Julius Peppers, signed by the Bears to make their defense tougher, lived up to that on Sunday by first roughing up, then injuring, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. Peppers was fined $5,000 for the first hit and is unrepentant:
↵↵"I'm not going to appeal that," Peppers said. "My hand got high. I'd do the same thing again. I'm coming around his body to swipe the ball, and my hand hit his head."↵↵
The fine isn't for the play that injured Stafford and has put him out for several weeks; Julius is sorry for that:
↵↵After the game he checked to see if Stafford was OK.↵↵
Depends on what your definition of "OK" is, I suppose. But Peppers' presence on the defensive line could be a real positive this Sunday:
↵↵Peppers has seven sacks, one interception and a forced fumble in five career games against the Cowboys. That's bad news for Northern Illinois product Doug Free, Dallas' starting left tackle. Ex-Bear Marc Colombo is expected to return from a knee injury to play right tackle in place of struggling Alex Barron.↵