Mike Florio reacts to Bears signing C.J. Gardner-Johnson, talks Joe Flacco’s injury status
as the Bears secondary could not stand as it currently is constituted. So the news of Chanty Gardner Johnson reuniting with Dennis Allen is certainly the big news here. What do you make of the fact that they signed him and the fact that he’s been on three teams now in the last five weeks? Well, this is a guy who by all appearances has had a difficult time working and playing well with others. The Eagles moved on from him after the Super Bowl. the Texans decided to cut the court after he had started, I think, every game he played for them this season. He spent a little bit of time on the Ravens practice squad, but he’s done some some good things. He’s a guy that can fill a need and and have a role, but there’s there’s just always kind of been something that that goes on that causes him to wear out as welcome. So, until that happens, he’s a guy that can maybe help the Bears. And you know, every coach thinks I’m the guy that’s going to be the one to get through to a guy that for whatever reason may have had issues elsewhere. And need combines with availability and boom, we we see what can happen. It seems like a buyer beware situation, but especially because it is a firstear head coach trying to establish a culture after we know what happened last year with this team. And I think part of what you do when you bring a guy like that in is you make it very clear from the get-go. These are the expectations and we’re going to be paying attention and if anything happens that falls into the category of the issues that have happened in the past and you know what boom that’s it. It’s done. It’s over. We’re willing to give you a chance and you get one chance. And if something happens that we don’t like, if and whatever it is, cuz you know, teams aren’t willing to peel back the curtain and tell us the whole story of why something went south. But things have gone south. So you outline the expectations, you hold the player to that standard, and if he ever runs a foul of it, then you just move on. Well, and Mike, I was joking about how he’s been part of some very viral moments in Bears history. Twice in a season, he goed opposing receivers to punch him in the face in the helmet during games. So, that obviously went in the favor of the Saints way. I’m hoping that uh maybe maybe the Bears are due for some penalties for and in their favor. You want to have that guy on your team that you love him if he’s your teammate and if he’s on the other team, you hate him. That chippiness. But the problem is sometimes that chippiness can’t be contained. So the guys who are supposed to love him end up maybe not loving him as much as they should and that creates the issues. But you know, it’s happened enough times that you just have to look at it and say, “Okay, well, we’ll see if he’s learned his lesson. We’ll see if he’s grown. We’ll see if he’s matured. We’ll see how he fits in the locker room. And if he does something that causes him to not fit, then it’s it’s as easy to move on from him as it is to add him.” We’re talking to Mike Florio, the creator, editor, and chief of Pro Football Talk here on Raheem Harrison Grody on 670 The Score. There’s also some news regarding Joe Flacco because, you know, when when you’re 40 and quarterbacking, maybe you aren’t as healthy as you would like to be at times during the week. We understand reports saying that it’s an AC joint issue for Flaco. What are you hearing about his availability for Sunday? Well, you know, if he’s called daytoday, then that and this this is what slips into what became the story of the week last year for the NFL. What do they tell us? What do the teams tell us about a player’s status? And what is the truth? And are they calling him daytoday while they’re secretly getting Jake Browning ready? While people in the organization know that Flaco may not be able to go this week, are they going to string it out as long as they can? Limited in practice on Wednesday, limited in practice on Thursday, limited on Friday, questionable. And then we find out as late as possible that it’s not going to be him. That’s part of the basic gamesmanship of football. But it has its risks when we explore the ways that inside information can be misused and abused. That’s the balance the NFL has to take a look at striking a little bit better after what happened with the Ravens last week. A topic that you all are very familiar with because the Bears apparently were duped into thinking Lamar Jackson was going to play. So, we have to factor any reports and any comments through that lens. Is there a chance that a team is trying to get the next opponent to think it’s going to be this guy when it’s actually going to be that guy? Those words limited, questionable. I’m not sure that the Ravens knew what those words actually meant until we saw what happened. Uh we know that there’s been an apology and honest mistakes been thrown around. What do you make of it and how hard will the NFL come down on the Ravens? Well, of all the days in the history of humankind that that could have happened, last Friday was the absolute worst because it’s one day after the Terry Rosier, Chanty Bilips, Damon Jones NBA gambling controversy, the two prongs because the Terry Rosier stuff with the manipulation of the unders that wasn’t new. Jonte Porter allegedly or actually or whatever did that. He ended up being banished for life. The new part was this ridiculous you can’t make it up rigged poker game. It comes together. It overtakes the sports world. And what the Ravens did on Friday, they can’t claim they didn’t know. I’ve seen the policy. It’s clear that if you’re a starter and you fully participate in practice as the scout team quarterback, you are limited by virtue of the application of the language of the injury policy because you didn’t take your normal reps. Your normal reps are with the first string offense. If you’re taking all the reps with the scout team and you’re the starting quarterback, you were necessarily limited in practice. And I would say the Ravens know that. And the NFL’s investigation presumably will get to the bottom of the question of whether or not the Ravens deliberately ran a foul of the letter of the policy in order to make the Bears think they were going to be facing Lamar Jackson. And really, for anybody that pays attention to this, limited on Wednesday, I don’t know what that means. Limited on Thursday, I don’t know what that means. You call him full on Friday, he’s playing. That’s the message. Oh, he’s good to go. He’s playing. Oh, we didn’t expect that one. And by saying full instead of limited, that sent a very clear message. It was part of, I believe, the gamesmanship. I think the Ravens were at some level trying to pull a fast one, not as it relates to gambling. I had a GM call me the other day and he said, “Look, all of this stuff is about strategic edge. It’s not about gambling. The problem is the two things are so combined now. And if the NFL is going to profit to the tens of millions of dollars from gambling sponsorships, if the NFL is going to allow team owners to own up to 5% of any company that operates a sports book, but they won’t tell us who owns how much of which sports book, you can’t you can’t ignore the obvious overlap between gamesmanship, inside information, messages sent to the gambling public. And that’s where the NFL has a problem. If I’m the Ravens, I’m concerned that they’re going to make an example out of us because it’s an opportunity to send a very important message at a very critical time to everyone about not playing games with the injury Four.
On the Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk shared his thoughts on the Bears signing veteran defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Is the deal worth the risk? Florio also reacted to Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco’s status being up in the air for Sunday as he deals with an ailing shoulder. The Bears and the Bengals will meet in Cincinnati.
#ChicagoBears #cjgardnerjohnson #Bears #MikeFlorio
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24 comments
Be ready to play no excuses
The Ravens should give the bears a draft pick for their cheating..
Ben Johnson has already established a culture…not worried. Plus DA has worked with him for 3 years previously.
Florio is an angry little man. We all know he has an ax to grind with the NFL. I dont trust anything that man says. Period
The NFL is rigged!
No way the gambling rigging ends with the NBA.
Bear Down Chicago and Buckel Up
What message did the Ravens send to the gamblers?
Clearly a Dennis Allen signing, who knows him very well.
Florio Having the ghostbusters firehouse!!!!!
Can he rush the QB?
The Bears dont need DBs, they need passrushers. I dont care who you put in that Bears secondary, if they cant pressure the QB they're going to get torched.
Nfl=gambling.
Bears should receive their first round pick. Got to set an example
Nothing but a distraction from what influences gambling the most…horrendous officiating
It’s really simple our secondary needed some serious help in a bad way. He didn’t cost draft capital. I see only upside.
sounds like a running back name to me
He's Temu Antonio Brown
🐻⬇️
An he will look like the rest of the cb's because we don't have a passrush no cb can cover for 20 sec
Minus the takeaways, the bears d sucks.
Chicago is trying to be baby Detroit… How many former Lions do they have now??🤣
What a waste of a Florio appearance.
It seems similar to the Bulls picking up Dennis Rodman with all his baggage. So, who is the Michael Jordan of the Bears to keep this guy's attitude in check.