Johnny Manziel interviews Brian Urlacher.
You may not like either of these guys on a personal level, but at least they squeeze out some interesting sport’s talk.
Some Spark-Notes from Lach
‘I loved playing against Michael Vick, Culpepper, or any QB who can move really, to show off my stuff’
I still recall Lach chasing down a prime-Vick. It was a sight to behold. Lovie Smith’s Cover-2 was almost custom made to stop running QBs. Everyone attacked their gaps. ‘DE just had to get a hand to slow down QB’. All 11 eyes were in the backfield, so the second a QB split, all 11 rallied to the ball, and under Lovie, they closed with good angles and tackle discipline. On top of that, any runner had to worry about getting Peanut-punched by every defender amped to create a turnover.
This might be why the Cover-2 is back in fashion with so many running QBs though they’re a bit more exotic than the Lovie-2
‘Favre would give us 2-3 chances [for INTs], but he threw it so damn hard, hard to pick-off sometimes’
‘Rodgers knew our checks. You play any team enough, they’re gonna know. So we had to change our pirate checks [that started with “P”]…so one play Lance [Briggs] starts yelling, “Big Pussy! Big Pussy!” and Aaron just started laughing before the snap.”
‘2006 was unbelievable…but I think we had a better team in 2010’ [the year Jay Cutler messed up his MCL vs GB in the NFC Championship and Caleb Hanie came off the bench]
Who did the media get wrong? Jay, Bmarsh?
‘Julius Peppers. The media [in 2010] put out a narrative that he didn’t practice hard or took plays off. That dude showed up to work every day and busted his ass off in practice’
‘Bmarsh said some crazy things, but a lot of people do. He was out there on the jugs machine 45 minutes before the game. Jay simply didn’t care, so it doesn’t matter if the media got him wrong’
Dooooon’t Caaarrrrrre…
Lach talks about hating players kneeling during national anthem, and how he tuned out of the NFL during that time.
‘2005 we had four players who got Defensive Player of Year votes. Me [Lach], Briggs, Alex Brown and Nathan Vasher”
“There’s pre-season, regular season, and post-season speed”
‘SB, opening kickoff, Devin Hester takes it to the house. Then, Chris Harris picks off Peyton Manning on their opening drive. Then, we just shit the bed’
‘Some fans accuse Rex Grossman of playing badly, but he didn’t play that bad. We gave up 250 yds passing, and 190 yds rushing. That’s not good, not when all season long we were giving up like 300 total.”
I’m a little surprised by this, but perhaps I shouldn’t be. For starters, Lach is a leader, and not about to throw anyone under the bus. But, c’mon, Lach, there’s a reason Sex Cannon washed out of the league.
Too bad Manziel didn’t mention Lovie’s baffling decision to stop running Thomas Jones and instead insert Cedric Benson who proceeded almost immediately to fumble it away…
“I had 21 different QBs in my 13 seasons”
‘Lovie was like your dad, a guy you wouldn’t want to disappoint. In one game when we were down to the Lions with a backup QB, at halftime, Lovie said ‘crap, darn and dang’ in the same sentence, and we knew it was go-time. We beat the crap out of them in the 2nd half.’
“They should’ve never fired Lovie”
‘I didn’t like the way they [Halas] handled the offer they made me though I’m glad I didn’t return [to endure the Marc Trestman era].’
“I had TOO much fun spending $ in college” – Johnny Manziel
“I was happy when my mom gave me quarters for laundry. Now kids are getting $100K a month”
Same here, Lach. I always hoped an extra quarter or two slipped in so I can play Shinobi or Double Dragon! 100K? I could buy the whole damn laundromat with that.
“What are dos and don’t of training camp?” Manziel
Lach, ‘You learn what to take up there, what to do in your off-time, what you shouldn’t be doing. We first went to Platteville about 4 hours away. Then Bourbonnais. I liked going away.’
‘I knew I wasn’t going to be a 6’4, 250 lb safety. They first tried me at SAM, but I was terrible. Rosi [Roosevelt Colvin I’m guessing] beat me out in 2 weeks. They had me line up directly over the TE and jam, but I didn’t know how to use my hands. I’m now a draft bust. Barry Minter gets hurt in week 2. Greg Blache [Then current Bears’ DC] says, ‘Go in and play MIKE’, I told him, “I never played MIKE’
Blache, ‘just run to the ball and we’ll figure it out’
Lach, “and I started every game after that at MIKE’
Reminds me of the saying, “don’t judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree”. To the outside world, SAM and MIKE seem nearly identical, but those few yards were the difference between a draft bust and a HOFer. In college, Lach’s coach played him at Rover, which allowed Lach to show off his athleticism and versatility.
Something to think about with Bears’ new coaching staff and life in general
‘I wasn’t even going to run the 40, but Greg Blache challenged me, and I ran a 4.56 at 258 which opened a lot of NFL eyes at the combine.’
‘I love Caleb. If you put him in a different situation like Jayden with Klingsbury or Bo with Sean Payton, I think Caleb could’ve been ROY’
‘Ben Johnson’s the man’
‘Before Lovie got there, we played fast, but once he was HC, we played hard and fast. He kept track of loafs. You know how embarrassing it is to get in front of the whole team and be called out for loafing?’
Manziel, “One word to sum up your prime”
Lach, “Relentless.”