Hobbled Colvin weighs in on Pats, Bears, Urlacher, foes of Rocky Balboa

Found a familiar face in the New England locker room inside Gillette Stadium Sunday night when Rosevelt Colvin came hobbling along using a small cart to keep his right leg up.

The ex-Bear suffered a broken bone in the Patriots 11th game that knocked him out for the season. Hell miss his second Super Bowl with the Pats next week in Glendale, Ariz. Colvin didnt talk a lot about the injury, but insisted hes on the comeback trail. It was an odd little contraption he was scooting along with, and the AFC Championship Game is the first game hes attended since being injured making one wonder if he underwent surgery.

“They dont think its serious, Colvin said. “Obviously Im with the cart, but I should be cool when everything comes around.

“I missed the first [Super Bowl since signing with New England] in Houston in 03 when I first got here. But fortunately, the next year we went back. Hopefully, the guys are going to take care of business. Theyve been playing good all year.

After Colvin was lost, New England moved free-agent signee Adalius Thomas outside to his position and began using 39-year-old Junior Seau more at inside linebacker.

Colvin had been enjoying a fine season, even landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated with his fellow linebackers in November. He had four sacks, three forced fumbles and a touchdown.

The time off down the stretch gave him the opportunity to watch a little more football, including his former team. He said he caught up with Brian Urlacher last Friday, and was hitting up Urlacher for some signed equipment.

“I always watch him and the Bears from afar, Colvin said. “Its unfortunate [the 7-9 season] but situations like that happen. You get some injuries and sometimes you cant recover from it. It was like 02. We had like 15 guys hurt, it was ridiculous, and we had to go to Champaign. Then at the same time, you look at different teams and they can overcome injuries and they can play through them. Look at the Colts this season. They have been the epitome of consistency in the NFL the last, well, almost 10 years. You look at the way that our team handles itself.

Asked if the arthritic condition in Urlachers back had hampered his play this season, Colvin said he couldnt make a judgment like that as an outsider.

“I dont know, Colvin said. “I dont remember that being an issue when I was there, and if it came up after, it may have been something. That dude is 260 pounds, almost 6-5, hes not a robot. Hes like the guy from Rocky, the Russian dude Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Hes human.

“When youre winning, you dont see a lot of that stuff. You dont see the injuries, maybe. You guys analyze it a little differently, `Oh, well his back is the reason hes not playing as good. Well, he might have played the same way last year, but now that the teams record isnt is good, it doesnt look the same.

It will be interesting to see if Colvins career mirrors that of Lance Briggs. Colvin was the first one who got away from general manager Jerry Angelo, shunning contract overtures and leaving via free agency following the 02 season. The Bears drafted Briggs weeks later and now hes in position to split.