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MIAMI — Here are the first comments I’ve seen from Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler on the arrival of new offensive coordinator Mike Martz. According to the Bears’ Web site, Cutler said he “felt very comfortable” with Martz during a meeting last weekend and added:

“The results of his offense speak for themselves. He had a lot of success in St. Louis and his offenses made improvements each year in Detroit and San Francisco. I haven’t run his system, but I am familiar with it. I’m anxious to start digesting the playbook and getting back on the field.”



Cutler didn’t address what many of us would like to know: Whether he has moved past some pretty harsh words Martz had for him while broadcasting for the NFL Network during the season. Most notably, Martz criticized Cutler’s body language during a postgame press conference, suggesting it was evidence that Cutler doesn’t “get” his role as a leader.



Martz, however, did discuss the issue with the Bears’ Larry Mayer. He said he “addressed that immediately” in their meeting last weekend. Martz noted that postgame press conferences can be “very difficult” and said Cutler needs to make sure he takes “that deep breath” before starting one.



“It just did not, I didn’t think, demonstrate who he really was in that,” Martz said, “and those are learning experiences for all of us.”



I would exactly call that an apology, but I also wouldn’t say Martz’s original comments were wrong. But I am guessing it will be the last time Martz tries to coach one of Cutler’s press conferences again. I’m sure he’ll stick to offense from now on.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Never know who you’re going to run into at the Super Bowl media center.



While milling around before a news conference with The Who, I came across Papa John’s founder John Schnatter. My first thought, of course, was that rocket arm he displays in his commercials. My second thought was about Buffalo Bills quarterback Brian Brohm.



Schnatter is one of the University of Louisville’s heavyweight donors. Brohm starred at Louisville in Papa John’s Stadium, but hasn’t been able to find his place in the NFL yet.



Maybe quarterbacks guru Chan Gailey will be able to unlock Brohm’s potential.



“I think if he gets a break, he can do great things,” said Schnatter, a Louisville season ticket-holder. He’s just a fundamentally sound athlete. He’s a smart guy. I think they way he’ll beat you is he’ll outsmart you. He’s like Peyton Manning that way. He’s just smart, strategic.



“He needs to get a shot, a couple big victories under his belt. Then I think you’ll see him blossom. He needs a little confidence.”



Heading into Brohm’s senior season in 2007, ESPN draft tycoon Mel Kiper rated him the best NFL prospect in college football. The Green Bay Packers selected Brohm 46th overall.



The Packers waived him. He went unclaimed and signed on the Packers’ practice squad. The Bills plucked him in November. Brohm was Buffalo’s third quarterback, but made his first NFL start in the penultimate game because Ryan Fitzpatrick and Trent Edwards were hurt.



“You look at Tim Tebow and wonder how he’s going to do in the pros,” Schnatter said. “The NFL is so different. You can’t project. Those guys are so big and so quick. It changes the whole dynamic.”



Later on, I’ll try to ask Roger Daltry what he thinks about new Bills defensive coordinator George Edwards.

MIAMI — Back during the regular season, we all heard a lot about how the Cincinnati Bengals rallied around defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer after his wife Vikki died suddenly in October.



The Bengals weren’t the only NFL team impacted by that tragedy. New Orleans defensive assistant Adam Zimmer is the son of Mike and Vikki. He took a few minutes Thursday to discuss how the Saints’ run to the Super Bowl has helped him deal with the loss.



“Obviously, nothing is ever going to replace mom, but at least something good happened this year,’’ said Zimmer, who works primarily with linebackers and has been with the Saints since 2006. “That helped me put it in the background a little bit. When I’m working, it’s a lot easier to keep my mind off of it. I’m sure after this game, it’ll be a little harder because things will slow down and I’ll have time to think.’’



Zimmer said the Saints have rallied around him with lots of support.



“They’ve helped a lot,’’ Zimmer said. “Scott Shanle’s had me over when we’ve had time off. Mark Simoneau had me over for Christmas dinner and [assistant] Coach [Joe] Vitt had me over for Thanksgiving. They’ve been there for me. All the linebackers showed up for the funeral and that was really important to me when I saw them coming.’’



Zimmer said he and his father also have leaned heavily on each other.



“We call each other every night now,’’ Zimmer said. “He’s texting me all the time now. He hardly ever even used texting before this year, but now he’s texting me all the time. Whenever we need each other or need to talk, we give each other a shout. We’ve always been close, but this has brought us closer.’’

The demolition of Giants Stadium got started Thursday when a giant metal claw attached to a crane started taking bites out of the cement helix at one of the four gates around the 34-year-old facility.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Dudley has died after a short illness. He was 88.

MIAMI — Although there have been some reports that the Saints are in the process of extending the contract of quarterback Drew Brees, coach Sean Payton sure didn’t sound like anything was imminent when asked about the reports Thursday.



After all, there is the little matter of preparing for the Super Bowl before the Saints move into the NFL’s business season.



“I’m not familiar with that,” Payton said, when asked about the reports. “I’m sure all of that stuff will get taken care of. There’s a right time for that and that will be after the season.”

MIAMI — If you put me side by side with Dwight Freeney, I’m not going to win in many categories.



For a day, however, I’ll give you the one where I trumped him: Hyperbaric chambers.



As part of the rehabilitation of his sprained right ankle, the Colts’ defensive end spends time in a hyperbaric chamber, where increased air pressure increases the oxygen in his system and can help speed recovery.



What better participatory journalism piece this week than to test it out? With the help of ESPN resident physical therapist Stephania Bell and the fine folks at University of Miami Hospital, I spent 25 minutes breathing 100 percent oxygen at two times normal atmospheric pressure.



If I did it more, maybe 90 minutes 10 different times, I might feel younger and my metabolism would speed up, my experts said. Growing a full head of hair would be much less likely.



Should Freeney play and play well Sunday, he could become the hyperbaric chamber poster boy.



“I think there are definitely pro [athletes] that are using it with success,” said Dr. Magaly Rodriguez, a surgeon at the hospital’s wound care center who oversaw my treatment.



But such use is “off protocol.” There are only 13 official medical uses for the chamber, to treat things such as carbon monoxide poisoning, compromised skin grafts or diabetic foot ulcers.



Though I contemplated spraining an ankle for the team and did bang my shin on a media center chair as I packed up for the hospital, I entered the chamber a healthy person. And for a healthy person, Rodriguez said time in a hyperbaric chamber can have anti-aging and body cleansing results.



Before my visit with Rodriguez and nurse/hyperbaric coordinator Angelina Meza-Suarez, I asked Freeney for details of his hyperbaric chamber use.



I thought I’d have tight space issues — I nearly had a panic attack in a narrow staircase at Notre Dame (the Cathedral in Paris, not the school in South Bend, Ind.). Colts linebacker Gary Brackett increased my concern when he told me he didn’t do hyperbaric chambers because he’s claustrophobic.



“If you’re claustrophobic, you probably need to stay away from it,” Freeney told me. “It just kind of feels like you’re in an incubator … I take my laptop in, just sit it up on my chest, maybe watch a little film, zone out, fall asleep, wake up, do a little Internet search. And that’s great for the circulation.”



Great, I thought, I’ll write a blog entry on my laptop inside the chamber, turn on Pandora and film the video for this piece. Distractions would help me handle it. But for the trip into the Sechrist 3200 Monoplace Chamber, I needed to be in a gown, take no metal with me and be flat on my back.



Uh-oh.





My chamber is a futuristic glass tube or canister, a coffin without corners and a great deal more circulation. Cost: $35,000 to $38,000. It’s sold only to hospitals, and a doctor must be present when it’s in use.



According to Rodriguez, the sort of zip-up, blow-up chamber Freeney’s using if he’s taking a laptop with him uses regular air, which is 21 percent oxygen, not 100 percent oxygen like I got. He’s probably at about 1.3 atmospheres worth of pressure; I was in 2, the equivalent of 34 feet below sea level.



I changed into the gown and Meza-Suarez measured my blood sugar before putting electrodes on me.



With a photographer and a videographer in tow, a claustrophobic incident would a) be highly embarrassing and b) not make for much of a story. With those fears as motivation, I took deep breaths, laid down, got a pep talk and felt the bed roll into the chamber.



Meza-Suarez closed the door behind me and I didn’t look back, because that thing looked like the door on a mini bank vault. But I calmed quickly.



Air streamed in, making the sound you may hear standing by a large vent. The one thing I was supposed to notice was the pressure in my ears, and I needed to be conscious of swallowing or yawning to pop them. But they bothered me only a little, right at the end.



Meza-Suarez talked to me via phone, checking in often. With the video camera light and the photographer hovering, I was a little self conscious. (Watching the video now, I am more so. I’m typically animated, but coming out of that tube I couldn’t have had a worse monotone performance. Or more chins.)



It got pretty cold in there, even under a thick blanket.



The tight space wasn’t an issue. There was elbow room on both sides and the top was far away from the tip of my nose. An open MRI I once had on a broken elbow was a far, far worse experience.



I could have fallen asleep, and short nap would have come in handy. As Rodriguez and Meza-Suarez promised, I wound up feeling tired from the experience.



But if I was committing to this long term, considering I might go in a 41-year-old and come out 36, and that my metabolism could convert to that of a young Parisian modal, the yawning wouldn’t be a hassle at all.



Really.

MIAMI –- The defensive line coach of the New Orleans Saints and his best player got into an argument about numbers Tuesday.



Relax, Bill Johnson and Will Smith were just having some fun, sending messages back and forth through a reporter during Super Bowl XLIV week.



“The one thing I’ll admit is I feel bad that we’ve overworked Will,’’ Johnson said. “He wound up playing close to 800 snaps. The next highest guy on the defensive line was somewhere between 500 and 600.’’



“Eight hundred snaps?’’ Smith asked, looking shocked. “I played 1,000 snaps. Actually, I think the exact number was 1,008. You go tell him that.’’



Johnson was gone by the time the reporter came back.



“You couldn’t find him?’’ Smith asked a few minutes later. “That’s all right. I’ll tell him 1,008. It was no 800, I can tell you that.’’



The actual number of snaps can be hashed out between Smith and Johnson. The point is that Smith was on the field a lot, and, after being labeled as an underachiever at various points in his career, the defensive end produced what easily was his best season.



“I’ve always liked to rotate guys a lot,’’ Johnson said. “But he’s a hard guy to take off the field because he does everything so well. I think the most impressive thing was his stamina. If you go back and really look, I think you’ll see that he was at his most productive in the fourth quarter and there aren’t a lot of guys like that. I went against my instincts on the rotation thing with him. But I think it was the right move.’’



There’s almost no doubt about that. Former Denver Broncos assistant Johnson took over as Saints defensive line coach in January 2009, about when Gregg Williams became the defensive coordinator. It’s no coincidence Smith responded with a career-best 13 sacks.



“I definitely think it was my best season,’’ Smith said. “Working with Bill and Gregg was a big part of it. I went out and accomplished the things I wanted to accomplish, like getting more sacks, more hits and more pressures on quarterbacks.’’



This might be the first time Smith has been able to reflect on a season in a totally positive light. It’s also the first time there hasn’t been room for critics. A first-round pick out of Ohio State in 2004, Smith and defensive end Charles Grant, another former first-round pick, have been frequent targets for fans and media when things haven’t gone well for the Saints. Both have had their flashes of brilliance, but they’ve been better known for inconsistency.



After recording 16 sacks in his first two seasons, Smith seemed to turn the corner in 2006, when he had 10.5 sacks and made the Pro Bowl. But, then, his production took an unexpected drop. Smith had only seven sacks in 2007 and just three in 2008, despite starting all 32 games spanning those two seasons.



“I had heard the stories or the rumblings or whatever you want to call them before I got here,’’ Johnson said. “Basically, the word was that he was an underachiever and didn’t work that hard. But I never saw that. Right away, I could see he was more athletic than I expected and all I saw was a guy who wanted to do well. All I saw was a guy who came to work every day.’’



If Smith seemed more athletic than in the past, there’s a reason for that. Soon after Williams and Johnson were hired, Smith went on a diet.



“I knew we were going to be a faster defense,’’ Smith said. “I knew I had to get faster.’’



Smith went out and dropped 12 pounds, playing most of this season at about 282 pounds.



“I changed what I ate,’’ Smith said. “It’s hard to just give up cheeseburgers and pizza and things like that, but I knew I had to do that to get faster. I used to eat anything. Now, I just eat what I know is right for me. That really allowed me to play my game and I realize now that I wasn’t really playing my game before.’’



The Saints defense went from being very bad in 2008 to being pretty good in 2009, and that improvement is one reason why they are in the Super Bowl. Most of the attention has gone to a secondary that underwent a big personnel overhaul in the offseason. But Smith might have shown the most improvement of any defensive player who was with the Saints last year.



He did it so quietly that he didn’t get selected to the Pro Bowl. But fans, coaches and teammates noticed that Smith emerged as New Orleans’ best pass rusher and — this season –– there was no talk about him underachieving. If anything, Smith played up to his potential.



“I’m a defensive lineman, and as a defensive lineman you love to pass rush,’’ Smith said. “I think, with Gregg and Bill here, we got more serious about rushing the passer. And I know that I was more ready to rush the passer because I was lighter and faster. I was able to do what I love to do this year and that made it fun.’’



Smith’s numbers might reflect the fact that he was on the field so much, but he prides himself on endurance. Smith said he played about 80 percent of the defensive snaps through the earlier part of his career, and he wasn’t happy when Johnson and Williams came in and started talking about cutting down his playing time.



“Bill and I got into a lot of fights early on,’’ Smith said with a laugh. “He wanted to use me about 40 snaps a game and I didn’t like that. But the way it worked out, we were having some close games and I’d end up getting about 70 or 80 snaps and that just started becoming a regular thing.’’



Part of that was because Grant got banged up and reserve end Anthony Hargrove had to slide inside after the Saints had some injuries at defensive tackle. There wasn’t a lot of depth after that. Besides, Smith started playing so well that the Saints needed him on the field as much as possible.



“The only guy I’ve ever played close to this much was Patrick Kerney when I was in Atlanta,’’ Johnson said. “I really never planned to do this with Will, but it just kind of worked out this way. He’s a complete defensive end, who can play the run and rush the passer, so you almost want him out there all the time. That can wear some guys out and make them less effective. But that never happened with Will. In fact, it seemed like he got better the longer he was out there.’’



Smith said that was largely because of his weight loss.



“I really took a lot of pride in my conditioning this year,’’ Smith said. “I felt so much better without the extra weight. There was a change in the overall attitude of this defense to be more aggressive and there was a change in my attitude to just go out there and keep battling the whole game.’’



Whether it was 800 snaps or 1,008 snaps or somewhere in between, Smith made the most of every one.

MIAMI — I was at a friend’s house and I walked past a mirror. The person I saw, I didn’t recognize. Dark eyes. Looking bad. I realized I had to do something different. Everybody has their moment when they say, ‘Man, I have to do something different.’



For Anthony Hargrove, that moment came on April 4, 2008. A promising but troubled defensive end in St. Louis and Buffalo from 2004-07, he had been suspended from the NFL for multiple violations of its substance abuse program. It was time to get help.



What happened between that moment and today is one of the most compelling storylines of Super Bowl XLIV. Hargrove is now an important part of the New Orleans Saints, only team willing to sign him last summer. He’s a havoc-wreaking defensive tackle and a 300-pound cover man on special teams. He has spoken openly and eloquently about his journey, and so it seems appropriate to let him tell most of this story himself.



When you have the kinds of problems I did, you feel like you’re locked in a closet. You’re hoping someone will come by and let you out. Finally, somebody did.



Hargrove lost his mother to AIDS at age 9 and spent his childhood bouncing between family members and foster care. He believes God compelled him to see the ravages of drugs and alcohol when he looked in the mirror on that day almost two years ago. It directed him toward the Miami-based Transitions Recovery center for what turned out to be 10 months of rehabilitation.



When you go through a period like that in treatment, you see so much. I saw a lot of different things. I saw death. I saw people just giving up on life.



So you switch. You turn over. You say to yourself, I don’t want to get to that point where I just give up on life, or I just throw in my cards and say, ‘I’m done with this.’ I’m always telling people, we can always do stuff with time. It’s not over until we see 0:00 on the clock.



He watched the Super Bowl last year from Transitions.



It’s quieter, I can tell you that. It’s a lot quieter to watch a Super Bowl from rehab.



It was hard to watch the game because I wanted to be there. I was coming in and out of the room, doing laundry and whatever else. I really didn’t want to watch it because I hadn’t played that season. You get caught up thinking about all the stuff I did wrong to keep me out of the game.



While that game was going on, it was a reminder of all the stuff I did wrong to keep me out of the season and a reminder that I might not get back to it.



Days later, he met with NFL officials about reinstatement. His indefinite suspension was lifted after one year.



But now the hard part: How to convince a team to sign him? Playmaking defensive linemen are rare and valuable commodities. But who would want a player that two organizations already had given up on?

(Read full post)

MIAMI — We’re approaching 1,700 comments on the piece about Jerry Rice’s potential standing as the greatest player in NFL history. I have also heard from people through the NFC West mailbag. Those comments and my responses follow.



Greg from Carlisle, Pa., writes: Hey there Mike, Jim Thorpe should probably be on any football great list. I guess it was NFL though. Jerry Rice is an all-time great, but best ever? Please! The man played with two Hall of Fame quarterbacks and a great offensive line. Not to mention the great mind of Bill Walsh. Rice benefited from these tremendously. Put him on a terrible team, and he looks like a normal great receiver like an Issac Bruce.



There are more than 10 players that are better than Jerry Rice, and that is with no doubt. Probably 10 or 20 more. Of course that is only my opinion. Even a guy like Brett Favre is an all-around better player than Jerry Rice. Mark it down! Wide receivers aren’t even involved in a lot of the game. Rice had Joe Montana and Steve Young to make him involved. Watching Rice his last few years was painful. Best WR ever? YES. Best player ever, not even close.



Mike Sando: I think the most accurate way to put it is that Rice had the best career. Lots of factors go into that, including enjoying team success thanks to having great teammates. Rice made his quarterbacks look good, too. People questioning Kurt Warner‘s credentials often point out how he played with great wide receivers. I always counter by asking what those receivers ever won without Warner as their quarterback. Warner wasn’t the only reason those teams won, but he was a big reason.



Rice was a big reason for the 49ers’ success. We did cover some of the ground you alluded to through the comments Aeneas Williams made about what it’s like playing on good teams.

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James from Baytown, Texas, writes: I think Barry Sanders is the best running back of all time, because of what he accomplished and who he did it with. Now, I really don’t like comparing different eras, because for one, the players’ skill sets have changed and rules have changed. Like today we have defensive ends, defensive tackles and linebackers running faster than running backs. If that would have happened back then, the players would have been assumed to be taking steroids.



This is the same reason you can’t compare quarterbackss from different eras. The rules are set up for a QB to stand upright in the pocket and pick a defense apart. Defensive backs can’t even touch a reciever now, when back in the day, the reciever had to fight the DB all the way up the field. So, comparing the Bradys and Mannings to the Montanas and Elways would not be fair, because their eras are totally different. It’s still a fun barber shop argument, though, we just love to have.



Mike Sando: Great points, James. Some have said we should look at where players ranked when they retired. For example, Steve Largent ranked first in all-time receptions when he retired. Those numbers reflected NFL history to that point. Where he ranked, not how many catches he had, should stand as the more telling indicator.



The rules changes and corresponding styles of play definitely affect production. John Elway had a career passer rating of 79.9. Brian Griese has a career passer rating of 82.7. Those figures seem comparable, but there is absolutely nothing similar about how they played, what the accomplished or what they meant to the league.

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Dan from Duluth, Minn., writes: Why is Emmitt Smith not at least in the discussion? You’ve got Walter Payton and not Emmitt? Come on, there is more to his game than just longevity and even still you gotta give him props for being an indestructible beast at a position with a ridiculously short career span. You Cowboys haters will do anything to keep a Cowboy out of any discussion about the greatest — apparently even exclude the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. Wow.



Mike Sando: It’s a positional thing to a degree. I loved the way Smith played the game and wouldn’t have a problem with him being in the discussion. Remember the way he ran against the Giants in that playoff game despite a pretty serious injury? I won’t forget it. Great, great player. My thinking was that Sanders, Brown and Payton were better runners, and that is why I left off Smith. Perhaps I was wrong there. The Cowboys conspiracy theory is admittedly more fun, though.

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Matt from parts unknown writes: Greatest of all time? Rice surely is … but Tim Brown’s stats put him in the Carter, Harrison, Owens comment you stated.



Mike Sando: Brown was one of my favorite players to watch. I remember the touchdown he scored to win at Buffalo in 1993. Rich Stadium was such a tough place to play back then. The Bills could be dominant there. Buffalo had hammered the Raiders, 51-0, in the AFC title game after the 1990 season. Brown caught 10 passes for 183 yards in that 1993 game, a 25-24 Raiders victory. Brown provided the winning 29-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter. That is one of my lasting memories of him.



Go ahead and include Brown in any discussion about all-time great receivers.

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Ray from Hannibal, Mo., writes: Mike, I’m a huge Niners fan and love your blog. I don’t know if you ever caught this Ralph Wiley column comparing Rice to Jordan, but it is a neat read.



Mike Sando: Thanks for that. Jordan was more dominant as a basketball player than Rice was as a football player, I think, but that also has a lot to do with the nature of their sports. Basketball definitely highlights the individual more than football. That worked against Rice because the ball wasn’t in his hands all the time. Jordan probably touched the ball on the vast majority of offensive plays. He also played great defense, impractical for an NFL wide receiver.

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George from Buffalo writes: How do you have a list of greatest players ever and not have the all-time sack leader on the list, Bruce Smith. What a bogus list without it!



Mike Sando: Sacks became a stat in 1980, so I would not base a list of all-time greats solely on that category. However, it’s true that Smith was a great, great player.

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Steve from Odenton, Md., writes: I believe Rice playing for the Niners played a large impact on being voted to so many Pro Bowls. Don’t agree? Look at London Fletcher. Identical stats to Ray Lewis, but Fletcher makes one Pro Bowl as an alternate! If Ray Lewis had played for St. Louis, would he have gone to so many Pro Bowls and be in the same conversation as the best ever?



Mike Sando: Ray Lewis was much more of a force at linebacker than Fletcher, and that is no knock on Fletcher. Lewis was the heart, soul and fists for one of the NFL’s all-time great defenses. He dominated games physically and emotionally. Fletcher might be underrated. He probably should have gone to more Pro Bowls. But that has nothing to do with Lewis or Rice.



Rice put up historically great numbers. Remember, too, that when he went to the Raiders late in his career, he put up big numbers for two seasons and Rich Gannon became league MVP.

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Tom from parts unknown writes: Johnny Unitas had a career rating of 78.2 Was that good for that era? Even so, why is he called one of the best ever? I don’t think above average play coupled with longevity should get you in the talk of best ever.



Mike Sando: See earlier item referencing Elway. And please do brush up on NFL history. Unitas topped our list of greatest quarterbacks.

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Nick from Littleton, Colo., writes: Jerry Rice is great no doubt. But a better story would be how an organization can be a six-time winner of AFC championships and have only two players in the hall. The Denver Broncos have consistently, since 1976, won games and conference championships. The Chargers have seven Hall of Fame players and one AFC championship. Please help spread the word. Rod Smith, Shannon Sharpe, Randy Gradishar, Tom Jackson, Louis Wright, Steve Atwater, Floyd Little, Dennis Smith, Tom Nalen, etc. These are all great football players that get no respect. How does the best tight end ever not make the hall on the first ballot.



Mike Sando: I have written that story, Nick. Shannon Sharpe will make it in. The only question is whether it happens right away given the other players ahead of him in line.

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Bob from Winter Garden, Fla., writes: Mike, I am sure that you are a bright young man and a good writer, but you quote statistics like they are indisputable proof. You should remember that statistics are for losers.What you should be thinking about when deciding who was the best ever, the proof should be who dominated the game, league, etc., more than anyone during the time that they played. There is only one answer and that is Jimmy Brown. If you had ever seen him play, you would be convinced. He was bigger, faster, stronger than any linebackers in the league. He describes his talent as “strength, power, speed, vision and balance”. He is the best football player that ever lived.



Mike Sando: I do not dispute what you are saying. I offered the case for Rice while acknowledging that statistics are not everything. The basic conclusion was that it’s tough to make a case against Rice.