Bears’ Corey Graham reaps Pro Bowl reward for hard work
This is the third straight season in which first-time Pro Bowler Corey Graham has at least 20 special-teams tackles.
Since he came into the league in 2007 out of New Hampshire, Graham has 74 specials teams-tackles, according to press box statistics (102 according to Bears statistics), and the only player in the league with more tackles is the Lions’ John Wendling (89).
“He’s really come a long way,” said Bears special teams coordinator Dave Toub.
“He’s worked so hard, and that’s what’s so gratifying about seeing him get the recognition. He had such a great year last year (NFL-best 22 tackles, according to press box statistics; 25 according to the Bears). I thought he deserved it last year as well. But to get it now, I think it’s all worthwhile.”
Most of the 6-foot, 196-pound Graham’s special-teams experience in college was as a returner.
He set the school record with 1,787 career kickoff-return yards, had 3 return touchdowns and averaged 27.5 yards per return, second in Atlantic-10 history.
But covering kicks in the NFL was something new for him.
“He was raw,” Toub said. “But he always had the desire, he never made the same mistake twice, and it’s paid off for him now.”
High hurdle:Brian Urlacher is convinced that a healthy Bears team has the talent to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2006 season, but he admits their rival to the north #8212; the Packers #8212; increases the difficulty factor.#147;We feel like we have the players to do it,#148; Urlacher said. #147;I think we#146;ve shown that. We have all the talent we need to get where we need to go. We#146;ve just got to put it together and do it. #147;We want to win the division every year. That#146;s our ultimate goal. We want to win the Super Bowl. It just makes it harder now because Green Bay is so #145;frickin#146; good. They#146;ve been the best team in the NFL the last two years. It#146;s going to be a big hurdle for us to get over, but there#146;s urgency every single year to try and accomplish that goal.#148;New Year#146;s resolution:Lovie Smith doesn#146;t waste any time dwelling on past failures, so he#146;s already looking to the new year.#147;We#146;ve already put up our goals for the 2012 season,#148; he said last week during preparations for today#146;s game with the Vikings. #147;We want to be 1-0, and just get another good look at some of the younger players that haven#146;t played a lot. Even some of the older players that have been around, after what happened last week (the 35-21 loss to the Packers) we want to finish off on a high note, and everybody has that mindset this week.#148;More important things:Brian Urlacher has been voted to eight Pro Bowls, but he doesn#146;t believe that getting picked for the all-star game is always the best indicator of performance.#147;I feel like some of my best years I didn#146;t go to the Pro Bowl,#148; Urlacher said. #147;So I don#146;t rate (a good year) on whether you go to the Pro Bowl or not. There was a year I had 5 picks, 5 sacks, 160 tackles (158, actually) and I didn#146;t go to the Pro Bowl (2007). So I don#146;t think that stuff really matters. #147;If you#146;re winning, a lot of your guys are going to go. And we were winning there for a while. I think when the voting rolled around (this year) we were still decent. So we had a lot of guys go. I#146;d like to win a lot of games, but we haven#146;t done it this year, so it#146;s been disappointing.#148;