Bears tab Emery as GM

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01/28/2012 - Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears announced on Saturday that they have hired Phil Emery as the team's fifth general manager in franchise history.

Emery joins the Bears with 14 years of NFL experience under his belt, including serving the past three seasons as director of college scouting for the Kansas City Chiefs.

This will be Emery's second stint with Chicago. From 1998-2004, he served as an area scout for the team. During that time, the Bears drafted wide receiver Marty Booker, defensive cornerstone Brian Urlacher, cornerback Charles Tillman and linebacker Lance Briggs.

After leaving the Bears, Emery was hired as director of college scouting for the Atlanta Falcons, where he served from 2004-2008.

Over that span, two of the Falcons' three first round draft picks developed into Pro Bowl caliber players, in wide receiver Roddy White and quarterback Matt Ryan.

Emery began his football career as a graduate assistant at Central Michigan from 1981-82. From there, he went on to become the strength and conditioning/offensive line coach at Western New Mexico for three seasons before becoming the defensive line coach at Georgetown College from 1984-85.

He made his final collegiate stop as the director of strength and conditioning and as an associate professor at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1991-98, where the midshipmen took home the Aloha Bowl in 1996.

Emery replaces longtime general manager Jerry Angelo, who was let go earlier this month as part of sweeping changes in the Bears front office after the team got off to a 7-3 start this past season, but lost five of its final six games to finish 8-8, missing the playoffs for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

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Colts give the ‘D’ its due

The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.

They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.

"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."

Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.

New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.

Not so sound on the ground

If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.

Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com

“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.

Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Brees says bring it on

Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.

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SportsBooks ready for a shootout

Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.

“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”

New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.

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