Ahead of the Buccaneers‘ showdown with the Bears, coach Lovie Smith says that he’s focused on turning things around in Tampa Bay, not on reuniting with his old friends from Chicago, writes Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. Still, Smith has fond memories of his time with the Bears and he doesn’t harbor any ill-will towards them. “My memories of my time are in Chicago are all great. I have lifetime friends from Chicago. I don’t have many bad memories on any place I have ever been. We won a lot of games. That is what I remember. And the fans there were awesome when we were winning all those games,” said the coach. More from around the league..
- Jets quarterback Michael Vick has plenty of football left in him, writes NFL.com’s Chris Wesseling. “I would love to play again, at least get it out of my system for two more years,” Vick said, via NFL Media’s Kimberly Jones. “Because I know I got it in me.”
- If Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has learned from his mistakes, he’s sure not showing it, writes Christine Brennan of USA Today. If the goal the past week was to get back on the field as soon as possible, blowing off a meeting with the NFL commissioner was not the way to do it, no matter what the players’ union was whispering in his ear, Brennan writes. Peterson’s appeal is set to take place on December 2nd, but it sounds like a longshot to say the least.
- Josh Cribbs‘ deal with the Colts is a two-year pact, according to Mike Chappell of the Indy Star (on Twitter). The 31-year-old has made a name for himself in the NFL as a kick return specialist.
- Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune looked back at Josh McCown‘s journey from last year to this year. McCown emerged as a very capable fill-in for the Bears last season when Jay Cutler went down. Over the offseason, he joined up with the Bucs and despite some hiccups, he is coming off of a very solid road win over Washington.