madlithuanian

Tempting. But I think V-Jack could be had for the same money w/o losing the pick or the player. We'll still have to pay Larry a boat load. I will say this though, if JA had the stones to give our #1 and Johnny K for Larry, I can't say I'd be sorry. He better damn well be trying to get some OL in FA and the draft though!

Dammit... Just when I'm about ready to concede, you guys pull me back in! Sold.

OK, now I'm getting swayed! Although, I'm not sure it matters... We're going to be getting Smith for at least another 3 years I think.

I agree. At this point in time, he's not enough of an improvement. Talk Cowher, and I'm listening intently... I'm looking for a winner. And someone with consistency that got his team far most the time.

But do you understand where the furstration is with the folks that bash Smith for being stoic? While it would seem unjustified when disecting it logically, the emotional reaction of some fans is that what he's doing is not working, so you want to change everything. Not just the poor game management, the poor player development, the smugness, etc...you want something completely different. I gurantee, if we had Tom Landry, no one would be complaining that he's not emotional enough. I do agree..bashing Smith for solely being non-emotional isn't justified. But it's just a piece of greater dislikes that happens to be an easy target. If you check most my rants agasint Smith, I may mention the lack of emotion, but it's after laying into him about coaching failures. (But I plea guilty, because I'm sure that somewhere in a beer laced post, I probably bashed him solely for having no emotion coining the term Zombie Smith) It's kind of like harping on Ryan Leaf and then saying he dressed like a fool. At that point, it's just another thing to dislike about him. And it's true. Unlike the bashing of Cutler that he's not tough, Smith is truly not emotional. This post was probably no help! Becasue while I agree with you, I also disagree. I feel like a jacka$$ politician at the moment! Maybe I should run for mayor...

Agreed. Rice would be a great addition as well. Would be kind of funny that they would have Berrian and we'd have Rice if that went down as such...

I hope and pray to Papa Bear that JA isn't stupid enough to think Edwards is better than V-Jack... If he's going to get a WR in FA, I would like to think he'd get the best available to help his QB since he's thrown him under the bus with no protection physically and in the PR department.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-t...ace051608%C2%A0 Cutler adjusting to life with diabetes By Michael Silver, Yahoo! Sports May 16, 2008 ATMLiesOxygenJulioSearchRoyalsSongENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Jay Cutler entered the cafeteria at the Denver Broncos' training facility Thursday afternoon, a notebook full of offensive alignments in one hand and a small, black zip-up pouch in the other. I was far more interested in the pouch: a kit containing a lancet device, blood-glucose meter and test strips – the tools for drawing blood from a fingertip and checking his blood sugars. After sitting down at a table, the strong-armed quarterback placed the pouch in front of him and began talking about the balancing act that has become the predominant force in his young life. "This goes everywhere with me," Cutler said, spinning the pouch as though it were a football after he'd just snuck across the goal line. "The first thing I do in the morning is test myself to see where I am, and it's the last thing I do before I go to bed. This whole thing is a little scary sometimes, but it's not like you have a choice. It's part of your life, you know?" AdChoices I nodded yes. Unfortunately, I know all too well what it means to manage Type I diabetes on a constant and vigilant basis. It sometimes feels like riding a rollercoaster through a dark tunnel that never ends. Cutler, who learned of his fate a month ago Thursday, is among the approximately one million Americans suffering from the chronic condition. He found out a couple of weeks shy of his 25th birthday – and almost three years to the day that my son, now nine, was diagnosed. Yes, I know the exact date that everything changed, as do most people I've encountered in the Type I community. Other than the birth of our children, my wife and I regard it as the most significant event in our nearly 17 years of marriage. Before I try to provide some insight into this often misunderstood and perpetually frustrating illness, and how it might impact Cutler's promising football career, let me make one thing clear: Managing Type I diabetes isn't fun, and I wish my family and the other similarly afflicted friends we've made didn't have to bear the burden. But I'm also well aware that there are many adults and children forced to confront far more tragic circumstances, and I feel extremely fortunate that my son is a happy kid who is thriving in many ways and should have a great, long life ahead of him. He's also, I strongly suspect, about to become a Jay Cutler fan, if only because he understands and sympathizes with what the insulin-dependent passer will have to go through for the foreseeable future – and, unless there is a cure, forever. From what I can tell, the majority of people not in that boat (and I certainly was one of them until getting slapped in the face three years ago) don't really get it. "Everyone's got a special drink or something for me to try that's supposedly either gonna 'cure' it or 'help' it," Cutler said, shaking his head. "Or people say, 'Hey, you've been eating bad' or, 'You've been drinking alcohol, and that's what brought it on.' They mean well, but they don't understand." One thing I understand after Thursday's long conversation with Cutler: A month after getting diagnosed and going on insulin, he feels much, much better than he did during most of the 2007 season, when he dropped 33 pounds, lost the zip on his passes and felt increasingly weak and fatigued. But before I get into the details of his specific case, here's a basic template for those unfamiliar with diabetes: • It's confusing, but there are two very different conditions that are referred to as "diabetes" – Type I, formerly known as juvenile diabetes, and Type II. Of the people who call themselves "diabetic," an estimated 90 to 95 percent are Type II. Both conditions involve the body's inability to regulate blood sugars through insulin, a chemical secreted by the pancreas, but there are some important distinctions. Type II diabetes, often brought on by obesity or poor nutrition, involves a breakdown in the body's ability to process the insulin it makes. For that reason, improved diet and exercise can often improve the condition and lead to the reduction or elimination of the need for insulin injections. Type I is an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks itself and destroys its insulin-making cells. There is no behavior that "causes" it; doctors believe it is a genetic condition often triggered by an environmental stress, such as a virus. It is more typically diagnosed in childhood but in recent years it has become increasingly common for people Cutler's age or older to become symptomatic. Those who suffer from Type I are completely insulin dependent, and there is nothing that can be done to change that fact. • Many awful side effects are associated with diabetes, including stroke, kidney failure, amputation and blindness. However, through proper and prolonged control of one's blood sugars, those dangers can be largely mitigated. Yet control not only requires hyper-vigilance, but it also correlates to a rise in the regular occurrence of hypoglycemic episodes, or "lows" – the scariest day-to-day element of diabetes management. • To control blood sugars, most people use one of those finger-stick kits like the one Cutler carries to check their blood-glucose reading on a frequent basis, certainly before meals and often as much as 15 times a day. When that number is higher than the intended target range, additional insulin can be given through shots or via a battery-powered pump that is threaded into the body (the plastic insertion devices typically must be removed, reloaded and relocated every two or three days). When the number is low, fast-acting carbohydrates – usually juice or glucose tablets – must be ingested. It is also important that a person accurately computes the amount of carbohydrates he/she consumes, ideally by reading labels and measuring or weighing portions. Insulin is then dispensed according to a preset ratio (which also needs to be tweaked based on frequent testing). Exercise, stress, illness, alcohol consumption and altitude are some of the other factors which can impact blood sugars, and even under the best of conditions managing them is far from a perfect science. • The most immediate stress most people with Type I diabetes face is the fear that they will overshoot their insulin dose and go "low" – meaning the oxygen gradually stops flowing to their brain. If carbohydrates aren't ingested quickly, someone suffering from such a hypoglycemic episode can become disoriented and runs the risk of seizure, long-term brain damage, coma or death. For this reason my wife and I give our son far less freedom to roam than many of his peers and sometimes wake up several times in the middle of the night to ensure that his sugars are within a safe range. (It's also the reason why Cutler's mother, Sandy, who lives in the Denver area, insisted on spending the night at her son's house after he was first diagnosed – until, Jay says, "I had to pretty much force her out of the house.") Conversely, running "high" makes you feel lousy and, when it occurs on a frequent and prolonged basis, drastically increases the chance that a person will suffer long-term side effects. As Cutler says, "That alone will scare you into getting your levels right." It's still very early, but I get the feeling Cutler will try to rise to this challenge the same way he has aggressively attempted to master coach Mike Shanahan's intricate playbook. The skills that have helped make the third-year veteran a successful quarterback with a legitimate shot at stardom – being focused and organized and goal-oriented – will serve him well when it comes to managing his blood sugars. He has the advantage of a strong support system ranging from his parents to the Broncos' training and nutrition staffs; the latter have been sending him home from the facility on Mondays and Wednesdays with easy-to-prepare meals that include pre-measured carbohydrate counts. For what it's worth, Cutler's attitude thus far has been appreciably positive. "Since he got diagnosed, his (mood) is like night-and-day from what it was before," says Marty Garafalo, Cutler's business manager. "He even smiles now." There are obvious explanations for the change in demeanor, some of them purely physical. The 6-foot-3 Cutler, who reported for training camp last summer at 242 pounds and struggled to get down to 235 by the season opener, suddenly began losing weight in October and dropped all the way to 202 by the final game. By then he was exhibiting many of the symptoms associated with untreated high blood sugars, including severe thirst, dry mouth, fatigue, frequent urination and ravenous hunger. "I was just crushing food," he recalls. "I was eating six meals a day – I'd eat a meal and like 30 minutes later I'd be ready to eat again. Yet I kept losing weight, and they were telling me it was the stress. I was like, 'I'm not that stressed.' I mean, my jeans were falling off my body and I was all pale. I looked like hell." By all rights Cutler, who completed 63.6 percent of his passes while throwing for 20 touchdowns against 14 interceptions in '07, should have played like hell down the stretch. Yet remarkably, though the Broncos lost four of their last six games to finish 7-9, Cutler put up relatively decent numbers during that span. Looking back, he admits, "Those last six or seven games, I was finished. I'd go into games tired and didn't really understand why. I lost a lot of zip on my passes. I was missing deep balls and couldn't figure out why they were falling short." He felt even worse after the season, especially during the month he spent in Atlanta working out with teammates Tony Scheffler and Brandon Marshall. "I'd always prided myself on working out and being strong in the weight room, but I had nothing," Cutler says. "I'd get through about half the workout and just be done. I'd go home and sleep all day long, and it's not like I'd been out partying the night before. I was taking every nutritional pill and drink known to man, and they weren't working." Last month, when he returned to Denver, Cutler took a blood test and discovered why he'd been feeling so lousy. His first emotion was relief. Then everything turned surreal: He was sitting in a doctor's office getting an intensified course in introductory diabetes management and, before going home, injecting a dose of long-acting insulin into his thigh. Now back up to 230 pounds, Cutler says he feels "10 times better" than he did a month ago. Yet he's still feeling his way through the abrupt lifestyle transition, enduring inconveniences like the time he went to dinner with friends, broke the needle off of the only syringe in his possession and drove home to get replacements, a process that took about an hour. He has grown increasingly less self-conscious about injecting himself in front of others, laughing as he recalls the scene he caused while attending a wedding shortly after being diagnosed. "I went into the bathroom to test and give myself a shot, and I had all my stuff laid out on a table," he says. "Some guy walked in and saw me and all those needles and high-tailed it out of there. He probably thought I was doing heroin!" When Cutler shares anecdotes such as that one, he reveals an edge that until recently many outside observers didn't know existed. After being drafted 11th overall in 2006 after a reasonably anonymous career at Vanderbilt, the Santa Claus, Ind., native often seemed devoid of personality during interviews, remaining guarded to everyone but those who knew him best. That started to change even before his diagnosis. After Marshall, the Broncos' talented third-year receiver, sustained a severe injury to his right arm after putting it through a television set during a wrestling match with his brother, Cutler called out his friend and primary target, telling reporters, "He's not my favorite person right now" and that "it's always something with him." Cutler, who stated Thursday he would repeat those sentiments, says he has discussed becoming more vocal with Broncos passing-game coordinator Jeremy Bates, explaining, "Coming into my third year here, I think it's definitely time." He also realizes that, as a public figure with Type I diabetes, he'll likely receive more attention than he did before. To his credit, he's embracing the opportunity. "This is something I'm going to have to live with forever," he says. "I'm going to try to use it as a positive and help as many people as I can." Cutler, who already has his own charitable foundation, wants to become more actively involved in the push for a cure once he gets a better handle on his routine. In a bizarre coincidence, Garafalo had met with the director of Dedicated to Diabetes, a Denver-based group committed to education about the condition, to discuss Cutler's potential involvement. Cutler, who literally learned of his diagnosis hours later, joined up within days. For now Cutler – like Charlotte Bobcats forward Adam Morrison, Seattle Mariners pitcher Brandon Morrow, golfers Scott Verplank, Michelle McGann and Kelli Kuehne, swimmer Gary Hall Jr. and other pro athletes with Type I – can help the cause simply by conspicuously continuing to perform at a high level, despite the daily challenges he faces. And if seeing him suck down a juice on the sideline or prick his finger during a timeout helps some observers gain a better understanding of the rigors of Type I management, that's not a bad thing. Balancing blood sugars is a confounding and relentless job, one in which, as a friend who also has a child with Type I has wryly pointed out, "there is no time off for good behavior." I thought about this Thursday night when, after flying back from Denver, I took my sons to watch their older sister play the snare drum in an elementary-school band performance. The temperatures had reached triple-digits in our Northern California town, and my son with Type I had suffered from unexplained lows and highs since the early morning – the rollercoaster ride at its most daunting. Midway through the hour-long performance he began to melt down. Though he had just eaten dinner, he complained of extreme hunger. My wife took out the meter from a pouch similar to the one Cutler carries, drew blood and checked his number, which was within the target range. Yet something was clearly off – perhaps he was dropping, or perhaps he merely has a metabolism to which someone unfamiliar with Type I couldn't relate – and I took him out of the auditorium in mid-song, ignoring the looks of other parents who probably wondered why a 9-year-old was falling apart like a toddler. Minutes later, my son had eaten and regained his composure – and then the guilt set in. He apologized for having made us leave early and worried that his sister would be upset. I told him to shrug it off, just as I shrugged it off after finishing this column at 2:48 a.m., a few minutes after having checked my sleeping son's sugars for the sixth time since dinner, and having given yet another dose of insulin through his pump. And I'm smiling as I recall one of the last things Cutler told me as we sat in the cafeteria: "I've read books about parents waking up three to five times every night to check their kids' sugars, and it blows my mind. I've gotten emails from kids that have touched me so much. Once I get all of my stuff a little bit more under control, I'll definitely get involved. I know I can affect a lot of kids in a positive way." Take it to the ATM

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/...hness-demeanor/ Passionate Madden defends Cutler’s toughness, demeanor Posted by Mike Florio on January 28, 2011, 12:05 AM EST Hall of Fame coach John Madden recently joined Adam Schein and Rich Gannon of Sirius NFL Radio to discuss the hottest issue of the week — the injury to Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, whether he could have played with the injury, and whether his demeanor suggested that he cared about the fact that he was missing the second half of the biggest game of his life. In defending Cutler, Madden was passionate, emotional, and as angry as we’ve ever heard him. “I’ve been in football for over 50 years,” Madden said, prefacing his remarks. “I’ve never questioned a player’s toughness. I never have. Whether it was in coaching, broadcasting, whatever.” Madden then turned to Cutler specifically. “There’s no one in the NFL that has a tougher job to do than Jay Cutler,” Madden said. “I think playing quarterback in the NFL is the toughest thing you can do. I think throwing a forward pass and having guys rushing you and hitting you when you’re looking downfield and throwing the ball is the toughest act you have to do.” Madden explained that Cutler plays with Type I diabetes, what that means, and what it requires. After that, Madden got pissed. “And then people are looking at him, they put a camera on him, and they say they don’t like his demeanor,” Madden said. “Demeanor hell!” We don’t use exclamation points lightly. In this specific case, based on the volume with which the words were delivered, we probably should have used three or four of them after the word “hell”. “Live a day in his shoes,” Madden said. “Type I diabetes is not a daytime thing. It’s not a week thing. It’s not a month thing. It’s a life thing. And it’s every day, and it’s every day for 24 hours.” Madden, whose grandson suffers from Type I diabetes, said that Cutler is a role model to kids with the disease, and that Cutler necessarily is tough because of what he does and the realities of the illness from which he suffers. (He’s also tough because, as we’ve pointed out this week, he played the bulk of the 2007 season suffering from the disease and not knowing it, losing more than 30 pounds during the season.) Schein then raised with Madden whether it would have been wise for the Bears to be more direct and candid about the fact that Cutler wasn’t returning to the game, and Madden explained that, if a players is out due to injury, the potential strategic gains from concealing the extent of injuries probably need to be set aside. Through it all, Madden articulated his thoughts in the same plainspoken yet powerful way that made him beloved as a broadcaster. Nearly two years after his retirement, the comments were reminder of what the NFL is missing with Madden no longer serving as perhaps the greatest ambassador to the fans the league has ever had. And hearing him talk about the game he loved makes us hopeful that he’ll stand up on behalf of the fans some point soon and insist that the league and the players work out their differences so that the game he loves may continue. UPDATE: In 2008, Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports provided a thorough look at the challenges Cutler and those with Type I diabetes face every day. Silver knows the never-ending drill; his son has Type I diabetes.

Bingo! I think the "emotion don't matter" folks aren't quite seeing the crux of the story. It's not that screaming alone makes a good coach (Parcells). Or that being stoic (Landry) makes a good coach. Being a good coach is more than that, and I think everyone realizes that. Not all screamers are good coaches (as some like pointing out Ditka), and not all stoic ones are good coaches (Jauron). People take issue with Smith for a variety of reasons. And at the end, one of those is that he isn't fiery. So, it's an easy target. And when you see mistakes, etc...it's easy to pick on that. But the reality, is that I think those folks are really picking on his inability to game manage, his inability to player develop, his stubborness, etc... In some ways, it's not too dis-similar on how Cutler is getting a bad rap. Most folks are pissed in reality that he stunk last game. And then when he goes out of the game, then Fox shows selcetive shots of sulking, the team lists him as questionable instead of out, goes out to Mastro's using the stairmaster, then goes shopping in LA with his cutie...it just makes a person irritated...and then easy to call him a quitter. The calling of him as a quitter is wrong. But, one can harp on him for being inaccurate, having poor mechanics and making bad decisions. That's legit. I think the same is happeneing to a degree with Smith. Partially, becasue the last successful coach we had was full of fire. So, the easy reaction is..."it's not working and it's not the same. I want more of what worked before." Right or wrong... I take my shots at Lovie for all of the above basically. I give him credit for getting to the playoffs, but give him flak for serious errors in the most important game of the season. He went from really an potential A- to a C. Good enough to give him this contract year to see if he did truly learn something, or to see if he just lucked into a healthy and lucky year this past year. I have seroius cautious optimism... The kind that doesn't make me want to lock him in for years to come...

Exactly. And also use the excuse that they drafted Williams as a 1st round OL recently...

Great post. I enjoyed reading your rebuttal.

Not sold on Edwards. I'd rather aim for V-Jack. I'd settle for Edwards though....

In fact...more!

I generally agree. The only agrument is consistency. But, as many have pointed out, it seems that Smith is best when's he's just a figurehead making no real decisions... So, couldn't just about any of our coord's have been HC? Just a thought...

Can't argue with that! jason, you're picks...or at least positions, look like something JA would do. I'm not too savvy in the draft/college players this season, so I'd literally just be throwing darts blindfolded...

Of course... Angelo sucks at it, so we'll keep doing it over and over again until we get a new GM...

Good points. I don't agree fully, but I completely see where you're coming from.

I agree. We have to go OL in the draft. In the first and possibly 2nrd rounds as well. Maybe then a DT or DE...they usually help out faster going on gut instinct and raw power. Wr should be drafted as potential, but we need a vet to help now.

lemonej, can you take over for JA?

Nice!

At least most the time! You just state things far more humorously!

I was pretty sure you'd be thrilled when I read the story!

No offense in the least! None. Maybe that's why they are at home right now too... Jennings, Driver, Ward and Wallace are all solid. They are playing for all the marbles... And yes, i still agree that OL will help everything. But I think we go from C WR's to B with a good OL. I want an A.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,3017840.story