More Truth And Rumors
Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer, who'll turn 63 on Sept. 23, doesn't need this gig to survive. No matter what happens, he can face the sunset a wealthy and successful man. And, if he were to be fired here, any team that hasn't won would be insane not to dial his number. Or, there's always senior golf. “I'm not campaigning to keep my job,” he says. “The ultimate responsibility of winning and losing falls on the head coach. I know this: Everything I do every day I'm here is to help this group of young men succeed. For me to do anything less than that . . . I'd be derelict in my responsibilities. “I still enjoy what I do. I'm still pretty good at what I do. What is our record the last two years?” Well, during the regular season, it's 21-11, and a whole lot of franchises would Van Gogh an ear for 21-11.
The Seattle Seahawks could be calling the New England Patriots early this week to jump start trade talks for WR Deion Branch, according to Fox NFL Insider John Czarnecki appearing as a guest on Fox Sports Radio. The Seahawks failed to get into the end zone against the Lions on Sunday. RUMOR UPDATE: Rumor becomes fact: Czar nails it as the Seahawks trade for Deion Branch and you heard about it here first!
The Colts have an interest in veteran free-agent quarterback Drew Henson, according to ESPN. The team reportedly will meet with Henson sometime this week. Henson's agent, Tom Condon, could not be reached for comment. The Colts are one of several teams that entered the season with only two quarterbacks on their active roster: Peyton Manning and Jim Sorgi.
Broncos QB Jake Plummer can never beat the inevitability of losing his job to Jay Cutler, selected No. 11 in the opening round of the 2006 draft. The controversy will not stop until Cutler pushes him out of the picture. Plummer knows how fickle fans are. "They've been calling for him since he got drafted," Plummer said. "Three interceptions? I'm sure they're going to want him to start. But they don't make the calls, (coach) Mike Shanahan does."
GM Jerry Angelo said the Bears looked at Rod Gardner last week to get an idea of what is out there should durability issues continue to plague the wide receivers. After they made it through unscathed Sunday, the Bears might pass on Gardner.
Archie Manning, father of Eli and Peyton, told the Giants' postgame radio show that he "thinks the Giants can be a playoff team," but thinks the Colts "could be in real trouble because they can't stop the run."
Unless there's an injury to either Roy Williams or Corey Bradford, Mike Williams could be spending a lot of time on the Lions inactive list this season. Consider: Rookie undrafted free-agent receiver Shaun Bodiford had a knee injury and couldn't play this week but, instead of moving Mike Williams up the depth chart, the Lions elected to sign another rookie undrafted free agent -- Devale Ellis -- off the practice squad and activated him for the game. It appears to be a touchy subject for head coach Rod Marinelli who, when he was first asked about it Sunday, said, "No comment." Because Mike Williams doesn't contribute on special teams, the only way he's going to be active is if there's a need for an extra receiver.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he didn't know if Mike Vanderjagt, who signed a $2.5 million signing bonus, would be ready for next week's home game against Washington. The expected cure-all to the merry-go-round at kicker last season still has an unclear future. Vanderjagt is coming off two wide-right misses in the preseason finale and a huge miss in the AFC playoffs for Indianapolis, and his mental state might be rattled. "Mike is going to be fine," Jones said. "I am not worried about his head in the least."
Receiver Joe Jurevicius, one of the Browns' biggest off-season acquisitions, is expected to be out at least four to six weeks with broken ribs. Jurevicius will undergo an MRI exam today to confirm the early diagnosis, but Jurevicius most likely will miss a significant portion of the season. Jurevicius, who caught 10 touchdown passes last season with Seattle, was to be an integral part of the offense this season as the second or third receiver.The agent for Dwayne "House" Carswell said the former Broncos player will work out as a tight end Tuesday in Detroit. Carswell was converted from tight end to offensive lineman in 2005. Carswell, who was cut Sept. 2, played 12 seasons in Denver. He is trying to come back after a near-fatal auto accident last October.
After the game, 49ers coach Mike Nolan raved about Anquan Boldin, comparing his competitiveness to Cowboys' receiver Terrell Owens. "I don't know anybody more competitive than (Owens) and Boldin, and Boldin happens to be a much more respectable person as far as the team goes," said Nolan, who can't believe Boldin didn't make the Pro Bowl last year.
On the surface, it sure looked like the Patriots signed former Buffalo Bills receiver Jonathan Smith just for the purpose of picking his brain for information, stealing secrets about yesterday’s opponent, before dumping him to the side of the road Saturday. The Pats signed Smith last Sunday and cut him loose before yesterday’s 19-17 victory over the Bills, going with just three wide receivers in the game, as Chad Jackson and Doug Gabriel were both inactive with injuries. Was it a coincidence, was he just not that good, or was the Pats’ purpose for signing Smith merely for pilfering info? “It’s not the first time they’ve done it,” said Bills wide receiver Lee Evans when asked about the latter scenario. “It’s the nature of the business, part of the game, I guess. There’s not a whole lot you can say about it. It’s just what they wanted to do.” Evans wasn’t alone in his assessment. Other players in the opposing locker room agreed the Smith signing had a foul smell to it. “I heard he got cut. My first reaction was, they just brought him in to get info,” said cornerback Terrence McGee. “They were dealing him kind of dirty.”
The Falcons' celebration of their 20-6 dismantling of Carolina on Sunday was tempered by defensive end John Abraham's groin injury. The team's major offseason acquisition was devastating. He stopped the run, blocked a pass, sacked the quarterback and had Carolina set to hold open tryouts for left tackles before leaving the game.Titans center Kevin Mawae, who spent eight years with the Jets before being released earlier this year, said after the game that he “wasn’t happy about the way my situation went down” with the Jets. “This one hurts,” he added.
By releasing rookie running back Patrick Cobbs Friday, the Steelers will not have to send anything to the New England Patriots for the trade that acquired him the previous week. For Cobbs to have cost the Steelers a seventh-round pick in 2007, he would have had to be on the roster for five games or active for three. He was on their roster for one, active for none. The Steelers will learn today whether a team put in a claim for Cobbs. If he clears waivers, they could sign him to their practice squad or he would be free to sign elsewhere.So much for Plaxico Burress improving his relationship with Tom Coughlin -- at least off the field. The Giants receiver was fined last week by the coach for missing a meeting. According to a Fox Sports report, the amount of the fine was $8,000. Burress confirmed the fine, but not the amount. "I went to a doctor's appointment with my wife and I put my family first," Burress said after last night's 26-21 opening-night loss to the Colts. "Everybody knew about it. Everybody knew I was going and I missed it. "The coaching staff knew about it and I still got fined. I'm just going to keep on going."
Patriots QB Tom Brady needs Deion Branch. This is fact. But he can not speak those words. He can talk all around the topic, and he can blame himself, as he did about a dozen times yesterday, but, nope, he can’t say what is on his mind. We are left, then, to sort through Brady’s postgame quotage and dissect the code words. Take, for instance, Brady’s opening remarks, which included this: “Obviously we need to play a lot better on offense and it starts with me.” Translation: Obviously we need to play a lot better on offense and it starts with signing Deion Branch. Was he satisfied with the outcome? “I’m happy we won,” he said, “but I realize I gotta do a lot better.” Translation: “I’m happy we won, but I realize we need Deion Branch.”The Carolina Panthers lost more two starters on Sunday as left tackle Travelle Wharton and middle linebacker Dan Morgan both went down with injuries. After starting the same offensive line in all 16 regular-season games last season, the Panthers lost Wharton early in the second quarter of Sunday’s season opener following a 7-yard run by DeShaun Foster.
49ers All-Pro Larry Allen had to be helped from the field with 12:02 left in the opening quarter with a sprained left knee. Allen was listed as doubtful for Sunday's game against St. Louis and his condition will be evaluated during the week.Curtis Martin, back in New York on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, where he has been since the start of training camp, insisted the toughest part of not being on the regular roster already has passed and that he already has come to terms with his current plight. The earliest Martin is eligible to play again is after the sixth week of the season. And, based on the shroud of mystery surrounding his slow-recovering knee injury, there lurks the sobering possibility he might have made his final NFL carry. "I already dealt with the weirdness of this when I missed the first day of camp," Martin said. "That was as weird as it gets for me. Training camp means a whole lot to me. Nobody really loves camp, but I realize the value of it so I look forward to it. And not being able to go out there this year, I feel so out of place." Martin, 33 years old, said he has given himself to age 35 to continue with football.
Saints Reggie Bush was wearing his signature gold adidas shoes for all the world to see Sunday, but he won't be fined this time. The apparel company agreed to a deal with the NFL last week to allow players to wear adidas shoes and gloves this year.Attending her first game in at least a year was Rams owner Georgia Frontiere. Health concerns prevented Frontiere from attending any games last season, but she took the train from Arizona to St. Louis for Linehan's debut game as head coach, and congratulated the team in the locker room after the game.
Cardinals coach Dennis Green, admittedly an impatient man, proved it Sunday when cornerback David Macklin was benched after the first series. Macklin dropped a possible interception on the third play and then missed a tackle on Vernon Davis' 31-yard touchdown run that gave San Francisco a 7-0 lead.
Patriots safety Rodney Harrison admitted feeling less than 100 percent, but that didn’t stop him from recording a team-high nine tackles in a 19-17 victory over the Buffalo Bills. “I felt fine,” he said. “I wasn’t tired or anything like that. I’m not 100 percent, but it’s coming along, slowly but surely.”Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson used a six-DB, one-linebacker scheme on almost every passing down yesterday, and it worked well. The Texans converted just three of 11 third-down opportunities. In the 4-1-6 scheme, free safety Brian Dawkins moves up and becomes a quasi-linebacker. "It's a good matchup for us," Johnson said. "We think Brian can match up with wide receivers, match up with tight ends. That's a big reason we went to it."
WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh said he tried to go but couldn't. He said he expects to play Sunday at home against Cleveland. The Bengals played with just four wide receivers, and each caught at least one pass. Quarterback Carson Palmer completed passes to eight receivers.
Who Knew? Of the 88 other teams to have gone 9-7 in NFL history, just two outscored their opponents by more than the 106 points the Chargers did last season. Just three of those 88 suffered their seven losses by fewer combined points than the Chargers' 44 in '05.
Despite continuing to wear No. 44 in practice last week, Seahawks linebacker Julian Peterson conformed to league rules by finally switching to No. 59 against the Lions. "I hate it," Peterson said. "I can't stand it." The new number didn't diminish his on-field digits. Peterson had a sack and three other solo stops among his seven tackles.Cornerback Lito Sheppard was one of the few injured Eagles from last season who did not make a successful return in the team's season opener yesterday. Instead, Sheppard went down again, suffering a sprained right ankle on the first series of the Eagles' 24-10 victory over the Houston Texans. "He'll have an MRI" exam today, Eagles coach Andy Reid said. X-rays taken during the game were negative.
Free safety Mike Minter suggested the Panthers might have come in a little overconfident, saying the amount of media coverage given to the team might have affected the overall play. “The way we looked out there today, some of that has to be true,” Minter said. “Again, I think we have to get back to what we do — that’s play football. We need to forget about what they’re saying about us.”The debut of the overall No. 1 pick in the NFL draft didn't go as well for the Texans as it did for their second-round pick. Mario Williams, the first overall pick, played both defensive end and tackle against the Eagles and recorded three tackles and no sacks. Williams frequently lined up at right defensive end and was blocked by Eagles left tackle William Thomas. "He's a big dude, man," Thomas said. "I think in a couple of years after he learns how to use his attributes, he is going to be a big force." Middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans of Alabama, the Texans' second-round choice, excelled with a game-high 13 tackles.
Former Packers receiver Sterling Sharpe, an analyst of NBC-TV's "Football Night in America" show, said he played in the last game the Packers were shut out by the Bears. "We were atrocious," Sharpe said. Sharpe added that the Packers, in order to "start to turn the corner," will start someone other than Brett Favre before long.
Did You Know? Byron Leftwich surpassed 8,000 career passing yards in the first half by completing 13 of 12 for 117 yards and a touchdown. Drew Bledsoe and former Jags quarterback Mark Brunell (25,698 yards) are the only two Jagaurs with more than 8,000 passing yards.
Chad Pennington’s father, Elwood, a semi-retired football coach, watched the Jets game from the family’s home in Clinton, Tenn. He had a heart attack last month and was not cleared by his doctors to attend the game. “To sit and watch it as a football coach was phenomenal, and to sit and watch it as a father was phenomenal,” he said in a telephone interview.Offensive coordinator Norm Chow said he had no answers for why the Tennessee offense continued to sputter. “I wish I had a crystal ball,” Chow said. “That’s all we’re going to do is come back and keep working. I don’t have any answers to that other than to keep working.”
Fashion News: The Chiefs wanted to beat the heat while wearing white jerseys in Kansas City for what is believed to be the first time since the franchise moved to Kansas City in 1963. The Chiefs wore white pants, giving them the white-on-white look for the first time since the 1999 season finale.
Sunday's victory puts Bears coach Lovie Smith at .500 for his career, including playoffs, with exactly the same 17-17 record as Mike Ditka through the first 34 games.
Despite the Manning vs. Manning buildup to the game, Eli was still the next-to-last Giant introduced before the game. RB Tiki Barber came out last.
“Reggie (Bush) is the matrix,” Saints receiver Joe Horn said. “Reggie is a beast. He has a lot to prove to everybody in this league. He wants to be the best.” Horn dressed in a three-piece lime-green suit, with “Mr. Horn” stitched on his cuffs; Bush wore a T-shirt, jeans and a backpack, looking more or less like any college student.Former Broncos quarterback Gus Frerotte of the Rams stood outside the Denver locker room after the game and greeted several former teammates. Frerotte and Rod Smith spoke for several moments. Frerotte, who played in Denver from 2000-01, considered signing with the Broncos the past two offseasons.
Did You Know? Sunday's contest marked the 89th consecutive home sellout for the Rams, encompassing every regular-season home game since the team's move to St. Louis in 1995.Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio had the Dallas Cowboys star emblem painted in the upper right-hand corner of the team's meeting room to give the club something to focus on as Sunday's game approached. "We put the opponent's emblem up there every week and focus on finding a way to scratch together a win as a team," Del Rio said. The club will paint over the Cowboys emblem this week and re-paint the wall with a Pittsburgh Steelers emblem for next week's showdown on Monday Night Football.
Oops: While other members of the Vikings Ring of Honor were presented purple blazers at the team's kickoff gala the other day in downtown Minneapolis, Jerry Burns was omitted.
