Whenever you come across a list of the best linebackers in the NFL, Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher rank somewhere north of Brady Poppinga. In fact, unless you are a fan of the Green Bay Packers, Brady Poppinga may sound more like the name of a medical procedure than a NFL linebacker. "Well, what you want to do here is make a Brady Poppinga incision and then remove the gallbladder." That lack of name recognition or reputation didn't stop the NFL Network from inviting Poppinga onto their "NFC Playbook" program, however, and letting him break down the film of two Adrian Peterson touchdown runs from last week. He criticized Briggs for not containing Peterson on the outside of the Viking rookie's 67-yard TD scamper. He then turned his attention to Urlacher.
"[Brian] Urlacher does get cut off, though," he said, "and cut [blocked], which creates that huge gap. Essentially, where Urlacher has to fit is right up where that gap is created."They didn't break down any film of Peterson's 12 carries for 112 yards during the Vikings-Packers game in September nor did we see how well Poppinga did his job that week. He did pick the Bears to beat the Eagles later today however. The Bears and Packers tussle for the second time this year in December when Poppinga's comments may just find their way onto a Chicago bulletin board.
Sharpe asked if Urlacher could afford to get knocked down there.
"He can't get knocked off his feet," Poppinga said.


















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-21-2007 @ 11:08AM
Jason S. said...
Seems like he was just dissecting some film. He didn't say anything disparaging or derogatory. And, I'm pretty sure Briggs and Urlacher would agree with how he broke down the play. Where exactly did the smack talking occur?
Granted, he's not in their echelon of players, but his opinion of what happened is probably pretty legit being that he's also a linebacker in the NFL.
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10-21-2007 @ 11:29AM
Rob said...
Urlacher to Poppinga: "Scoreboard"
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10-21-2007 @ 11:48AM
IshootFours said...
Poppinga to Urlacher: "Standings"
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10-21-2007 @ 12:37PM
Bruce Ciskie said...
Crap like this is exactly why players don't ever say anything interesting.
Not only was Poppinga not talking smack, but he was right. Urlacher is a really good player, but he wasn't anything special last week.
If this finds its way to the Bears bulletin board in December, then the Bears have more problems than any of us realize.
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10-22-2007 @ 10:23PM
URLFAN said...
Bruce is right on... oh and Urlacher didn't "snap" during last weeks interview re: injuries, but he "snapped" on the field. BLOW MEDIA !!!
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