Mark Cooper

Well I’ve been eating crow all week and finally decided to admit it. The New York Giants brought it and were the better team by far. I was amazed how flat the Patriots were and we talked about the Super Power all year long and BOOM!!! — they explode.

I can’t understand how you play so emotionless in a Super Bowl. I’m not a Giants fan by any means for selfish reasons, they cost me a World Championship ring and we ran out of time in Super Bowl XXI, that’s all. :o)

Ahhhhh, they were the better team that day too and Phil Simms made a career day out of one game. Can you tell I’m still bitter, yep!!

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone. It’s a short week to Minnesota and I’ve already put the Bolts game behind me and I hope you did too. Sorry for delay this week getting this up since it’s Friday. Christmas with the kids and family and the snow shoveling and snow blowing took a little time. I hope you enjoyed the holiday and are looking forward to a New Year.

Yep, it was tough loss Monday night and I was a little shocked at the way we played. That was the first time Jay Cutler really got frustrated. Welcome to the NFL. There’s going to be games like that; it happens. Give credit where credit is due: the Bolts are a good football team.

To tell the truth, I enjoyed watching LT run the ball. Even when I was in the league, I marveled at Barry Sanders, Earl Campbell, Walter Payton and many others when we played them. Of course I didn’t want them to have a great game against us but I was still a fan of great athletic talent. When you play at that level you get up to play against those types of players.

The Bolts defense really brought the pass rush. The O-line was getting tested and that was the first time all year I saw both tackles “open the gate.” What that means is this: as they take a pass set they don’t keep pushing in a 45-degree angle as the rusher comes upfield and they drop their outside foot and that “opens the gate” and their protection collapses and the defender turns the corner on the QB. That in turn makes the QB feel the pressure off his shoulder and step up into the pocket.

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I guess on one hand I was a little surprised by the game and on the other hand, I wasn’t.

You all know as well as I do that consistent football is typically played by more experienced teams. We’re not an experienced team and we have a bunch of new faces and young guys. I guess I was hopeful that they could build on the prior week’s game and get in a groove. But let’s face it, we’re a young team.

I’m optimistic and a fan so I’m always pulling for the fellas. “Reality is what it is.” I know you’re thinking. “Coop is a master of the obvious,” right?  Some will say that being young is just an excuse. Some will say they’re tired of hearing it. We’re young and we simply got out-played.

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How much fun was that to watch!! I have a little different perspective than the press. They’ll ask questions. They’ll say it was a lesser foe, you name it. They’ll have a bunch of excuses for our dominance. I say, “One down, three to GO!!”

One game at a time and we build on each game. We gain confidence with a game like KC, because when you execute, you produce, when you produce, you score points. Man that was fun to watch.  Brandon Marshall, Selvin Young, Brandon Stokley, Elvis Dumervil, Nate Webster, Chris Myers, Erik Pears, Tony Scheffler – that’s the future and that’s going to be fun.

The Bolts won in overtime, close call. We need some help to make the playoffs, sure. But we have to take care of what we have in front of us … Houston, (short week) and we know Gary Kubiak would love to get a win against the Broncos, the Bolts and Minnesota, who has come on and really improved here at the end of the season. So, no easy task. We have to stay focused and take it “ONE GAME AT A TIME.”

By the way, we’re having some issues with my side of the blog replying, so bear with me folks. I replied three times last week and it didn’t post, (small glitch), we’ll fix it this week or you’ll see me re-post and answer the week’s reply, so I’m not ignoring anyone, promise.

This season is too much fun not to be in on the finish and you’ve all been true fans throughout the season. Thanks for hanging in there, O.K.

Four turnovers and dropped passes in this league is a prescription for a tough, long day. Last week we had breakdowns on special teams during the game and the defense broke down at the end of the game. This week we couldn’t hold onto the ball and turned it over. What’s all this add up to? A young team.

Yes, as much as we hate to admit it, it’s here. We’ve had a bunch of injuries and a bunch of new faces and we’re playing like a young team. Even Cutler was frustrated. I can feel his pain when you have guys dropping passes all over the field, it gets a little frustrating. He’s going to have take the heat, so he might as well get use to it. If you remember Elway did in ‘83-’84, heck the writers were saying we should trade him…remember those days?

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What a difference a week makes — not so good. The Broncos looked great into the second quarter and then the wheels started falling off one at a time.

The special teams got burned by Devin Hester twice. Man, can that guy run (from the U). I know what you’re saying — how do you kick to him? I wouldn’t either — or I’d try to pin him on one-half of the field.

Then the punt block. Even I was confused on the angle the punter took.

The defense looked good until late in the game. At that point the Bears only had two field goals and the two touchdown returns on the board. We went to bend-but-not-break and got snapped in half. I know how upsetting that was to watch, but the only bright side for me was they are getting there, just slowly.

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Broncos 34, Titans 20, and it was a lot of fun to watch. What do you think?

You have to take your hats off to a team that has as many injuries as they have. Guys being moved around and a few out the door and a few new faces coming into the locker room 10 games into the season.

Glenn Martinez had a nice punt return; Brandon Marshall seems to be taking command as the No. 1 receiver and a team leader. The “O”-line is working together and over the last two weeks looks pretty good.

Andre Hall, Selvin Young, Tony Scheffler and Brandon Stokley looked good and Jay Cutler looks better and better the more he plays. You have to be excited about our prospects with this guy. I am!!

Like someone mentioned in the paper, this team has maybe one or two players from a game it played a three or four years ago.

The defense is bending more than breaking and that’s a positive as they’ve made the adjustments and put the right guys in the right spots.

Like we discussed earlier in the year, ”PATIENCE” will be the name of the game and there’s still a lot of football to be played.

I had fun watching the Monday night game.  I hope you did too.

Well…a lot like you guys, I had to digest that one a little bit and ponder on it for a day or so before this blog. I remember a few of those days (GAMES) going all the way back to high school. So I re-lived a few of those in my mind to try to explain it in a way that makes some sense.

You may have days like that and believe it or not they aren’t uncommon. Have you ever showed up at work and said to yourself, “I should have stayed in bed?”… or have you had days where you said to yourself, “Wow, today’s not my day!” … or just had a day and felt you weren’t at your best …

… The answer is, “Yes.”

Well believe it or not, it can happen to a team and you saw it in living color. No matter how hard you try, things just don’t turn around, go your way, or get going at all. It happens; I’ve been there and no matter who yells about it, who comments on it … nothing changes. Ater it’s over you don’t really have an explanation for it and you’re kind of in a fog.

I had to laugh – even Mike Shanahan said he didn’t blame the fans for leaving. He’s right. You all pay good money for entertainment and if it’s not happening, you either turn the channel on the TV set or you leave the game. I can’t blame you and won’t.

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Well some of you called it and some of you expected it and the Jags brought it.

The run defense showed some signs of hopefully what’s to come. Some downs they were all over the run with big stops at or near the line of scrimmage and on others … Well, let’s say we left some holes that a truck could drive through.

Consistency is something that takes time but the next four weeks are here and will be a big telltale sign for the season. Hopefully we can improve on the run and get through these next four games with two or three wins.

Brandon Marshall kept you on the edge of your seat after each catch, that’s for sure!  Boy, is he fun to watch.  But we’ll have to do a much better job of getting drives going and sustaining them to keep opposing offenses off the field over the next four weeks.

Manning, L.T and the Chargers, the Steelers and Favre are a BIG-BIG four weeks. So let’s get fired up and behind the fellas and hopefully we get a bunch out of the films and start pulling it all together.  Right?