > >
> > >  HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO BRING BERNARD BERRIAN BACK?
> > >
> > >  It's very important. Players that you've brought up, we drafted
> > >  Bernard, we've seen him grow as a person, of course as a player. He's
> > >  a very good football player. He's a 1 receiver. It's important.
> > >  Hopefully we can find a way to keep him in Chicago.
> > >
> > >  IS IT VIABLE TO TAG BERRIAN?
> > >
> > >  Well, of course we are keeping all options open. Right now, as much as
> > >  anything, I am just interested in us trying to find a way, however we
> > >  have to do it to keep him there.
> > >
> > >  ASSESS YOUR QB SITUATION CURRENTLY?
> > >
> > >  Well, right now, just like most of our ballclub, we weren't happy with
> > >  everything that happened this past year. But right now Rex Grossman is
> > >  an unrestricted free agent who is out there. We of course would like
> > >  for him to come back, along with our two other quarterbacks we have
> > >  right now. Every position we're trying to improve right now. That's
> > >  where we are with the quarterback position and again hopefully we can
> > >  stabilize it a little bit more coming up.
> > >
> > >  IS THE WINDOW STILL OPEN FOR YOU TO COMPETE FOR THE SUPER BOWL OR ARE
> > >  YOU REBUILDING?
> > >
> > >  Well, we're definitely not rebuilding. As far as Super Bowl window, it
> > >  was a long time ago it seems like we played in the Super Bowl. But we
> > >  like the core of our team still. I feel like we're close. It's a fine
> > >  line between winning and losing. This past season it went the other
> > >  way for us. The Super Bowl champion New York Giants had an excellent
> > >  year, we were right in it with them right up until the end. So we feel
> > >  like we are close. We'll make a few changes which you do normally and
> > >  go from there.
> > >
> > >  DO YOU HAVE MORE HOLES TO FILL NOW THAN A YEAR AGO?
> > >
> > >  Again, that's a long time ago thinking about what we talked about
> > >  then. I know we do have a few things we do need to get taken care of
> > >  right now though. But I feel like the good part about, I guess not
> > >  being in the playoffs, is you get a chance to start the process a
> > >  little bit quicker which we've been able to do. It's been a while, we
> > >  missed the last couple of Senior Bowls, we were down there watching
> > >  them this year. So we have some holes but we feel like we are making
> > >  progress.
> > >
> > >  HOW DO YOU VIEW THE LANCE BRIGGS SITUATION RIGHT NOW?
> > >
> > >  Well, just like I said with Bernard, my entire time in Chicago I have
> > >  been with Lance Briggs. He's been an All-Pro player for us, how many
> > >  teams would like to see an all-pro go somewhere else? So, I'm
> > >  optimistic. My glass is half-full always. Hopefully, that will be the
> > >  case. I know we have made statements, we realize when you have a
> > >  player out there like Lance a lot of teams want him. We're one of them
> > >  that do.
> > >
> > >  DO YOU SEE MIKE BROWN RETURNING FOR 2008?
> > >
> > >  We sure do. Mike is another part of the core. Even though he has
> > >  missed a lot of games, Mike means quite a bit. I'm a big Mike Brown
> > >  fan. I always have been. Yes, we would definitely like to have Mike
> > >  back with us.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >  WHAT ABOUT RUBEN BROWN?
> > >
> > >  Ruben Brown has meant a lot to our ballclub, you know a veteran player
> > >  at the latter part of his career when he came to us. He did a lot for
> > >  us, but we're going to go in a different direction with Ruben. I
> > >  appreciate everything he has done for us, but we are going in a
> > >  different direction with our offensive line.
> > >
> > >  DO YOU THINK A FIRST ROUND TIGHT END COMING INTO THE LEAGUE HAS MORE
> > >  OF A CHANCE OF AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT THAN A WR IN THE FIRST ROUND?
> > >
> > >  You know that is hard to say. For us, we have a first-round tight end
> > >  (Greg Olsen) who had an excellent year for us. I'm sure good players
> > >  in general can make an impact. I think you have to look at each
> > >  individual player and go from there.
> > >
> > >  DID YOU GET FEELING THAT PATRIOTS HAD INFORMATION ABOUT RAMS IN SUPER
> > BOWL 36?
> > >
> > >  No, not at all. Again, I'm having a hard time remembering last year's
> > >  press conference. To think back to St. Louis, that's definitely harder
> > >  for me. But I recall is that we were beaten by a good football team
> > >  that year. It was an excellent football game. And that's about all I
> > >  remember from it.
> > >
> > >   PRECAUTIONS YOU TAKE FROM TEAMS STEALING SIGNS?
> > >
> > >  Signals … we take all type of precautions. You have wristband calls
> > >  and things like that. I don't spend a whole lot of time … most of our
> > >  effort goes into trying to find a way to be successful on the football
> > >  field doing it the right way. We spend most of our time on that. We
> > >  have precautions in place to guard against that on game day, and
> > >  that's how we've always done it.
> > >
> > >  YOUR RECEIVER CORPS ASIDE FROM BERRIAN?
> > >
> > >  Whenever you go in a different direction from a player like Muhsin
> > >  Muhammad, you have to feel pretty good about some other players that
> > >  you have, and that's the case with us. Mark Bradley has been very
> > >  productive when given an opportunity to play. From his rookie year on,
> > >  he's fought injuries and things like that. But we fell real good about
> > >  the direction he's going. Devin Hester can be a '1' receiver in the
> > >  league, I truly believe that. So we're excited about the steps he took
> > >  this past season and the direction he's going also. Rashied Davis,
> > >  good football player. Mike Hass, another good football player. So we
> > >  feel good about some of our younger receivers. They haven't come on
> > >  the scene yet, but we think a few of them can.
> > >
> > >  DANGERS OF HAVING NO. 1 OVERALL PICK?
> > >
> > >  I assume there are some dangers involved. You're getting the best
> > >  player coming out in the draft, so I guess that has to be good.
> > >  Hopefully we won't be in that situation very often that I have to deal
> > >  with.
> > >
> > >  WITH TWO CHANGES ON O-LINE, IS O-LINE BIGGER CONCERN THAN QB PLAY?
> > >
> > >  Whenever you take two starting players out of the rotation, that is
> > >  cause for concern. If it's bigger than the play of the quarterback, I
> > >  don't know about that. We have a lot of things that we're trying to
> > >  improve. But that is a big area of concern right now. We feel like we
> > >  have a plan to try to combat that a little bit, but we've lost two
> > >  good football players.
> > >
> > >  LOST TWO STARTERS, BUT WITH TERRENCE METCALF STRUGGLING, NEED MORE THAN
> > 2?
> > >
> > >  In the offseason you're trying to improve your ballclub. We're not
> > >  saying we have all of those areas taken care of. We're going to try to
> > >  bring in as many good football players as we possibly game. Terrence
> > >  was disappointing at times, but sometimes when you have a while to
> > >  think about it, you come in in a little bit different situation. He
> > >  has played good football in the past in spots. Believe me, we're just
> > >  not going to stop with that. That's why we're down here. Of course
> > >  there's free agency and there's a lot of different ways for us to
> > >  improve our offensive line.
> > >
> > >  HOW COMFORTABLE ARE YOU WITH A ROOKIE STARTING ON OLINE?
> > >
> > >  I'm comfortable with a good football player. You know our history. We
> > >  play young players. We've had success with older players. We're
> > >  looking at the player, period, and go from there.
> > >
> > >  CONSIDER MOVING TAIT TO "NATURAL HOME" ON RIGHT SIDE?
> > >
> > >  I don't know if I'd say natural home. Of course he's played both of
> > >  them. That's an option that we have and we'll keep all of our options
> > >  open right now. The direction we go with the other position will
> > >  dictate of what happens with John.
> > >
> > >  WHY CAN YOU COUNT ON CEDRIC BENSON?
> > >
> > >  We know more about Cedric right now in that lead position. He didn't
> > >  have a good year, and there are reasons why, from the injuries and
> > >  just his overall play wasn't what we would like for it to be this past
> > >  season. I still have confidence in Cedric that he can do the job. I
> > >  know that he's a good football player. A lot of times when you have a
> > >  disappointing year, just like a ballclub, you come back a lot stronger
> > >  that next year. We're hoping that will be the case with Cedric, and
> > >  again, I still say he's a good football player and he can be
> > >  productive in our league.
> > >
> > >  IS HE THE BEARS' NO. 1 RB?
> > >
> > >  Right now it would be hard for me to say many guys are No. 1 at their
> > >  position. You open everything up. I would like for all of our players
> > >  to think that they're No. 1 coming in. Again, Cedric, we know what he
> > >  was able to do. Adrian Peterson was productive and finished the season
> > >  out strong and I still think Garrett Wolfe has a bright future ahead
> > >  of him.
> > >
> > >  WILL TEAMS OVERSPEND IN FREE AGENCY WITH CAP INCREASE?
> > >
> > >  Again, that's hard to say too. I hope that's not the case with us.
> > >  Hopefully having more money we can get better players in to help us
> > >  win.
> > >
> > >  ARCHULETA HAVE FUTURE WITH TEAM?
> > >
> > >  Adam, just like some more of our players, didn't have the type of
> > >  season we were hoping, he was hoping. But he's still a part of our
> > >  ballclub and we're expecting him to come back stronger this year.
> > >
> > >  HAS RELATIONSHIP WITH PLAYER CHANGED WHEN USE A FRANCHISE TAG?
> > >
> > >  I'm trying to think now … we haven't put the franchise tag … I don't
> > >  know a whole lot about that. I haven't been in that situation a lot.
> > >  But I think players now understand if you put a franchise time on them
> > >  you're saying that they're a good football player, you want them
> > >  around and you're going to try to find ways to work something out from
> > >  there. So I think they understand why you're doing it. As far as does
> > >  the relationship change, I would hope it wouldn't.
> > >
> > >  DID IT CHANGE WITH LANCE LAST YEAR?
> > >
> > >  Lance's situation was a little bit different. Lance Briggs showed up.
> > >  He missed some work that wasn't mandatory in the offseason. But when
> > >  it was time to show up, he showed up. We had the same type of
> > >  relationship. I've communicated with Lance after the season, so I
> > >  can't say that that affected anything. All we said, again when you say
> > >  that, it's just saying that you really like this player a lot and
> > >  these are the challenges you have to go through right now.
> > >
> > >  How much thought do you put into thE COMBINE?
> > >
> > >  I think this is just a part of the evaluation process. You find out a
> > >  lot, you have players who know how to answer a lot of the questions,
> > >  they've been prepped on some of those things but once you get out
> > >  there you get a chance to see guys running 40s, doing those type of
> > >  events and you see a guy going through the position drills, that only
> > >  helps your evaluation process and this is only a part of it. Then you
> > >  go back and analyze more video, hopefully you have more one-on-one
> > >  conversations with the guy and go from there.
> > >
> > >  Theme of the off-season?
> > >
> > >  I Think 31 teams will say this, it's trying to get back. It's next
> > >  year about us. Last year, even though we had a good football season we
> > >  didn't accomplish our goal, to win the championship. This year is the
> > >  same so it's the same goal, it won't change, our three goals that
> > >  we've established for our program will be the same and hopefully this
> > >  year we'll have better success.
> > >
> > >  URLACHER'S SURGERY?
> > >
> > >  What exactly is wrong with him? He had minor neck surgery. And I say
> > >  minor. As far as when he'll be back, and all of that, whenever you say
> > >  minor with something, I expect ... Brian finished the season very
> > >  strong this past year. We expect him to pick up where he left off with
> > >  another great year.
> > >
> > >  Fell victim to the From SUPER BOWL to missing the playoffs jinx?
> > >
> > >  Well last year I was hit with those questions and I talked about how
> > >  it wouldn';t happen to us but it happened to us. I don't know the
> > >  reasons why. Teams go through a lot of different things. I just say we
> > >  didn't play as well as we needed to this past year, don';t know the
> > >  reason why and really can't spend a lot of time trying to figure it
> > >  out. We're out of that group now. I',m interested in a team that lost
> > >  the Super Bowl, didn't make the playoffs the next year then came back
> > >  and won it the next.
> > >
> > >  Can't hear, think it's about the increased pre-Combine prep being done
> > >  these days?
> > >
> > >  I think any of that, all of that is good. Guys are working out longer,
> > >  they start their routine earlier which should only make them a better
> > >  football player. The specialized things that they go through, I think
> > >  all of that only helps so I think it's a good thing.
> > >
> > >  AFTER THE EXTENSION, IS ALEX BROWN THE STARTER AT RIGHT END NOW?
> > >
> > >  Like I talked about Cedric, right now just rather not talk about a lot
> > >  of the starting positions. Whenever you sign a player, you make a
> > >  commitment like that, you're saying that you really like that guy a
> > >  lot. Alex Brown finished the season off strong, he's a good football
> > >  player. But even last year, even though Mark Anderson started, we
> > >  talked about three starters. He played a much as ... our three ends
> > >  all played about the same amount. I think nowadays guys are going ..
> > >  they would like to see instead of four linemen they would like to see
> > >  8, 7 linemen that you can put in the rotation and you feel like
> > >  they're all starters. Alex is definitely in that group.
> > >
> > >  DON'T TAKE PLAYERS WHO DON'T WORK OUT AS SERIOUSLY?
> > >
> > >  Some people do, no I don't. Young kids getting advice from a lot of
> > >  different places. I would like to see them, we would like to see them,
> > >  but there are a lot of great players playing in the league right now
> > >  who didn't work out at the combine. That's just a part of it.
> > >
> > >  Minority hiring? Look forward to the day when it's not necessary to
> > >  have the Rooney rule?
> > >
> > >  Hopefully there will be a time when it isn't necessary but whenever
> > >  there's a rule in place that gives minority guys an opportunity to get
> > >  in front of owners to show what we have to get a head job, I think
> > >  that's good. Eventually yes, times have changed an awful lot, we've
> > >  made a lot of progress, we have a long way to go, but progress has
> > >  been made and the Rooney Rule has definitely helped that.
> > >
> > >  FOLLOW ON SPYGATE?
> > >
> > >  I don't go into accusations an awful lot. I think it's dangerous to do
> > >  that. Of course I was aware of what's going on, whenever you have
> > >  people accusing guys of doing things like that, it's just hard for me
> > >  to fathom that anyone would do anything like that. Those were my
> > >  thoughts right away and I trust our NFL office and I'm sure there's
> > >  something to it, No. 1 that will come out later on, time has a way of
> > >  taking care of all things and again during that time I was just more
> > >  interested in watching a great game which I saw and had this picture
> > >  of the Chicago Bears being back in Tampa next year in that same
> > >  environment.
> > >
> > >  HOW DID DEFENSE SUFFER WITHOUT RON RIVERA?
> > >
> > >  That's hard to say on how someone that was with us the year before. We
> > >  didn't have as good a year defensively as we'd like. I don't think it
> > >  had much to do with Ron Rivera. I think it had something to do with
> > >  the guys that were there, players didn't play as well, coaches didn't
> > >  coach as well as we needed to just like the rest of our team.
> > >
> > >  YOUR SAFETY SITUATION AND DO YOU REGRET TRADING CHRIS HARRIS?
> > >
> > >  With Chris Harris. No, when you make decisions based on the moment, we
> > >  had at the time a lot of depth at the safety position, now it didn't
> > >  end up being that way at the end of the year. Chris Harris was a good
> > >  player, Chris Harris just signed a big contract, that's good. It's
> > >  always good when players that don't fit in completely with our
> > >  situation, get a chance to go off and sign a contract like this, so I
> > >  think it worked out. We feel good about where we are and it really
> > >  worked out good for Chris.
> > >
> > >   Posted by Brad Biggs on February 21, 2008 10:32 AM | Permalink
> > >
> > >  _______________________________________________
> > >  CBFF Homepage and Blog:
> > >  http://chicagobearsfanforum.com
> > >
> >
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