Charles "Peanut" Tillman: Preaux Career

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Charles Tillman is not easily impressed by enemy wide receivers.

Line up Jerry Rice, Torry Holt or Randy Moss across from him and the Bears' cornerback just goes about his business.

"I don't get star-struck or anything like that," Tillman said. "When I line up against a receiver, I'm like, 'OK, he's just like everybody else. He makes mistakes. He catches balls, he misses balls. He's human.'æ"

So when rookie-of-the-year candidate Anquan Boldin charged into town with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, it's no wonder Tillman barely knew his name.

Even after the game.

"Is it 'twan or 'tan?" Tillman said, completely serious.

Bears fans might have been asking themselves the same question after seeing Boldin manage just 4 catches - 3 of them coming in the closing minutes of a 28-3 Cardinals loss. Boldin's only reception before that went for a meaningless 7 yards on a third-and-9 late in the first half.

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By John Dietz Daily Herald Sports Writer
Posted 12/1/03

[Turbine]

Why is he called P-Nut

Vote Tillman to the Pro Bowl

Tillman is the best rookie corner

ps Going to these links directly creates a minor runtime error just click NO and the page will open fine.

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as of 12-14-03 they believe they have the rookie of the year. I tend to agree

this was posted on a Bears forum, by Larry Horse

"Ladies, gentlemen and otherwise fellow Grabowski's, IMO Mr. Peanut Tillman with the great play he made at the end of the game vs. Moss just won himself the Defensive Rookie honor. I know Trufant and Newman made more noise early and in the draft but his play since he begun starting has been nothing short of tremendous. This, coming from a man who was very disappointed that we didn't take Mike Doss with that pick. Mr. Tillman( heavy on the Mister)welcome to Chicago and likely next year the Pro Bowl. You sir are the best corner we've had for a long time. This rookie crop just might be the starting foundation for a major run of winning teams of the future. "

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Bears CB Charles Tillman intercepts a pass in the end zone intended for Vikings WR Randy Moss, in the final minutes of the game. (AP)

CHICAGO -- D'Wayne Bates saw it from across the end zone but couldn't believe it.

Second and goal from the Chicago 10-yard line. Bears in single coverage. Randy Moss one on one with Charles Tillman, a rookie second-round draft pick from Gophers punching bag Louisiana Lafayette.

"You get a jump ball in the end zone with No. 84 [Moss] and nine times out of 10, it's a touchdown," Bates said. "We knew they would be coming with the blitz. But we knew that would leave us in single coverage. That's the play you want if you have Randy Moss on your team."

The Vikings trailed 13-10 with 1 minute, 11 seconds left when Daunte Culpepper lined up in the shotgun with the 6-4 Moss isolated to the right on the 6-1 Tillman. The drive began nine plays earlier when Onterrio Smith was dropped for a 3-yard loss to the Vikings' 8. Smith left the game with a strained hamstring and a career-high 148 yards on 27 carries.

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Mark Craig, Star Tribune

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CHICAGO — Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss has admitted to lacking desire at times on a football field. After all, it was Moss who once said he decides when he wants to play.

There was little doubt Sunday at the end of the Bears’ 13-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings who had more desire when Moss went up against Bears cornerback Charles Tillman in a duel to decide the game. Tillman came down with the interception and won the game, dealing a severe jolt to the Vikings’ division title chances.

“Randy is 6-4, somewhere around there, and I just kind of knew what was going to be the play and I think I wanted it more than him on that particular play,” Tillman said after wrestling the ball away from Moss in the end zone with 1:02 left to play to preserve a victory.

The Bears drafted the 6-foot-1 cornerback with the idea of letting him duel in the end zone with taller wide receivers in the NFC North like Moss.

Now that he’s done it, they think the sky is the limit for the second-round pick out of Louisiana.

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By Gene Chamberlain

Daily Southtown staff writer

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Second-round pick Charles Tillman moved into the starting lineup after just three games, and he has more than held his own against the NFL's best receivers.

But even after the Bears cornerback saved Sunday's game by taking the ball away from Randy Moss in the end zone with 62 seconds left, coach ~~~~ Jauron said the rookie hasn't exceeded his expectations.

"I believe he's going to get better," Jauron said. "He's got to get better to get where he wants to be. But this guy has the physical talent to play; he has the mental ability to play. And, on top of all that, he likes it. He likes to play football. He likes to be around the ball, run or pass."

Tillman leads the Bears with 4 interceptions, 14 pass breakups and is second with 78 tackles.

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By Bob LeGere Daily Herald Sports Writer

[Turbine]

Help him make NFL rooie of the week.

Follow this link toNFL.com

When you get therelook for this picture and click on "Rookie of the Week"



But first follow this link toNFL.com

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Charles Tillman makes a game-saving interception in the end zone.

NEW YORK (Dec. 18, 2003) -– Chicago Bears rookie cornerback Charles Tillman’s game-saving one-handed interception in the end zone against the Minnesota Vikings has been voted the NFL PLAY OF THE WEEK - PRESENTED BY LEVITRA® (vardenafil HCl) for games played December 14-15.

link to Video

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Charles Tillman was getting ready to leave the team hotel before a game against the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 14 when his cell phone rang.

It was Mark Anderson, his father's brother and a member of the Fourth Infantry Division, calling from Tikrit, Iraq. Anderson's outfit had captured Saddam Hussein hours earlier, and Tillman, the Bears' rookie cornerback from Louisiana-Lafayette, wanted to know all about it.

''I said, 'You caught Saddam, that's tight,''' Tillman recalled. ''All he wanted to talk about was football, and all I wanted to talk about was Saddam.''

Anderson called back last Sunday before the Bears played the Washington Redskins, and Tillman was able to tell him about what everyone else had been discussing since their last conversation -- his game-saving interception of Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper in an end-zone tangle with Randy Moss.

''That's all people talk about now,'' Tillman said. '''Oh, man, that was a nice play with Moss. Did he say anything to you?' He didn't say anything. He's a good dude, and I got him on that play. It was a great play to win the game, but that was two weeks ago. I'm not living in the past.''

Tillman's father, Donald, who is retired from the Fourth Infantry, has high expectations for his son but couldn't believe what he was watching from his home in Copperas Cove, Texas.

''We've always known Peanut is a playmaker,'' his father said. ''The thing that surprised me is that he made that play on Randy Moss. Come on, that's Randy Moss we're talking about.''

It's Tillman the Vikings were talking about afterward, and the Redskins probably discussed him a bit, too. Quarterback Tim Hasselbeck threw his way only once in the Bears' 27-24 victory, the exact opposite of how you would expect any offense to approach a rookie, even a second-round pick.

''I was a little bit surprised,'' Tillman said. ''I guess that's respect.''

Yeah, the kind reserved for those who have been to the Pro Bowl multiple times.

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BY BRAD BIGGS Staff Reporter
Chicago Sun Times

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Charles Tillman may be able to wrestle a game-winning touchdown pass away from Minnesota's Randy Moss. But can the Chicago Bear rookie live within a budget?

Lake Forest Corporate Education, a division of Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, has been helping Bear rookies do just that.

During the season, one-hour classes covering budgeting, tax implications, investments and other topics were taught at Halas Hall to more than a dozen rookies, from cornerback Tillman to quarterback Rex Grossman.

The lunchtime seminars, encouraged by the National Football League, open the eyes of rookies, who quickly go from having little money to earning at least $225,000 a year (the NFL rookie minimum) at age 22.

"These classes are kind of a wake-up call," said Steve Moroni, a partner in an accounting firm who taught the budgeting, tax implications and business plan analysis classes. "You have all this money. What are the pitfalls?"

In the budgeting class, Moroni split rookies into groups, gave them each $30,000 in Monopoly money -- about a month's salary for some -- and asked them how they'd spend it.

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