Jay Cutler
will be without one of his new weapons Sunday when the Bears open the regular season against the Falcons.
Running back
Marion Barber
will be held out with a calf muscle injury, according to a league source. Barber suffered the injury in the Aug. 27 exhibition at Tennessee and hasn’t practiced since.
Based on what offensive coordinator
Mike Martz
said about the running back, Barber could be missed.
“He’s just such a violent runner,” Martz said. “He’s a guy who can certainly jump cut and do all those things, but he’ll take a defender on, too, and break tackles that way. He’s kind of a complete back in that way.”
Starter
Matt Forte
is capable of shouldering a heavy load, but Forte got a little bit of rest in every game last season with
Chester Taylor
as his backup.
With Barber sidelined,
Kahlil Bell
moves into the backup role against the Falcons despite not getting a single regular-season carry in 2010. Bell was a standout in practice all of last season and showed flashes of his ability throughout the preseason.
“I’ve been ready since I got here,” Bell said. “Whenever they put me on the field, I’m going to be ready no matter what happens. … I’ve done everything possible to prepare myself.”
Bell said he is fully recovered from the ankle injury he suffered in the last exhibition.
The Falcons boasted the league’s 10th-best rushing defense a year ago, yielding 105.9 rushing yards per game.
Pep in step:
Falcons quarterback
Matt Ryan
is well aware of the impact
Julius Peppers
can have on a game. He faced Peppers twice a year for two seasons when Peppers played for the Panthers.
“He’s a big addition to that defense,” Ryan said of Peppers. “He’s an extremely talented player, very good pass rusher, very good against the run, they can use him in a number of different areas.
“He is incredibly athletic. I think the remainder of the guys, we’ve played against them twice, two and three years ago, we know it’s a talented defense.”
For the record, Peppers has sacked Ryan just once — during Ryan’s rookie season. Peppers has six career sacks against the Falcons.
Leading the pack:
The team captains were named Wednesday with Cutler and
Roberto Garza
picked for the offense,
Brian Urlacher
and Peppers for the defense, and
Patrick Mannelly
for special teams.
Garza essentially fills the void left behind by
Olin Kreutz,
now with the Saints.
“I’ve always been a leader by example,” Garza said. “That’s going to be my way of handling things. We have a young offensive line, so I’ll have to show them a little of what Olin taught me. I had a great leader in him and I’m just going to try to do things the way he did.”
Extra points:
Defensive end
Corey Wootton
(knee surgery), nose tackle
Anthony Adams
(calf), and receiver
Sam Hurd
(ankle) were all limited in practice. … For the Falcons, starting defensive tackle
Corey Peters
(knee) did not practice while starting defensive tackle
Jonathan Babineaux
(knee/shoulder) and starting right tackle
Tyson Clabo
(elbow) were limited. … The Bears signed fullback
Tyler Clutts
a day after releasing fullback
Will Ta’ufo’ou
.
