Speaker 1: Hi, you don't everybody Jeff jonnyac here on BEARS All
Speaker 1: Access brought to you by IGS Energy. Good to have
Speaker 1: you from PANC Studios here at hallisaw on this Thursday
Speaker 1: night edition as a look ahead to the Eagles, and
Speaker 1: I'll look back at what's happened so far through the
Speaker 1: first seven games, sitting in today from a broadcast partner
Speaker 1: from news Radio seven eighty and one or five point
Speaker 1: nine f WBBM, the great Jay Hildenberg, the seven time
Speaker 1: consecutive Pro Bowl Center. And I'm sure it got your
Speaker 1: your hair standing up straight and whatever you have left
Speaker 1: on your head, you got the adrenaline flowing when you
Speaker 1: saw all that running going on on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it was exciting that especially. You know, I've
Speaker 1: talked about all season in the broadcast that that first
Speaker 1: series in the third quarters one of the biggest series
Speaker 1: of a game. And you stand behind me and you
Speaker 1: tap me on sure, that's the biggest series here, And
Speaker 1: I could not help it say the same thing. I
Speaker 1: thought that was going to be the benchmark moment. Yep, yep.
Speaker 1: I you know coach and Aggy talks about gets finding
Speaker 1: that spark and I really believe he probably challenged those
Speaker 1: guys and that at the half time to come out,
Speaker 1: there are guys, I'm going to run the ball here
Speaker 1: six straight times, and let's let's see what you can do.
Speaker 1: I think it even goes back further because on the
Speaker 1: coaches Show this week right here on this on WBBM,
Speaker 1: rather they did come to him, I think, and said, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: before this game, we want this on our shoulders. And
Speaker 1: so he listened to his team. That's great. Hey, you
Speaker 1: know it's it sounds like that right there. Then that's
Speaker 1: a it's a it's a learning. Everybody's learning this whole process.
Speaker 1: So you know, this is a this is a team,
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears, And I think that's what Naggi has
Speaker 1: really built here, that these guys really care about each other.
Speaker 1: And I think to be successful that that's where you
Speaker 1: have to really begin with entering this season, that everybody
Speaker 1: has to be tight together and be on the same page.
Speaker 1: You're gonna go through ups and downs regardless of any
Speaker 1: season you're in, and it's it's the guys that are
Speaker 1: going to stick together. And I found that to be
Speaker 1: more real that I'm out of football, how important it
Speaker 1: is that everybody buys in where you start getting people
Speaker 1: that that questioning things in the locker room. Uh, there's
Speaker 1: time for that. Why do you why do you do
Speaker 1: that now as an ex player so many years removed? Well,
Speaker 1: why are you looking at through a different lens? Well,
Speaker 1: I think it's easier to do. I mean, football careers
Speaker 1: are so short to begin with, and you got to
Speaker 1: get what you you know, what'd you wind me? Ye? Wise? Thirteen? Yeah,
Speaker 1: thirteen season. Did you think you were going to play
Speaker 1: that long? Uh? Actually don't. In the midst of it,
Speaker 1: I wanted to play a little more sixteen. My uncle
Speaker 1: plays sixteen. But I I look back at it, it's
Speaker 1: amazing to play thirteen years. Yeah, it is. It's an
Speaker 1: amazing to play. Well one, you know, you're you're you're right, Jef,
Speaker 1: You're right, it is. I mean that the average career
Speaker 1: is three and a half years in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: and so that's why you know that there's such a
Speaker 1: sense of urgency and guys want to win so bad
Speaker 1: out there, and uh, but it's just it's it's frustrating.
Speaker 1: But really, the way to be successful in the NFL
Speaker 1: is as a team is that everybody has to be
Speaker 1: on the same page, and everybody has to I N
Speaker 1: and be together. The interesting thing about this conversation lost
Speaker 1: in all of it is that we're euphoric about the
Speaker 1: run game coming alive. In that big fifty five yard
Speaker 1: run by David Montgomery was so perfectly blocked it right
Speaker 1: every aspect, including Alan Robinson digging out of safety, to
Speaker 1: the double team block and to the poll by Cody
Speaker 1: white Air and the accelerating run by David Montgomery, and
Speaker 1: that the offense showed signs of life and something you
Speaker 1: can hang you had on a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: But they still lost, right, you know, and they lost,
Speaker 1: and they lost because of the red zone in effectiveness. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think I think you're right. I was that
Speaker 1: first half being down there hang nine plays or something
Speaker 1: down there close and not making it happen. It was.
Speaker 1: It was frustrating. Four times in the sixteen plays in
Speaker 1: the red zone period for the five for twelve yards. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that's that's something that you know, it's tough day,
Speaker 1: you know, there's no excuses these guys. These guys know it.
Speaker 1: Their professionals. They got to come back and hit some
Speaker 1: plays as great as your team wasn't as dominant you
Speaker 1: guys were as um as a running team and time
Speaker 1: of possession. Do you recall a period of red zone
Speaker 1: difficulty in your career where, you know, as great as
Speaker 1: you guys were, things weren't happening in the red zone?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm sure. I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 1: we played played so long ago, wasn't called the red zone?
Speaker 1: But well, was it call? Yeah? You know, would you
Speaker 1: guys call it back then? I'm not even sure? Really, yeah,
Speaker 1: you guys, I'm sure we probably did. Would you call
Speaker 1: the period of when you work between the twenty or
Speaker 1: inside twenty, inside the twenty, inside the twenty, um, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it gets a little it gets tougher down there. You've
Speaker 1: got to be aware of being an offensive lineman. You
Speaker 1: gotta be aware because defensive coordinators will take risks, you know,
Speaker 1: they'll try to put you in some bad plays, um
Speaker 1: in that area, especially when you cross the fifty that's
Speaker 1: where you know, around the forty yard line going in,
Speaker 1: that's when defensive coordinators are going to try to get
Speaker 1: you out of field goal position and try to create
Speaker 1: some bad plays. But the red zone, you gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta go down there and you look for everything, it's
Speaker 1: the worst cases and there offensive lineman, it is always
Speaker 1: the worst case scenario. First, you got to think that
Speaker 1: you know where work, where can they disrupt this offensive
Speaker 1: play the quickest and you got to secure that then
Speaker 1: move on with your blocks. But and then it takes
Speaker 1: it's gonna But that was one game they hadn't gotten
Speaker 1: in there much this year. When they did, they were
Speaker 1: pretty successful with their touchdown efficiency. But you can't. You
Speaker 1: can't come out of there with nothing or three repeatedly
Speaker 1: and think you're going to survive out. I don't care
Speaker 1: how good your defense is. And I thought it was interesting,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you read it, you know, Kalil Max
Speaker 1: and hey, we're giving up too many points. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's nice to say, but the fact of the matter
Speaker 1: is you should be able to win games when you're
Speaker 1: holding teams into that kind of figures part. And they
Speaker 1: came back and stopped the run. They're gonna have to
Speaker 1: do it again this week against the Eagles. Yes, I mean,
Speaker 1: and that's where the defense always kind of is in
Speaker 1: a tough spot because no matter what you know, if
Speaker 1: you give up defense gives up fourteen points and you
Speaker 1: only score ten. You know you can't feel good about
Speaker 1: what you did defensively, and I get that, but you
Speaker 1: know there's no reason why the Bears can't score outside
Speaker 1: of the red zone. Also try to hit some big
Speaker 1: plays down the field, and I look, do you think
Speaker 1: they're coming? Yes, I really do. I think I think
Speaker 1: they are. There's improvement out there. I think Mitch hurting
Speaker 1: his shoulder set him back a little bit. I'm missing
Speaker 1: that game and then the first game back against the Saints,
Speaker 1: playing with the shoulder harness on that. That's an adjustment
Speaker 1: of quarterback has to go through. I hurt my shoulder
Speaker 1: in eighty seven. I remember the first time I put
Speaker 1: the should I had to wear shoulder harness that whole season.
Speaker 1: I remember the first time I went up and trying
Speaker 1: to run and finally got it up to full speed.
Speaker 1: I mean I almost fell down. It throws you off
Speaker 1: balance because it's your your body's different moves, so I
Speaker 1: mean you and full speed doesn't Well, it wasn't. It
Speaker 1: wasn't an impressive Yeah, I'll tell you. Jay Hugenberger guests
Speaker 1: sitting in today for Tom there coming up shortly. Blow Nichols,
Speaker 1: the young defensive lament would join the program or brought
Speaker 1: to you by IGS Energy with a Pause Oranger engineer
Speaker 1: and Dana really our producer. You know. Yesterday Mitch Drubisky
Speaker 1: talked about watching the TV copy of the Bears game,
Speaker 1: not just the coach's tape, which is the national broadcast,
Speaker 1: and it was an advisory decision by man Naggie. Hey,
Speaker 1: here's some advice. Take a look at how what your
Speaker 1: body actions are showing what your demeanor is. And Mitch
Speaker 1: said it was like watching somebody he didn't know. It
Speaker 1: wasn't him. So he wants to get back to being him, right, No,
Speaker 1: I think that's important. It's a great coaching point that
Speaker 1: Naggie did. Just yeah, that's a different perspective, be able
Speaker 1: to look he said, he looked too serious, and you know, right,
Speaker 1: and and that's I've been thinking that all year. Mitch
Speaker 1: has to go out and have fun. He can't go
Speaker 1: out the rest of this season. I don't want to.
Speaker 1: I don't care. I mean if Mitch makes some mistakes,
Speaker 1: so what, everybody makes mistakes. There's never been one person
Speaker 1: in the NFL fill that's played a perfect game. You
Speaker 1: gotta go out. I played. I made every mistake that
Speaker 1: any football player could ever make on the football field.
Speaker 1: I made them all. And I'll tell you, I mean
Speaker 1: coach stuck with me. I mean, I never would have
Speaker 1: gone to the Pro Bowls that I went through if
Speaker 1: he didn't go through my growing pains as a center
Speaker 1: in the NFL. I mean, I caused the first instant
Speaker 1: replay in the history of the NFL. We've talked about
Speaker 1: that a lot, but for those who don't know what happened,
Speaker 1: it was an eighty six season they had the first
Speaker 1: time instant replay was there. And the first series of
Speaker 1: the eighty six season, second or third play of the
Speaker 1: game that we were in the shotgun and it was
Speaker 1: on three and I snapped it on two and a
Speaker 1: half and McMahon wasn't looking and the ball went in
Speaker 1: the end zone and they had a replay to see
Speaker 1: what was either safety or a touchdown for the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns and ended up being a touchdown. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's a heck of a way to start a season.
Speaker 1: You got your tail cheot on that one, didn't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I paly probably played one of the best games I
Speaker 1: ever played in my life. After that that will give
Speaker 1: a little bit, had a little and drendaline going. Jay
Speaker 1: Hilgenberg here, this is Bears All Access will step away
Speaker 1: for a break on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, everybody to Bears All Access brought to you
Speaker 1: by IGS Energy, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: providing electricity, natural gas, and home warranty products to over
Speaker 1: one million customers across the country. Learn more about IGS
Speaker 1: Energy at IGS dot com. Phillion for Tom Thayer this week,
Speaker 1: Jay Hilgenberg is good buddy. How did you guys carve
Speaker 1: out such a friendship? By the way, I think it's
Speaker 1: a great story, and one day I'd like to set
Speaker 1: you both down. Do a Bears Insider feature on a
Speaker 1: player profile on the relationship of Jay Hilgenberg and Tom. There.
Speaker 1: You guys have been budd heast forever. Yeah, we're like brothers.
Speaker 1: I would have to say we are. Tom and I
Speaker 1: are very close talked. I call him, I bug him,
Speaker 1: I call him all the time on the phone and stuff.
Speaker 1: So right, you do get under his skin, you know? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I know I do. There's there's no question. Does he
Speaker 1: guys are very very interesting character? Doesn't n Not really?
Speaker 1: Not really? I know I I bug him, you're very accepting.
Speaker 1: In other words, well, i'd like to think so. He
Speaker 1: probably say a different story. He probably say the exact thing,
Speaker 1: and I'm saying about him, you're more tolerant. I'll give
Speaker 1: you that. Well that's not saying a lot. Yeah, Jay
Speaker 1: Jay comes into the booth every Sunday with his protein
Speaker 1: shakes and a huge bag of pistachios. I got you.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can you knock out a full bag
Speaker 1: in one game? Oh? Yeah, easy one. Who's a big bag? Yeah?
Speaker 1: It is a big it is. It doesn't mean I
Speaker 1: was a couple of weeks ago or I was down
Speaker 1: at the Kansas City Houston game with the Tobes and
Speaker 1: I sat next Tory. Yeah, Sheryl Tobe during the game,
Speaker 1: and I had my bag of pistachios and I ate
Speaker 1: the whole bag. And she was just amaze. She goes,
Speaker 1: you know how many calories are in that bag? I go, no,
Speaker 1: I don't. Yeah, you don't need anything, all right, your
Speaker 1: twigs and berries. Game appreciate you don't tell me how
Speaker 1: many calories around it. Well, you're looking good. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you that. I'll tell you also, is looking good? Is
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles, and the reason is they were in
Speaker 1: a similar situation as the Bears. Interestingly, both teams, both
Speaker 1: teams had players only meetings last week. Right, both teams
Speaker 1: have come off two rough losses. They got pretty much
Speaker 1: punched in the mouth in both of those situations. They
Speaker 1: hit the road to go to Buffalo and beat a
Speaker 1: very good Buffalo team this year. And now they're feeling
Speaker 1: good because they'll have three consecutive games at home. They
Speaker 1: got a bye week after they play the Bears, and
Speaker 1: they're close in proximity versus the Bears, are in the
Speaker 1: division race the Dallas Cowboys. So they're feeling good. They're
Speaker 1: feeling really good. They might get the Sean Jackson back
Speaker 1: this week, might get Darren Sprowls back. They might not
Speaker 1: have Miles Sanders. But your impressions of just what the
Speaker 1: Philadelphi Eagles are thrown at you these days, and what
Speaker 1: do you think of Carson Wentz, Well, I mean, they're champions.
Speaker 1: I mean that's the one thing is so they have
Speaker 1: the heart of the champion. They've been there, they've won
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. They know what it's like, they know
Speaker 1: pressure games, they know when a game is the season's
Speaker 1: life for death. And that's you know, obviously they had
Speaker 1: a good meeting and went up to and beat a
Speaker 1: supposedly good Buffalo team. So they are gonna these guys.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be a tough game for the Bears,
Speaker 1: no question about it. Now, if you're getting ready for them,
Speaker 1: you got a deal. Obviously. Look at what they do
Speaker 1: with that wide nine defensive front. I know, we hear
Speaker 1: a lot about it. It's Jim Schwartz. We got him
Speaker 1: into truck, so became a thing to hear about the
Speaker 1: wide nine. And that's for those who don't know exactly
Speaker 1: what that is. It just spread those defensive linemen out.
Speaker 1: They get up feel quick, a fast flowing defense. But
Speaker 1: you got to stop the engine in there. And let's
Speaker 1: Fletcher Cox. Yeah, three technique defensive tackle on this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a disruptor in there. He's a great one, uses
Speaker 1: his hands well. Um. But I like, I like with
Speaker 1: the Bears offense how they're gonna match up against this
Speaker 1: on that wide nine because that that old power play
Speaker 1: where Montgomery had the fifty five yard run. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the perfect design play for that type of defense.
Speaker 1: And I think, and why is that? What makes that
Speaker 1: well inviting. I mean, if that defensive end is coming
Speaker 1: playing so wide and coming up field, I mean the backguard,
Speaker 1: the old guard. How Cody Whitehair pulled around there, I
Speaker 1: mean that that defense and basically he's taking himself out
Speaker 1: of the play already, so you know, to turn it up.
Speaker 1: I mean, there was there's gonna be a design hole.
Speaker 1: You don't have to look for daylight. Just take it
Speaker 1: and go north to south and you'll be happy to know.
Speaker 1: If you haven't watched it already, your guy, James Daniels
Speaker 1: pancakes his gay. Yeah, he had a great block on that.
Speaker 1: I mean the whole line did have a great perfect Yeah,
Speaker 1: they had a great block. And that's what's fun about
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. He start having plays like that and the
Speaker 1: executions there so whole. I mean hope hopefully on that
Speaker 1: one play right there, that they can build off that
Speaker 1: and and just have the confidence that those plays are
Speaker 1: going to hit, and also a confidence with coach Nagy
Speaker 1: that you know, we're gonna keep going. He saw the
Speaker 1: success of hitting these consecutive plays. And and it's true
Speaker 1: that the more the offensive line will run these plays,
Speaker 1: the better their their technique and their footwork and all
Speaker 1: their coordination and everything it will be going. It is
Speaker 1: one thing, and I know it aggravates offensive lineman who
Speaker 1: played the game to now analyze the game. But it
Speaker 1: sounds so perfect to say, Okay, Cody hit hit the
Speaker 1: hit the guy in the exact spot on his shoulder
Speaker 1: to clear out the lane, and then you two guys
Speaker 1: got to drive this guy to the next linebacker. And
Speaker 1: the footwork and the technique has to be complete. And
Speaker 1: it's not that way, right, No, it doesn't. It sounds
Speaker 1: good right now. That's that's true, Jeff. During the week,
Speaker 1: that's where that's when you work on your fundamentals and technique.
Speaker 1: I mean, you got to be conscious of that. Everything
Speaker 1: you do, every step you take in practice, you gotta
Speaker 1: be working your techniques. I used to tell Tom all
Speaker 1: the time. You know, we got a big noseguard this week,
Speaker 1: and Tom, I want you to take your left hand. Tom.
Speaker 1: They're played right guards, so I want to take your
Speaker 1: left hand. You hit the nose guard in the shoulder,
Speaker 1: don't hit, don't hit my shoulder, don't hit my body,
Speaker 1: don't hit. Just give me a hand on his shoulder
Speaker 1: and that's all I need. It's just little stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And if if you if this, if this offensive line
Speaker 1: can stick together long enough and be able to work
Speaker 1: through those little techniques to work with each other, it
Speaker 1: comes a long way to get If you're a guy
Speaker 1: like Rashad Coward who just come off his second NFL start,
Speaker 1: he is an very inexperienced playing that guard position, very
Speaker 1: inexperienced playing the offensive line in general, and you have
Speaker 1: a three penalty game like he did with two false
Speaker 1: starts in a hold, how do you make sure that
Speaker 1: doesn't happen again? Mentally because the physical part of it,
Speaker 1: you know, again, stuff happens. Every offensive lineman gets flagged,
Speaker 1: But to have three in one game after having a
Speaker 1: real good start is first week. What would you explain
Speaker 1: and how what advice would you get? Yeah, just to um,
Speaker 1: you know, learn from it, be prepared, you know, think
Speaker 1: about what it is that caused. And again, you know,
Speaker 1: tell him, Hey, everybody makes mistakes out here, everybody does it.
Speaker 1: You're you're you're gonna make mistakes and what but don't
Speaker 1: lose how aggressive you are? I like how aggressive he is.
Speaker 1: I mean similar situation when I played, um my other guard,
Speaker 1: Mark Bortz. He was a defensive lineman that converted it
Speaker 1: to offensive lineman and he got thrown that the year
Speaker 1: they converted him to the offensive guard. It was like
Speaker 1: his third game, I think, second or third game of
Speaker 1: that that season eighty three season, he got thrown in
Speaker 1: a game to do an injury and he didn't know
Speaker 1: what was then it was. It was one of the
Speaker 1: funniest plays I've ever seen in the NFL. We had
Speaker 1: a straight toss play called, and the toss he had
Speaker 1: a bubble over him, so he had a lineback inside
Speaker 1: linebacker like five yards off the ball, and a straight
Speaker 1: toss play is there's there's no faking. The quarterback opens
Speaker 1: up to the play side and tosses it to the
Speaker 1: running back to the play side, so that linebacker is
Speaker 1: flowing as soon as he's he's flying out of there.
Speaker 1: And you wouldn't look that tape with Boorsi. Here's his
Speaker 1: first snap in the NFL. He went straight straight as
Speaker 1: the linebacker, and then when the linebacker moved ran straight,
Speaker 1: you know, the other way. He took a straight right
Speaker 1: and chased right after him, five yards behind him. And
Speaker 1: the next that Monday, in the meeting, stick Stafford goes, Mark,
Speaker 1: what do you do with her? You got to take
Speaker 1: a proper angle to cut that that guy off. Don't
Speaker 1: you understand the action in the backfield? And Mark goes,
Speaker 1: no coach, no coach, and turn the lights on. He
Speaker 1: goes here. Look at your diagram at you draw it.
Speaker 1: You drew a straight line from guard to the line docker,
Speaker 1: so he ran to right. So you know, coaching, that's
Speaker 1: where you have to be specific. Yeah, coaching is a
Speaker 1: little more complex than you think it is. All right,
Speaker 1: you can't assume no one exactly what to do. Jay Hilgenberg,
Speaker 1: our guest here on bears Ow Access, will be joined
Speaker 1: by Badon Nichols coming up as well this evening. It's
Speaker 1: brought to you by IGAs Energy. Good to have you along.
Speaker 1: Back to the Eagles. One of the guys that's playing
Speaker 1: great on that front right now is Brandon Graham. He's
Speaker 1: got five sacks all on third down this year for
Speaker 1: the Eagles. And if you're looking at the guy like
Speaker 1: this six two, two sixty, he wins the game of leverage.
Speaker 1: And right right, those are the scary guys. You know,
Speaker 1: two things are scary front off to lineman and the
Speaker 1: NFL guy that never stopped moving their feet as pass rushers.
Speaker 1: And I think that the shorter guys, the leverage guys,
Speaker 1: I always had problem with against the guys. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm six two, so there were not many people shorter
Speaker 1: than me out there in the field, but there were
Speaker 1: a few, and they were difficult guys to play against.
Speaker 1: What's your opinion at Carson wentz Uh Just an intense,
Speaker 1: tough player. He's a gamer. He'll sit there in the pocket. Um,
Speaker 1: he's not will he's willing to take a hit, He's
Speaker 1: not afraid of anything out there. Fierce competitor. He's going
Speaker 1: to give you some chances, though, I think how we
Speaker 1: hold onto the ball to knock it away from him?
Speaker 1: So yeah, they say he's a perfectionist to the point
Speaker 1: that he will wait until the last possible second, and
Speaker 1: he will also eject the pocket though he will beat you,
Speaker 1: But he did last week a couple of double digit
Speaker 1: runs as well. All Right, we're gonna step away for
Speaker 1: another break here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score.
Speaker 1: Get an insiders look at the past one hundred years
Speaker 1: of Chicago Bears football with the Chicago Bears Centennial Scrapbook.
Speaker 1: Buy your copy. It's store dot Chicago Bears dot com
Speaker 1: Jeff Joniac Jay Hilgenberg in for Tom Thare this week,
Speaker 1: and our special guest this week is second year Bears
Speaker 1: defensive lineman Belong Nichols headed home this weekend against the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles, team you rooted for growing up. You lived
Speaker 1: in Chester, PA, not too far from Philly, and then
Speaker 1: over to Newark, Delaware. So that's Eagles territory over there,
Speaker 1: Eagles territory over there. Yeah, it's all Eagles territory over there.
Speaker 1: How you feeling? Oh man, I feel I feel blessed.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to just get there and you know,
Speaker 1: just just get a win. You know, we're hungry for
Speaker 1: a winning. Um. I don't really care about the situation
Speaker 1: or you know, the home coming. I just want to
Speaker 1: win with my team. You got a lot of family
Speaker 1: going there and friends or I got a good amount. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know how that go. Yeah, you come back home.
Speaker 1: The throw tips cost your Yeah, but I'm keeping it
Speaker 1: real limited st like yeah, because a lot of guys
Speaker 1: they get overwhelmed. Oh yeah, it could be a distraction.
Speaker 1: So I'm not dealing with it. So you know, I
Speaker 1: just have my mom. I give her a certain amount
Speaker 1: and I tell her to handle that, and I'm focused
Speaker 1: on the game. Yeah, it's good advice. I think one
Speaker 1: of the veterans give you that advice. Did you ever
Speaker 1: blow out the budget one for a game? Oh? Not really.
Speaker 1: I mean my my folks were always really good about it.
Speaker 1: I mean I come from a football family, so I
Speaker 1: mean they they got it. They understood. Yeah, my my, my, my,
Speaker 1: mom and dad wouldn't let me. They'd buy their own tickets.
Speaker 1: Say they wouldn't let me spend my money. Really, and
Speaker 1: you'll not spending your money right, all right. I'm so lucky.
Speaker 1: I'm blessed to have my parents in my life. They've
Speaker 1: made my life easier. Yeah, I'm a lucky guy. So
Speaker 1: you grew up an Eagles fan? Was that your sport?
Speaker 1: Were there other sports that you were into? Yeah? So, um,
Speaker 1: I was an Eagles fan growing up. And I was
Speaker 1: really really huge in basketball, all right. I was actually
Speaker 1: my first love, um, basketball, and then uh kind of
Speaker 1: when I got to high school, I started to gravitate
Speaker 1: more towards football. It was always defensive line that you played,
Speaker 1: or don't know what, you played. Tight end, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: caught touchdown passes where you all stayed tight end I saw,
Speaker 1: I was, I was decent. Yeah, he's been biggest catch
Speaker 1: you ever made. You remember, Uh? Yeah? It was actually
Speaker 1: in the I think the semi final game, UM in
Speaker 1: the playoffs my senior year, as a touchdown pass like
Speaker 1: probably like in the third quarter against a team that
Speaker 1: we had lost the previous three times we played them too,
Speaker 1: So you know that was a That was a game
Speaker 1: that you know, really stuck with me. You remember the rat.
Speaker 1: I think I ran a corner route. Yeah, I remember
Speaker 1: the It was a corner route. You know why. It's
Speaker 1: kind of funny because Jerry A. Zuma. Have you ever
Speaker 1: met Jerry Zuma? He was a great Chicago barrel. It
Speaker 1: was a kick returner. Um. He was before Devin Hester
Speaker 1: and um he was the all time Division two running
Speaker 1: leading rush or running back. He's a great running back.
Speaker 1: And I tell him all the time when I see him, Jerry,
Speaker 1: you were the best running back the Bears had when
Speaker 1: you were here. But the problem is he played defensive back.
Speaker 1: He never carried the ball in the NFL. He was
Speaker 1: Dick Duron, so right to project. I asked you, I
Speaker 1: asked Jerry about that. Were you ever frustrated that you
Speaker 1: never had a chance to run. Hey he's secretly yeah
Speaker 1: he is. I mean so, I mean last year when
Speaker 1: you were seeing all this goal line stuff going on
Speaker 1: where you're like trying to raise your hand or it's
Speaker 1: just be a rookie, you felt like he oughta I
Speaker 1: was a rookie, so I kind of just was happy
Speaker 1: to just I was on the Santas leigh, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: So I was just happy to just be out there. Huh.
Speaker 1: You got talent, you gotta you gotta speak up and
Speaker 1: let's see some catches out there from you. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna definitely start voicing it this year. Good. Good. So
Speaker 1: a couple games back after the injury, how is it feeling,
Speaker 1: How is it feeling, and how is it to use
Speaker 1: your hand and so forth? Yeah, um, it's feeling good.
Speaker 1: Um it's crazy. Uh, I think it's I think this
Speaker 1: past Sunday was six weeks since it happened, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I've made great strides and uh I'm back
Speaker 1: to you know, I'm slowly getting back to myself from
Speaker 1: a rhythm standpoint, just you know how I used to
Speaker 1: use my hands to now, So you know, it feels good,
Speaker 1: though I felt like that whole time period gave me
Speaker 1: a chance to grow in a lot of areas and
Speaker 1: uh really mature from a mental standpoint in a weird
Speaker 1: kind of way. And both you guys can answer questions
Speaker 1: about this because Jay, you didn't get through the entire
Speaker 1: NFL career thirteen years without having injuries to play through
Speaker 1: and play with. By not having one hundred percent you know,
Speaker 1: comfortability with with the with the hand and whatnot, as
Speaker 1: it accentuated, you're playing other ways, like using different elements
Speaker 1: of your game. The cop told, you know, overcompensate for
Speaker 1: that exactly. Um, So it was certain things that you know,
Speaker 1: my first game back that I did that I really
Speaker 1: never really tried, just the just because I had the cast.
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was a situation where I
Speaker 1: was I was trying to get adjusted to it. It
Speaker 1: feel weird with it on your hand because you were
Speaker 1: a d lineman and everything we do is with our hands,
Speaker 1: so to have that cast on it was like a
Speaker 1: little weird feeling and it was more like just getting
Speaker 1: used to it. So, um, you know, it was certain
Speaker 1: moves that I would try because I knew I had
Speaker 1: a cast on my hand. I knew it hurt. Save
Speaker 1: what's the worst thing you ever played with. I broke
Speaker 1: my hand. I broke my hand and in a game
Speaker 1: and stuff, so, um, it was my left hand. So
Speaker 1: that was back in the day. They just shot it up.
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna do any more damage to it at
Speaker 1: all the way it was broken. So they shot it
Speaker 1: up and I went out and played. Um, what was
Speaker 1: the mental hurdle? Uh? You know, it was so numb
Speaker 1: that I really I didn't have I didn't have much one.
Speaker 1: Although actually in this game, I got in a fight.
Speaker 1: In the game, nice going Jay and I come on
Speaker 1: and I grabbed guy's face mask with my broken hand.
Speaker 1: I remember I was getting I gave a couple of punches.
Speaker 1: Who was it? Um, it's some guy from the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: It is the forty four to zero Cowboy, one of
Speaker 1: the most impressive history. Where I slid over the top
Speaker 1: of the ball and I missed the fumble and this
Speaker 1: guy got right in my face and it's just I
Speaker 1: just grabbed his face mask and throwing some uppercuts and
Speaker 1: then that about my second upper cut. I was thinking,
Speaker 1: what am I doing? I got, I got a broken
Speaker 1: hand and I'm grabbing this guy's face mask. So just
Speaker 1: you know, these offensive linemen. You know, come on, but
Speaker 1: now you your your cast or your cast that you
Speaker 1: had on. Is it modified now from the first time
Speaker 1: you played with it two now or is it the
Speaker 1: same um apparatus? Or yeah? So um the first time
Speaker 1: I played with it, it was like a real cast,
Speaker 1: but uh the fingers, my fingers were cut out, so
Speaker 1: my fingers were exposed. Um where now it's just uh,
Speaker 1: because it's been two weeks. Um now I just got
Speaker 1: a pad over my hand. Yeah good, So I'm pretty
Speaker 1: much pretty much bad. So you know what's interesting and
Speaker 1: blah and I you know, I have a really good
Speaker 1: relationship and you know, I always give my handshake and
Speaker 1: the first time I did, I like, oh yeah, but
Speaker 1: I mean you just go in. You know, you're not thinking,
Speaker 1: so you're politely. But you know, it's interesting what you
Speaker 1: have to do when you're out in public or with
Speaker 1: friends or family when you're banged up, specially your hand.
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta be careful and you either have
Speaker 1: to you know, maybe go with a fist, bump or elbow.
Speaker 1: I don't know, you gotta they're not gonna remember if
Speaker 1: you have back surgery and you get to add a
Speaker 1: boy in the back. You know, I could send you
Speaker 1: through the ceiling. Yeah. It's crazy too because sometimes I forget,
Speaker 1: so I'll go shake somebody hand. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't want that, that's for sure. But Nichols our
Speaker 1: guest here on Bears All Access with Jay Hilgenberg city
Speaker 1: in for Tim Fair. When you grew up in Philly,
Speaker 1: did you have a favorite player that you like down
Speaker 1: the Eagles or anything that resonates with you, and did
Speaker 1: you ever go to an Eagles game as a kid. Yeah? So, um,
Speaker 1: I had a couple of favorite players. Of course, on
Speaker 1: defense it was Bron Dalkin and then Jeremiah Trotter. Uh,
Speaker 1: those are guys that you know. I really liked a
Speaker 1: lot um Javan Curse when he ended up coming with Philly.
Speaker 1: And then on offense, I was a huge Brown Westbrook fan,
Speaker 1: So those are the guys you know. I like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had went to a game. My first ever game
Speaker 1: was in Philly. I can't remember how old that was.
Speaker 1: I want to say I was in like middle school,
Speaker 1: but that was my first time going to an Eagles game.
Speaker 1: Who was playing They were playing the Cowboys. They were
Speaker 1: playing a Cowboys end of the Year and I think
Speaker 1: they lost too. So it's funny because a lot of
Speaker 1: players have never been to a game. I mean, they
Speaker 1: just you know, until they get to the NFL, and
Speaker 1: you kind of take it for granted that if you're
Speaker 1: interested in football, you'd be at a game, but you know,
Speaker 1: in many cases that's not the situation. What was your
Speaker 1: dream then already to be in the NFL when you
Speaker 1: went to that first game, or did it come real
Speaker 1: afterwards or did it come later in life? Did you
Speaker 1: think you had the opportunity? So it ended up coming
Speaker 1: once I got to high school, So I think I
Speaker 1: went to that game in middle school ended up my
Speaker 1: dream of going to the NFL ended up coming to
Speaker 1: high school. I was at that point in middle school,
Speaker 1: I was more like trying to go to the NBA.
Speaker 1: I was a huge basketball fan, and uh, I love football.
Speaker 1: I love to watch it, but I just I didn't
Speaker 1: play it as much, so I wasn't as experienced. And
Speaker 1: then when I got to high school, I played it
Speaker 1: and I fell in love with it. And then next thing,
Speaker 1: you know, just this athletic sixers six Ers Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: who was your grand Sixers? Yeah you knew it? Yeah, practice.
Speaker 1: So why white, white Delaware. Did you want to stay
Speaker 1: close to home or were you not heavily recruited out
Speaker 1: of high school. It's funny, I wasn't heavily recruited. I
Speaker 1: probably had about two to three offers coming out of
Speaker 1: high school. It was a funny story because I was
Speaker 1: considered like a late bloomer, raw athletic kid, wasn't good
Speaker 1: at technique, but just you know, it was raw and athletic,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, Delaware was the first school to
Speaker 1: offer me UM, and then came buck Now and then uh,
Speaker 1: then came James Madison. So those were the only three
Speaker 1: offers I had and UM at the time. I loved
Speaker 1: the Delaware I loved the coaching staff, coach, the head coach,
Speaker 1: Dave brock Um. He was a real honest guy, and
Speaker 1: you know, we had a great relationship, and he had
Speaker 1: a good relationship with my grandparents. And it was close
Speaker 1: to home. I'm like, my family can come to all
Speaker 1: the home games, so you know, why not? And then
Speaker 1: Delaware had a rich tradition, especially Dave was pretty good
Speaker 1: at putting kids in the league. So you know, I
Speaker 1: just said, why not. Yeah, you see, I wish kids
Speaker 1: would do that. I don't understand why, um these top
Speaker 1: players flocked to Alabama and all these top programs because
Speaker 1: I mean, look at I mean, they found you. I
Speaker 1: mean you're you're a great professional football player and if
Speaker 1: you have ability, they're going to find it no matter
Speaker 1: what school you go to. So that's great that you stay.
Speaker 1: You stayed at home. Let the family watch him play.
Speaker 1: Do you ever, because there's a couple of guys in
Speaker 1: that room. Charles Lenno Junior, for one, Alan Robinson loved
Speaker 1: the NBA. I mean, yeah, Alan Robinson. I learned that
Speaker 1: he stood before it's kindergarten class and said I'm going
Speaker 1: to be a pro athlete one day and they kept
Speaker 1: telling him, yeah, okay, kid whatever. Yeah he did. He
Speaker 1: told me that story, Um, probably about four days ago.
Speaker 1: Really yeah, he literally stood in front of his class
Speaker 1: and told him that's what he was going to be.
Speaker 1: And they were like, yeah, but you know you need
Speaker 1: to backup plan and he was like, no, this is
Speaker 1: what I want to be. It's crazy to think what happened.
Speaker 1: Every kid would love to but he had the conviction
Speaker 1: to do it. But that man loves the NBA. He does.
Speaker 1: Me and him talked all the time about it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we talk about it. And it's Kawhi his favorite player.
Speaker 1: I don't know who his favorite it might be though. Yeah,
Speaker 1: great debates going on there and get Leno with the Warriors,
Speaker 1: and Leno loved you can't tell him nothing about the Warriors.
Speaker 1: Been to a Bulls game here, Yeah, I have, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have, I have, and I'm looking forward to going back.
Speaker 1: Amazing time. Nice atmosphere is ridiculous. Yeah, yeah, they're gonna
Speaker 1: be better this year. Whole players, the year goes on
Speaker 1: all we're gonna step away, have another break here, We'll
Speaker 1: have blown goes back after this. On Chicago Sports Radio
Speaker 1: six seventy The Score, Sports Radio six seventy The Score,
Speaker 1: starting Sunday, November three through November six, One lucky winner
Speaker 1: can what a Thanksgiving theme? Lunch with their friends at
Speaker 1: Hollis Hall and are the Bears Friends Giving Sweepstakes brought
Speaker 1: to you by Miller Light at Chicago Bears dot Com
Speaker 1: Slash Friends Giving Jeff Jonniak along with Jay Hilgenberg in
Speaker 1: for time Thayer, but I'll Nichols the Bears bright second
Speaker 1: year defensive lineman getting an opportunity at a ton of
Speaker 1: playing time this season. You know, you won that starting job.
Speaker 1: That injury obviously throws you a curveball mentally for a
Speaker 1: young player. How'd you deal? It was? It was tough
Speaker 1: because this past offseason I trained so hard. I was
Speaker 1: in the best physical shape I've ever been in my life.
Speaker 1: From mental standpoint, I felt like I was at my best. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I was lean, I was faster, stronger, and
Speaker 1: I was ready to go. And I had so such
Speaker 1: you know, high goals for myself this pat this year,
Speaker 1: and uh, it's like a second game of the year
Speaker 1: doing something that I a thousand times a day. Taking
Speaker 1: on a block, I just having to break my hand.
Speaker 1: It was kind of like, you know, it was kind
Speaker 1: of like a little demoralizing just because of the situation.
Speaker 1: And then I just felt like I was just leaving
Speaker 1: my teammates out there, my other teammates on the D
Speaker 1: line out there to battle, and it was it was
Speaker 1: nothing that I could do to help them. But I
Speaker 1: tell people that it was really a blessing in disguise
Speaker 1: that it happened, because it gave me a chance to
Speaker 1: grow mentally as as a person and a player on
Speaker 1: and off the field. It gave me an opportunity to
Speaker 1: really appreciate things and to learn not to take anything
Speaker 1: for granted because it could be taken away from you
Speaker 1: in the blink of a second. And it gave me
Speaker 1: an idea on, you know, how to break down film.
Speaker 1: I was able to, you know, learn different things on
Speaker 1: how to break down film and help the guys out
Speaker 1: because I wasn't playing, so I had to figure out
Speaker 1: a way to help them in some type of way.
Speaker 1: And you know, it was in film or what I've
Speaker 1: seen on the field or on the sideline and just
Speaker 1: you know, just trying to be that extra that extra
Speaker 1: guy that they can come to for an insight on
Speaker 1: what's going on. So when you get an injury and
Speaker 1: I don't know how players deal with this or not,
Speaker 1: do you ask questions, Okay, what's this means down the road?
Speaker 1: Can it rebreak? Can't? I mean, do you go through
Speaker 1: that process and you just put the trust in them
Speaker 1: to tell you, hey, everything's thombs up? Um, you gotta
Speaker 1: trust them. I feel like for me, it was like
Speaker 1: I didn't want to try to think about that type
Speaker 1: of stuff because I didn't want it to slow me
Speaker 1: down on the field or discourage me in any way.
Speaker 1: So you know, I did talk to guys who had
Speaker 1: similar injuries, like Leonard Floyd and the King. Uh. Those
Speaker 1: guys happened to have the same injury I had, and
Speaker 1: they helped me out and they kept me in it mentally. Um.
Speaker 1: This funny thing is that the night I did it,
Speaker 1: I had the injury, A Keen texting me. We had
Speaker 1: just got back from Denver. It was probably like two
Speaker 1: three in the man A Keen texted me just saying like, Yo,
Speaker 1: I just want you to know I got you back
Speaker 1: and I'm here. If you need anything, just call me.
Speaker 1: I can come over help you if you need help
Speaker 1: with anything. And stuff like that meant meant a lot
Speaker 1: to me, just because mentally, you know, you got a
Speaker 1: thousand things going in your head, like you know about
Speaker 1: this injury, and just just something small like that really
Speaker 1: helped me out. So just talking to those guys, they
Speaker 1: kept me in it mentally, and you know, I just
Speaker 1: I just wanted to be able to help them in
Speaker 1: anyway I could at that point. Right, did you feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, when you first got back playing, like you
Speaker 1: got caught up to speed to the game or was
Speaker 1: there an adjustment? Right? Off the bat or did you
Speaker 1: feel comfortable gating right back in there? Yeah? So, um,
Speaker 1: the first the first couple of drives, I kind of
Speaker 1: had to, uh, I had to get my rhythm back.
Speaker 1: I felt like I was, um, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: you know how it is for very long. Absolutely, it's
Speaker 1: all about rhythm. M So I kind of felt a little,
Speaker 1: you know, like everything was happening a little fast. But
Speaker 1: once I got my rhythm down, I got my eyes
Speaker 1: working looking at the correct things, and my hands working,
Speaker 1: and uh, getting over that mental block of using my hand,
Speaker 1: I was good to go, right. I remember in eighty
Speaker 1: seven I missed the whole preseason. I hurt my shoulder
Speaker 1: in the preseason and we opened up against the Giants
Speaker 1: on a Monday night game, I believe it was, and
Speaker 1: I wasn't I wasn't ready to play the game. Mentally,
Speaker 1: I wasn't right because I hadn't taken a hit or anything.
Speaker 1: And I remember the first play we ran. We ran
Speaker 1: a Wham play. I don't I don't know if they
Speaker 1: run right. I love the Whams. Yeah, I love whams up.
Speaker 1: You know. I used to head fake the center or
Speaker 1: the nose guard, and that it was fun. Stuff to
Speaker 1: do to nose guards, and but I head faked night
Speaker 1: and I supposed to slide over to check a linebacker
Speaker 1: or a defensivevent, but I wasn't looking. I was kind
Speaker 1: of out of it, just looking at the noose guard,
Speaker 1: and Leonard Marshall came in just tk oled me. I mean,
Speaker 1: he knocked me down so hard, you know, first play
Speaker 1: the game. But it was the best thing happened to me.
Speaker 1: You know, it got me right back into Yeah, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: So I mean that. So I'm sure that first play
Speaker 1: you back in after your hand, there was a lot
Speaker 1: of anxious anxiousness. Yeah, it was, it was. And then
Speaker 1: h I think, uh like later on that series, I
Speaker 1: made a stop on third and one, um, and and
Speaker 1: that that really duced me up right, I'm like, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go. Yeah, you know you made you
Speaker 1: made such a big splat last year rookie years d
Speaker 1: like almost kind of you know, your fifth round draft choice,
Speaker 1: and no one really expected a lot of about fifth
Speaker 1: round jobs. So you came in and man, you were
Speaker 1: making plays. You and you had a bunch of sacks.
Speaker 1: Your first sack was against Matthew Stafford. That's quite a
Speaker 1: quarterback to get a sack on and Jay still trying
Speaker 1: to get him traded from the Lions. Yeah, yeah, keeps
Speaker 1: the Lions should trade Matthew Staff. I really think that,
Speaker 1: I really think they should think the quarterback. Yeah he
Speaker 1: is what he say, has a lot of losses. But
Speaker 1: m but I mean Carson Wentz. I mean, here's an opportunity.
Speaker 1: I mean here, this would be a big pelt to
Speaker 1: have on the you know, being from the Philadelphia area,
Speaker 1: to get a sack here Sunday against Carson Wentz. And
Speaker 1: he's going to give you an opportunity, won't he. I mean,
Speaker 1: he sits in that pocket, he looks for heat. He'll
Speaker 1: sit there. And now when you see it, do you
Speaker 1: are you taught to go after the ball, go through
Speaker 1: the ball to the quarterback, or you just get the
Speaker 1: quarterback go ahead the ball? All right? One guy you
Speaker 1: know who does it better than anybody Else's clear. It
Speaker 1: was funny too, because when he had first got here
Speaker 1: last year, I sat down and I talked with him. Man,
Speaker 1: he told me everything you do do with the intent
Speaker 1: of getting the ball. He literally sat down and told
Speaker 1: me that, And then I watched him my practice every day.
Speaker 1: I watched him in games, and I've kind of started
Speaker 1: to develop that trait. So everything I do, I try
Speaker 1: to get the ball, so I don't I don't even
Speaker 1: care about sacking with QB. I'm trying to sack the ball.
Speaker 1: It's interesting how you go about your business, you know,
Speaker 1: as a young man, because you and a keym obviously
Speaker 1: hit it off immediately. You sought him out. He was
Speaker 1: willing to help you, or some guys are not. But
Speaker 1: you seek input from the guys that have played this game,
Speaker 1: you know, just not many years, you know, before you yourself.
Speaker 1: But that's important to you, isn't it. Yeah? It is. Um.
Speaker 1: I got a lot of respect for those guys. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been watching those guys since since I
Speaker 1: was in high school, so, you know, I just felt
Speaker 1: like I was blessed enough to come into a position
Speaker 1: where I'm surrounding about so many talented players, and I
Speaker 1: feel like, whenever you get the chance, you should soak
Speaker 1: up the knowledge. Those guys are great guys. They're never
Speaker 1: going to tell me anything wrong, and one day I
Speaker 1: want to I want to have the type of career
Speaker 1: that they're building right now. So I'm always asking questions
Speaker 1: and they always happy to answer them. Gonna be weird
Speaker 1: facing Jordan Howard. Oh yeah, it's gonna be. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be it's gonna be a little different. But I'm
Speaker 1: ready for it. Yeah, I'm sure he's gonna be ready. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be ready for it. We're gonna be ready
Speaker 1: for it too. Yeah, he intrigue. You're talking a lot
Speaker 1: when you are like on a one to one pass rush.
Speaker 1: Do you like getting tight up on the guy or
Speaker 1: do you like being a little off the offensive wineman
Speaker 1: that you're gonna rush against. I like being a little
Speaker 1: bit off um because a lot of times when I
Speaker 1: get off the ball in passing situations, I try to
Speaker 1: cover a lot of ground with my get off. So
Speaker 1: sometimes if if I'm too close to the ball and
Speaker 1: I'm getting off, I feel like I'm right there, right,
Speaker 1: I'm right there, and and I don't like it. So
Speaker 1: sometimes I back up off the ball to really like
Speaker 1: you know, now you at liberty to do whatever makes
Speaker 1: you feel comfortable or is j roj this is what
Speaker 1: you have to do. Don't vary. No, Jay Jay Jay
Speaker 1: is a pretty he's a great coach's uh, he's pretty
Speaker 1: good about you. Know, allowing you to be a playmaker.
Speaker 1: Um don't. He don't want you to be a robot
Speaker 1: out there. He wants you to be a playmaker. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, he gives you the freedom to do stuff
Speaker 1: like that. Below Nichols our guest. One more segment to
Speaker 1: go here on Bears All Access on Chicago's Sports Radio
Speaker 1: six seventy to score. Be sure to stop by the
Speaker 1: middle of Light Ultimate Tailgate before the next Bears home
Speaker 1: game Sunday, November tenth. The tailgate opens at ten am
Speaker 1: through one hour post game. Located at the Field Museum.
Speaker 1: Ultimate Tailgate free for fans of all ages and a
Speaker 1: great place to stop for food and drinks before heading
Speaker 1: into the game. With Jay Hilgenberg in for Time Thayer
Speaker 1: this week, Jeff Jonik and below Nichols kind enough to
Speaker 1: join us as he gets ready to meet the Philadelphia Eagles. Um,
Speaker 1: they got a heck of an offensive line, don't they.
Speaker 1: What are you seeing? Because that Brandon Brooks is getting
Speaker 1: a lot of game right now as one of the
Speaker 1: top guards in the league, and some say maybe the
Speaker 1: best guard in the league. Yeah, I mean he's he's
Speaker 1: he's the head of a player. Um, we played him
Speaker 1: last year in the playoffs. Uh, he was, he was
Speaker 1: a dominant player. Um, you know, so it was great
Speaker 1: to go against him. And I look, I look forward
Speaker 1: to the challenge back then, and I look forward to
Speaker 1: the challenge this Sunday. Um. They have great offensive line.
Speaker 1: Like you said, you got Kelsey at the center, you
Speaker 1: got Brooks as the guard, you got Isaac as the
Speaker 1: other guard, and then you have the two tackles, Lane
Speaker 1: Johnson all Pro player, and then Jason Peters went down.
Speaker 1: So you know they got guys stepping in in his place.
Speaker 1: But I know that dealer dealer. Yeah, so you know
Speaker 1: they got uh, they got talented all across the board. Um.
Speaker 1: And and the good thing about them is when you
Speaker 1: watch them on film, they seem like they're very comfortable
Speaker 1: working with each other and they work as one. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's gonna be it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a good test force. Right. That's that's great though. I
Speaker 1: mean you look at that as an opportunity. I can
Speaker 1: just tell listener you talk that here's an opportunity for
Speaker 1: you to keep stepping up and making a name for
Speaker 1: yourself in the NFL. And also your defense actually should
Speaker 1: be pretty well rested this week. You only had like
Speaker 1: forty some snaps. Yeah, snaps. I mean, did you feel
Speaker 1: it that that this past week was not as taxing
Speaker 1: to you guys? Yeah, I felt great, But no, hey,
Speaker 1: I you know, and you shouldn't apologize for that. There
Speaker 1: was many games in the NFL that I felt great afterwards.
Speaker 1: In the week I felt great. I mean, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a great thing to feel good during the middle of
Speaker 1: the season of the NFL. I mean, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was it was crazy. I felt good. I felt
Speaker 1: like I could play another one, right, it was. You know,
Speaker 1: that's super underscores that the impact of complimentary football, you know,
Speaker 1: special teams offense and defense working together. Uh, what are
Speaker 1: you learning because last year, your rookie year, it's wow,
Speaker 1: it was wow. Twelve and four. Now three game losing streak.
Speaker 1: It sets off so many alarms and for any team
Speaker 1: that has a three game losing streaker more that's just
Speaker 1: that's the nature of the beast. But what are you
Speaker 1: learning about winning and losing? Um, I'm learning that a
Speaker 1: lot of times you know you're gonna be hit with adversity,
Speaker 1: but it's it's always about how you respond to it
Speaker 1: um and and that's what that's what we're learning this year. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we we've been dope. You know, we've had
Speaker 1: some things happened to us. That's you know, that's just
Speaker 1: different and uh, it's all about how we bounce back.
Speaker 1: But you know what I can say about the guys
Speaker 1: in our locker room is each and every single guy
Speaker 1: comes out every day and works their tail off. You know,
Speaker 1: they're they're not shooking up by what's going on. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know they they come into practice every day with
Speaker 1: the energy, with the energy because we know that we're
Speaker 1: gonna get it back on track. And it's important for
Speaker 1: young guys too, because you're gonna be here a while
Speaker 1: so you can these things that you go through when
Speaker 1: the next wave of gas come. Because the roster changes
Speaker 1: every year, you know you're gonna be one of those
Speaker 1: leaders and say, hey, listen, we've been through this. Here's
Speaker 1: how we're gonna get out of it. You're gonna learn
Speaker 1: a lot from this. Yeah, yeah, And I'm just really
Speaker 1: trying to take it all in and be a sponge.
Speaker 1: You look at guys like Danny Trevithan, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: you look at haha Khalil a keen. You look at
Speaker 1: all those type of guys and uh, you know, they're
Speaker 1: remaining positive. They are are leaders, and they remaining positive
Speaker 1: and um, the way they're handling the situation, it's quite remarkable. Um.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm just taking notes from them, so
Speaker 1: you know, when I'm in their position one day, I
Speaker 1: can do the same thing. I think coach Nage feels
Speaker 1: good about the idea that players have gone up to
Speaker 1: them this week and say, hey, coach, we got this.
Speaker 1: It takes a little bit off the worry aspect of
Speaker 1: being a head coach. Yeah, it does. It does so
Speaker 1: much accountability in our locker room. Everybody we have each
Speaker 1: other's back. That's great, And I mean that's what it
Speaker 1: really takes. I mean for a team to get through
Speaker 1: tough times. As I said earlier before you were here,
Speaker 1: that it's the most important thing. And I see it
Speaker 1: more now being out of the league for so long,
Speaker 1: is that you got the team has to stay together
Speaker 1: during the season because it's such a short season anyway
Speaker 1: that I mean, you can do whatever you want in
Speaker 1: the offseason, but this time everybody has to be on
Speaker 1: the same page. All right, Well, that's gonna wrap us
Speaker 1: up for this week. Shelbalag good luck this week. Can't
Speaker 1: have fun with your family and the visit there and
Speaker 1: take care of that business trip. Thank you, Eagles, appreciate
Speaker 1: taking the time to be here. Balow Nichols, Bear second
Speaker 1: year defensive lineman. Where Jay Hilgenberg Balow, I'm Jeff Joniak
Speaker 1: along with Paul's Arrange, our engineer, and Dan Billy, our producer.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you. You're listening tonight. We'll talk to you
Speaker 1: next time. And of course Tom there will be back
Speaker 1: with me on the radio on Sunday along with Jay
Speaker 1: and Ron Leason, Jim Schwantz and our pregame show at
Speaker 1: nine kickoff at noon from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia
Speaker 1: for the Bears and Eagles. Have a good night on
Speaker 1: Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The score