I did. I'm not sure who was better. A D may have put up better numbers, but that doesn't tell the whole story.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

I don't have the NFL ticket so I don't get to see everybody play. But over the last 2 years I'd include the Bears, Ravens, Panthers and Steelers in the discussion of best defense. Probably end up with the Bears or Ravens. Who gives a shit about Ron Rivera, Jerry Angelo or whatever, I watch the players play, not the coaches.

Just to follow up on Mac's man love Rivera...

His vaulted San Diego defense is...
16th in yards/gm compared to last year 10th
24th in allowed pts/gm compared to last year 9th
27th in time of poss compared to last year 4th (O has something to do with this)
19th in rushing D compared to last year 7th

His LB crew...
Shawn Phillips
2007 tackles 61 sacks 7.5
2006 tackles 65 sacks 11.5
---push---

Stephen Cooper
2007 tackles 87 sacks 2
2006 tackles 53 sacks 2.5
--- slight improvement ---

Matt Wilhelm
Did not start in '06

Shawne Marriman
2007 tackles 63 sacks 11.5
2006 tackles 62 sacks 17 (in 12 games)
--- slight regression ---

Wow Rivera has done a lot to help San Diego go from 14-2 to 8-5.

Maybe Rivera gets his coaching tips from Marlina.

Ummm, Thug, overall the #'s for the linebackers aren't much that different this year, compared to last....sacks are down a bit for Merriman, but him being 6.5 sacks lost compared to last season isn't the reason the Chargers have the record they do. Alot of that is due to the defense as a whole and REAL BAD quarterback play.

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I'm bringin Sellars back..

Well by that logic he's a good coach because without him the Bears are worse than last year.

I agree with that. What does that say about Rivera and his area of expertise?

I was amazed after Mike Brown went down along with Tommie Harris, how Rivera held things together with last years defense to get to the Super Bowl. They sure as hell didn't get there because of the Offense, which after the first half of the year was awful in most games. Rivera seems like an intelligent and hard working guy. He wasn't a supremely talented player, but was a guy who was in the right spot, filled his gaps and played very smart. I remember when Singletary was injured and Rivera started his first game at MLB and had something like 12-13 tackles. Sure the defense had more tough injuries this year, but look how poorly they play now. They can't even stop the run. With all the key injuries last year, they still were able to perform and win under Rivera. I give him a lot of credit and would rather have him as my head coach than Lovie any day

Ron Rivera is the INSIDE Linebackers Coach - so how are the no-name LBs doing in replacing Donnie Edwards? LEADING THE TEAM IN TACKLES.

Also, I'm SOOOO fuckin' tired of hearing about 'all these injuries' to the Bears defense. They're simply NOT that injured. Sorry.

How many starters remain from the Colts Super Bowl defense?

Both cornerbacks (Harper and David) are on different teams this year. Booger McFarland has been gone all year, and the other DT Raheem Brock is hurt. Cato June is in Tampa. Rob Morris is gone. Now Dwight Freeney is hasta la bye bye. Where's the decline in performance?

Brackett, Mathis, Sanders and Bethea are the lone starters from the Super Bowl team starting right now for the Colts.

7 of 11 are gone or hurt. The two safeties, a DE and a linebacker. THAT is it.

The Bears? Tank Johnson, Nate Vasher and Chris Harris are gone or hurt and they have the RETURN of Tommie Harris. So realistically from the Super Bowl team they're really TWO starters light when you add Tommie back into the mix.

2 of 11 are gone or hurt. 9 starters still starting.

Tony Dungy and his staff coach the defense up. Lovie Smith is a stubborn zombie who promoted his butt buddy Bob Babich to remove any threat to his defensive prowess - and removed ANY threat to replace him as Head Coach during his contract squabble. Down in San Diego, the two NO NAME inside linebackers are the team leaders in tackles and have been pretty fundamentally sound. That's Chico's job - and he's doing pretty good, and FURTHERMORE, he's making MORE MONEY as an Inside Linebackers Coach than he did as a Defensive Coordinator from the ever-frugal McClaskeys.

Sell crazy somewhere else thug, I'm all stocked up here.

I never said anything about injuries... I don't think.

Good point on Rivera being the inside LB coach. I can't believe that I missed that. I can't believe his responsibility has been reduced to 2 positions. That's even worse then I thought. I will however give him credit for the 2 guys (Cooper & Willhem) he does coach.

Maybe in 10 years from now and Rivera finally gets his break ya'll can come back and say "Told ya so Thug" & I say "Yeah he worked out all his coaching mistakes with the Bears".

And it's laughable that he makes more money for coaching those two players vs. being the Bears D-Coordinator.

One man's garage is another man's treasure.

sometimes one man's garage is another man's house.

One man's discarded refrigerator cardboard box is another man's castle.

Just because you're in the garage doesn't make you a car.