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We're Black and Blue All Over: Former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Mike Tice has resurfaced publicly for the first time since the team overhauled its coaching staff, agreeing to interviews with both the Chicago Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer ...

We've had our fun over the years with the presumed deficiencies of linemen with relatively short arms. Line play is about leverage and, the theory goes, a combatant with longer arms has a physics-based advantage. So it's worth noting that at least...

Craig of Braintree, Mass., did a double-take this week after reading my suggestion that Detroit Lions defensive end Ziggy Ansah could have an opportunity for a 10-sack rookie season. Admittedly, the projection requires some context. Craig: "I was ...

Tuesday's SportsNation chat included a completely random discussion about the state of defensive lines in the NFC North. The relevant exchanges: Rich (Philly) Jared, Kevin and Brian are all playing for contracts this year while Sharif is playin...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Thursday, we broached the topic of whether the Chicago Bears would retire the number of middle linebacker Brian Urlacher. As it turns out, the team is dealing with a backlog on that issue. Almost a half-century af...

As we've noted many times over the past two years, signing draft picks isn't the adventure that it used to be. The NFL's collective bargaining agreement, ratified for the 2011 season, created a streamlined negotiating process and provided far less wi...

NFL draft picks get all sorts of advice entering the big night. Some of it is smart. Some of it is crushingly bad. And then there is the suggestion Detroit Lions defensive end Ziggy Ansah received. Friends who had seen Ansah wear 3D glasses around...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Conventional wisdom suggests Monday could be the day the Minnesota Vikings part ways with punter Chris Kluwe. As we've discussed, the Vikings made UCLA punter Jeff Locke their fifth-round draft pick last month. Te...

Another in a periodic series examining the roles of NFC North newcomers: We have all debated the potential for Ziggy Ansah's immediate impact as a Detroit Lions defensive end in 2013. Ansah was a late arrival to football, a late bloomer on the NFL...

ESPN.com's power ranking committee convened this week because, well, why not? NFL teams have made it to the other side of the bulk of player acquisition season. Let's take a look at how NFC North teams stack up: 5. Green Bay Packers Trending: Up ...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette made important points in analyzing the new contract of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers will co...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Phew! We made it. Veni, vidi, vici and all that. Three days of the 2013 draft brought us 35 new draft picks and scores of college free agents. I did my best to sort out the immediate aftermath Saturday evening and...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Good morning from NFC North blog headquarters, where we are positioned to sort through the reams of information, rumors and smokescreens picked up over the past four days at the NFL scouting combine. First up: The po...