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POSTED 8:41 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 9:03 p.m. EDT, August 31, 2006

ROMO PLAYS IT SAFE

With all indications suggesting Cowboys backup Tony Romo is the team's quarterback of the not-so-distant future, Romo has opted to sign a new contract that is, in essence, a one-year extension worth $3 million.

Contrary to reports that Romo was due to make the league minimum in 2006, NFLPA records indicate that Romo was scheduled to earn $900,000. He'll earn that same base salary under the new deal, and he'll also receive a $2 million signing bonus and a $1 million salary in 2007. The cap numbers are $1.9 million in 2006, and $2 million in 2007.

Not bad for a former undrafted free agent who played his college ball at the Division I-AA level. But the guy could have been in line to be one of the darlings of the 2007 free-agent class, with enough positive buzz in the preseason to get him the kind of contract that backup players like Scott Mitchell and Rob Johnson received in past years upon hitting the market.

Though it's entirely possible that the team plans to take care of Romo if he ends up becoming the starter come 2007 or sooner, the reality is that they can, if they so choose, force Romo to prove that he can get it done before paying him.

And if his performance is mediocre or worse in 2007, there won't be much of a market for him. If he becomes the next great Cowboys quarterback in the tradition of Staubach and Aikman, the team can apply the franchise tag and then negotiate a long-term deal.

Either way, Romo has opted to give up his chance at free agency for a mere $2 million. In a league where quality quarterbacks are at a premium and Romo is already generating comparisons to Brett Favre, that's simply too low of a payment to justify giving up an opportunity to take part in the early March smorgasbord. Along the way, a total of zero passes were thrown to Owens.

NFL NETWORK PUMPS UP THE RATINGS

For roughly an hour prior to the start of Thursday night's Vikings-Cowboys game, the guys at NFL Network were reporting that Dallas receiver Terrell Owens would start the game.

And then, with the 8:00 p.m. EDT audience locked in on their Nielsen boxes, the game began. Without T.O.

But even as the game got going absent Owens, the crawl on the bottom of the screen continued to air as "breaking news" the erroneous report that Owens would start.

For the next 40 minutes, Rich Eisen and Butch Davis could barely contain their girlish glee regarding the absence of Owens. Did he pull himself out of the game? When will he play? Why dress him and not play him? Do these dresses make us look fat?

Look, we've been as guilty as anyone of focusing too much on the Owens story, but this was a ridiculous display. Frankly, it makes us wonder whether the unspoken goal was to build and retain an audience for a pinball routine through a dozen meaningless games even less meaningful than usual.

Finally, T.O. entered the field of play at 8:44 p.m. On the third play from scrimmage, Owens ran a deep pattern. Quarterback Drew Bledsoe was flushed out of the pocket and couldn't get it to him. The drive got inside the Minnesota ten, but Bledsoe coughed up a wounded ostrich on a busted play, and the ball was intercepted.

BUH-BYE, BROOKS

The New York Jets have eased their logjam at quarterback by trading backup Brooks Bollinger to the Minnesota Vikings, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

In return, the Jets get nose tackle C.J. Mosley and an undisclosed draft pick.

Curiously, there were reports that Bollinger would start New York's preseason finale on Friday night.

The move is very bad news for Mike McMahon, the current No. 2 guy on the depth chart who is now likely to be cut. Bollinger or second-round rookie Tarvaris Jackson will become the primary backup.

POSTED 3:36 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 4:55 p.m. EDT, August 31, 2006

AGENTS HOUNDING IRONS BROTHERS?

The Huntsville (Ala.) Times reports that Auburn University strongly denies rumors that tailback Kenny Irons and cornerback David Irons are in hot water with the NCAA for dealings with an NFL agent.

Mark Richard, the Tigers' "senior associate athletic director for team support" (and also assistant to the traveling secretary) says that Internet and talk radio rumors of trouble for the Ironseses are "totally untrue."

Per the Times, the father of the two players, David Irons Sr., made a report to the NFLPA after an agent continued to attempt to make contact with Kenny Irons after the father (a former agent himself) decided that the agent in question "wasn't qualified" to represent his sons.

The problem is that there's no violation of NCAA or NFLPA regulations for making contact (or attempting to make contact) with a college player. From the NCAA's standpoint, trouble arises if money or anything of value is given to an eligible player or his family, or if there's any type of agreement that the agent will represent the player (even a verbal agreement that they'll enter into a written agreement once the player's eligibility expires).

It's also not against the rules for the father of an eligible player to make it known to prospective agents that, for example, representing his son will require $300,000 up front as an advance on the marketing guarantee, and a new car. It's only a violation of NCAA rules if the money and/or the car changes hands while the player is still eligible, or if there's a verbal agreement that the money and/or the car will arrive after eligibility has ended.

For the agents involved, it's always a violation of NFLPA regulations to give money or anything of value to a player as an inducement to sign.

Confused? We sure are. And that's why we're convinced that the NCAA and the NFLPA should work together to establish clear guidelines that take into account the realities of the recruitment of college players by agents and their runners. There are plenty of players and parents asking for money -- and there are plenty of agents who are happy to oblige. Surely, there's a way to rein this stuff in.

DAVIS SIGNING WITH RAMS ON FRIDAY?

We're hearing that free-agent running back Stephen Davis could be joining the Rams as soon as Friday.

Davis previously has visited the Eagles and the Rams. He was cut while injured in 2005 by the Panthers, and (as our pal Howard Balzer told us last week) will receive $275,000 from the Panthers in 2006 -- but only if he doesn't sign with another team.

Once he inks with the Rams (or anyone else), the Panthers are off the hook.

This gives rise to two problems for Davis. First, if he's cut by the Rams before the start of the season, he gets nothing from the Rams, or from the Panthers. Second, because he's guaranteed to make $275,000 this year, the extra benefit from playing is only $535,000, assuming he signs a one-year deal for the 10-year veteran minimum. If he has one more year in the tank, it might make sense to sit on the $275,000 in 2006, and come back in 2007 for one more year at the full $810,000.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON ONE-LINERS

The Jets have traded the guy who was supposed to replace Anthony Becht to the team that signed Anthony Becht.

The Jets have acquired TE Sean Ryan from the Cowboys.

The folks who run the Superdome claim in a lawsuit that the roof shouldn't have blown away.

Roger Goodell officially becomes the Commissioner at 6:00 a.m. Friday (his first official act, then, will be to empty his bladder).

Ron Hill is the NFL's new V.P. of football operations.

POSTED 3:00 p.m. EDT, August 31, 2006

VOLEK WILL WAIVE NO-TRADE CLAUSE (DUH)

Let's see. . . . quarterback Billy Volek was the presumptive opening-day starter for the Titans. On Monday, the Titans suddenly and surprisingly signed Kerry Collins, paying him more than Volek for 2006. Instantly, Volek's reps with the first-team were cut, and Volek wasn't happy about it.

So now Len Pasquarelli of ESPN.com reports Volek will waive the no-trade clause contained in his contract.

Our official reaction: "No sh-t."

This "story" is, in our estimation, yet another thinly-veiled effort by Pasquarelli to help out yet another of the agents who have him on speed dial whenever there's yet another nugget of news to be spoon fed to the media.

This time, the agent isn't Joel Segal. It's Drew Rosenhaus. But the goal for Volek is the same that it was for Todd Pinkston: To get a player traded at his seven-figure salary so that he won't end up having to take a one-year deal for the minimum.

In this case, Len predicts that there will be a "healthy market" for Volek's services, but Len also suggests that Volek might be released by the Titans.

Inconsistent? Not at all.

Writes Len, regarding the possibility that Volek will be cut: "[I]f that occurs, Volek will become a free agent, able to sign with anyone, and the number of franchises bidding for him figures to increase. Trading for him would allow a team to inherit his contract, which has two seasons remaining, at palatable prices."

So if Volek can make more money via a bidding war, why in the hell would Volek waive the no-trade clause? He'd be smarter to dig in his heels and force the Titans to keep him (and pay him $1 million) or cut him (and let him make more elsewhere).

But we believe that Rosenhaus fears Volek won't make $1 million this year via the open market, and that Rosenhaus persuaded Len to do him a favor by cobbling together a story that possibly facilitates a trade.

So Len gets a two-for-one. He has some Thursday afternoon "news" -- and now Drew owes him a favor.

POSTED 9:01 a.m. EDT; UPDATED 10:14 a.m. EDT, August 31, 2006

PRESSURE MOUNTS ON NFL TO TACKLE HGH

A leading steroids opponent questioned on Thursday the National Football League's inexplicable "don't ask, don't test" approach to the question of whether and to what extent players are using human growth hormone, or HGH.

The NFL doesn't test for HGH, supposedly because the league believes that current tests used by the Olympics aren't reliable. (We think the issue also presents a delicate question of labor relations, since the existing method requires blood to be drawn.)

Said Dr. Gary Wadler, following an appearance before a U.S. House of Representatives committee that is attempting to eradicate steroids from all sports: "It seems to me if you are sending a message you are not going to test, what you are really saying is you can, in essence, use [HGH] with impunity. Why Major League Baseball and the [NFL] have taken such a strong position on [not testing for HGH] is unclear to me. The Dr. Shortt case just underscores that we cannot be so dismissive of the issue of human growth hormone."

The "Dr. Shortt case" is, of course, the situation that unfolded three years ago in Carolina, where six members of the team were using all sorts of prohibited substances, including HGH. The public reaction to that case has been the equivalent of a half-hearted shoulder shrug.

At the same event, the NFL's counsel on labor relations, Adolpho Birch, said that the league and the NFLPA have established a pool in the amount of $500,000 in order to "concentrate our resources on a simpler and more effective [HGH] test." (By "simpler" test, we think that Birch is referring to a urine test, which would be a far easier sell at the bargaining table than blood tests.)

But Dr. Wadler isn't impressed with the $500,000 commitment. "We're talking in the millions of dollars, not the hundred of thousands. It's an exquisitely complicated subject."

Frankly, we're not impressed, either. We believe that most football fans are inclined to turn a deaf eye (or is it blind ear?) to the problem because they want nothing to tarnish in any way their enjoyment of pro football. But something needs to be done before the NFL has its Jose Canseco moment, when a recently retired player with moderate-to-high name recognition writes a book that blows the whistle on the problem, and then all hell breaks loose.

So with the billions in revenue that the NFL and the NFLPA are generating, we think that it would be very wise to spend a lot more than $500,000 on the issue.

Bottom line -- if you don't take good care of the goose that lays the golden eggs, the goose might eventually stop laying them. When considering the damage that the exposure of rampant chemical cheating has done to baseball, it's shocking to us that the NFL isn't doing everything in its power to avoid a similar fate.

JAVON TEES OFF ON PACKERS

Former Packers receiver Javon Walker is glad to be out of Green Bay, and with the Denver Broncos. But he needs to learn to be more candid with his feelings.

"Obviously, we have a chance to be a Super Bowl team," Walker told Bill Williamson of the Denver Post on Wednesday. "Obviously, they have a chance to win four games."

Walker was traded to the Broncos for a second-round pick in April with one season left on his rookie deal. He threatened to hold out of training camp in 2005 if he didn't get a big-money extension, but in the end he reported.

And then he tore an ACL in the first game of the regular season.

"It just made me happy to know I'm here and not dealing with that anymore," Walker added. "This is a winning organization, and I'm better off here."

Whether Walker feels that way after the 2006 season remains to be seen; his much-hyped contract with the Broncos is in essence a one-year deal with a team option for the remainder. So if he doesn't live up to the investment that has been made, he might not be in Denver when his old team comes to town in 2007.

THURSDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

RB Willie Parker, QB Ben Roethlisberger, and several other starters won't play in tonight's preseason finale for the Steelers.

QB Jon Kitna won't play for the Lions on Thursday night.

Could the Cutler-Leinart matchup in the Broncos-Cards preseason finale be a preview of an eventual Super Bowl rendezvous?

Lord Favre will be having fewer audiences with the commoners.

QB Brooks Bollinger is the Jets starter! (Oh, tomorrow night only.)

It looks like Tom Cruise could land the lead role in The Drew Brees Story.

Tony Kornholer is still trying to get people to think he's done "zero prep" for his MNF gig.

In the battle of Shane Boyd vs. Omar Jacobs, the loser gets cut -- and the winner probably gets cut, too.

Every once in a while, we come across a story that makes us say, "That's just freakin' gay." (Not that there's anything wrong with it.)

What's the best way for Lions WR Charles Rogers to make good use of his "extensive" playing time in the preseason finale? How about breaking a collarbone and landing on IR -- it might be the only way for him to get paid this year.

SI has doomed the Fins and the Panthers.

Asked for a comment regarding his release by the Eagles on Wednesday, WR Todd Pinkston said, "Don't hit me."

The release of QB Koy Detmer means that the Eagles will have a new holder for the first time in eight years.

Eagles rookie WR Jason Avant practiced with the first team, as the slot receiver.

Will Chiefs LB Keyaron Fox bump Kendrell Bell to the bench?

Bengals QB Carson Palmer will play for a couple of series against the Colts.

The pre-Subway Jared will get some much-needed exercise tonight.

If you can't qualify for the big game, why not host it?

Bengals rookie CB Johnathan Joseph has beaten out Keiwan Ratliff for the nickel spot.

POSTED 7:48 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 11:20 p.m. EDT, August 30, 2006

WILLIE TAKES THE FAST CASH

Trading in the risk that he'll be seriously injured while operating under a one-year, $425,000 deal that he signed earlier this year as an exclusive rights free agent, Steelers running back Willie Parker signed a four-year, $13.6 million deal, which includes a $3.75 million signing bonus.

So now he's tied up through 2009, during which time the salary cap will continue to grow at unprecedented rates. And when he hits the open market, he'll be 29.

Conventional wisdom in the NFL is that high-end running backs only get one shot at a big-money, long-term deal. For Parker, chances are that he won't be in line for a mega contract after five more seasons of moving the chains, especially if he's going to inherit the bruising short-yardage role previously filled by Jerome Bettis.

Though we're not saying it was a bad move for Parker to take less money right now, he could have been in line for a deal in the range of five years and $25 million, which is the going benchmark for backs not named Edgerrin James or Shaun Alexander, if Parker had made it through 2006 healthy and effective.

So in exchange for taking less money than he might have gotten in the future but getting more security than he otherwise would have had in the present, we don't want to hear Parker or his agent talking about how Willie has "outperformed" his deal if he churns out 1,500 yards and/or 15 touchdowns over each of the next two seasons. His job is to perform to the best of his ability, regardless of compensation. If he turns out to be another Amos Zereoue, Parker doesn't have to pay back the $3.75 million signing bonus. If he turns out to be another Jerome Bettis, Parker likewise has no right to hold up the team for a raise.

Put simply, in exchange for transferring to the team the risk that he'll turn out to be an overpaid one-year wonder, Parker is assuming the risk that he'll be an underpaid superstar.

T.O. MIGHT G.O. ON THURSDAY

Terrell Owens' gimpy hamstring has made an apparently miraculous recovery, allowing him to practice for two straight days and possibly to play on Thursday night at home against the Vikings.

It all makes us wonder what in the hell is, was, has been, and/or will be going on in Big D. Did the Tuna finally push the right buttons with Owens behind the scenes, telling him that if he didn't get his ass off of that damn bike he'd be riding it in his living room through December? Or did owner Jerry Jones read Owens and/or agent Drew Rosenhaus the riot act after the team's imposition of $9,500 in fines on Owens for missing meetings indirectly made Jones look like stoopid for sticking his neck out when no one else wanted T.O.?

Or did Owens simply pay a visit to Ernest Angley?

Hamstring demons, come out! (Asshole demons, too.)

Either way, it's too strange of a development given an injury that just a week ago seemed to be too serious to permit T.O. to play in the team's final preseason game.

MORE RADIO CRAPOLA

Our web of weekly radio appearances is continuing to expand, and we'll be making a big leap west of the Mississippi on Friday, when we stop by the Dino Costa show, which can be heard in Denver and in 87 percent of Colorado.

We also did our Tuesday night thing with Todd Wright on Sporting News Radio, which can be heard in full right here.

Joe Collegio continues to do his radio thing on the CFT beat, but we figure he'll pretty much piss off everyone that he deals with before too long. (It's one of the few things that he and Dante have in common.)

WEDNESDAY NIGHT ONE-LINERS

Lions WR Charles Rogers is tempting fate.

The most talented team on which Lord Favre has ever played had better get it's sh-t together, and soon.

The Bucs have bailed on QB Jay Fiedler.

Santurdio's accuser will drop the charges if he agrees to get counseling.

Uncle Rico might make his first start in the Titans' preseason finale.

Does Colts K Adam Vinatieri have a broken ankle?

The NFL Network and Time Warner are still pissed at each other.

Let's get this straight -- Pink Taco, no . . . Pink, yes?

Is this Pink, or Brian Bosworth in drag?

Sixth-round S Antoine Bethea could start in Week One for the Colts.

Browns RB Lee Suggs and RB William Green are both in danger of getting cut.

The NFL Network is expanding its coverage of college football.

Congress is getting interested in steroids in the NFL.

POSTED 2:17 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 2:59 p.m. EDT, August 30, 2006

MRS. GIBBS IS CRACKING THE WHIP (AGAIN)

Despite prior rumblings that Redskins coach Joe Gibbs will spend two more seasons in the NFL before returning full-time to NASCAR, we're now hearing that Mrs. Gibbs is pushing him to pack it in after the 2006 season.

Word is that Gibbs, who'll turn 66 in November, is starting to feel the physical effects of the day-to-day grind of being an NFL head coach. Gibbs has diabetes, and in May 2005 a stent was placed into one of his coronary arteries.

The stress on Gibbs figures to be higher in 2006, given that the team is saddled with legitimately high expectations for the first time since the 2000 season.

When Gibbs returned to coach the Redskins in 2004, we heard that Mrs. Gibbs was a driving force behind the move, since it enabled son Coy Gibbs to get from behind the wheel of a race car/truck and launch a career in coaching. Coy still serves as an offensive assistant with the Redskins, and it remains to be seen whether his career will continue in D.C. or elsewhere after the head coach walks away.

PASQUARELLI PISSING AWAY HIS CREDIBILITY

As ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli continues to shamelessly pimp receiver Todd Pinkston, who is represented by Len friend Joel Segal, Pasquarelli is (in our opinion) running the risk of permanently tarnishing his credibility -- all in the interests of preserving his pipeline with Segal.

We believe that, in Len's world, "journalism" isn't about rolling up his sleeves and chasing down leads; it's about establishing mutual-back-scratching relationships, primarily with agents, who'll then spoon feed him scoops as long as he "pumps them up" in print.

Case in point -- agent Hadley Englehard got in hot water a couple of years ago for giving Len his password to the NFLPA database regarding transactions and other stuff not publicly available. Len, by all appearances, suffered no consequence.

In this case, Len is preserving and/or advancing his situation with Segal by helping him to get Pinkston placed with a new team.

And more people are starting to figure it out.

As one reader asked us in response to Len's apparent belief that the only difference between T.P. and T.O. is that Pinkston has a lingering Achilles problem, "I am wondering how I can believe anything Pasquarelli writes anymore? Is he a reporter or a billboard for the agents who he is friends with? "

Observes another PFT regular: "When Len says Stinkston was the victim of the 'Depth Chart', is there any chance the Depth Chart hits free agency, and is the Depth Chart a good fantasy pickup?"

Another reader has asked that we post a complete list of all of Segal's clients, so that folks will be able to know whether to ignore something good Len has to say about a given player. Actually, we think that's a pretty good idea.

Stay tuned.

PASQUARELLI-SEGAL PLAY KEPT PINKSTON FROM GETTING TRADED?

A league source tells us that there was some mild trade interest in receiver Todd Pinkston, but that the market abruptly dried up after ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli posted a story on Tuesday proclaiming that Pinkston was available.

The thinking is that the interested teams, cognizant of the relationship between Pasquarelli and Segal, saw the story as a desperate attempt to get Pinkston and his $1.48 million salary in 2006 moved to a new NFL city.

Per the source, the Eagles believed on Tuesday that they could get a conditional sixth-round pick for Pinkston. But the Eagles had no takers as of Wednesday morning, so they opted to cut the cord.

The fact that Pinkston survived the first wave of cuts (the deadline for which was Tuesday) but then was released a day later indicates that the team held out some hope for a trade.

The abrupt move also suggests that the Eagles wanted to clear Pinkston out of town before either he or Segal tried to claim that the receiver wasn't healthy, which could have forced an injury settlement or set the stage for a grievance. And the worst-case scenario would have unfolded if Pinkston had suffered either during practice or during the team's preseason finale on Friday night a season-ending injury, which would have entitled him to every penny of his $1.48 million in base pay.

POSTED 11:48 a.m. EDT, August 30, 2006

SAYONARA, STINKSTON

Less than 24 hours after ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli posted a puff piece regarding "news" that the Philadelphia Eagles have given receiver Todd Pinkston and his agent Joel Segal permission to seek a trade, the Eagles have made the process far easier for Segal.

By cutting Pinkston.

On Wednesday morning, the Eagles released Pinkston and quarterback Koy Detmer.

The Eagles also have re-signed quarterback A.J. Feeley, who was traded two years ago to the Dolphins for a second-round draft pick. Feeley was recently released by the Chargers.

The return of Feeley calls into question, in our view, the status of Jeff Garcia, who was signed in the offseason to be Donovan McNabb's primary backup.

POSTED 9:24 a.m. EDT; UPDATED 10:46 a.m. EDT, August 30, 2006

UPSHAW CLAIMS THERE'S NO NEED FOR MORE TESTING

In response to a fresh wave of attention being paid to the still-prevalent issue of steroids in pro football, the executive director of the NFL Players Association says that no additional testing is needed.

"Our testing is sufficient and we did not discuss increasing the number of tests in our [CBA] extension," Upshaw told the New York Daily News. "We have been very aggressive in our program and have always done what is best to protect our players' health. Our current program is working and there is no need to increase testing."

As to recent reports that six members of the 2003 Carolina Panthers took steroids and human growth hormone, Upshaw said, "One of the Carolina players was in the program. I will not discuss which one."

Upshaw's apparent intent was to suggest that, since one of the players had tested positive for steroids, then the testing program must be working. "If you cheat in the NFL and use performance-enhancing drugs," Upshaw says, "you will get caught.'"

But what about the other five guys?

And, frankly, it appears that Upshaw's contention might be incorrect. Given the terms of the steroid policy, the first positive test results in a four-game suspension. If none of the six Carolina players had ever been suspended for four games, then none of them had ever tested positive for steroids, and thus none of them were ever "in the program." Indeed, an Internet search of each of the six players' names plus the word "suspend" produced no evidence that any of them ever were forced to sit out any NFL games.

The other intriguing aspect of Upshaw's claim is that, by disclosing that one of six men was in the program, he necessarily has violated the confidentiality of the policy. Though the policy doesn't specify the potential penalties for union employees in this regard, an NFL team or team employee who does so becomes subject to a fine of up to $500,000.

The biggest problem, as we see it, is the issue of human growth hormone and the failure of the NFL to test for it. We've previously heard that plenty of NFL players are using HGH and will continue to do so until there's a reasonable chance of getting busted.

The NFL and the NFLPA have indicated that there are no plans to adopt the testing protocol for HGH currently utilized by the Olympics, which entails blood analysis. The league and the union contend that the test used by the Olympics is not reliable.

But if it's good enough for the Olympics, how is it not good enough for the NFL? Moreover, it's hard for us not to consider whether the claims of unreliability are merely a pretext for reluctance by the union to subject its players to far more invasive sample collection procedures and an unwillingness by the league to make the financial concessions necessary to secure the ability to do so.

So to clarify Upshaw's statement: If you cheat, you will be caught. Unless you cheat by using HGH.

BUYER BEWARE ON PINKSTON

For anyone who might be interested in throwing a seventh-round draft pick (or maybe something slightly more valuable like a block of government cheese) to the Eagles for receiver Todd Pinkston, we highly recommend that you review this clip from YouTube of Stinkston displaying what Joey Sunshine aptly dubs "alligator body."

It's a play from an Eagles-Redskins game on ESPN's Sunday night football, and Pinkston while tracking down a long pass turns his shoulder to avoid a hit from safety Ryan Clark.

"Unbelievable!" exclaimed Theismann "You've heard of alligator arms, this is alligator body. Todd Pinkston has got a touchdown. . . . He does not wanna get hit. . . . This is a great way to lose your job as a receiver in the National Football League."

So as to that classic question posed by ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli as to whether Penner and Mac of WFNZ in Charlotte have "ever gone over the middle against an NFL secondary," the correct answer is "No . . . and neither has Todd Stinkston."

Back to Joey Sunshine, we'll admit that it pains us to give him props for calling out Stinkston's yellow-streak behavior. But, then again, we've got a feeling that there's another clip floating around in cyberspace from another Eagles-Redskins game in which Stinkston makes a similar "please don't hurt me" move, and Joey Sunshine offers up something like this:

"You know, the challenge in the National Football League is to stay healthy for seventeen weeks. And if a player believes that he's going to put himself in danger just to make one play in one game, then I think he should do everything in his power to protect his body. Todd Pinkston just helped his team by ensuring that he'd be able to continue to play football this season. Good for him."

MORE SHIRTS ON THE WAY

As the orders for the new PFT T-shirts and jerseys continue to roll in, we've got a new shipment arriving Friday.

And due to popular demand, we now have XXL-sized jerseys for all you Len Pasquarelli clones out there, and small and medium for the salad eaters in the crowd. (For the T-shirts, the sizes are still only large and XL.)

Finally, for the seven or eight of you out there who are partial to CFT, we've also got new jerseys and shirts bearing our sister site's info. (They'll definitely be collector's items, since only a dozen of them will ever be made.)

WEDNESDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

The deadline is still set for Friday for WR Deion Branch to arrange a trade out of New England.

The State of Ohio vs. Santurdio gets underway on Wednesday.

The Redskins signed P Eddie Johnson on Tuesday, and cut him after only one practice.

Steelers RT Max Starks has a right knee injury.

There's nothing better than watching guys having fun with a T.O. bobblehead.

Pats owner Bob Kraft says that there's a "strong possibility" that the team will play in China next summer.

Cards RB J.J. Arrington concedes that, as a rookie, he played like J.J. Walker.

Bucs QB Jay Fiedler might not play at all in 2006.

The folks at Wikipedia take a shot at Todd Stinkston.

After 19 snaps against the Bengals on Monday night, Packers RB Ahman Green won't play in the preseason finale.

Wali Lundy could be Gary Kubiak's Terrell Davis in Houston.

Ernesto is getting the George Bush treatment from the Nicktator.

Pats RB Corey Dillon says that his recent eye injury was not the result of a finger, but of his helmet.

POSTED 7:32 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 9:30 p.m. EDT, August 29, 2006

NEWS FLASH -- STINKSTON ON THE BLOCK

Less than a week after we posted a 48-second radio spot in which ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli nearly threatens to throw down with Penner and Mac of WFNZ in Charlotte after they dissed Eagles receiver Todd Pinkston, the P-man is once again declaring his man-love for the pad-wearing scarecrow by making a cannonball splash with the news that Pinkston and agent Joe Segal have received permission to seek a trade.

Stop the freakin' presses, baby. Stinkston is available!

The story isn't only on the ESPN.com NFL page, but as of this posting it's smack-dab in the middle of the ESPN.com front page. (Len now owes someone in the editorial department a huge favor.)

And Len takes his devotion to Pinkston and Segal to new heights by suggesting that "[a]t least two of the three receiver-needy franchises would likely view Pinkston as a starter, if he is healthy."

Would "likely" view Pinkston as a starter? "Likely"? (Gee, who's the source on that?)

Pinkston is expendable because the Eagles have acquired receiver Donte' Stallworth. And as Adam Schefter of NFL Network reported on Tuesday's Total Access, Pinkston will likely be cut unless the Eagles suffer an injury elsewhere on the depth chart at the wideout position.

We've already received a flood of e-mails from readers, who based on our past reports can see right through what Len is doing. He's trying to help out his pal Joel by propping up a Segal client whose NFL career is quickly swirling down the drain.

Pinkston? A starter? That's almost as funny as hearing Joey Sunshine say that college quarterbacks turned receivers can only be successful if they're short.

TUESDAY NIGHT ONE-LINERS

Billy Volek is getting upset.

The Vikings worked out a mystery receiver on Tuesday.

J.P. Losman will be the starting quarterback again in Buffalo.

Rookie WR/KR Jeremy Bloom has landed on IR with a chronic hamstring problem.

What does Matt Leinart have in common with Peyton Manning while losing to the Steelers in the playoffs? Apparently, they both have had some protection problems.

Chad Pennington is the Jets' starting quarterback.

The Ravens have dropped a couple of guys onto IR.

Though Mark Wahlberg's acting was stiffer than Al Gore in a room full of ass-pinching oil execs, the action sequences from the film Invincible make it a can't-miss for any football fan.

The Lions have placed WR Scottie Vines on the PUP list.

The Pats cuts included CB Hank Poteat.

The Bucs have dumped some players and placed QB Luke McCown on the PUP list.

The Fins have placed OL Seth McKinney on IR.

The Broncos' cuts include CB Willie Middlebrooks.

The Packers have made their first cuts, and have signed a kicker of whom we've never heard.

The Bengals have cut LB Hannibal Navies.

The Jags have placed OT Mike Williams on IR, and have cut WR Troy Edwards and K Seth Marler.

Ryan Fitzpatrick and Dave Ragone are fighting for the bottom rung on the depth chart.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis says that QB Carson Palmer is "not peanut brittle." (Actually, his ACL snapped more like a stale Twix.)

The one question we would've asked if interviewing Colts CB Nick Harper: "Can we see your scar?"

As it turns out, Reggie Bush wasted his money buying Fred McAfee's number.

The Soup Nazi seems to be souring on Sinorice.

The Seahawks have placed S Mike Green on IR.

POSTED 8:53 a.m. EDT; UPDATED 9:38 a.m. EDT, August 29, 2006

PETERSON GIVES NFLPA PRIME OPPORTUNITY

In a Monday feature in USA Today, Oklahoma tailback Adrian Peterson acknowledges that a guy who apparently is an agent approached him at an NBA All-Star function in Houston, and offered Peterson money.

"I can help you financially right now," Peterson was told. "Anything you need, I can give it to you. Whatever amount you ask for. Ten. Twenty. Whatever."

Obviously, such an offer is a clear violation of the regulations applicable to NFLPA-certified contract representatives. It also could be illegal, depending on the niceties of the jurisdiction in which it occurred. (Then again, we're talking about Texas, where there likely are more than two "pro" football teams.)

Memo to the NFLPA: How about sending someone to Norman to have a sit-down with Peterson in an effort to find out who it was?

Though we've always sensed that the players union is, in the abstract, serious about nailing guys who give money and/or other things of value to college players and/or their families, we've never gotten the impression that the NFLPA has actually applied any creativity or elbow grease to cracking down on the problem, which we believe based on things we've heard over the last five years is widespread and, at times, rampant.

This specific example shows that the NFLPA should have on file a photograph of every certified agent, which can then be shown to any player who reports to his coach or compliance office that he has been approached about getting paid. Ditto for any "runners," who already must be identified in the agreement signed by player and agent so that the kid will have a chance to realize that anyone who was giving him "friendly advice" might have something called a "financial stake" in the decision.

In our view, the mere fact of having photos on file and a mechanism in place to quickly use them will disrupt the manner in which the money gets spread around.

Of course, identifying a guy in a photo is just the starting point. The next question is whether it can be shown that the guy was in town at the time of the alleged contact, and whether he was in the place where the offer was even made. Travel invoices, credit card bills, and cell phone records should help toward that end.

But let's take all of this one step farther. How about the NCAA and the NFLPA getting together to catch one of these guys in the act via a sting operation? All they'd need is a high-profile player who agrees to cooperate as a condition for, say, having his eligibility automatically restored if he trips over one of the myriad NCAA rules and regulations. Then, the player starts getting the word out that he's going to sign with whoever gives him $50,000.

We predict that, at first, it'd be like fishing in a pond freshly stocked with food-deprived trout. If, in fact, the NCAA and the NFLPA could introduce such an exercise with multiple programs in the same recruiting season, several agents likely would be nailed -- and some agents might be caught several times.

But like many ideas that make perfect sense, our guess is that this one will never see the light of day.

Then again, maybe it's already happening. As one league insider told us this morning, a mere rumor that a sting operation is in the works would go a long way toward cutting off the flow of cash.

MARKETING GUARANTEES GETTING OUT OF HAND

Along the lines of players getting paid to sign with agents, one of the ways to circumvent the rules prohibiting cash inducements is the so-called "marketing guarantee."

Technically permissible under NFLPA regulations, a marketing guarantee is used to promise a player a minimum amount of endorsement money. If the agent can't raise that amount of endorsement money it comes out of the agent's pocket.

In theory, it's no different than promising the player cash money. But since it's tied to money that might ultimately be earned via off-field endeavors, it's allowed to occur.

Still, we think that the NFLPA should re-think this issue, or at least consider capping the amount of the guarantee that can be made, given that we've heard for the first time that a player has been offered a marketing guarantee in the amount of $500,000.

Though we won't identify the agency just yet, we're told that the guy is receiver Calvin Johnson of Georgia Tech, the highest rated player in the National scouting scores.

So this means that, if Johnson signs with that agency, he'll get paid $500,000 either from sponsors or from his agent, or from a mixture of both.

How is that any different than giving a guy $10,000 in small bills?

We think it isn't, and we think that the NFLPA needs to intervene. The purpose of the prohibition on cash payments is (we presume) to ensure that the players make decisions about their agents based on merit. How in the hell can a kid do that when he knows that he's going to have at least 500 large in his pockets, no matter where he's drafted or whether he gets hit by a truck before signing his rookie deal?

He can't, and it's a loophole that the NFLPA needs to close.

SHIRTS SELLING LIKE HOTCAKES . . . OR LIKE REALLY COOL SHIRTS

As we pause to take a breath from the processing of orders for the new PFT/CFT T-shirts and jerseys, we want to thank everyone who already has purchased one.

And we've just been informed by inventory boy Dante that the first run of the T-shirts and jerseys is sold out.

Get your orders in now so that you'll get one from the next batch.

Yours truly received four samples of the new jerseys in the mail yesterday, and my Monday through Thursday fall wardrobe was set -- until Florio Jr. grabbed two of the shirts and disappeared.

So support the site: Keep buying the shirts. You can get one for yourself, and one for your masculine child . . . whether it be a boy, or a girl.

TUESDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

Falcons MLB Ed Hartwell might miss the first two games of the regular season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on both knees.

Amazingly, we've already received at least 25 e-mails regarding our recent criticisms of Joey Sunshine, and not a single one of them expresses anything other than agreement with our opinions on the guy's performance.

Oh, by the way, they also played a game on Monday night -- and Bengals QB Carson Palmer looked pretty damn good.

Here's a good look at the Domanick Davis situation from the new AOL Sports mega blog.

New Falcons No. 3 QB D.J. Shockley might change his number from "1" back to "3".

Though Raiders WR Randy Moss might be on a legal high from visions of running under Jeff George moon shots, it sure doesn't sound like the No. 1 pick in the 1990 draft is in line to play any time soon; "Jeff has been on our mind for quite awhile now," coach Art Shell said. "We feel that it's time to take a look at somebody to make sure we insure ourselves, to protect our football team, in case something happens. It's a precautionary thing."

Though Titans coach Jeff Fisher says that QB Billy Volek would be the starter if the team played its first game today, a change could be coming; "We are going to create competition and we are trying to do everything we can to put the best players on the field," Fisher said.

Steelers LB Joey Porter missed practice on Monday with tonsilitis. (Sure. And we missed practice yesterday because of polio.)

Despite fears of a possible career-ending neck injury, Steelers backup C Chukky Okobi is already healthy enough to get blown off of the line on a consistent basis.

On the trading block for months, LB Donne Edwards returned to practice for the Chargers four weeks after suffering a back injury.

The Vikings could be interested in QB A.J. Feeley, who spent several years in Philly with Brad Childress.

POSTED 12:11 a.m. EDT, August 29, 2006

ON FURTHER REVIEW, WE LOVE TONY

Though we don't know whether ESPN's Tony Kornheiser stuck it to Joey Sunshine on Monday night for his 180-degree reversal regarding Terrell Owens, a bout of insomnia had us tuning back in for garbage time of the Packers-Bengals game. In so doing, we witnessed an exchange that, in light of our new mission to persuade the folks in Bristol to relieve Joe Theismann of his duties, has caused us to pull a 180 of our own regarding Kornheiser, who given that he was in Cincinnati will be dubbed "Kornholer" for the remainder of this specific item.

After Cincinnati receiver Reggie McNeal caught a touchdown pass from Doug Johnson, a discussion ensued regarding college quarterbacks who become wideouts at the next level.

Here is, verbatim, the key portion of the conversation regarding the requirements for a successful conversion. (Thank you, TiVo.)

Sunshine: I think you need a guy who's short, vertically challenged, maybe five-foot-nine, five-foot-ten with a lot of 'quicks' that can double as a kick returner. Those are the guys that can transition into professional football. To come in and just try and play the wide receiver position --

Kornholer (incredulous): He has to be short?

Sunshine: Well --

Kornholer: This is a prerequisite, to be short?

Sunshine: I think you need to be short and quick. I think that gives you an opportunity --

Kornholer: What if you were big and quick?

Sunshine: You don't have the 'quicks' when you're that tall.

Kornholer: Correct me if I'm wrong because you watch a lot more college football than I did [Editor's note: Tony, you'd make a great lawyer], wasn't there a quarterback recently from Arkansas who was the quarterback who then became a wide receiver in the NFL?

Tirico: Matt Jones.

Kornholer: Matt Jones, right? And he's big. Big and quick.

Sunshine: But not at the kick returning position.

Kornholer: (Makes barely audible noise connoting "Is this guy f--king serious?")

Sunshine: No.

Tirico (wisely changing the subject): It's 48 to 17. . . .

Tony, you've found your niche. It's to call out Joey Sunshine wherever and whenever he says something stupid. That's your calling. Your destiny. Through your weekly badgering of Theismann, he'll eventually be exposed for the fraud that he is, or he'll quietly resign and find a fifth-tier gig on CBS where the play-by-play man doesn't have the brains or the will to thoroughly and completely dismantle his stupid-ass assertions.

So thanks, Tony. We underestimated you. And we're rooting for you to mentally do to Theismann every Monday night that which Lawrence Taylor accomplished only once physically.

POSTED 11:11 p.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

CHARGERS NOT FEELING A.J.

The San Diego Chargers have released quarterback A.J. Feeley, only two years after he was traded from the Eagles to the Dolphins for a second-round draft pick.

A second-round pick. That's the same level of compensation that the Fins invested in quarterback Daunte Culpepper earlier this year.

Feeley was dealt by the Dolphins to the Chargers in October for quarterback Cleo Lemon and a draft pick. The draft pick, however, went from the Dolphins to San Diego.

The Chargers re-signed Feeley in the offseason, but have abruptly changed their minds. The remaining quarterbacks on the roster are Charlie Whitehurst and Brett Elliott. With no veteran presence to support starter Philip Rivers, it's likely that the Chargers will do something to bolster the position. Perhaps they'll trade for Billy Volek. Maybe they'll sign a guy with playing experience who currently isn't playing. Or maybe they'll give Doug Flutie a call and see if he's willing to come back for one more go.

Regardless of what they do, there's no way that the Chargers can afford to stand pat.

POSTED 9:26 p.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

COLLINS DEAL WORTH MORE THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED

Earlier today, a league source told us that new Titans quarterback Kerry Collins has signed a one-year deal worth $1.2 million. The source has now told us that the information was off. Just a bit.

As it turns out, Collins' compensation includes a salary of $1.3 million and a roster bonus of $700,000. He's also eligible for incentives worth up to $1.5 million.

Bottom line -- he wasn't signed to sit the bench. Unless he lays an egg in his first practice (or spits in someone's face), Collins will be the starter, and Billy Volek will be long gone come Week One.

POSTED 8:31 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 9:26 p.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

LEAGUE CONSENSUS -- BRANCH WANTS TOO MUCH GREEN

Based on our discussions with various league insiders regarding the permission that Patriots receiver Deion Branch has received to seek out a trade, it seems pretty clear to us that no one will be willing to pony up the kind of money that would prompt Branch to spurn the Pats permanently.

As one league source told us, the price tag for signing Branch is "probably too high for anyone."

A big part of the problem is that any team interested in Branch will be required to pay the player and compensate the club. Though there are reports that the Pats want two first-rounders, we find that hard to believe. New England's goal here isn't to give Branch a chance to leave and then block it by making a ridiculous trade demand; the objective is to allow Branch to see that the offer made by the Patriots isn't out of step with his market value.

Think of it this way -- was anyone burning up the Patriots' phone lines about acquiring Branch before the team decided to let him shop himself? If there was a team out there that wanted to make a play for him, said team surely would have had an off-the-record discussion with his agent, and said agent surely would have floated the fact that other teams were interested when orchestrating an ill-advised (in hindsight) media blitz through confirmed Pats hater Ron Borges.

So we stand by our initial prediction. There will be no trade, and Branch's next move will be to report for the start of the regular season.

MORE JOEY SUNSHINE INEPTITUDE

When calling for Joe Theismann's ouster from ESPN's Monday Night Football earlier tonight (scroll down) for going from one extreme to the other on T.O., we overlooked another serious flaw in Joey Sunshine's substantive abilities.

Theismann has no clue as to the financial arrangement between the Cowboys and Owens.

Though Señor Sunshine now wants the Cowboys to cut the cord on Owens, Theismann thinks that the team's hands are tied by its $10 million investment in T.O.

Wrong. Inexcusably wrong, for a guy who makes his living following pro football.

Owens was paid a $5 million signing bonus, and he'll make a $5 million base salary. Currently, then, the investment is at $5 million, and it will shoot to $10 million only if Owens is on the roster when the regular season starts. As a vested veteran, T.O.'s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he's on the team for Week One.

So the Cowboys can still cut their losses by cutting Owens, as long as they do it before September 10. And, as we see it, the tipping point will be if/when Jerry Jones concludes that he'll look stupider for giving Owens another $5 million than Jones would look if he lets T.O. walk away with his $5 million signing bonus.

MONDAY NIGHT ONE-LINERS

T.O. says his hamstring ate his homework.

The NFL is negotiating to play an exhibition game in China.

Jags RB Greg Jones is out for the year with a torn ACL.

Chiefs RB Priest Holmes will miss at least the first six weeks of the regular season.

The Seahawks have cut 15 guys, including QB Gibran Hamdan.

MNF play-by-play guy Mike Tirico is adding to the Joey Sunshine idiocy by claiming that Dr. Lonnie Paulos didn't actually try to paint a gloom-and-doom picture regarding Carson Palmer's knee injury.

Several veteran Vikings offensive lineman are in danger of getting dumped. (Now do you see what happens when you don't take your HGH, guys?)

The Cards have made some cuts, including QB Rohan Davey.

The Browns have made some cuts, too.

Coach Chin won't say whether RB Duce Staley is in danger of getting cut.

The Bills reduced their food budget 14 percent by cutting OL Aaron Gibson.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder might be doing some business with Tom Cruise. (Maybe they'll be using a life-sized cut-out of Cruise to show how tall the kiddies have to be to ride the bumper cars at Six Flags.)

Bob Glauber thinks that Curtis Martin should retire. (Way to go out on that limb, Bob.)

Texans RB Domanick Davis might not be on the Texans' 53-man roster.

The Colts have chopped 10 no-names.

The Texans' cuts include LB Barrett Green.

POSTED 7:58 p.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

SUN NEEDS TO SET ON JOEY SUNSHINE

Okay, we rarely make open calls for the termination of anyone's employment. We've only ever done it twice, to our recollection: Former Vikings coach Mike "Meathead" Tice and former Vikings V.P. of player personnel Fran "Fred Flintsone" Foley.

We're now ready to make our first firm plea to a major media outlet to pull the plug on a guy who sticks to his convictions like John Kerry with a closed head injury.

Joey Sunshine must go.

We're talking, of course about ESPN's Joe Theismann.

We've noticed a troubling trend of late. Theismann takes a position. And then he wraps his legs around it. And then the wind blows. And then Theismann does a 180. And then he wraps his legs around his new position, ignoring that he ever held just as strongly to any other view.

The specific problem here is that one week ago Theismann proclaimed that Owens would never be a problem for his entire career in Dallas. Tony Kornheiser, stunned by the Namathesque guarantee, wisely pushed Theismann at the time. Like a 6-year-old being grilled by grandpa regarding who ate the last of the Oreos, Joey Sunshine dug into his stance even harder.

Theismann even went so far as to guarantee that Owens would return to practice on Wednesday of last week.

Now, with Owens missing more practices due to his hamstring injury and after missing a meeting and a rehab session, Theismann is sounding like a guy whose long-term memory only extends five days into the past.

Appearing Monday on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning, Theismann teed off on T.O.

"He doesn't need to be on a football team," Theismann said. "He's a tremendous distraction. . . . I'm just disgusted with this guy. He's a jerk. He's just a flat-out jerk the way he conducts himself. No respect for his teammates. No respect for the coaching staff. No respect for the game of football."

Joe, all he did in the past five days was: (1) not practice due to a hamstring injury; and (2) miss a meeting and a rehab session. We're not condoning Owens' actions (in fact, we agree with Theismann's current position), but how do the most recent developments justify a guy who had his nose in T.O.'s crotch suddenly putting a gun to Owens' head?

We're hoping that Kornheiser is loaded for bear on Monday night, and we hope that he'll ask Joey Sunshine for his current views on Owens.

We also hope that Tony will then roll the tape of Joey Sunshine's comments from last week, and that he'll then ask Theismann precisely when he . . . lost . . . his . . . freaking . . . marbles.

And if Kornhesier doesn't do it, then they both should get the boot.

POSTED 6:12 p.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

COLLINS GETS ONE YEAR, $1.2 MILLION

A league source tells us that the contract signed by quarterback Kerry Collins with the Titans is for one year, and has a value of $1.2 million.

The guy whom Collins likely will be supplanting, Billy Volek, is due to earn a base salary of $1 million in 2006, and $1.25 million in 2007.

As explained below, the team will try to trade Volek in the near future, unless Collins comes in and completely stinks it up within the first few days of practice.

POSTED 5:38 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 6:03 p.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

TITANS WILL SHOP VOLEK

A league source tells us that, in conjunction with the acquisition of quarterback Kerry Collins, the Tennessee Titans have agreed to attempt to trade quarterback Billy Volek, who until today was regarded as the sure-thing opening-day starter.

Per the source, the team wants to kick Collins' tires a little harder before making a move with Volek. This suggests to us that, if the Titans conclude that Collins can't get it done, he might get dumped as quickly as he arrived.

But for now it's obvious that Collins was brought in to be the starter, making Volek unnecessary. Teams that could be in the mix for Volek (and we're guessing here) include the Raiders, the 49ers, the Chargers, the Browns, the Bengals, and the Patriots.

However, the Raiders signed on Monday 57-year-old quarterback Jeff George, who had one of his most effective seasons in 1999, when paired with Randy Moss in Minnesota.

SOME SELF-DEPRECATION FROM DREW

We've gotten a sneak peek at a Burger King commercial to be aired tonight that pokes fun at last year's T.O. brouhaha. The spot features agent Drew Rosenhaus, who is wearing the same suit, shirt, and tie combo he wore during the infamous press conference on the lawn of Owens' New Jersey home, during which the phrase "next question" entered the pantheon of all-time great sports quotes.

This time around, Rosenhaus is representing "The King," the Burger King mascot who was spliced last year into various NFL highlight plays. It turns out the "The King" is holding out, and reporters are peppering Rosenhaus with questions.

Question: "Is it true that your client is holding out because he's got a big head?"

Answer: "Next question."

Question: "Is it true that your client, The King, wants to be called 'T.K.'?"

Answer: "Next question."

We'll admit that we laughed out loud when we saw it for the first time, and that we were impressed by Rosenhaus' willingness to be the butt of the joke.

But then we considered the current goings-on between Owens and his new team, the Cowboys, and we couldn't help but wonder whether the commercial will be the equivalent of tossing a tank of gasoline onto a smoldering fire.

If Owens had been performing and behaving in the manner that Owens (and Rosenhaus) had promised when Owens signed with the Cowboys in March, it wouldn't be an issue. But with Owens looking less like the guy who sat smiling with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and more like the dude whose behavior prompted his premature banishment from Philly, it's kind of hard to make fun of last year, since as to Owens this year is already starting to feel like last year.

POSTED 4:59 p.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

STALLWORTH HEADS TO PHILLY

Once upon a time, there was a receiver named "Stallworth" who did okay for himself on an NFL team that plays its home games in Pennsylvania.

Three decades after John Stallworth became a star for the Steelers, an underachieving (to date) pass-catcher with the same last name has landed on the other side of the Commonwealth.

Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com reports that Donte' Stallworth has been shipped from the Saints to the Eagles for linebacker Mark Simoneau and a fourth-round draft pick. The draft pick will bump to a third-rounder if the Eagles are able to reach an agreement with Stallworth as to an extension of his rookie contract.

Stallworth is scheduled to earn a base salary of $1.92 million in 2006, the final year of his rookie deal. It was first reported in this here space in the offseason that Stallworth was on the trading block, prompting harumphs and assorted guffaws from "real" media types who didn't think it was true.

Though generally regarded as a disappointment in his four seasons with the Saints, Stallworth had 70 catches for 945 yards and seven touchdowns in 2005. If he can learn the Eagles' offense quickly, he could soon be their No. 1 wideout.

POSTED 4:05 p.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

TITANS BAG COLLINS

According to the Nashville Tennessean, the Titans and quarterback Kerry Collins have reached an agreement in principle. Details as to the length of the deal and/or terms of payment are not yet available; a league source tells us that some of the specifics are still being ironed out.

Collins' arrival calls into question Billy Volek's role as the presumed starter. It also creates a dilemma for coach Jeff Fisher on game days as to the No. 3 quarterback, since it previously has been reported that Fisher plans to use rookie Vince Young for one series per half, as early as Week One of the regular season. By rule, if the No. 3 quarterback enters the game before the fourth quarter, the other two quarterbacks may not return.

Thus, if Young is the No. 3 quarterback, he could make a cameo in the fourth quarter only. If he's the No. 2 guy, then either Collins or Volek would be relegated to No. 3.

We also don't rule out, given the sudden arrival of Collins, a decision by the team to trade or release Volek, which would leave Matt Mauck as the No. 3 quarterback.

POSTED 8:48 a.m. EDT; UPDATED 9:38 a.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

COLLINS HEADING TO TITANS?

According to the Nashville Tennessean, free-agent quarterback Kerry Collins will soon be visiting the Titans and could sign a contract to join Billy Volek and Vince Young as the team's signal-callers.

Collins could be on the roster in time for the Titans' preseason finale on Friday at Green Bay.

The Titans and Collins flirted prior to the start of training camp, but a marriage (much less a date) seemed to be a long shot. Now, with the regular season opener less than two weeks away, it looks like the two sides will be making a quick trip to Vegas, and consummating in a public stairwell.

The move, as we see it, makes no sense. If the Titans wanted Collins, why not sign him while there's still time to get him properly up to speed? Even if, as the Tennessean suggests, the struggles of Volek are driving this bus, we think it's far wiser for the team to let Volek work through it than it is to thrust Collins into the fire with little or no time to get acquainted with the system or the players.

And if Volek can't get it done, then pull the plug and use Vince Young.

Of course, we don't call the shots in Tennessee. Those decisions are left to the same geniuses who burned the No. 6 overall pick on Pacman Jones in 2005, so we suppose they deserve the benefit of the doubt this time around. (Eye roll. Groan. Fart.)

MONDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

T.O. isn't the only new Cowboy who has the Tuna in a tizzy.

Chargers QB Philip Rivers says that his shoulder is fine.

Special teams Pro Bowler Hanik Milligan could be a surprise cut by the Chargers.

QB Rob Johnson won't get a chance to have the crap beat out of him any more.

Is a quarterback controversy brewing in Houston?

The Titans will impose no further discipline on Pacman Jones until the most recent charges against him are resolved.

D.J. Shockley is the No. 3 quarterback for the Falcons. (Actually, he's the No. 2 quarterback, since the dude at the top of the depth chart is a running back who turns every passing play into the halfback option.)

On Monday night in Cincinnati, guys like Chris Henry will be paying attention to a different kind of joint.

Kornheiser nuzzles the Sunshiner.

The Eagles reportedly won't make a serious play for WR Deion Branch.

Lions WR Mike Williams doesn't understand why he didn't play in the team's most recent preseason game. (He continued to ponder the issue while scratching his gut.)

Broncos QB Jake Plummer had a "heated discussion" with Coach Kevlar during Sunday night's game. (Be careful, Mike -- Jake might kick your car or something.)

POSTED 7:06 a.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

PANTHERS' 2003 NFC TITLE TAINTED?

An exclusive report in the Charlotte Observer regarding steroid use during the team's 2003 run to the Super Bowl raises an obvious question, around which the hometown paper carefully tiptoes.

Is the team's George Halas trophy tainted? Or were the Panthers players who were taking banned compounds merely keeping up with the Joneses in other NFL cities?

Regardless, there was a real problem in 2003. Three of the five starting offensive linemen, tackle Todd Steussie, center Jeff Mitchell, and guard Jeff Donnalley, were receiving various prohibited substances from Dr. James Shortt, based on court documents obtained by the Observer in connection with the prosecution that resulted in Shortt being sent to jail for one year and one day.

"Several of them were using disturbing, particularly alarmingly high amounts with high dosages for long durations -- some in combinations," said steroids expert Dr. Gary Wadler, who prepared a report for the prosecution in connection with the Shortt case. "This wasn't just a passing flirtation with these prohibited substances."

And the inescapable conclusion reached after reading the Observer article is that the use of prohibited substances was indeed rampant and most likely brazen.

So why weren't these guys caught? And in how many other cities have similar stories unfolded without detection?

The Panthers' example is further proof that some players will do whatever is necessary to obtain and retain an edge against the competition on the other side of the line, and within the same locker room. It's also evidence that, even though the NFL generally has escaped public scrutiny for its steroids problem, the league still has a long way to go with respect to testing and enforcement.

POSTED 10:13 p.m. EDT, August 27, 2006

JETS QUARTERBACK JOB STILL UNDECIDED

With three preseason games in the bag and only one more week of faux football to go, the New York Jets have yet to decide on a starting quarterback.

The four candidates are Chad Pennington, Patrick Ramsey, Brooks Bollinger, and rookie Kellen Clemens. (Or, for those of you who still read the New York Times, it's "the" rookie Kellen Clemens.)

Pennington and Clemens have thrown the most passes, but Ramsey and Bollinger have the higher passer ratings. Collectively, they are 53-for-91 with two interceptions, one touchdown, and 348 yards. They are averaging an anemic 4.48 yards per attempt.

Our guess is that Pennington gets the job by default, since he has the most experience and since none of the others guys is clearly beating him out. But we also think that coach Eric Mangini wants to get Pennington comfortable with the idea that nothing is set in stone, since we also think that if/when things start to fall apart for the Jets the Kellen Clemens era will be launched.

JOEY SUNSHINE STRIKES AGAIN?

Last Monday night, ESPN's Joe Theismann climbed onto a soapbox for Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens, predicting that Owens would never be a problem at any time during his career in Dallas. (Joey Sunshine also predicted that Owens would return to practice with the Cowboys on Wednesday, further confirming that Theismann does no homework and/or has terrible instincts.)

Now, in the wake of news that the team has fined Owens $9,500 for missing meetings, a reader tells us that Theismann has called out Owens on ESPN News, and openly has called for the Cowboys to cut him.

We'll withhold judgment until we hear Joey Sunshine's about-face with our own ears. But it wouldn't surprise us at all if the guy who apparently is unable to commit to memory the words that have come out of his own mouth has replaced in less than six days his absolute, no-doubt-about-it opinions regarding Owens' good behavior with a new set of beliefs that completely conflict with his past comments.

Look, it's pretty obvious to us that the only reason Theismann survived the Chip 'n' Dale 'n' Doofis routine from ESPN's Sunday night broadcast is because Al Michaels didn't want to be shown up by the search for an analyst after he initially committed to the Monday night gig.

Once Michaels reneged, ESPN was stuck with Theismann.

The real question moving forward is how long he'll last. We give it two years, since the powers-that-be in Bristol won't want to implicitly admit that they erred if they dump him after only one year.

CZAR'S "SOURCE" NOT HARD TO DISCERN?

We noticed an eye-popping entry on John Czarnecki's most recent blog update on FOXSports.com regarding the recent appointment of Matt Millen to the NFL's Competition Committee. And we think it's obvious that one of the Czar's sources is former Texans G.M. Charley Casserly.

Czar attributes the following remarks to a "former member" of the committee: “Matt is the wrong kind of person to be on that committee. I just can’t figure out what they are doing, but I’m glad I’m not dealing with it anymore.”

Coincidentally, Casserly left the Competition Committee when he "resigned" from the Texans.

“How in the hell does someone with a 21-59 record get named to the Competition Committee?” a current G.M. asked Czarnecki. “How does he keep his job and also get a new contract?”

Czarnecki concluded the blurb by noting that "Casserly wasn’t happy with his settlement pay from Texans owner Bob McNair after being fired."

It's funny -- Casserly called us up and verbally tore us a new one when we reported that he'd be fired or forced to quit after the draft. Thereafter, an elaborate ruse (in our opinion) was unfolded to create the perception that Casserly was leaving on his own accord.

Now, in the same item in which it appears that Casserly is the source for a body slam of the guy who replaced him on the Competition Committee, the truth finally sneaks out: Casserly was fired.

TWO PODCASTS IN THREE DAYS

With the NFL regular season less than two weeks away, we're picking up the pace with the PFT PodCasts. Following on the heels of Friday's first-ever PFT Fantasy PodCast featuring Paul Charchian of Fanball.com, the "old" format was back for a Sunday night show in which Dante offends pretty much everyone.

The opinions of Dante are his and his alone, and we don't know how anyone lives with the guy. His views are not those of PFT, and definitely not those of any of our sponsors.

We'll be back with another PodCast in the middle of the week, and Charchian will return for another Fantasy PodCast on Friday.

POSTED 10:30 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 1:33 p.m. EDT, August 27, 2006

T.O. FINED FOR MISSING MEETINGS

So after seeing his career end up in shambles a season ago in Philly and with no one but the Cowboys seriously interested in signing him, Terrell Owens will be on his best behavior in 2006, right?

Wrong.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Owens has been fined $9,500 by his new team for missing a team meeting, missing a rehab session, and arriving late to an offensive meeting.

"That's our club business," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "That's going to be accounted for."

With Owens, there are no accidents, in our view. Everything he says and does is part of a broader plan, misguided as it may be. As we explained a week ago, he's upset that he was pressured to return to practice before he was ready, and that his premature return resulted in an aggravation of his bruised va. . . hamstring injury.

He's now committed to sitting out until he's at 100 percent, and he has been reminding the media that, in the past, he has played without practicing. The only problem is that coach Bill Parcells has a far different attitude regarding practice, and he wants his guys on the field.

The fact that Owens also missed a rehab session is the most telling infraction, in our view. If he won't practice or play until he's 100 percent, then he should be doing everything in his power to get to 100 percent. Though we're not doctors nor physical therapists, missing a pre-planned rehab session probably isn't the best way to get back on the field.

So we still see this thing ending badly. And if Owens is going to be missing meetings and otherwise doing stuff that he shouldn't be doing, it'll make it even easier for Parcells to persuade Jones that Owens' name should be added to the list of final cuts.

Remember this -- if Owens is on the roster once the regular season starts, his $5 million salary becomes fully guaranteed. By dumping Owens, they would free up the $5 million in cap room for 2006.

And with Deion Branch suddenly on the market, wouldn't it be hilarious if the Tuna gets on the horn with son-in-law Scott Pioli and tries to work out a deal that would allow the 'Boys to acquire Owens' replacement a minute before cutting him loose? The chances of that happening are pretty slim. But as we've seen in the past with Owens, anything is possible.

BRANCH, AGENT CAUGHT FLAT-FOOTED

Speaking of the Deion Branch situation, we don't seriously believe that he'll be traded to the Cowboys or anyone else by September 1. Bolstering our opinion in this regard is scuttlebutt we've heard that Branch and agent Jason Chayut were caught completely off guard by the team's sudden offer to allow Branch to explore the market via a trade.

Though some might contend that Chayut should have been prepared for anything, we're not so sure that he should have been ready for this one. After all, a sudden grant of permission by the Pats to talk to other teams about a potential contract for Branch would have fallen somewhere on the "likelihood of possible occurrences" meter between the Pats coughing up a $16 million signing bonus for Branch and coach Bill Belichick bringing Branch breakfast in bed.

Either way, the fact that Chayut wasn't ready makes it even harder for Chayut to slap together an acceptable offer to the player and to his current team by September 1.

Most league observers think that New England will want a first-round pick in exchange for Branch. We think that the Pats will want to pull off the kind of maneuver that the Broncos finagled in the Ashley Lelie trade, ignoring the specific round of the pick and focusing on points value in the draft trade chart.

On the chart pioneered in the 1990s by FOX's Jimmy Johnson, the first pick in round one is worth 3,000 points and the last pick in round one has a value of 590. Our guess is that Pats will want 1,500 points in value, which equates to the seventh overall pick.

Of course, this will make it even harder for any team to work out a deal by September 1. But then the question will be whether the Patriots will be willing to continue to talk if Chayut somehow finds a new suitor for Branch and gets that team to the table to begin serious discussions before the artificial deadline expires.

Bottom line -- the closer that this dance gets to resulting in a trade the harder it will be for New England to stop the music when the clock strikes 4:00 on Friday afternoon.

It's intriguing to consider the possibilities, but we still think that Charlie Frye has a better chance of winning the NFL MVP award this year than Branch does of getting traded out of New England.

MORE ON THE COMING CUTDOWNS

With the initial camp cuts changed from 65 to 75 this year, one important point to keep in mind is that the expiration of the NFL Europe exemptions has been moved from the second cut date to the first.

Before this season, the first roster cuts were to 65 players, and the second cuts were to 53. But the NFL Europe exemptions survived until the final cuts, giving teams more than 65 roster spots to play with.

In theory, then, the total head count in camp under the new rules will be roughly the same as it was under the old rules. If a team has six NFL Europe exemptions, it would have had 71 guys in 2005 after the first cuts. Now, it will have 75.

In the past, however, it was usually pretty easy to figure out after the first cuts to 65 that most of the NFL Europe guys were merely going to serve as cannon fodder in the final preseason game. With the core roster at 65 players, there were only four veteran spots that were up in the air, since eight of the rookies and street free agents would end up on the eight-man practice squad.

Now, with all NFL Europe exemptions expired at the first cut, any NFL Europe guys who in past years would have merely been taking up space will be out the door, leaving teams with their 75 best players still in camp.

This means that some of the guys who eventually are among the final cuts will have a harder time finding a job. In past years, these guys would have been cut early enough to land on a team with a need that they could fill. In 2006, there will be a flood of quality players hitting the market less than a week before the start of the regular season, and it will be far more difficult for teams and agents to sort through the mess.

The new rule also will make it even harder for a lot of the guys who survive the final cuts to get comfortable in their new jobs. With 704 players entering the market all at once, there's always going to be a chance that a team that is light at one position will have a quality player who was caught up in a numbers game elsewhere fall into its lap.

And once a team that signs one of these players cuts a guy who had made the 53-man roster, then that guy goes into the mix of available players, and he could supplant someone in another city who had thought that he had made it.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON ONE-LINERS

The Jets have cut 12 players, including LB Alonzo Jackson.

Said Vikings owner Zygi Wilf before S Dwight Smith was cited for gettin' busy in a public stairwell: "If you want to look for stories, you better look for the good kind of things now, because you're not going to find too many of the bad things."

Jets LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson got his D'Buttashaw chewed by coach Eric Mangini after a false start on a fourth-and-one play.

CB Charles Woodson will return punts for the Packers this year.

Sean Jensen of the St. Paul Pioneer Press takes a thorough look at the aftermath of the K-Rob situation.

Steelers WR Hines Ward scoffs at talk that he's breaking down, as he continues to miss practice and games with a hamstring injury.

The Buccaneers' offensive line isn't getting it done.

LB Junior Seau and S Rodney Harrison made their preseason debuts on Saturday night for the Pats. (It might also be a good idea for the Patriots to complete the San Diego trifecta and sign Dan Fouts to serve as Tom Brady's backup.)

Here's further proof that Titans owner Bud Adams' toupee has been sutured to his brain.

By the sound of things, Daunte Culpepper's next lap dance might come from Dan Marino.

Giants QB Jared Lorenzen wants to be the primary backup (but he'll settle for some prime rib).

Though we've backed off of the T.O. story a bit because folks were getting sick of hearing about it, this quote from Owens on Wednesday speaks volumes about where his relationship with Bill Parcells is headed: "If [Parcells] wants to see something, he has 10 years of film."

Bryant McFadden and Ricardo Colclough are battling for the nickel corner role on the Steelers.

Browns WR Braylon Edwards is ready for the regular season despite a torn ACL that wasn't repaired until early January.

The 'Skins have been outscored 87-17 in three preseason games.

Eagles CB Lito Sheppard is still feeling the effects of an ankle injury from November 2005.

Though Titans coach Jeff Fisher is entering the final year of his contract, owner Bud Adams says he's not going anywhere. (Psst, Bud, if his contract expires, he's allowed to leave if someone else offers him a job.)

Pats RB Corey Dillon was poked in the eye on Sunday night. ("Heh-heh, heh . . . he said 'poked'.")

Jags LB Mike Peterson and RB Greg Jones suffered knee injuries on Saturday night.

Though Giants QB Eli Manning apparently injured his hand on Friday night, he was not X-rayed and apparently is fine.

If Chris Havel were G.M. for a day . . . he'd sign Brett Favre to a 20-year contract.

The Eagles have dumped ten players, including DT Ed Jasper.

POSTED 8:31 p.m. EDT, August 26, 2006

CARDS COMING AROUND?

Though we're reluctant to predict that the Cardinals will end their protracted postseason drought simply because there's a sense that they're due to bust out, there's a growing sense in some league circles that the team is getting close to competing for the postseason on a regular basis.

The offense gets most of the attention in Arizona, with receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin among the best in the league, running back Edgerrin James poised to add to his Hall of Fame credentials, and big-name rookie quarterback Matt Leinart planning to show that he's got the talent to make it at this level.

But the thinking is that the team's defense is now among the most talented in the league, and coordinator Clancy Pendergast's name already is being mentioned as a potential candidate for a head coaching job.

As one league source with knowledge of the team's circumstances told us, the primary objective for the organization at this point is to learn how to win, and to get them to avoid playing not to lose. Some observers believe that the Cardinals' starters dominated the Bears' starters on both sides of the ball on Friday night. The key will be to play like that when the games count.

LEINART TO GIVE KURT THE ELI TREATMENT?

As the aforementioned (we love that word -- it's big enough to make us sound smart but not so big that it makes people think we're just using big words for the sake of sounding smart) Matt Leinart gets comfortable with his NFL squad, there's a growing feeling that he will become the Cardinals' starting quarterback at some point in the 2006 NFL season.

If that happens, Cardinals coach Denny Green is going to have to worry about Warner's mindset once he gets the hook. Warner was yanked in 2004 while leading a Giants' team that was in position to compete for a playoff spot, and rookie Eli Manning was inserted in his place. Warner wasn't happy about the move, and he surely didn't envision being in the same situation when signing a three-year deal in the offseason to stay with Arizona.

Adding to Warner's frustration would likely be the fact that Green made it clear not long after drafting Leinart that the rookie will play in 2006 only if Warner gets hurt. "Hopefully, [Leinart] doesn't have to play one down during the regular season," Green said at the time. "That would mean that Kurt Warner is healthy all year. That's how we did it with Daunte Culpepper [in Minnesota]. He never took a snap. We'd like it that way, just to get in and learn how we do things and learn the pro game."

The reality could be that Leinart is going to learn the pro game faster than anticipated, which might then put Green in the position of having to eat his words.

GRIESE'S ASCENSION TO STARTER JUST A MATTER OF TIME

Another quarterback situation that's getting plenty of attention is in Chicago, where Brian Griese continues to outperform starter Rex Grossman. One league source predicts that Griese will be the No. 1 guy on the depth chart "sooner rather than later."

Griese was signed in the offseason to provide the Bears with a viable backup. In both 2004 and 2005, Grossman suffered serious leg injuries, and his replacements were mediocre at best. So as luck would have it the Bears have gone to the other extreme, landing a No. 2 who is turning out to be better than their No. 1.

The oddest aspect of the current situation is that everyone recognizes that Griese is beating out Grossman, except for the Bears. Perhaps the Bears are merely deferring judgment until preparations commence for Week One of the regular season.

After all, there's still a chance that Grossman will bust a ligament or break a leg in the team's fourth and final preseason game.

POSTED 4:47 p.m. EDT, August 26, 2006

VIKES DUMP K-ROB

The Minnesota Vikings have parted ways with receiver Koren Robinson.

With little fanfare and no formal statement, the team has added Robinson's name to a list of eight total players who were released on Saturday.

The move raises more questions than it answers, since the team technically cannot cut Robinson as discipline for his August 15 arrest. We'll dig up some more info and address the potential ramifications in the near future. For now, though, it's possible that the team will face a non-injury grievance, just as the Cowboys did after cutting quarterback Quincy Carter following news of a four-game suspension for violation of the substance abuse policy.

POSTED 2:57 p.m. EDT, August 26, 2006

VIKES' NO-TURD PLAN NEEDS SOME REFINEMENT

It's a season that was supposed to represent a break from the ugliness of 2005, in which among other things former head coach Mike "Meathead" Tice admitted to scalping Super Bowl tickets and four players (including holdovers Fred Smoot and Bryant McKinnie) were charged with lewd conduct in a "skippers and strippers" incident on Lake Minnetonka. Despite the organization's desire to clean things up, the Minnesota Vikings can't seem to stay out of trouble.

Earlier this month, receiver Koren Robinson was arrested for drunk driving, reckless driving, and felony fleeing from police after a car chase at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. In hindsight, the fact that Robinson was a specific reclamation project of the Meathead should have been all the proof necessary to conclude that Robinson's story wasn't going to end well.

Now, there are reports that Vikings safety Dwight Smith was cited early Saturday morning for "indecent conduct." The incident allegedly occurred in a stairwell at the Escape Ultra Lounge in Minneapolis. Smith, 28, and a 24-year-old woman were both charged and released.

Details are still sketchy, but it sounds to us as if Smith, who was signed late in the offseason after being released by the Saints, was performing a specialized version of the lambada.

So maybe he was just trying to prove to Smoot and McKinnie that he's "one of the guys."

It's not Smith's first scrape with the law. He was arrested in March 2005 after pointing a pellet gun at two men who approached his car at a McDonald's drive-thru window.

Smith is expected to be a key component of the team's defensive secondary. With Tank Williams gone for the year with a torn ACL, Smith and Darren Sharper are teaming with Antoine Winfield and Fred Smoot as the Vikings implement the "Tampa 2" package in which Smith became a star while with the Bucs.

POSTED 11:11 a.m. EDT, August 26, 2006

VIKINGS TO MAKE A PLAY FOR BRANCH?

The Minnesota Vikings were never mentioned as one of the teams in the hunt for former Broncos receiver Ashley Lelie, but Judd Zulgad and Kevin Seifert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune suggest that the Vikings might be interested in making a deal for Pats receiver Deion Branch.

It actually makes sense to us. The Vikings have plenty of cap room remaining for 2006, so they could pay Branch a contract closer in line to his perceived market value than the offer from the Pats that Branch previously turned down. More importantly, the Vikings have a real need for a No. 1 wideout, given that Koren Robinson by all appearances won't be back in 2006, or ever.

Branch has been angling for Reggie Wayne money. Wayne received from the Colts a long-term deal earlier this year, which included a $13.5 million signing bonus. In the offseason, the Vikings opted not to match an offer sheet signed by restricted free agent receiver Nate Burleson, who was expected to become the go-to guy in the passing game after the trade of Randy Moss to the Raiders.

Of course, if Branch were to land in Minnesota he might have some of the same problems that Burleson is now experiencing in Seattle as he takes a crash course in the West Coast offense. Still, getting Branch for the long haul could help to bring some stability back to a Minnesota receiving corps that, two years ago, appeared to be built around Moss for the remainder of the decade.

Then again, the Vikings might simply try to build the passing game around Troy Williamson, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2005 draft. They also have Travis Taylor and Marcus Robinson. Still, if the team felt sufficiently comfortable with that trio at the top of the depth chart, Koren Robinson simply wouldn't have been re-signed.

K-ROB'S STATUS STILL UNCLEAR

Although the Minneapolis Star Tribune confirms that Vikings receiver Koren Robinson is in Stage Three of the NFL's substance abuse program, the potential consequences of his most recent run-in with the law are still unclear.

As we've previously explained, a player doesn't advance from Stage Three to a minimum one-year banishment absent a positive test or a failure to comply with testing. Robinson's August 15 arrest for fleeing police, drunk driving, and reckless driving does not automatically trigger the suspension.

If he pleads guilty to or is convicted of drunk driving charges, he is subject to discipline pursuant to a separate portion of the substance abuse policy, which does not set forth a structured, graduated procedure for determining and/or imposing discipline.

If he pleads guilty to or is convicted for fleeing and/or reckless driving, he faces discipline under the league's Personal Conduct Policy.

None of the criminal charges pending against Robinson will be resolved quickly, unless he pleads guilty. The more immediate issue is the potential revocation of his probation resulting from a guilty plea in 2005 to DUI charges in Washington. But it'll be several weeks into the season at the earliest before a hearing is even held on whether he violated the terms of his probation in connection with the trio of new charges that he faces.

So the Vikings are stuck. Robinson technically is permitted to play, and there's really no reason to exclude him from practice and/or preseason games. At some point during the season, he might be ordered to go to jail. At some point during or after the season, he might be suspended for a year. For now, though, there's no impediment to putting him on the field.

Meanwhile, we've heard from a couple of folks that, during practice sessions, receiver Marcus Robinson's jersey now omits the "M" before the "Robinson," and it's being interpreted as a sign that the other Robinson is, as a practical matter, off of the team. But Paul Charchian of Fanball.com (who works out of Minnesota) advises us that the "M" was back on Robinson's jersey during Friday night's exhibition game against the Ravens.

Our guess? Koren Robinson will never play again for the Vikings, but the team is still trying to figure out how to engineer his departure with minimum financial responsibility. It could be that the team and Robinson's agent, Alvin Keels, are trying to work out a settlement of his contract, allowing Robinson for example to keep the $1 million roster bonus he received in March and paying him a few game checks in exchange for an agreement to walk away without filing a grievance for all of his 2006 base salary and/or his per-week roster bonus.

POSTED 10:01 a.m. EDT, August 26, 2006

PACMAN CLAIMS HE WAS AN "INNOCENT BYSTANDER"

Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones says that he's not guilty of the new charges currently pending against him. On Friday, Jones was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct. There was also a report that he would be charged with assault after spitting in a woman's face.

"I was an innocent bystander,'' said Jones, according to the Nashville Tennessean. "I wasn't drunk. I was there with my hands behind my back. I tried to do everything right. I went there and got my wallet stolen, credit card and everything. I tried to get it back and went up to the police, and they end up arresting me.''

Murfreesboro Police Lieutenant Alvin Baird disagrees: "This was not a big issue. He just turned it into one. It is not unusual to come across a person who'd had too much to drink at a bar, and you just say, 'If someone can take you home, then go home.'

"He had every opportunity to leave. Nobody would have even known about this incident if he would've just gone home. But when people are drinking, they don't always make the best decisions. . . . He put us in a place where we had to do something.''

Jarrett Qualls, the owner of the club at which the incident occurred, is siding with his high-profile customer. "The police, when they came inside the building, they pretty much walked inside, grabbed him and took him outside. Bottom line, that is what happened. Pacman, we had no problem with him. My security went to calm the girl down, and the police went straight for Pacman. I thought they were very unprofessional. . . . It is all for publicity, if you ask me.''

Qualls also said that Jones was a "perfect gentleman," and that he did not appear to be intoxicated.

Though there's a significant dispute as to whether Jones was drunk and/or disorderly, his LenDale White impersonation apparently won't be getting him into any trouble, since the woman on whom Jones allegedly spat is letting it go.

"We were just in there talking. After we spit on each other it wouldn't have been nothing else,'' LaToya Garth said. "It's nothing between us, really. We just got to arguing. He spit on me, I spit on him, and tomorrow we'll laugh about the [expletive]. I was mostly upset because I was in handcuffs. With me being pregnant, I didn't like being pushed and I was in handcuffs.''

(That's got to be one of the best quotes of all time: "With me being pregnant, I didn't like being pushed and I was in handcuffs.")

"I'm not pressing charges on that boy," Garth said. "I am pressing charges on the security who puts handcuffs on me, but not that boy. Everything's cool with [Jones]. It ain't nothing. I ain't worried about it.''

So in other words Jones will face no legal scrutiny for the one thing that, by all appearances, he actually did. We're confused, however, as to why Garth wouldn't press charges against Jones for spitting in her face, and it makes us wonder whether Jones has privately made restitution for the incident. Though we're only speculating here, it makes plenty of sense for Pacman to slide Garth $1,000 bucks under the table, since a prosecution and conviction for assault by saliva would have cost him a helluvalot more than that -- especially after he received his penalty from the NFL under the Personal Conduct Policy.

FISHER WON'T LET PAC PLAY ON SATURDAY

Though the latest legal entanglement involving Pacman Jones likely won't be sorted out for a while, Titans coach Jeff Fisher has decided to keep Jones out of Saturday night's game against the Falcons. "I am disappointed that Pac's activities have become an issue again because I believe he has made significant gains over the last year," Fisher said Friday in a statement. "I want to let the legal system work in this case before I make any conclusions. I am going to sit him out of this game on principle and not because I believe he is guilty in this case based on what I believe the facts are at this time. I would expect him to be on the sidelines . . . encouraging his teammates and getting encouragement from his teammates."

It's the second time this year that Fisher has held a player out of an exhibition game for disciplinary reasons. Two weeks ago, LenDale White didn't dress for the preseason opener after spitting on safety Donnie Nickey in practice.

Due to offseason CBA changes, disciplinary deactivations will be tied directly to the team's ability to suspend a player for up to four weeks for detrimental conduct. In other words, if a coach decides not to dress a player on Sunday because he was arrested on Friday, the move is subject to a grievance -- even if the player still gets paid for the game. Also, a team no longer can suspend a player for more than four weeks based on one instance of detrimental conduct, overturning the precedents set when T.O. was sent home for the balance of the 2005 season, and when Keyshawn Johnson was banished by the Bucs (with pay) for the last six weeks of 2003.

If a player is ultimately convicted of a crime, only the Commissioner can impose discipline. If the team tries to do so, the player can challenge the move via a non-injury grievance.

POSTED 12:08 a.m. EDT, August 26, 2006

STEELERS HAVE TALKED ABOUT TRADING FOR BRANCH

It's highly unlikely that any team will swing a trade for receiver Deion Branch by September 1, since any potential suitor would have to work out a contract with the player and a compensation package with his current team during the same week in which the rosters are cut initially to 75 and then, on September 3, to 53.

Nevertheless, a league source tells us that the Pittsburgh Steelers previously have had internal discussions regarding the possibility of trading for Branch.

The source tells us, however, that a trade is a long shot, given the tight time frame in which everything would have to come together.

The team's interest in Branch indicates that the Steelers aren't completely happy with a receiving corps that features a hamstring-challenged Hines Ward, Cedrick Wilson, Quincy Morgan, and rookies Santurdio and Willie Reid. The Steelers have lost a starting receiver in each of the past two years to free agency -- Plaxico Burress to the Giants, and Antwaan Randle El to the Redskins.

FIRST CUTS ARE TO 75, NOT 65

We didn't pay much attention to Monday Night Football on Friday night on ESPN on ESPN, primarily because yours truly was policing a house full of Florio Jr.'s friends for most of the night. But we were listening to the broadcast long enough to hear both Mike Tirico and Joey Sunshine comment that the August 29 cuts will take each NFL roster to 65 players.

Wrong.

The old rule was that the first cuts went to 65. Under the new rules, teams first cut to 75 and they then reduce to 53 after the final preseason game.

The move makes it easier for coaches to sit starters in the last week of the preseason, since every franchise will have 10 more guys than in past years.

The change also means that the final cuts on September 2 will involve a tsunami of names, since each team will be cutting 22 guys loose on the same day. That's more than 700 guys who'll find themselves out of work at the same time.

LEN TRIES TO SETTLE SCORE WITH PFT, SCHAFFER

In our assessment, Len Pasquarelli's "Tip Sheet" on ESPN.com from time to time includes a subtle slap at one of the various players, agents, or front office folks around the league with whom he is at odds.

In his most recent entry, Pasquarelli tries to kill two birds with one stone, taking a swing both at agent Peter Schaffer and at PFT. The one thing Len likely didn't count on, however, is that he'd be called out for it -- both by us and by Schaffer.

In the pay-only version (i.e., only 100 people or so will ever read it) of his "Tip Sheet," Pasquarelli addresses the holdout and trade of former Broncos receiver Ashley Lelie: "About the only thing more amazing than the manner in which Lelie butchered his holdout is that some media people, who openly suggested that Reggie Bush fire his agent after the Southern California tailback wasn't the first overall choice in the draft, haven't questioned the counsel that Lelie received during his disastrous holdout."

To the casual observer, the statement is no big deal. But to the trained eye, Len is slamming Schaffer, who is Lelie's agent, and yours truly, who has not criticized Schaffer for his role in the Lelie debacle, but who previously has called for Bush to fire agent Joel Segal (who also represents Pasquarelli's pal Todd Stinkston).

As to the insult aimed at PFT, we're impressed as an initial matter that Len finally considers us to be "media people."

And as to our decision not to criticize the agent responsible for Lelie's holdout, we're comfortable with the notion that Lelie should fire him.

Then again, he already has.

You see, Schaffer was the replacement for Mike Sullivan, whom Lelie fired after the draft. Sullivan is the one who set the events in motion that ultimately led to the holdout. Schaffer was hired by Lelie more than a week later, after the ship had struck the iceberg.

During the draft, the Broncos acquired Javon Walker for a second-round pick. Also, the Broncos were unable to generate any serious trade offers for Lelie. By the time Schaffer was on the scene, Lelie already had skipped eight weeks of the offseason program, had forfeited a $100,000 workout bonus, and had been replaced as a starter via the trade for Walker, which was sparked because Lelie had made it known in March that he wanted out of Denver. Come July, the Rubicon had long since been crossed.

As to Reggie Bush, there was no one to blame but Joel Segal for the fact that a team playing its home games in a state with no income tax passed on Bush -- either because Segal was unwilling to do a deal with the Texans before draft day, or because Segal failed to properly manage the situation regarding those alleged rent-free living accommodations before the mess blew up less than a week before the draft.

After we read Len's comments, we called Schaffer and asked him to do the same. When he was finished, we asked him for his reaction.

"Here's what happened between Len and me," Schaffer said. "About four years ago, he wrote an obvious puff piece on [Joel] Segal and I called Len up to give him grief about it. He told me that he did it because he owed Segal a favor. I told Len that the next time I do a favor for him, he should just take me out to dinner. He got mad and hung up. I sent him an e-mail later trying to mend fences, and his response basically was to go jump in a lake. I haven't talked to him since.

"It's been a running joke between me and a guy who's currently an NFL general manager," Schaffer said. "We say that I'm public enemy number 1-A with Len, and that he is public enemy number 1-B."

"What did the guy do to Pasquarelli?" we asked.

"Same kind of thing," Schaffer said. "The guy called him out on a bias issue, Len got offended, and they never talked again."

For anyone who listened to Len's 48-second appearance on WFNZ radio in Charlotte, which quickly has become the all-time favorite sound bite of various agents and front-office types, it's easy to understand that Len has a propensity to burn bridges, opting more often than not to "move out" instead of "move on."

But what's also abundantly clear is that Pasquarelli is willing to throw concepts like professionalism out the window if/when he has an opportunity to take a shot at one of his enemies, or to kiss up to one of his friends.

"All he had to do was call me," Schaffer said. "He could have asked me about how I ended up representing Ashley, and he could have asked me about what happened before Ashley hired me and what happened afterwards. If Len concludes that I screwed something up after hearing me out, so be it. But Len never tried to call me. Isn't that his job?"

Good question, Pete. However, in this case, getting to the truth would have gotten in the way of Pasquarelli's goal of settling scores.

FIRST DANTE-FREE PODCAST IS A SUCCESS

Traffic has been brisk for our first PodCast recorded without the presence of official miserable guy Dante, who was bounced on Friday in favor of Paul Charchian of Fanball.com, our exclusive fantasy football partner.

Charch and the Poobah talked for a half-hour regarding various current NFL issues, specifically addressing the fantasy football implications.

We'll be doing a weekly PodCast with Charchian for the 2006 season. And now that Dante realizes he eventually could be replaced, he's ready to jump back in with a vengeance. Look for another new PodCast by the end of the weekend.

RADIO REQUESTS OUT THE YING-YANG

We vaguely remember our early days in the practice of law, when day-to-day life consisted of doing legal research and writing memos. There was no need to keep a formal calendar, since it was easy to remember the rare occasions that the job entailed a court appearance or a meeting with another human being.

Fifteen years later, yours truly has two paper calendars tracking all meetings, hearings, depositions, trials, and deadlines, and the secretaries at the law office/PFT headquarters keep track of all key dates on their computers.

We mention that because, up until the past month or so, it was easy to remember our radio appointments, which averaged five per week. But because of an explosion in requests for radio time as the 2006 season approaches, the official law calendar now contains non-law stuff in it like "4:30 p.m. Friday, Terry Bowden Show."

Though we're not sure where the saturation point might be, we're still willing to try to squeeze in more NFL cities. Denver, Minneapolis, and Nashville are in the works, and we'll soon be on an FM talker out of Macon, Georgia that broadcasts into portions of Ron Mexico's football town. The ultimate goal is to have a weekly arrangement with one station in or near each NFL city, and as many national spots as we can finagle.

Of course, finding the time to do 32 radio segments per week might be a challenge. We'll worry about that one once we're at 32 weekly spots.

For now, it's at 10 and counting.

POSTED 2:11 p.m. EDT, August 25, 2006

PATS EXTEND OLIVE BRANCH TO DEION?

Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe reports that the Patriots have released the following statement:

"The New England Patriots have given Deion Branch permission to seek a trade and negotiate a contract with other clubs. This permission will extend until September 1, 2006."

Here's our take on the development: The team is trying to soften him up to end his holdout.

The problem is that Branch still has a limb up his knothole regarding the five-year deal that he signed as a rookie, and the fact that the team's prior offer of a multi-year contract is less valuable in his eyes because he doesn't want an extension but a replacement of the final year of his rookie deal.

In essence, he wants to be paid like an unrestricted free agent, even though he's under contract for another year.

So the Pats are letting him shop for other offers, knowing full well that any offers he might receive will also take into account the fact that the Super Bowl XXXIX MVP is still under contract for a year. Further reducing the value of any contract that another team might present to him is the fact that compensation must be given to the Patriots in order to acquire his rights.

Thus, at a time when Branch has expressed a belief that "everything's going to work out," the Pats have given Deion an olive branch of sorts in order to further nudge him into coming back. He'll feel like the team is being cooperative by letting him try to get the best deal possible, even if the team has no intention at the end of the day to give up his rights. The only risk is that Branch and his agent will use this opportunity as a way to gauge the market for his services in March 2007.

Then again, that might be a good thing for the Pats, since Branch would likely realize that he's not going to command Moss or Marvin money if the Patriots choose not to apply the franchise tag.

Our guess? Branch will conclude that he's not going to get many or any offers better than the one he didn't accept from New England, and he'll decide to report in time to get paid his full salary for 2006, hoping that the team will eventually put back on the table the offer that was yanked after Branch's agent, Jason Chayut, likely alienated the organization by taking his case to the media.

POSTED 8:35 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 9:22 a.m. EDT, August 25, 2006

PACMAN BUSTED AGAIN

After going several months without getting his name in the paper for something unflattering, Titans cornerback Pacman Jones has been arrested for disorderly conduct and public intoxication in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Per the Associated Press, Jones had been arguing loudly with a woman outside a night club, and police described him as slurring his speech, smelling strongly of alcohol, and having bloodshot eyes.

Per the Nashville Tennessean, Jones also was accused of going LenDale White in the woman's face.

The arrest occurred early Friday morning. Jones already had been excused from the Titans' schedule on Friday for "personal reasons."

Jones was arguing with a woman that he had accused of stealing his wallet. Officers claim that they told Jones to leave the scene several times, but that he refused to do so while continuing to shout obscenities.

"Mr. Jones was given several opportunities to leave, he just wouldn't do it,'' Lt. Alvin Baird told the Tennessean. "As he was leaving he hung out the passenger side of the vehicle and began yelling profanities at the security at Sweetwater Saloon, and he put us in a place where we had to do something."

The Titans are scheduled to host the Falcons on Saturday night. Jones is a native of Atlanta, and he said earlier in the week that he planned to buy roughly 60 tickets for friends and family who would be coming to town for the game. Now, there's a good chance that Jones will be able to watch the game with them from the stands.

We say that only half-jokingly. In the offseason, there was a strong feeling that if Jones didn't change his ways the team might cut him. Our guess is that he's been on good behavior long enough to avoid getting released in the wake of a relatively run-of-the-mill arrest (except for, you know, the spitting). Still, he's a step closer to getting the shoe than he was on Thursday at this time, and if he follows up his most recent arrest with another incident before, say, the start of the regular season, it could be game over for Pacman.

SPRINT PHONE CONTINUES TO DELIVER

After nearly getting the official PFT Samsung A900 phone smashed to smithereens during an August 14 visit to Steelers training camp, our favorite tech toy of all time was back out in public on Thursday for a "school starts next week so let's let the kid have one last day of fun" outing to Pittsburgh.

We ended up for part of the day at the Carnegie Science Center, which is situated right next to Heinz Field. Whenever Florio Jr. and his buddy that came with us were waiting in line for something or otherwise engaged in an activity that yours truly found to be roughly as interesting as watching a baseball game, the Sprint phone was ready to help kill the time.

Our favorite feature, by far, is the new NFL Mobile package. Real-time updates are available while games are being played, with a play-by-play feature similar to the tool currently used by NFL.com. Also, selected clips from the NFL Network's Total Access can be viewed as part of the NFL Mobile package, which helped make 15-20 minutes of sssssslow time go a lot faster.

And did we mention that the NFL Mobile package is free?

Of course, we still love the camera. Though we won't turn this space into the Florio family photo album, we're compelled to share an image of one of the coolest things we've ever seen -- a gigantic table hockey game. That's Florio Jr. manning the goalie and two defenders, while Mrs. Florio tries to mount an attack from the right wing.

Each player is controlled by a rotating disc the size of a small steering wheel, and it takes almost as much energy to operate the game as it does to lace up the skates and play real hockey. In fact, by the time we were done, Florio Jr.'s buddy was sweating more than Marvin Lewis reading the morning paper.

POSTED 11:34 p.m. EDT, August 24, 2006; LAST UPDATED 12:04 a.m. EDT, August 25, 2006

BRANCH CAVING BEFORE SEPTEMBER 10?

A league source with first-hand experience in contract negotiations and player holdouts tells us that, in his opinion, Patriots receiver Deion Branch will end his holdout and join the team before the regular season begins.

The source focuses on Branch's recent statement that "everything's going to work out." Said the source, "That was a surrender comment. The kid is going in and he will sign a deal with [Jason] Chayut or another agent. No doubt in my mind. He was a second rounder and does not have millions in the bank."

Branch's base salary for 2006 is $1.045 million, which equates to more than $61,000 per week. The team previously offered a multi-year extension to Branch, but the deal reportedly was pulled off of the table. Still, if Branch reports in time for the start of the regular season, it's likely that the team will eventually get back to where they were, or close to it.

And even if Branch comes in after the preseason, he'll be no worse off then he was in 2005, when (according to the Gamebooks available via the 2005 preseason stats pages on NFL.com) Branch played in no preseason games.

RUMORS OF DEUCE TRADE UNTRUE

We've received several e-mails from readers alerting us to rumors that the Saints might be interested in trading running back Deuce McAllister, given the arrival of Reggie Bush.

Per a league source, the rumors aren't true. In fact, it's our understanding the the Saints are sensitive to the issue of overworking Bush. Last season, Bush had 20 or more carries in only three USC games. In six games, he had fifteen or less rushing attempts.

So the Saints need to use McAllister in 2006 in the same way that the Trojans used LenDale White in 2005. Bush isn't, and likely will never be, an every-down/every-series/high-rep back.

Moreover, the Saints already have traded Michael Bennett out of town, so they need a complement to Bush in the backfield. With McAllister (if he's healthy), the Saints have a compelling 1-2 punch at the position.

NEW PODCAST COMING

Friday is another big day in PFT land -- we'll be conducting our first ever PodCast without Dante on the line.

Instead, Miserable Guy will be supplanted by Paul Charchian of our exclusive fantasy partner, Fanball.com, in a show that will focus on the fantasy football implications of the week's biggest NFL stories.

Moving forward, Charch will join Editor Boy Florio for a weekly show during the season aimed specifically at fantasy issues.

But don't fret, Dante fans (all five of you). The king of the non-sequitur will be in place for at least two other shows per week once the season starts.

For all the fantasy football effects of today's NFL news, check out the PFT Fantasy Mill.

POSTED 9:11 a.m. EDT, August 24, 2006

WHAT NEXT FOR BRANCH?

Though, as in most seasons, there were several draft-pick holdouts this year, only two guys under contract ultimately stayed away from training camp -- former Broncos receiver Ashley Lelie and current Pats receiver Deion Branch.

And with Lelie finally getting traded out of Denver, it's pretty clear to us that Branch most likely will not be dealt, under any circumstances.

So the Pats and the MVP of Super Bowl XXXIX remain on a collision course for an impasse that will drag into September, and that possibly will end when Branch reports in the tenth week of the regular season. Under league rules, that's the latest he can show up and still receive credit for the final year of his rookie contract.

But just as there are indications that the Broncos will go after every penny that they rightfully can obtain from Lelie, our guess is that the Pats will pounce on Branch for anything and everything that the CBA allows them to pursue.

The $14,000 daily fine cuts off at the start of the regular season. But by then Branch's total bill for skipping training camp and the preseason will be $420,000 in after-tax money.

Also, once the season starts, he'll lose $61,400 in weekly game checks. If he stays out until Week Ten, that means he'll miss out on more than $550,000 in base pay, leaving him with roughly $490,000 in pre-tax wages for the season.

On top of that, there are lost offseason workout bonuses, minicamp fines, and possibly an effort to recover a portion of his signing bonus.

Then, once Branch completes his contractual commitments in New England, the team has the right to slap the franchise tag on him. And even if the Patriots later decide to trade Branch while under the franchise tag, the reality is that teams are less inclined to pay "market value" to a player when at the same time the team is required to cough up compensation to get the rights to the guy.

The root of the problem, as we see it, is that Branch's agent opted to go public with his efforts to squeeze more money out of the team, enlisting among others Ron Borges of the Boston Globe to carry Branch's water. Though other players, such as Richard Seymour, have had contract squabbles with the team, their agents didn't launch a media campaign to make the team look bad for not coughing up the coin.

In this case, Jason Chayut claimed that the Patriots crammed a five-year deal down Branch's throat, even though as we previously pointed out Chayut's firm had one second-rounder in each year after Branch who signed a five-year contract. Borges, likely at Chayut's behest, enlisted NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw to claim that New England blazed the trail of five-year take-it-or-leave-it packages for second-rounders, even though as we previously pointed out Upshaw's Raiders were the first team to roll out this specific tactic.

And that's the real tragedy here. Based on Branch's recent "everything's going to work out" comments, he doesn't sound like a guy who wants out of New England. But his agent failed to properly understand the tactics that would work -- and the tactics that would fail -- in trying to do business with the Patriots.

It's not as if the Patriots are unique in this regard. No team wants to see and hear inflammatory comments from a player's agent in the media at a time when negotiations are occurring. In Denver, agent Peter Schaffer never said a word to the press while he was working to extricate Ashley Lelie from a bad situation with the Broncos.

So once Jason Chayut started whining about concepts such as exploitation, it looks like the Pats pulled their heads into their shells and began planning for life without Deion.

And Deion soon may realize that he'll miss the Pats more than the Pats will miss him.

THURSDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

In chastising NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue for his reaction to the misguided criticisms spewed last week by Bryant Gumbel, Stephen A. Smith ignores the obvious reality that the NFL Network isn't owned by some faceless corporation but by the 32 NFL owners who were the targets of one of Gumbel's rants.

Ditto for Michael Wilbon, who also apparently confuses saying what the quarterback is doing after he gets the snap with "journalism".

By bashing his coach in San Fran, New Jets RB Kevan Barlow has pissed off coach Eric Mangini. (In an unrelated development, doctors in New York are re-reviewing the paperwork from Barlow's physical.)

The Jags might be wishing, if only for this year, that they hadn't covered up those 10,000 seats.

Broncos RB Ron Dayne returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since August 11.

Steelers CB Deshea Townsend has a slight fracture in his right thumb.

Broncos P Todd Sauerbrun will work out at a local high school field during his four-game suspension for ephedra use. (And if anybody calls him fat, he'll kick their ass.)

Packers WR Donald Driver, 31, wants to spend nine more years going across the middle against an NFL secondary.

D.J. Gallo of ESPN.com's Page 2 had better keep his head low if he ever runs into Len Pasquarelli; Gallo whips out the forbidden "Stinkston" reference in a review of Madden '07.

Bills WR Peerless Price has an inflamed triceps.

Rams DT Jimmy Kennedy is making the transition to nose tackle (it's a slight adjustment from "bench warmer").

Pats DT Johnathan Sullivan says that he's not guilty of the criminal charges pending against him. (Hey -- if/when he goes to jail, he'll already have something in common with all of the other inmates.)

If the Steelers only keep two quarterbacks on their final roster, WR Cedrick Wilson is the most likely candidate to serve as the emergency signal-caller.

Says veteran Jags TE Kyle Brady: "You wonder at this stage of your career if this will be the last time I ever do two-a-days. I won't miss them."

QB Koy Detmer's holding duties might end up pushing Jeff Garcia to No. 3 on the depth chart.

Eagles WR/KR Jeremy Bloom has a chronic hamstring problem that might prevent him from making much of a contribution in 2006.

Samkon Gado likely won't be playing fullback for the Packers.

Tony Kornheiser's latest column is perhaps the worst we've ever read. From anyone.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Rams have made a contract offer to RB Stephen Davis.

Rob Davis has been the Packers' long snapper since 1997.

Chiefs coach Herm Edwards and DT Ryan Sims had a five-minute discussion after practice on Wednesday, apparently regarding the question of whether Sims will get cut. (It's either that or Sims was complaining that the oatmeal cookies have too many raisins in them.)

For all the fantasy football effects of today's NFL news, check out the PFT Fantasy Mill.

POSTED 11:23 p.m. EDT, August 23, 2006

BRONCOS, LELIE AGENT DEVISE NEW TRADE APPROACH

As part of the trade that sent receiver Ashley Lelie from Denver to Atlanta, running back T.J. Duckett from Atlanta to Washington, and one or more draft picks from Washington to Denver, Broncos G.M. Ted Sundquist, cap guy Mike Bluem, and Lelie's agent, Peter Schaffer, came up with a new method for taking the guesswork out of acquiring draft picks prior to the determination of the draft order.

The new method is a spin-off of the value chart that teams have been using for assigning points to draft picks. Under the draft pick trade value chart, a third-rounder can be worth as many as 280 and as few as 120 points. So the Broncos and Redskins worked out a grid that determines the specific draft picks that will migrate from D.C. to Denver based on the spots that the two teams occupy in the final 2007 draft order, which in turn is based on the outcome of their respective 2006 seasons.

Under most of the possible configurations, the Broncos get the Redskins' third-rounder in 2007 and their fourth-rounder in 2008. But under certain specific scenarios, the teams will merely swap first-round picks in 2007. For example, if the Redskins have the 20th overall pick and the Broncos have the 29th, they flip-flop ones and the deal is done. Or if the 'Skins are at No. 6 and the Broncos are at No. 9, they trade first-rounders, and nothing more.

In other situations, the teams flip-flop first-rounders and the 'Skins send a third-rounder in 2007 to Denver, or they swap first-rounders and Washington ships a four in 2008.

The overriding goal is to ensure that, regardless of how the two teams finish up, Denver will get in the neighborhood of 250 trade value points from Washington.

Because the point spread from the top to the bottom of rounds four, five, six, and seven is tighter, we doubt that this dynamic will be used for trades involving second-day picks. But for the first, second, and third rounds of the draft, the chart that the Broncos came up with in order to get the most out of the Lelie deal is something that we suspect other teams will use when acquiring a one, a two, or a three before the draft order is determined.

POSTED 9:41 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 10:28 p.m. EDT, August 23, 2006

BARLOW BACKTRACKS ON "HITLER" COMMENT

Former 49ers running back Kevan Barlow is backtracking after comparing his former coach Mike Nolan to Hitler.

"If I could take it back, I would," Barlow said, according to the AP. "I was very emotional. All I knew at the time was San Francisco, that was where I started my career, that's where my house was. It was a shock to me."

Said Barlow on Tuesday, according to the Contra Costa Times: "Nolan just doesn't know what he's doing. He's a first-time head coach with too much power. He has too much power as a first-time head coach. He walks around with a chip on his shoulder, like he's a dictator, like he's Hitler. People are scared of him. If it ain't Nolan's way, it's the highway."

But Barlow's contrition commenced in the same article in which he dropped the H-bomb. Reached a few hours after making his initial comments, Barlow backtracked. "I was kind of harsh on him, saying he's a dictator. That's bad. Saddam Hussein is a dictator. I was speaking on emotion."

Barlow also called Nolan a liar for telling him last week that he wouldn't be traded.

To his credit, Nolan has taken the high road. On Tuesday, the coach told the Contra Costa Times: "It's unfortunate he feels that way. Personally, I feel Kevan is a good kid. When I came here I heard negative things about him and trouble in the locker room. When I was here, I thought he did the right things, like calling me if he was late or calling if he said the wrong thing to the media. As long as he was here, he was a model citizen."

Added Nolan on Wednesday: "My son tells me when I discipline him that he hates me and he wishes I was dead. I've heard it probably a hundred times. I still love my son. . . . I enjoy Kevan. I think he's a good kid."

We wonder whether Barlow gave any consideration to the fact that, in going from San Fran to the Jets, he might end up swapping out Hitler for Mussolini. Indeed, new Jets coach Eric Mangini is running a no-nonsense ship in Gotham, and Barlow might feel the same way a year from now about Mangini that he feels about Nolan.

KEITH ANGLING FOR GUMBEL TREATMENT?

Though MSNBC's Countdown w/Keith Olbermann is one of the only non-football shows that we ever watch, we're compelled to take issue with Olbermann for including NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue as the bronze medalist in Wednesday night's "Worst Person in the World" competition. Olbermann tagged Tagliabue based on the Commish's reaction to recent comments from Bryant Gumbel that were critical of NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw and the league's 32 owners. Among other things, Gumbel suggested that incoming Commish Roger Goodell should "have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash."

But other than to use the incident as the setup for a joke regarding Upshaw's comments on the matter, in which Olbermann barked like a dog, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the designation.

Meanwhile, NBC is in the process of throwing its arms, legs, and other body parts around the NFL as it welcomes back pro football after a lengthy hiatus, and as the peacock peeps celebrate a stirring schedule of Sunday night football games.

It makes us wonder whether the periodically peripatetic Olbermann envies the notoriety that Gumbel gained for the incident, and that Olbermann is hoping to stir up a little sh-t at a time when his cable channel's parent network is basking in the glow of the greatest pro sports league on the planet -- and at a time when Olbermann might be feeling a little miffed because NBC Sports is re-firing up its web site without throwing a bone to the sports-oriented Olbermann.

Or maybe Olbermann is deciding that he doesn't have the stomach for 52 straight weeks of talking about John Mark Karr, and he's setting the table to go out with a bang.

Regardless, we don't think the reference to Tagliabue was made without consideration of the bigger picture. Olbermann is smart enough to know exactly what he was up to.

Whatever it might be.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT ONE-LINERS

Happy trails, Drew Henson.

Hasta la vista, Hamburglar.

Uncle Rico's sidearm motion has yet another consequence -- it's all the easier for him to slam his hand into stuff.

Jerry Rice is shopping a reality show. (How about something that focuses on how long a former athlete with no discernable talent beyond the realm of sports can live off of the fumes of his football career?)

The Steelers broke camp on Wednesday in Latrobe.

The Rams are taking a look-see at RB Stephen Davis.

One thing we concluded after reading Robert Smith's bitch-slapping of Bryant Gumbel via Don Banks of SI.com is that the former Vikings star apparently has parted ways with ESPN.

Steelers WR Hines Ward might not play at all in the preseason.

RB Willie Parker might inherit the short-yardage gig in Pittsburgh.

Raiders C Jake Grove will have a second MRI on his left shoulder.

Colts RB James Mungro (knee) is out for the season.

Redskins RB Rock Cartwright calls the arrival of RB T.J. Duckett "kind of like a slap in the face." (Actually, it's "kind of like a hint that your ass might be getting cut.").

The Falcons have signed DT Grady Jackson to a three-year deal.

Lions WR Charles Rogers will miss another preseason game with a knee injury.

It's unclear whether Browns WR Braylon Edwards will make his preseason debut this weekend after tearing an ACL late last season.

Bob Glauber isn't a credible sports writer in real life, but he plays one in the movies.

POSTED 5:55 p.m. EDT, August 23, 2006

NEWS FLASH: T.O. MISSES PRACTICE AGAIN

In a move that, based on information we picked up on Saturday night, hardly can be called a surprise, Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens did not practice with the team on Wednesday, explaining that his hamstring injury was aggravated last week.

On Sunday, agent Drew Rosenhaus appeared on ESPN's SportsCenter, and spoke of the "serious" injury in the present tense, even though Owens had participated in five straight practices before missing Saturday afternoon's session.

"It's frustrating, but it's not where I need it to be to play and perform like I need to," Owens said Wednesday, according to the AP. "So at this point, I'm going to be smart about it." Owens also added that, if it were the regular season, he would not be able to play.

We reported early Sunday morning that Owens was claiming that he had re-injured his hamstring, and that he blamed the aggravation on the fact that he was pressured to return to practice. Michael Silver of Sports Illustrated reported last week that Owens' return to practice came after coach Bill Parcells advised the training staff on Tuesday that T.O. will participate on Wednesday.

Though we stand by our report that Owens privately attributed the re-injury to his premature return to practice, Owens is still saying all of the right things when he realizes that his words might end up in print: "I felt like I was never pressured to get back on the field. I just tried to compromise with some people, just try to be around the team and get back out there," Owens said. "It just flared up again."

So who would he even be in a position to "compromise" with regarding a return to practice? In our view, it was either Parcells or owner Jerry Jones, who had advised Owens that he needed to learn how to practice at 75 percent.

And inherent in the term "compromise" is the reality that Owens did something he didn't want to do. He wanted to sit out until he believed he was 100 percent; Parcells and Jones wanted to handle it differently. Now, with Owens likely to stay on the sidelines until he's personally convinced that he truly is at 100 percent, the stage is set for the long-awaited eruption of Mt. Tuna.

MORE RADIO STUFF

Be sure to check out the Grand Poobah on Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. EDT with Brad Riter on WGR 550 in Buffalo. The show streams live at the station's web site. We'll also be posting links to the archived spots, if/when we remember to do it.

Speaking of archived spots, we've gotten the audio of our first appearance on the Penner and Mac Show on WFNZ in Charlotte, and the segment includes a clip of the 48 seconds that will live in radio infamy forever.

We're referring, of course, to Len Pasquarelli's very brief visit with Penner and Mac, which resulted in Len abruptly hanging up after the hosts insulted Eagles receiver Todd Pinkston. The feedback from readers (including from some high-level NFL team guys) has been overwhelming: Len's hissy-fit regarding the use of the term "Todd Stinkston" is an all-time classic.

Here's what some of our readers had to say.

From Browns fan Mike: "I never understood what your beef was with Len Pastabelly, then I heard that clip of him. Priceless! What a jerk!"

From Dave in San Antonio: "Have you noticed that ESPN provides no way to give feedback to or about their 'personalities'? I was going to drop the Bristol boys a quick line suggesting that, if they don't know what Lenny is up to in his spare time they may want to find out. The marketing people at least can tell you that the 'tude the old boy is packing impacts perception of the whole corporation."

From Kraig with a "K": "I have to admit that whenever I'd read you guys ripping into Len Pasquarelli, I would kind of wonder why. Now I understand. What a jack-hole this guy is."

Several readers asked why Pasquarelli would defend Pinkston so vigorously. As we've previously mentioned, Pinkston is represented by Joel Segal, who is regarded in league circles as one of Len's most reliable sources of information.

That's enough for now. It's time to, as Len would say, "move on or move out."

POSTED 8:58 a.m. EDT; UPDATED 9:40 a.m. EDT, August 23, 2006

INJURY MIGHT TIE TUNA'S HANDS

A league source raised with us on Tuesday night a great point -- and one of our readers echoed it this morning.

To the extent that the Cowboys would contemplate dumping Owens and his $5 million salary before it becomes fully guaranteed on the first weekend of the regular season, the fact that Owens has a hamstring injury that he claims was aggravated by a premature return to practice would result in either an injury settlement or a grievance, if he is cut before he is completely healed.

And maybe that's why (as we reported early Sunday) Owens is taking the position that he might not be 100 percent until the second week of the regular season, since even one game check obtained is worth nearly $300,000.

In fact, the recent statement by Jerry Jones that Owens might have another MRI on his hamstring could be part of a plan by the team to ensure that he's technically "healthy" before they make a final decision as to whether having T.O. and the intense media scrutiny that he attracts for the full course of a 17-week season is worth the headache.

We're not saying that they will let him go. But it would be stoopid not to at least consider it, given what has transpired over the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, kudos to the reader who pointed out to us this morning that, while Owens has missed 15 practices and counting with a "serious" hamstring pull that has yet to show any damage on an MRI, safety Keith Davis has been going strong despite having a bullet in his leg.

LELIE'S EXIT BILL COULD BE HUGE

Though we'd previously heard rumblings that any exit via trade from Denver by receiver Ashley Lelie would include a resolution of his potential fines and bonus forfeitures, there's presently no indication that the Broncos and Lelie have resolved the potential financial consequences resulting from his lengthy holdout.

Per Bill Williamson of the Denver Post, the numbers are significant. At $14,000 per day, Lelie owes $378,000 in fines for failing to come to camp. Lelie also was hit with $11,000 in fines for failing to report to a mandatory minicamp.

Plus, based on Lelie's original signing bonus of $3.3 million, the team might be able to recover up to $1.1 million, if the team successfully argues that the $3.3 million was initially spread over six years, and that he owes them for the unallocated portion reflecting the fifth year ($550,000) and the sixth year ($550,000), even if the sixth season has been voided. (It's possible that this specific issue is unprecedented, and might be fodder for an eventual arbitration hearing.)

That translates to up to $1.489 million in after-tax money owed to the Broncos, in a season in which Lelie will earn a base salary of only $600,000 before taxes.

Moreover, Lelie lost a $100,000 workout bonus by staying away from the team's offseason program.

Meanwhile, to the extent that Lelie wanted out of Denver because he feared not getting many looks as the No. 3 wideout on a depth chart that included Rod Smith and Javon Walker, Lelie likely will enter Atlanta as No. 3 guy on the depth chart behind Michael Jenkins and Roddy White in an offense that features an unconventional quarterback who typically rolls out of the pocket and looks for tight end Alge Crumpler.

Last year, Smith and Lelie combined for 127 receptions, 1,875 yards, and 7 scores. Atlanta's leading receiver was Crumpler, and the top two wideouts combined for only 86 catches, 1,119 yards, and five touchdowns.

Williamson also reports that the Falcons have no plans to rework Lelie's deal, which expires after the season.

Our guess? Once Lelie gets a taste of life in the Tex Mex offense, he'll be ready to play out the year and move on.

TERM SHEET STILL IN DISPUTE

Only 15 days from the start of the 2006 season, the Term Sheet negotiated by the NFL and the NFLPA in March still has not been incorporated into the official CBA.

And although both sides have been tight-lipped over the past few months, we've learned that one of the issues continues to be the question of whether the new limits on bonus forfeitures apply to all bonuses or to signing bonuses only.

The Term Sheet specifically uses the term "signing bonus" in a few key spots, fueling the argument by the league that roster bonuses and option bonuses aren't protected. For 28 of the 2006 first-round draft picks, that's a big deal, since their contracts didn't include any signing bonus. (Only Donte Whitner, Davin Joseph, Nick Mangold and Joseph Addai receiving signing bonuses in round one.)

A league source tells us that the NFLPA disagrees, possibly setting the stage for arbitration or a special master proceeding aimed at sorting out the precise terms to which the two sides actually agreed. (We'd previously heard that this issue had been resolved; we're going to do some more digging to determine whether it has.)

VIKES THINK THEY CAN GET $1 MILLION FROM K-ROB

We've been focusing on the Term Sheet bonus forfeiture language in specific reference to the question of whether the Vikings can or will pursue the $1 million roster bonus paid earlier this year to receiver Koren Robinson. A league source tells us that the language of the contract permits the team to recover 1/17th of the $1 million roster bonus for each week Robinson misses due to alcohol-related offenses or behavior, and that the team believes that the provision is enforceable.

But we've yet to obtain any information that would cause us to conclude that the Term Sheet permits forfeiture of signing or roster bonus money based on alcohol abuse or alcohol-related offenses. Though other provisions of the Term Sheet specifically use the term "signing bonus" regarding the forfeiture issue, the portion of the document regarding drug and steroid-related forfeitures is more general.

In this regard, the Term Sheet "[p]rohibit[s] individually negotiated provisions for forfeiture relating to violations of the NFL Drug and Steroid Policies (which policies will address this issue)." Although alcohol technically isn't a "drug," the NFL substance abuse policy expressly encompasses alcohol and alcohol-related offenses.

Bottom line? We continue to astounded by the imprecision used by the league and the union in reducing to writing the non-economic terms of the CBA. Since the key impediment to a final deal was the total money that would fund the salary cap moving forward, the lawyers had more than enough time to get the language of the Term Sheet right. Now, amazingly, an arbitrator or a special master will eventually have to do that work for them.

PFT ON SPORTING NEWS RADIO

Since Joe Collegio of CFT has decided to start posting some of his radio segments, several readers have asked us to start doing the same for the PFT spots.

For starters, we've got the first weekly appearance of Editor Boy Florio on Sporting News Radio with Todd Wright. Though we currently plan to post these segments throughout the 2006 season, we nevertheless encourage you to tune in to Sporting News Radio at 10:25 Eastern every Tuesday night to hear the spots live.

Florio's primary goal for next week is to learn how to say the name "Ashley Lelie" without tripping all over his tongue.

LEN GETS PISSY WITH PENNER AND MAC

Finally, we've obtained from Travis Hancock of WFNZ in Charlotte a clip from Len Pasquarelli's one and only appearance on the Penner and Mac Show.

It's short, it's compelling, and it's freaking priceless.

We'll be posting later on the first PFT appearance on the Penner and Mac show, which wasn't nearly as intriguing as Len's.

Enjoy.

POSTED 12:42 a.m. EDT, August 23, 2006

PFT TEN-PACK: MNF ON ESPN ON ESPN

We watched closely the Monday nighter in Shreveport between the Cowboys and the Saints, and here are ten takes on what we saw on MNF on ESPN on ESPN. (As to the redundancy, we figure that if sports on ABC will now be known as "ESPN on ABC", the term "ESPN" standing alone might be a tad vague.)

1. Tony Is Double Dipping.

We've got no problem with a guy working multiple jobs. We always respect the willingness of a guy (or gal) to roll up the sleeves and grind it out.

But we've got a problem with folks cutting corners, even if they're doing so while juggling multiple balls.

Case in point: Tony Kornheiser continues to write columns for the Washington Post (though he won't be doing so for much longer if he continues to get his combover in a knot whenever someone from his own paper dares to suggest that he's not the next Cosell) as he works for MNF and as he continues to shoot the sh-t for 30 minutes or so a day with Mike Wilbon on PTI.

We've yet to notice any dropoff on PTI, since it really doesn't take much prep or effort to shoot the sh-t for 30 minutes or so a day about issues that you're following anyway in connection with your writing gig, and because you genuinely like reading about sports.

But his Post columns are Indonesia awful now that he's spending his time rolling around the U.S. on a custom bus.

Why "Indonesia awful"? Because unless Kornheiser is trying to adjectify the name of the South Asian nation, then he's simply using his Post columns as content for seemingly extemporaneous commentary from the MNF booth. Since we're still giving Korny the benefit of the doubt, we'll assume that, by using the term "Indonesia hot" both in Monday's column and in the first few minutes of Monday night's broadcast, Tony is merely trying to develop momentum for his first effort to add some new terms to the American lexicon.

2. Tony Goes L.T. On Joey Sunshine.

One of the things we like about Kornheiser is that he won't sit on his hands, thumbs pointed north, while Joey Sunshine heaps superlatives on anyone whose image is on the television screen. Instead, Kornheiser has shown a willingness to verbally pounce on Theismann, forcing him to provide details and specifics as he waxes in generalities about how every guy in every game is the greatest player ever at his position.

And it's obvious that Theismann isn't accustomed to being called upon to back up his glowing accounts of various players with, you know, facts and reasons. Maybe, just maybe, Kornheiser's willingness to press Theismann for more data will prompt him either to do some more homework -- or to put the kneepads back in the closet.

Our guess is that Theismann will opt to soften his approach. Then again, if he's not telling the world how great someone is, what in the hell will he have to say?

Here's some of the things he won't be saying: he won't be saying what a great quarterback the starter is in the first half of a preseason game, only to say how great the backup is in the second half; he won't be offering up firm guarantees that Terrell Owens will never be a problem at any point during his career in Dallas; and he won't be proclaiming that the head coach of a team "doesn't leave any stone unturned" when the coach welcomes rainy conditions in a preseason game so that he can see how his guys will play with a wet ball.

3. Suzy Sunshine Is On The Air.

Perhaps we'd never noticed this before because we were so busy gagging over the extent to which the old Sunday night crew on ESPN constantly went on and on about the positives of each and every player; regardless, it's now clear to us that sideline reporter Suzy Kolber is just as bad as Joey Sunshine when it comes to making every player she talks about sound like a dude who's headed for Canton on the first ballot.

We're starting to think that the car commercial she did in the offseason confused her as to her role. She's not a sideline spokesperson; she's a sideline reporter.

Nevertheless, every blurb she offers is delivered in that perky "this guy is great and I love America!" style, with emphasis only on positive observations and nary a hint of anything remotely controversial.

As to quarterback Drew Brees, for example, Kolber gushed that New Orleans was Brees' "calling" and that the chance to sign with the Saints was a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for him.

Of course, she didn't bother to mention the fact that Brees was ping-ponging between the Saints and the Fins until his financial demands scared Miami away from the table. But that might have undermined the manufactured melodrama.

She also steered clear of that $12 million option bonus due to Brees in 2007, which makes his contract something other than a lifetime arrangement.

Almost as troubling as her cheerleading is the fact that Kolber and/or the producers allowed her to spout off quotes from Brees that were repeated verbatim by the quarterback in video clips played later in the half.

Memo to Suzy -- if all you're going to do is parrot back the content of taped interviews that are going to be on the air anyway, you're only fueling the argument that sideline reporters (especially two of them for one game) aren't necessary.

4. The Thing At The Bottom Has Got To Go.

Of all of the e-mails we've received over the past week or so regarding the new Monday night effort, the most common criticism has been directed at the thing at the bottom of the screen that shows the time and score.

It's another example, in our view, of the desire to be different and innovative superseding more practical concerns, like whether or not the thing is a complete and total distraction.

It has to go. Now. Every other network puts the information at the top of the screen or the bottom of the screen for a damn good reason; it doesn't detract from, you know, the viewing of the game.

One last thing -- we're really not impressed by the swanky little techno gadgets, like the scoring change that scrolls through the various numbers instead of jumping straight from "0" to "6". It's unnecessary window dressing that adds absolutely nothing to the product.

5. T.O. Who?

Focusing for a minute (and no longer) on the game itself, the touchdown catch by Terry Glenn was one of the best receptions we've ever seen. Our initial reaction? "Too damn bad it's only the preseason."

Our second reaction? Maybe with a No. 1 wideout like Glenn on the roster Owens is a luxury that coach Bill Parcells doesn't really need, and maybe the morale boost to the team resulting from the lancing of the bike-riding boil will solve more problems than it causes.

If Glenn's impressive one-hander helps the powers-that-be conclude that they can survive and thrive without Owens, the irony will be that the catch was made at the expense of cornerback Mike McKenzie, who shares an agent with T.O.

6. Mike Tirico Is Whiter Than Dick Cheney.

After Terry Glenn's head-turning touchdown, play-by-play man Mike Tirico stepped outside of his self-described "be heard but not seen" role with a prediction as to Terrell Owens' possible response to the play.

"I want me some of that," Tirico says, in a voice that sounds like a white guy doing a bad impression of a black guy doing a bad impression of a white guy doing a bad impression of a black guy.

We're not suggesting that Tirico should deliver his lines in "street." But his inability to conjure something in the same zip code as to how Owens would say it makes us wonder whether Tirico has been raiding C. Thomas Howell's medicine chest, circa 1986.

7. Is Randy Mueller Still Getting A Check?

There's a commercial that ESPN has been playing for the past couple of weeks regarding its fantasy football coverage. It showed up again a few times during Monday night's broadcast.

At one point, a list of ESPN's "Insiders" is displayed on the right side of the screen. The list includes, among others, the name "Randy Mueller."

The only problem? He left ESPN more than a year ago to become the G.M. of the Dolphins.

8. Curious Timing For Invincible Release.

We can't wait to see the new movie Invincible. Hell, we already get the goose bumps while viewing the trailer, which was shown during the Monday night broadcast, due in part to the fact that the company that is distributing the movie also owns ESPN.

But we've noticed something odd. Since the ticket sales generated by a movie's opening weekend typically are viewed in industry circles as evidence of whether the movie initially is labeled a success, who in the hell decided that a film about a guy who played for the Philadelphia Eagles would open on the same day that the Philadelphia Eagles play a nationally-televised home game against the defending Super Bowl champs?

It'd be different if the company that made the movie didn't own the company that is broadcasting the game, and if the movie didn't constitute a subtle two-hour commercial for the NFL, and for the Eagles. Someone in this web of highly-paid execs surely was in a position to better control either the release date of the film or the scheduling of the Eagles' game for the third weekend of the preseason.

The easiest solution? Flip-flop the Friday night ESPN Steelers-Eagles game and the Monday night Packers-Bengals game.

9. Kornheiser Is a Very Good Interviewer.

Though we still haven't warmed up to Tony Kornheiser's on-air shtick, we're impressed by the interrogation skills that he demonstrated during a second-half visit by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to the booth. Kornheiser was tough but fair, asking the hard questions without pulling a Bryant Gumbel.

And the session prompted Jones to offer up a candid slice of self-deprecation, when he admitted to having second thoughts regarding his decision to pass on Randy Moss in the 1998 draft.

"There were times when I regretted not having Randy Moss," Jones said. "Every time we played him that he was on the field."

Hey, maybe Kornheiser should be a sideline reporter, and Joey Sunshine and Suzy Kolber can try to one-up each other with exaggerated compliments of players and coaches until one of them dies of terminal phoniness.

10. Monday Night No Longer Feels Special.

Our ultimate assessment of ESPN's $1.1 billion annual investment in the NFL is that Monday Night Football no longer has the "feel" to it that it had for 35 years on ABC. But maybe we're just showing our age; after all, we grew up in an era with three channels. If you'd asked us in 1975 for a definition of the term "cable TV", the answer likely would have been "uh . . . a TV made out of cable?"

So from our perspective a four-letter network is still a cut below ABC, NBC, and CBS. Thus, MNF is no longer a big deal to us.

It doesn't help matters that NBC scored a far superior slate of games and flexible scheduling, or that NBC has landed the guys who covered MNF on ABC for Sunday nights.

As we've said for months, Sunday night is the new Monday night -- and Monday night is the new Sunday night.

For all the fantasy football effects of today's NFL news, check out the PFT Fantasy Mill.

POSTED 9:52 p.m. EDT, August 22, 2006

LELIE TO ATLANTA, DUCKETT TO D.C.

Per our old pal Len Pasquarelli of ESPN.com, the trade that sent Ashley Lelie from the Broncos to the Falcons was indeed a three-teamer, and that the Falcons sent former first-round running back T.J. Duckett to the Redskins.

The Broncos, in turn, get an undisclosed draft pick from the Redskins.

Over the past few years, the Redskins have happily traded away draft picks for veteran help now, and Duckett adds to the depth at the tailback position as Clinton Portis recovers from a separated shoulder.

Lelie was unhappy in Denver due in part to the fact that he feared being third fiddle to Rod Smith and Javon Walker. In Atlanta, Lelie will have to box out Michael Jenkins and Roddy White.

Lelie and Duckett both were selected in round one of the 2002 draft, and both will be unrestricted free agents after the 2006 season.

POSTED 9:33 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 9:44 p.m. EDT, August 22, 2006

LELIE TO ATLANTA

A league source tells us that receiver Ashley Lelie has been shipped by the Broncos to the Atlanta Falcons.

We're still trying to track down the details, including whether there might have been a third team involved.

It's all developing, but the only thing we know for sure is that Lelie, a former first-round draft pick who has held out for all of training camp, will be a Falcon once the dust settles.

POSTED 5:05 p.m. EDT, August 22, 2006

MR. BOLO WANTS NO PINK TACO

Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill, who is perhaps almost as well known for wearing a bolo tie in public as he is for being one of the most frugal owners in NFL history, is turning up his nose at the opportunity to pocket at least $3 million per year over the next decade by slapping the name "Pink Taco" onto the team's new stadium.

Though the owners of Pink Taco restaurants presented the team with a $5 million check last week as a show of good faith, the Bidwills apparently smell something fishy.

(Meanwhile, the possibility has coach Denny Green salivating -- and we think it's because of the food.)

"There is zero chance of this happening," said Mark Dalton, the Cardinals director of media relations. "We are in serious and legitimate naming-rights discussions with several companies. This is not one of them."

But why not? It's a legitimate business. And the opening offer of $3 million per year for ten years (which is at least within the ballpark as to other stadium deals) is surely negotiable.

Sure, the name has another meaning that some might find objectionable. But under that scenario wouldn't Dick's Sporting Goods also be excluded from transacting business of this nature?

And even if the team ultimately concludes that the name isn't sufficiently masculine (or, alternatively, too specifically feminine), why not use the interest as a vehicle for leveraging a better deal from someone else?

Our guess is that the Cards have opted to pull the plug on this possibility before realizing that, in the end, the Pink Taco proprietors would pay $5 million or more per year for the naming rights. By walking away from that kind of a deal, the Cardinals might then find themselves in a position where any plea for supplemental revenue sharing based on their cries of limited cash streams would fall on deaf ears.

Hey, Pink Taco. If you're looking for a place to drop some of that $3 million per year, let us know. We won't turn away any respectable business based merely on the name it has chosen to give itself.

With the exception of Ben-Gay.

POSTED 3:59 p.m. EDT, August 22, 2006

PRIEST'S BABY MAMAS FEELING STRESSED OUT OVER LOSS OF NFL COIN?

With running back Priest Holmes apparently poised to call it quits on an NFL career that entailed the significant payment of money to him (and, in turn, to the mothers of the children he has fathered), the fact that Holmes' NFL days possibly can be numbered with two hands or less could be causing some friction among the women who have known Priest in a Biblical sense.

According to WOAI 1200 in San Antonio, two women who claimed that they are the mothers of Holmes' children got into a fight this weekend. One of the women, Jennifer Sanchez, was arrested. Holmes reportedly assumed temporary custody of Sanchez's two-year-old daughter.

The fight started, per WOAI, when Sanchez went to Holmes' house to pick up a child support check. Sanchez allegedly keyed the other woman's car and punched her. The other woman's name was not released.

Apart from the inherent potential for catfighting that arises whenever a guy decides to plant his seed in multiple gardens, the fact that Holmes is looking at a new line of work that surely will entail less annual pay (and thus less money available for child support) is likely causing even greater consternation for women who realize that the gravy train will soon be slamming into the station.

Cynical? Yes. Unrealistic? Hardly.

POSTED 9:55 a.m. EDT, August 22, 2006

T.O. MIGHT HAVE ANOTHER MRI

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Monday night that receiver Terrell Owens might have another MRI this week to determine the source of a lingering hamstring problem.

"Soft tissue is such a hard thing to get definitive about," Jones said, according to the AP. "You don't need an MRI to understand it is compromising and bothering him. The main thing is it is not firing. He needs to get to a point where it fires."

The potential implication of Jones' comments is that Owens likely won't be practicing when the team reconvenes on Wednesday, adding to the string of 14 practices that T.O. has missed due to the injury.

And Jones' public statements could also be interpreted by some (including us) as a subtle attempt at intervention by the Cowboys owner and G.M. as to the simmering feud between Owens and coach Bill Parcells. Last week, SI reported that Parcells essentially ordered Owens back to practice despite the hamstring injury, and we recently reported that Owens blames the aggravation of the injury on the fact that he was forced back to the field before he was at 100 percent.

HOLTZ WASN'T OFFERED 'SKINS JOB -- BUT HE WANTED IT

Earlier this month, the guy who takes out the PFT trash (a/k/a Joe Collegio of CFT) wrote a blurb regarding an item in a South Carolina newspaper regarding Lou Holtz's forthcoming book. The article contained in The State made reference to a claim by Holtz that he was offered the head coaching job with the Redskins after the 2001 season, when the team fired Marty Schottenheimer and hired Steve Spurrier.

Vinny Cerrato, the V.P. of football operations with the Redskins and the former recruiting coordinator at Notre Dame under Holtz, disputed the assertion during a Redskins.com in-house radio broadcast. "That part's not true," Cerrato said. "I know that Dan [Snyder] had a casual conversation with him -- it was before Marty [Schottenheimer] was hired. . . . I think he was asking advice on other coaches."

So which account is true? Apparently, neither.

Complicating matters is the fact that Holtz's book doesn't contend that he was ever offered the job. As Joe Person of The State has advised us, the only source for this specific claim was former South Carolina Athletic Director Mike McGee, who told The State that Holtz was offered the Redskins position.

More recently, Ron Morris of McClatchy Newspapers wrote a follow up item on the topic, in which he reports that Holtz wasn't offered the job, but that he wanted it.

Former Redskins V.P. of football operations Pepper Rodgers told Morris that, after the 2000 season, the 'Skins offered the head coaching gig to Steve Spurrier, who would later decline the offer after meeting with his wife. On the same day that they met with Spurrier, Redskins owner Dan Snyder and Rodgers flew to Orlando to visit with Holtz, at Holtz's request.

Unbeknownst to Snyder and Rodgers, Holtz then made a pitch for the job.

"He made a hell of a presentation," Rodgers told Morris. "It was a great presentation. He had a book of plays ready. He told us how he would run practices. He told us what he would do, how he would operate."

Rodgers recalls that Holtz started by addressing the arguments against him getting the job: "I'm 64 years old, so I'm too old to coach," Rodgers describes Holtz as saying. "I'm too short. I'm too small. Now let me tell you all the reasons why I should be the Washington Redskins head coach."

So Holtz wasn't offered the job. And Snyder wasn't asking Holtz for advice.

Why, then, would South Carolina's A.D. believe that Holtz was actually offered the job? Our guess (and it's only a guess) is that Holtz told the A.D. that he'd been offered the job in order to squeeze more money out of the school.

As Morris explains, Holtz received a $175,000 annual raise a week after meeting with the Redskins, which boosted his annual pay to $1.049 million.

Coincidence? Um, doubtful.

TEAMMATES FINK ON BENSON

Bears running back Cedric Benson is in trouble for leaving the sidelines of Friday's preseason game against the Chargers, and then for failing to attend the mandatory post-game team meeting. Benson wasn't dressed for the game, and he claims that he was in the office of the team's equipment manager.

Teammates irked by Benson's departure leaked the information to the Chicago Sun-Times, which then confirmed that Benson has been disciplined by coach Lovie Smith for the incident.

Benson shrugged at the news that some of his teammates made the matter public: ''That's cool,'' he said. ''I don't care to know who. Probably ones who don't like me.'' (Gee, that narrows it down. To about 80.)

There previously were rumors that Benson's current shoulder injury resulted from defenders who dislike Benson hitting the second-year player harder than usual. Benson returned to practice on Monday for the first time since suffering a shoulder subluxation. He was wearing an orange jersey aimed at preventing him from getting hit again.

He might need to wear that orange jersey at practice for the rest of his tenure with the team.

TUESDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

Paul Tagliabue apparently thinks that Bryant Gumbel is trying to get fired: "Having looked at how other people have had buyer's remorse when they took positions, I guess they suggest to me that maybe he's having buyer's remorse and they call into question his desire to do the job and to do it in a way that we in the NFL would expect it to be done." (Hey, Bryant -- why not just run around the field at a Week One game in a skin-toned body suit, a la George Costanza?)

We suggest reading the entire Mark Maske article in which Tagliabue's "buyer's remorse" comments appear; the soon-to-be-former Commish's quotes show that, when it comes to matters of business, the guy is a genius. (Before anyone thinks we're sucking up to him, we still think that the guy could put a roomful of kids with ADD to sleep in less than seven minutes.)

The Pats have sent OT Brandon Gorin to the Cardinals for an undisclosed draft choice.

Jets RB Curtis Martin has slashed his salary for 2006 from $2.5 million to $810,000, with a split salary of $475,000 if he's placed on IR.

RB Kevan Barlow has passed his physical with the Jets.

The Jets have signed TE Walter Rasby.

'Skins RB Clinton Portis took off his shoulder sling and got some conditioning work on Monday.

Says Redskins running backs coach Earnest Byner regarding Portis: "Let me tell you something, Clinton is a freak. He's a freak because he wears a wig, but he's also a freak because he has incredible healing powers. I think he's going to be there, back in the mix."

Ed Bouchette reports that Steelers WR Hines Ward (hamstring) returned to the practice field for the first time in two weeks. (Technically, Ward practiced eight days ago, but pulled out in the middle of individual drills.)

Coach Chin put the Steelers in full pads on Monday; "We're not where we need to be," he said. "We set too high of standards. We're much better than we performed the other night [against the Vikings]."

Fortunately for underachieving RB Duce Staley, he has friends in high places.

The Packers have cut P B.J. Sander, a 2004 third-round draft pick. (Nice work, Mike Sherman.)

The Packers are going with two rookies at guard. (Nice work, Mike Sherman.)

It sounds like Eagles QB Donovan McNabb wants the team to sign RB Stephen Davis.

On Monday, Colts QB Jim Sorgi had an MRI on his shoulder.

The Soup Nazi is getting a little defensive.

Now that the Jets have landed Kevan Barlow, the AJC has to go back to the drawing board to help the home team stir up trade interest for RB T.J. Duckett.

Broncos CB Champ Bailey and LB Al Wilson missed curfew the night before the team's recent preseason game because they both fell asleep at their respective homes. (If you believe that one, we've got some beachfront property in Wyoming that you might be interested in.)

Cards DE Bertrand Berry will miss the rest of the preseason with a knee injury.

Fins first-round S Jason Allen says he doesn't expect an apology from coach Nick Saban, who ripped into him during the team's most recent preseason game. (It's good that you don't want an apology, Jay, because you probably would be waiting awhile.)

POSTED 9:42 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 10:50 p.m. EDT, August 21, 2006

PFT PRESEASON POWER RANKINGS: NO. 2 AND NO. 1

Since the act of naming the No. 2 team in the PFT preseason power rankings will necessarily disclose the No. 1 team, we've decided to unveil them together.

The finalists are the Steelers and the Panthers. And, for now, the No. 1 team in the NFL, as we see it, is . . . .

The Carolina Panthers.

And that means, obviously, that the No. 2 team is . . .

The Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers return most of their roster from 2006, with the exception of safety Chris Hope and receiver Antwaan Randle El, both of whom got far more money on the open market than they ever would have gotten to stay in Pittsburgh. The Steelers replaced Randle El with a couple of draft picks (Santurdio and Willie Reid), and third-rounder Anthony Smith could make the folks in the 'Burgh abandon memories of Hope.

Although there are still plenty of distractions -- including most importantly the status of Coach Chin after the 2006 season -- things could have been a lot worse for the Steelers if Ben Roethlisberger hadn't survived his June 12 face-first encounter with a moving car. Roethlisberger's recovery is the kind of thing that makes Steve Austin look like an electric can opener in comparison, and with the weight loss resulting from having five small titanium plates surgically attached to his facial bones Big Ben looks a lot more lean and mean and mobile than he did in 2005.

They'll miss the locker room leadership that power back Jerome Bettis provided, but his 368 rushing yards are easily replaceable (even if it's sacrilegious to say so). The biggest question is whether his short-yardage role will be filled by Willie Parker, Verron Haynes, or Duce Staley.

Lost in the upheaval is the fact the Steelers avoided the departure of either offensive line coach Russ Grimm or offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt to head coaching jobs elsewhere. The continuity could result in the ultimate reward for one of them, if the Chin Man calls it quits after the season.

The defense will continue to be the heart and soul of the team, regardless of whether linebacker Joey Porter continues to piss and moan about his money.

And the Steelers are still at the top of the NFL, regardless of whether they can win it all again.

But remember this -- every Steelers Super Bowl win has come in twos.

The Panthers, on the other hand, are still trying to get their first Lombardi. They've been to the NFC title game three times in their 11 seasons, and they've made it to the Super Bowl once. (That's a lot more, by the way, than plenty of other teams that have been around a lot longer than the Panthers can say.)

The key guy on the offense is Steve Smith, who has proven to be virtually uncoverable. Now that the team has added Keyshawn Johnson to take advantage of all of the attention that gets heaped on Smith's relatively small shoulders, the passing game could explode.

Meanwhile, the Panthers have loaded up with running backs, which should help to guard against a repeat of the postseason debacle that had them scraping the peanut butter off of the sides of the jar in order to fill the position. DeShaun Foster is the top man on the totem pole, and if he goes down the Panthers can turn to rookie DeAngelo Williams. (Meanwhile, Panthers' second-round pick in 2005, Eric Shelton, suddenly is in danger of getting cut.)

On defense, the Panthers have the potential to be downright scary. The front four is nickname good, and we strongly suggest that the folks in Charlotte hold a contest for the best moniker to apply to Julius Peppers, Maake Kemoeatu, Kris Jenkins, and Mike Rucker. Dan Morgan is as solid as they come at middle linebacker, and Thomas Davis could turn into a Pro Bowler, especially with the front four tying up blockers.

There you have it. Finally. Plenty will change between now and January, and we'll be updating the power rankings throughout the season based on who wins, who loses, and who gets injured. For now, though, the Panthers and the Steelers are the cream of the crop, in our view.

Whether they stay there is up to them.

Now, the joint fantasy grades.

Quarterback: Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme is a solid performer whose passing yards and touchdown tosses will be closer in line to 2004, now that a replacement for Muhsin Muhammad finally has been found. Delhomme gets a B+.

In what by all appearances will be Bill Cowher's final year in Pittsburgh, we've got a feeling that he's going to allow Big Ben to light it up. If Roethlisberger can stay healthy, his numbers will spike -- and he'll be a sentimental favorite for the league MVP honors. He gets an A.

Running back: The Panthers' "De"mon backfield of DeShaun Foster and DeAngelo Williams will most likely split touches, making neither guy an ideal fantasy back. We'd draft one of them as a backup just in case he ends up being the go-to guy, and if it happens it'll most likely be due to injury.

For the Steelers, Willie Parker might have the chance to add to his 1,202 yards and four touchdowns if he inherits the bulk of the third-down role filled last year by Jerome Bettis. If Parker becomes an every-down back, he could be an A-level guy.

Wide receiver: Even though Steve Smith has been slowed by a pulled hamstring, he'll be ready when the real games start, and he'll be every bit as good in 2006 as he was last season. He gets an A+. Likewise, Keyshawn Johnson is poised to have a big season as the single-covered complement to Smith. Johnson gets a B.

For the Steelers, we have a feeling that Roethlisberger's increased numbers won't necessarily result in one or two obvious fantasy studs. Last year, for example, Hines Ward didn't generate 1,000 yards despite starting 15 games. We give Ward a B and Cedrick Wilson a B-.

Tight ends: It might be tempting to draft Kris Mangum or Michael Gaines under the assumption that all the attention paid to Steve Smith and Keyshawn Johnson will create opportunities for the tight end position. But there was plenty of focus in 2005 on Smith -- and neither of those guys did much of anything. Avoid.

It's a different story in Pittsburgh, where Heath Miller could get a lot more work in his second season. We give him a B.

Defenses: A and A. Nothing more to say.

Kicker: Both John Kasay and Jeff Reed will have plenty of chances to score in 2006, and both will again be among the top ten leading scorers. A and A, again.

CZAR PARTIALLY FUMBLES K-ROB ANALYSIS

John Czarnecki of FOXSports.com heaps praise on the Vikings for negotiating a contract with receiver Koren Robinson that provides them with maximum protection against a meltdown such as the one that occurred last week when K-Rob played Mo-Clo minus the loaded guns and Grey Goose.

After obtaining the full numbers on Robinson's three-year, $12 million deal, we generally agree. There was no signing bonus paid to Robinson. Instead, he received a $1 million roster bonus earlier this year, and he is scheduled to earn a weekly bonus of $81,250 for each game in which he's on the active roster in 2006. His base salary is only $600,000, and he was eligible for (and we presume he received) a workout bonus of $100,000.

In 2007, Robinson is due to earn a roster bonus of $2 million and weekly bonuses of $103,125 for each game on the active roster. His salary will be $750,000. There's another workout bonus in the deal of $100,000.

In 2008, the initial roster bonus is $2.5 million, with weekly bonuses of $96,875 per game that he's on the active roster. The salary is $1.05 million, and there's yet another $100,000 workout bonus.

So all of the money, with the exception of the $1 million roster bonus and the $100,000 workout bonus, has not been paid.

As to the team's ability to pursue the $1 million roster bonus, Czarnecki writes: "[T]he bonus had a forfeiture clause for alcohol-drug related offenses. The key point here is that there aren’t any restrictions on forfeiture language on roster bonuses like there are on signing bonuses in the new CBA. . . . The Vikings have a great case to recoup the $1 million roster bonus if they choose to do so."

We disagree. Though the forfeiture provisions contained in the new Term Sheet (which still has yet to be codified as part of the official CBA) speak only in terms of "signing bonuses," we've previously reported that the new limitations apply to all types of bonuses.

Also, the Term Sheet expressly "[p]rohibit[s] individually negotiated provisions for forfeiture relating to violations of the NFL Drug and Steroid Policies (which policies will address this issue)." Although the 2006 Substance Abuse Policy doesn't address the issue of bonus forfeitures, the fact remains that the Term Sheet makes it clear that forfeitures are no longer permitted for violations of the drug policy, and it's highly unlikely that the Vikings will be able to recover any portion of the money already paid to Robinson, regardless of what the contract says.

And the new CBA provisions clearly apply, since Robinson's deal wasn't signed until March 22, 2006, well after the Term Sheet was negotiated.

K-ROB HEADING TO JAIL?

Meanwhile, whether Koren Robinson's $1 million roster bonus is safe likely is taking a back seat to questions regarding K-Rob's ability to stay on the right side of prison bars. The Associated Press reports that Robinson will face a hearing in Washington as to whether and to what extent his recent actions in Minnesota constitute a violation of the terms of his 2005 probation resulting from a guilty plea to drunk driving charges.

The hearing originally was set for September 26, but will be rescheduled. He faces up to 364 days in jail.

And the kicker, as we've previously explained, is that Robinson already has been found to be in violation of the terms of his probation. He worked out a deal with prosecutors last year to perform 50 hours of community service due to two separate violations. We've got a feeling that, this time around, the prosecution and/or the judge won't be nearly as kind.

RADIO UPDATE

We're adding yet another NFL city to our list of periodic-to-weekly radio spots. Charlotte is the latest entry in a list that includes Tampa, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Buffalo, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Specifically, we'll be on the air every Tuesday afternoon this season in the Panthers' home city, courtesy of WFNZ and the Penner and Mac Show.

And we're told that Sandy Penner and Chris McClain won't have to worry about adding their names to Len Pasquarelli's poop list for allowing PFT to sully their airwaves. Apparently, Len was on the air with Penner and Mac a couple of years ago, and that he became upset when one of the hosts referred to Eagles receiver Todd Pinkston as "Todd Stinkston." The conversation lasted a total of two minutes before Len hung up the phone.

Coincidentally, Todd Stinkston is represented by Joel Segal, one of Len's primary pals in the agent business.

Also on Tuesday, we'll visit with Todd Wright of Sporting News Radio at 10:25 p.m. EDT.

POSTED 5:15 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 6:21 p.m. EDT, August 21, 2006

NFL TO HUMBLE GUMBEL?

The Associated Press reports that outgoing NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said on Monday that incoming Commish Roger Goodell and NFL Network chief Steve Bornstein will discuss after September 1 remarks recently made by Bryant Gumbel on his HBO show. Implicit in Tagliabue's comments is the possibility that Gumbel might be nudged out of his new job as play-by-play announcer for the NFL Network's slate of eight regular-season games.

Gumbel's gaffe? He publicly took a shot at the NFL and the NFL Players Association.

In closing remarks from last Tuesday's show that were aimed at Goodell, Gumbel said: "Before he cleans out his office, have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash. By making the docile head of the players union his personal pet, your predecessor has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch."

Gumbel also advised Goodell to "keep a close eye on the ugly owners' split that surfaced last March" and to "[g]ently remind those millionaires who gave you the job that they are already making obscene amounts of money."

Said Tagliabue in response: "What Gumbel said about Gene Upshaw and our owners is about as irresponsible as anything I've heard in a long time."

Our view? Gumbel's words are more ignorant than irresponsible.

If anything, the perception of late has been that Tagliabue was wearing the collar, and that Upshaw possessed the pooper-scooper. After all, the union successfully changed the formula for funding the salary cap by expanding significantly the universe of revenues that will be used to determine the team-by-team spending limit. The union also pumped up the salary floor, which in some cities is more important than the salary cap, since a low floor permits teams like the Cardinals to enhance their profit margin by keeping player costs to a minimum. And there's a strong sense that the union stuck it to the NFL as to the non-economic terms, such as the restriction of bonus forfeitures and the elimination of the ability of teams to pay a troublemaker to stay home.

Also, Upshaw's primary flaw (as we see it) hasn't been that he's allowed himself to be pushed around by the NFL, but that he has given high-profile agents like Tom Condon (who coincidentally represents Upshaw) far too much influence over the manner in which the NFLPA does its business. As a general proposition, the rank-and-file players would love to get rid of the lottery prizes paid to the first handful of guys drafted each year, since those windfalls to unproven players can otherwise go to veterans who have scratched and clawed a career in pro football. But because the agents who routinely represent one of more of those Powerball winners don't want to give up their cut of deals that are worth multiple millions of dollars, the union pretends that it's not an issue.

Likewise, the union never has pushed for fully-guaranteed player contracts, which are now prevalent in all other major league sports. Why not? In our view, the high-end agents realize that guaranteed contracts would result in less cap space for those huge signing bonuses. Plus, guaranteed salaries would wipe out the bogus back end numbers that appear in many superstar contracts, and that the agents then use as bait for the next wave of potential top-ten draft picks.

Gumbel's comments also are stoopid because he has taken a reckless hip shot at the 32 people who each own a piece of the network for which he'll be working. Don't get us wrong on this. Gumbel's willingness to say what he thinks reflects a high degree of integrity, and his desire to stir things up is a rarity in a media populated by so many folks who are afraid to tell the truth. However, saying what you think has as much value as the bark of a teacup poodle if what you're saying is incorrect.

Sure, all of the owners are making money. But if the extra millions in unshared money earned by the big-market teams are going to drive up the salary cap for the franchise that can't and never will realize that kind of revenue, the imbalance could eventually impact the on-field level of competitiveness. That's why the issue is so important, despite the fact that the folks who'll be most affected by its resolution will continue to be filthy rich.

You'd think that Gumbel would be smart enough to figure that out. He surely thinks that he is.

There's a difference, then, between "telling it like it is" and "spouting off about issues you don't fully understand." In our belief, the courage to be candid should be rooted in a confidence that the criticisms offered are correct.

So in Gumbel's case, his biggest sin wasn't speaking his mind. It was allowing his mind to be made up based on an inaccurate assessment of the available facts.

DAVIS LEAVES PHILLY WITHOUT CONTRACT

Dave Spadario of PhiladelphiaEagles.com reports that running back Stephen Davis took a physical on Monday and met with coach Andy Reid, but that Davis left town without signing a contract.

Spadaro also reports that the Eagles have said nothing is "imminent" regarding Davis.

"We had planned to bring him in here during training camp and we'll make sure to evaluate him and see if he's healthy," Reid said.

Our guess is that no one will want to sign Davis before the start of the regular season, since if he is on the roster of any team when the season starts his salary for the year is fully guaranteed. With that said, and as Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News reported on Monday, the pay to be received in 2006 by Davis from the Panthers could be undermined if Davis signs with another team and is then released. Thus, Davis likely has a break-even point below which it simply doesn't make sense to play in 2006. The chances of being on the wrong side of that figure will be increased if he isn't signed until after the season starts, because he then could be released without being eligible to receive the full year of base pay.

In the end, a given team's injury situation will likely drive its willingness to sign Davis and guarantee his full 2006 salary. If, for example, the Redskins conclude that Clinton Portis won't be available for the season opener on Monday night at FedEx Field, it might make sense to take a chance on Davis. The only remaining question would be whether he can get himself into game shape before September 11.

POSTED 12:05 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 4:24 p.m. EDT, August 21, 2006

SPECULATION MOUNTS THAT JETS INTENTIONALLY FLUNKED SUGGS

In the wake of the trade that sent running back Kevan Barlow to the Jets from the 49ers, there is growing speculation in league circles that the Jets knew that Barlow was available before deciding that Browns running back Lee Suggs was not able to pass a Jets-imposed physical.

The Jets acquired Suggs last week in a trade with the Browns, but Suggs failed the physical due apparently to a knee injury that Suggs had suffered in college -- and that had not prevented him from practicing with or playing for the Browns.

The speculation (and we emphasize that it is only speculation) is that the Niners offered up Barlow after word broke of the Suggs trade, that the Jets then nixed the Suggs trade by finding that he had flunked his physical, and then that the Niners and the Jets opted to wait a few days before doing the deal, in order to defuse any suspicions regarding whether there was any winking and/or nodding going on between the 49ers and the Jets before the Suggs deal went down the tubes.

Meanwhile, one league source has offered up an opinion regarding our story from earlier on Monday as to the Jets' emphasis on character guys and the decision to acquire Barlow: "If they were that concerned about high character and people, this trade that they just made really goes against that thought process." The source added that Barlow's reputation in league circles is far from stellar, and that he's not regarded as a high-character guy.

Also, to the extent that the Jets are being perceived as doing things the "Patriots way," there are other deviations. The team's decision to circulate a depth chart with the players listed in alphabetical order is something that not even the facts-frugal Bill Belichick has ever tried to get away with.

BEST . . . MMQB . . . EVER

Okay, we'll acknowledge up front that we've developed a slight bias for Peter King of Sports Illustrated. But the guy has been one of the few members of the national media who: (1) are kind to us privately; and (2) acknowledge our existence publicly. Moreover, King carved out a big chunk of a very busy Monday at Steelers training camp in Latrobe last week to hang around with a dot-com slapd-ck whose knows less about football than he does about being a smart ass.

With all that said, King's most recent Monday Morning Quarterback column is the best we've read. Ever.

Why? Probably because he spends so much time stoking the kinds of rumors that are the lifeblood of this here site.

First item: The Ricky Bobby dynamic that is playing out in Cincinnati, with players now openly wondering why Carson Palmer has yet to try to play on his surgically-repaired ACL. (There's still no confirmation of rumors that Palmer fears he'll end up on fire.)

Second item: The T.O. mess. More on that below.

Third item: The Coach Chin conundrum. King believes based on his conversations last week with team president Art Rooney II and the Chin Man that "it won't end smoothly for Cowher in Pittsburgh."

The miscellaneous topics that King then addresses include a detailed look at the mess in Cleveland otherwise known as the center position on the depth chart and (most impressively) the use of the PFT term "turd" in reference to Vikings receiver Koren Robinson. (As we've told many a reader who have complained about the periodic presence of that borderline vulgarity in this space, "turd" is an incredibly common term among NFL insiders. We're glad to see that it's getting some traction among the NFL media.)

T.O. SITUATION CLOSER TO DISASTER THAN KING REALIZES

As to the Terrell Owens situation, we think that Peter King of SI is underestimating the potential for an explosion in his latest MMQB column. King believes that Owens is legitimately hurt, based on King's observations of Owens in practice from last week. King also acknowledges the report (we think he was referring to us) that T.O. blames the subsequent aggravation of the hamstring injury on coach Bill Parcells. Still, King thinks that the only way that coach Bill Parcells will blow up is if Owens cries directly to owner Jerry Jones, and if Jones listens.

But King hasn't fully connected the dots. Last week, it was King's colleague, Michael Silver, who reported that Owens was back to practice at the specific and direct behest of Parcells. So if, as King believes, Owens was showing signs of a hamstring problem on Wednesday and if, as SI has reported, Parcells essentially ordered T.O. to come back to practice on Wednesday, who else would Owens blame for the aggravation of an injury that he thought wasn't sufficiently healed to allow him to practice?

And as we all know when it comes to Owens, he's always ready to blame someone.

Though we're intrigued by King's belief that Parcells won't erupt until Owens tries to go over the Tuna's head, we think that there are other possible outcomes here. Jones might eventually try to intervene on Owens' behalf without Owens' prompting, which could cause Parcells to blow a breaker. Also, Owens might pop off to Parcells on the practice field (or vice-versa), triggering an Antonio Bryantesque incident.

Finally, don't discount the Rosenhaus factor. Given his Sunday appearance on SportsCenter (scroll down for more), there's a chance that the agent will further inject himself into the situation by lobbying Jones to "take care" of T.O., or simply by continuing to talk publicly about his belief that Terrell is (present tense) injured. And sound bites from Rosenhaus are the very last thing that Parcells will want to have to respond to before the press.

Thus, there are plenty of different things that could happen to cause either Parcells or Owens to cross the line. Especially with the football world watching every move.

As King writes in his MMQB, "It's a crazy story, but a story that seems to fascinate us to no end. Unfortunately." He's right. We love the T.O. story, almost as much as T.O. loves he some he. But at the same time we despise the story (and ourselves) for being so damn interested in the situation.

In a couple of years or a lot sooner, we'll cringe when we read our archives about the T.O. turmoil. For now, however, we can't wait for the next development in this soap opera without the soap. Or the opera.

But like a good opera this drama won't be over until the NFL's version of Pavarotti belts out a series of loud noises that arguably constitute music.

POSTED 8:19 a.m. EDT, August 21, 2006

PLAYERS TAKING TO MANGINI

Even as the New York Jets are drawing criticism of their handling of the running back position in the wake of the fact that Curtis Martin has no cartilage in his knee, we're hearing that the players in New York are buying in to new coach Eric Mangini's approach to the game.

We're told that the rookie coach is viewed as organized and stern, and that the players fear him but don't hate him.

Sounds to us like Mangini definitely learned a thing or two from his former boss, Pats coach Bill Belichick.

In another example of emulation of the Patriots' approach, we're also hearing that the Jets plan to begin identifying key players with high character who can be locked up for the future at reasonable contracts.

So even though things could be difficult for the Jets this season, things could turn around pretty quickly for the franchise.

IS PRESS TO BLAME IN T.O. MATTER?

In response to criticism from agent Drew Rosenhaus of the pressure that the media supposedly has placed on Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens in connection with his "serious injury," a league source surprisingly has agreed with the assessment that the press is to blame for making the situation a bigger deal than it should be.

But the source also throws blame on the Cowboys for allowing the press to stir things up. "T.O. has to be the center of attention," said the source. "If Dallas would prohibit him talking to the press and if Dallas would just stop talking about him it would go away."

However, the source's next opinion helps to illustrate why the media is swarming on this story. "Personally," the source said, "I would love to see Dallas cut the asshole. That would shut up T.O. for a few days, would really limit his chance to get another contract for anything other than a little more than the minimum, and would hurt Drew's rep big time."

MONDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

Jets QB Chad Pennington has no deadline for rejoining the team; he is absent in order to be with his ill father.

The Packers' starting offensive line could include two rookies -- but not second-round pick Daryn Colledge.

Redskins coach Joe Gibbs isn't happy with his team's performance in the preseason.

Tony phones one in regarding his week on the road.

One Buc Place is no more.

Pats K Stephen Gostkowski handled all of the kicking on Saturday night, and could be well on his way to giving the Hamburglar the boot.

Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News explains that the terms of RB Stephen Davis' release in Carolina could complicate his contract with a new team.

Colts backup QB Jim Sorgi was injured on Sunday night after no one bothered to block Seahawks LB Julian Peterson, who gave Sorgi the Raggedy Ann treatment.

Titans DE Antwan Odom might have a serious knee injury.

Giants LB Carlos Emmons has a lingering neck problem, and it's hard to tell whether or not the Soup Nazi is sympathetic.

The Jets apparently were unwilling to give up WR Justin McCareins in order to land RB T.J. Duckett.

Packers FB William Henderson could miss 3-6 weeks with a knee injury.

Falcons coach Jim Mora is begging for help at No. 3 receiver and backup safety.

These comments from Saints coach Sean Payton regarding his old boss Bill Parcells emphasize, in our view, the unusual nature of the Tuna's initial handling of T.O.: "With Parcells, there weren't any protected pet cats."

The league has waived the blackout rule for the Saints-Cowboys game at Shreveport, which is not sold out.

Former 49ers RB Kevan Barlow claims that coach Mike Nolan assured him last week that he would not be traded.

Raiders S Michael Huff has a sprained ankle, but it has been described as "minor."

POSTED 10:34 p.m. EDT, August 20, 2006

DAVIS HEADING TO PHILLY

A team source tells us that running back Stephen Davis will visit with the Eagles on Monday, possibly as a precursor to signing a free-agent deal.

Davis passed a physical last week with Dr. James Andrews of Birmingham, Alabama. A letter was then sent to every team explaining that Davis is healthy and available.

The Eagles currently have injury issues at the tailback position. Brian Westbrook has a bad foot. Correll Buckhalter is working his way back from two lost seasons; he managed a 48-yard run on Thursday night against the Ravens.

Other teams that could be interested in Davis include the Redskins. Davis was drafted by Washington in 1996 and spent seven seasons in D.C. Coach Steve Spurrier gave up on him after the 2002 season, but Davis then had his best season ever in 2003 with the Panthers, as Carolina landed in the Super Bowl. Davis was injured for most of the 2004 season, and had 12 touchdowns in 13 games before landing in IR in 2005.

Another possible scenario would be for Davis to sign with a new team after the first week of the regular season, since if he is on any team's roster for the opening weekend his entire salary would be fully guaranteed.

POSTED 6:47 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 7:29 p.m. EDT, August 20, 2006

ROSENHAUS TAKES UP FOR T.O.

Want more proof that the situation between Cowboys coach Bill Parcells and receiver Terrell Owens is dangerously close to an implosion? Look no farther than Sunday's appearance by agent Drew Rosenhaus on ESPN's SportsCenter, in which Rosenhaus gives the media a tongue lashing for putting pressure on Owens to practice while suffering from a "serious injury."

Said Rosenhaus, to Bob Ley: "I represent approximately eighty players in the NFL, and many of them are injured and most of them don't have injuries that are as serious as Terrell's and they don't get any flak. I think this is a non-story. Terrell Owens has a serious injury. He has a pulled hamstring. He is coming off of this injury to the best of anyone's ability and I think that the pressure that has been placed on him by the media is just ridiculous.

"Let me just state it again: He is injured. He wants to practice. He wants to play. Let me remind everybody about what he did at the Super Bowl a few years ago where he came off of an injury that people thought might have been career threatening. It's ludicrous to suspect that he's doing anything but working at his hardest to come back. Terrell loves to practice. People have criticized him in the past for many things but no one has ever said that he doesn't love to work and love to practice. He is hurt, and he's still hurt."

By focusing his attention solely on the media, Rosenhaus ignores the fact that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently urged Owens to practice at less than 100 percent. Likewise, it's been no secret that coach Bill Parcells has been frustrated by Owens' failure to practice on a hamstring that showed no damage in an MRI. Indeed, Mike Silver of Sports Illustrated reported last week that Owens' Wednesday return to practice was the direct result of a direct order from the Tuna to the team's trainer that Owens will be on the field the next day.

Owens then practiced on Wednesday through Saturday morning, before retreating to his stationary bike for the afternoon session. On Saturday night, we heard that Owens is now claiming that the premature resumption of practice resulted in an aggravation of the injury, that he won't come back until he believes that he is at 100 percent, and that he might miss the first game of the regular season as he heals.

Most telling regarding his agent's comments, in our view, is the fact that Rosenhaus speaks in the present tense. "Terrell Owens has a serious injury. . . . He is injured."

Our take? It's a deliberate effort by Owens, through Rosenhaus, to defuse any further criticism from the media -- or from anyone associated with the team -- when Owens fails to dress out for practice on Wednesday, the team's next scheduled practice session, and beyond.

And it's further proof that a real battle is looming between Owens and Parcells, which still could result (we believe) in Owens' name being omitted from the 53-man roster. If the Cowboys release him before the start of the regular season, the team would avoid responsibility for $5 million in salary, which otherwise will become fully guaranteed as of September 10.

We also think that the decision of Rosenhaus to stick his nose into the situation will serve only to aggravate Parcells, and could made it easier for the Tuna to persuade Jones that the team should cut its losses by cutting T.O.

JETS LAND BARLOW

Only days after the Jets tossed tailback Lee Suggs back to Cleveland after he failed a physical, Gang Green struck a deal with the 49ers for veteran running back Kevan Barlow.

The move gives the Jets a viable No. 1 runner if, as it appears, Curtis Martin won' be back. The trade also clears the way for Frank Gore to become the every-down guy in San Fran.

In return, the Niners receive an undisclosed draft pick in 2007. Barlow is signed through 2008, and he is scheduled to earn $2.5 million in 2006.

Whether Barlow has enough time to learn the Jets' offense and contribute this season is a separate issue. As Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post expertly points out in a shish-ka-bobbing of coach Eric Mangini and G.M. Mike Tannenbaum, the organization by all appearances dragged its feet for far too long in addressing the gaping hole that Martin's absence would create. With two first-round picks, the Jets had plenty of other options. They could have traded down from the fourth overall pick and selected a top-tier running back. They could have traded up from No. 29 and done the same. They could have taken Joseph Addai or LenDale White or Maurice Jones-Drew at No. 29. They could have (as we recently suggested) insisted that T.J. Duckett be added to the deal that sent John Abraham to Atlanta.

And, obviously, they could have slapped together the No. 4 and No. 29 picks and whatever else was necessary to persuade the Texans to give up the No. 1 spot, and the Jets could have had Reggie Bush.

But, hey, the first year of a new regime is the best year in which to go into the tank. They can worry about the tailback position come 2007, when the expectations will be a bit higher.

PRICE AWOL?

Bills receiver Peerless Price, who returned in April to the team with which he became this decade's Alvin Harper, was missing from practice Sunday after failing to catch a pass in the team's second preseason game.

Through two exhibition contests, Price's stats are an unimpressive zero catches for zero yards and zero touchdowns.

A spokesman for the team characterized Price's status simply as "absent." It's a word that effectively sums up his last three NFL seasons.

Of course, that didn't deter the Bills from giving Price a $1.8 million signing bonus and a base salary of $800,000 for 2006.

For all the fantasy football effects of today's NFL news, check out the PFT Fantasy Mill.

POSTED 12:34 a.m. EDT; UPDATED 9:32 a.m. EDT, August 20, 2006

T.O., TUNA WAR COMING?

A league source tells us that Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens is claiming that he has re-injured his hamstring, and he is blaming it on the fact that he was rushed back to practice before he was ready, and that he got too many reps during practice.

We're told that Owens is now taking the position that he won't be playing or practicing until he concludes that he is at 100 percent, and that he's privately saying that he might not be at 100 percent until the second week of the regular season.

The Cowboys are scheduled to have a one-hour walk through on Sunday morning in preparation for Monday night's game at the Saints. But since coach Bill Parcells has said that Owens won't play on Monday night due to the 14 practices that he missed due to the hamstring injury, it's unlikely that Owens will be expected to participate. The Cowboys are off on Tuesday, and resume practice on Wednesday.

Whether Owens is merely blowing smoke remains to be seen. But if he decides to take a pass on practice until he believes he's back to 100 percent, the stage will be set for all-out war between T.O. and the Tuna.

VIKINGS DONE WITH K-ROB?

There's strong chatter in league circles that the Minnesota Vikings plan to cut the cord on receiver Koren Robinson, who was arrested last week following a high-speed police chase and charged with felony fleeing, driving under the influence, and reckless driving.

The Vikings have excused Robinson in the wake of the charges, and he did not make the trip with the team to Pittsburgh for Saturday night's preseason game against the Steelers. The thinking, as one league source explained, is that the Vikings plan to part ways with Robinson, but that they do not want to move quickly to cut him for fear of facing a grievance.

Under the CBA, teams are not permitted to cut a player as a disciplinary measure. In 2004, the Cowboys abruptly dumped quarterback Quincy Carter after word broke that he would be suspended for violation of the substance abuse policy. Carter, who later signed with the Jets, filed a grievance against the Cowboys. As last check, the grievance was still pending.

But from the cap-rich Vikings' perspective, the question of whether the team is ultimately required to pay his $600,000 salary for 2006 likely takes a back seat to the question of whether the post-Love Boat Vikings are going to look the other way when a guy pisses all over his second chance.

There are reports that the three-year, $12.7 million contract Robinson signed in the offseason contains language voiding most if not all of the deal if he has further issues with alcohol. The contract, however, was signed after the NFL and the union hammered out the Term Sheet extending the Collective Bargaining Agreement -- and the Term Sheet contains language prohibiting individually negotiated forfeiture provisions for violations of the substance abuse policy and steroids policy.

Regardless of these niceties, our guess is that if the Vikings decide to get rid of Robinson, they'll do it. Sure, they might wait until the other cuts are made before announcing Robinson's release in order to give them an argument against a grievance. But in the end there are bigger issues at play here, and the last thing the Vikings need is a return to the old attitude of looking the other way when players and coaches did things that 99.5 percent of the general population doesn't do.

If/when the Vikings part ways with Robinson, it'll be interesting to see whether the Jaguars make a run at him. Jacksonville assistant head coach Mike Tice was instrumental in luring Robinson to Minnesota a year ago, and keeping him there after the Vikings released him before the start of the regular season in an effort to avoid triggering a full guarantee of his 2005 salary. Under the CBA, the base salary of a vested veteran becomes fully guaranteed if the player is on the roster for the first regular season game.

Since the Jags opted not to sign an established pass-catcher to replace Jimmy Smith, who abruptly retired in the offseason, the move could make sense. The bigger question, however, is whether authorities in Washington will move quickly with attempts to put Robinson in jail for violation of probation imposed upon him in 2005 after a guilty plea to drunk driving.

If that happens, the only team for which Robinson will be playing in 2006 wears red and black and squares off against prison guards.

POSTED 10:20 a.m. EDT; UPDATED 11:58 a.m. EDT, August 19, 2006

REDUCED PRESEASON EQUALS MORE INJURIES, MORE MONEY

As the annual hue and cry continues regarding the length of the NFL preseason, the players who think that the four exhibition games should be reduced need to keep one thing in mind.

There will always be 20 total games. So if the preseason is cut from four games to two, the regular season will increase from 16 to 18.

Which means that the players would lose two phony games in which they sparingly play, and they would gain two real games in which they're on the field all the time.

And that 12.5 percent increase in the total number of regular season games translates to a 12.5 percent increase in the opportunities for injury.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times makes this and other points in addressing the question of whether the preseason should shrink, and it's a reality we've been raising in several recent radio spots.

Here's another important to keep in mind -- it's highly unlikely that the NFL would reduce the preseason (and thus increase the regular season) in the early years of the television contracts. Instead, extension of the regular season is something to put on the table when the time comes to squeeze even more money out of the networks while negotiating broadcast rights.

In turn, this would increase Total Football Revenues, driving up the team-by-team salary cap and salary floor. And with two more regular season games, the NFLPA would have the leverage to push another 0.1 or 0.2 percent of the Total Football Revenues toward salaries, resulting in even more money for the players.

So even though the players would face a greater risk of regular season injury with a shortened preseason, there would be a lot more money available for all of them.

But while the players would realize more revenue if two glorified practices are replaced by two regular season games, the question becomes whether a 19-week season would dilute the importance of every given Sunday. We think that as long as the NFL stays on the short side of 20, the weekly contests will continue to feel as important as they do right now, but it's impossible to know what the reaction would be until the longer schedule is put in place.

For example, at a time when more teams are in the hunt for the playoffs deeper and deeper into the season, there's a chance that those two extra weeks could spark a return of the half-empty stadiums that used to show up in roughly half of the late-season games.

As to the owners, they pocket the gate from the exhibition games, giving the players piddly per diems for their preseason pay. Though we haven't crunched the numbers, the bump in television money from two more weekends of "real" football action likely would make up for the fact that each team would see the money generated from one sacrificed preseason game fall under the Total Football Revenue umbrella.

Then there are the interests of the marginal players -- the undrafted free agents and practice squad types who need the reps provided by four preseason games to prove their worth. By cutting the schedule in half, the opportunities to catch the coach's eye get cut in half as well. (Since NFLPA membership is driven by the number of guys who make the final cut, we've got a feeling that this issue won't land on the union's front burner if/when there are ever serious discussions about changing the 16/4 split to 18/2.)

Given the strong connection between decreasing the preseason and increasing the regular season and generating more television revenue, we think that it will be several years at the earliest before anyone will begin to take this matter seriously. And given that such a move would require the league to engage in simultaneous negotiations both with the networks and with the union, we doubt that it's an issue that new Commissioner Roger Goodell will attempt to tackle until more pressing issues -- such as a meaningful long-term solution as to the sharing of grossly disparate local revenues -- are resolved.

AJC BEATING THE BUSHES FOR THE BIRDS?

Though the team won't talk about the possibility that running back T.J. Duckett will be traded, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that at least four franchises have contacted the Falcons regarding the availability of the 2002 first-rounder.

The Jets are the only team identified by the AJC, and the paper names receiver Justin McCareins as the possible consideration.

Other areas of need for the Falcons, according to the AJC, are safety, defensive tackle, and defensive end.

During the draft, the Steelers offered late-round draft picks for Duckett, but the Falcons passed.

Our take on the article? The AJC (which has a reputation for carrying the Falcons' water in a big jug balanced carefully on its head) has been enlisted by the home team to stir up the trade market. For example, there's no indication in the story that the Jets have offered McCareins or that the Falcons have asked for him. Our guess? The Falcons are using the AJC to let the Jets know that an offer of McCareins for Duckett would get the deal done.

And we also believe that, because the AJC can't name the three other interested teams, there aren't three other interested teams. If the Steelers were still interested, they likely would have made another play for Duckett by now. Indeed, we've confirmed via a league source that, if there are other teams interested in Duckett, the Steelers aren't one of them.

But who else needs a running back entering the last year of his contract? Maybe the Bears, if Cedric Benson's shoulder injury is more serious than advertised. The Redskins fall into that category too, if Clinton Portis won't be able to return for a while due to his own bum shoulder. Still, there's no indication that anyone other than the Jets is in the market for Duckett.

In fact, we're of the opinion that the Jets recently played the "failed physical" card to void a trade with the Browns for tailback Lee Suggs because they caught wind of the possibility that Duckett could be had. Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com raised this possibility in his blog on Friday, and one of our readers sent an e-mail to us along those same lines this week.

Either way, our sense is that the Falcons are warming up to the notion of getting something for Duckett and his $663,000 salary now in lieu of getting nothing when he hits the free agent market in March. The only risk they're taking is that, once Duckett is gone, all of the other running backs on the roster will drop like drunken flies.

One last point -- Why in the hell didn't the Jets shake Duckett free from the Falcons when trading John Abraham to Atlanta? It would have been the perfect time to throw in a second-day pick in order to shore up an area of need at a time when no one but the Jets knew about Curtis Martin's knee problems.

CURRAN HEADING TO NBCSPORTS.COM

A reader gave us a tip -- and we then were able to confirm via an industry source -- that Tom Curran of the Providence Journal has accepted a position as a national writer with NBCSports.com.

The obvious goal of NBC Sports is to parlay its strong Sunday night football package into a sports news site that rivals ESPN.com.

NBCSports.com recently was re-launched on a "sneak preview" basis. Previously, the URL led directly to MSNBC.com.

SATURDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

After "graduating" from football on Monday, LB Junior Seau says that he's now going for his master's. (He'll have plenty of time to study while he's missing games due to injury.)

Since when is throwing the ball to an uncovered tight end on a safety blitz the equivalent of splitting an atom?

49ers CB Shawntae Spencer will miss the rest of the preseason with a bad hamstring.

The Jets talked to the 49ers regarding a possible trade for RB Kevan Barlow, but made no offer.

The Raiders had a team meeting Thursday night after coach Art Shell kicked them off of the practice field early; on Friday, Shell seemed satisfied with their performance.

Bears QB Rex Grossman is doing little to quiet whispers that he'll be on the sidelines this year for reasons other than injury.

Bears rookie Devin Hester had a 42-yard punt return on Friday night and Rashied Davis returned a kickoff 100 yards.

Bengals CB Rashad Bauman suffered a serious knee injury on Friday night against the Bills.

Bengals WR Chad Johnson might soon be saying, "Carson who?"

We're hoping that Friday's private screening of the new movie Invincible will make some of the Bengals players take their opportunity to play NFL football a little more seriously. (We're also hoping that Vince Papale's story makes Bengals coach Marvin Lewis realize once and for all that character matters.)

Browns rookie RB James Harrison generated107 yards of offense on Friday night.

Browns rookie LB D'Qwell Jackson was beaten for a touchdown pass before snagging an interception.

Browns rookie LB Kamerion Wimbley blew past Lions OT Jeff Backus to sack Jon Kitna.

Browns rookie DL Oshinowo Babatunde took a giant crap after the game.

Chargers CB Antonio Cromartie picked up a flag for taunting on Friday night.

Holy crap -- there's an NFL player named Cletis.

"Hey, that there thing doesn't look like a foot or a ball."

Chargers QB Philip Rivers has gotten a chance to see first hand the difference between the worst and best defenses in the NFC North.

Panthers RB Alex Haynes is making a good impression in a crowded backfield.

Sam Hurd is no turd.

Lions WR Mike Williams is hiring a nutritionist to help him get down to 220 pounds.

Even though T.O. has practiced for three straight days, his status for Monday night's game against the Saints is still up in the air.

POSTED 7:34 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 8:00 p.m. EDT, August 18, 2006

DUCKETT NOT ON THE BLOCK?

Though the team hasn't flatly denied rumors that running back T.J. Duckett could be traded out of town in the final year of his rookie deal, the Falcons aren't talking about the issue, either.

Coach Jim Mora and G.M. Rich McKay declined to comment on whispers of a deal that would send Duckett to the Jets, who need someone to carry the load given a knee that might not let Curtis Martin ever play again. Earlier in the week, the Jets swung a deal with the Browns for tailback Lee Suggs. But Suggs failed a physical in New York, voiding the deal.

Injuries in Atlanta are creating a greater need for Duckett. With Warrick Dunn out for Saturday's game, Butchie Wallace on IR, and DeAndra Cobb in a boot, Ducket will be the starter this weekend.

Though Duckett has never fulfilled the potential that made him a first-round pick in 2002, every team needs a deep stable of running backs, given the ever-present possibility of injury. So even if the team has no interest in bringing him back for 2007, they need him around for 2006 -- making it unlikely that they'll set him free.

Then again, the fact that the Falcons aren't denying a possible trade could mean that they're simply trying to generate the maximum trade market, either in New York or elsewhere.

POSTED 4:58 p.m. EDT, August 18, 2006

JUNIOR JOINS THE PATS

Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe reports that the Patriots have signed linebacker Junior Seau.

Seau retired on Monday from the Chargers. Three days later, word broke of his imminent arrival in New England.

The 12-time Pro Bowler is expected to play middle linebacker in the team's 3-4 system. Whether he cracks the starting lineup remains to be seen.

POSTED 2:07 p.m. EDT, August 18, 2006

DAVIS INJURY COULD FUEL BUSH HANGOVER

When the Houston Texans opted not to genuflect at the altar of Jesus in Cleats last April, part of the thinking was that the team already had a proven tailback in the form of Domanick Davis.

But Davis, who has rushed for 3,195 yards in three NFL seasons, is having knee problems. Davis had arthroscopic surgery in December due to regular swelling and discomfort. There's now a growing possibility that Davis won't play at all in the preseason, which in turn calls into question his spot at No. 1 on the depth chart when the regular season begins.

Rookie Wali Lundy is, at least for now, the top man on the totem pole, with second-year tailback Vernand Morency still learning the one-cut approach being installed by coach Gary Kubiak.

And even though Kubiak spent a decade in the awe-inspiring Broncos rushing attack that made virtually every back on the field look like Jim Brown, the uncertain status of the presumed go-to guy is surely going to raise questions in Houston and beyond regarding the decision not to draft 2005 Heisman winner Reggie Bush.

The one fact that the organization likely overlooked when deciding between Bush and defensive end Mario Williams is that, even if Williams is the next Reggie White, his performance will never generate the kind of buzz that shows up on the stats sheets and/or SportsCenter. Though we all love to see jarring blindside hits, most quarterback sacks look like any other tackle on any other play.

But then there's the Bush highlight reel, the first installment of which he provided with a 44-yard, field-reversing scamper on Saturday against the Titans. If Bush continues on that track, casual fans everywhere will soon come to the conclusion that the Texans are stoopid.

Of course, the casual fans might be wrong, since at the same time Williams could be averaging 1.3 sacks per game and drawing double teams and setting the stage for interceptions and otherwise helping a so-so defense get a lot better. But none of that stuff can be condensed or explained in a 10-second sound bite, so the casual fan will never realize that Williams is every bit as spectacular, in his own way, as Bush.

It's an unfortunate reality in this situation, and we wonder whether the Texans really thought this aspect of it through when choosing not to pounce on Bush.

CHECK OUT THE FANTASY MILL

We're proud to unveil today our brand new PFT Fantasy Mill, powered exclusively by the folks at Fanball.com, which is now our official fantasy football partner.

And we ask all of our loyal PFT readers to make the Fantasy Mill a regular stop on your daily (or more often) visits to the site. Just as the Rumor Mill is updated several times a day every day of the year, the Fantasy Mill will have regular updates focusing on the fantasy football impact of the news of the day.

From time to time, there might be some overlap as to the topics addressed in the Fantasy Mill and the Rumor Mill, and the opinions on the Fantasy Mill might not always be the same as the opinions in the Rumor Mill. Still, the Fantasy Mill is one of our most significant content enhancements ever, and we hope that you enjoy it.

POSTED 8:51 a.m. EDT, August 18, 2006

PLAXICO NEEDS ALL-PRO SEASON TO STICK AROUND

The Giants added receiver Plaxico Burress in 2005, at a time when the demand for his services was shockingly low, with only the Vikings showing any real interest.

We're now hearing that the relationship will end after the 2006 season, unless Burress has an All-Pro season.

The reason? Burress recently crossed the line by sounding off to the media against coach Tom Coughlin.

"I kind of think one of the problems we have around here is some of the coaches don't take the time to develop relationships with the players," Burress told Arthur Staple of Newsday.

"That kind of throws us off because we don't know where they're coming from and they don't understand us. So when things go wrong, when you don't do what you intend to as a player and they jump on you, it causes the guys to second-guess themselves and doubt themselves.

"When you have a good relationship with your boss, when players have good relationships with the coaches, you want to give back more to them. It's a respect factor when you have a good relationship with somebody. You don't want to let them down."

Burress then explained that he has a good relationship with his position coach, Mike Sullivan. And, of course, the clarification only emphasizes that Burress is talking about some of the other coaches.

If Burress doesn't reach the level of performance that would convince Coughlin to keep him around notwithstanding his strong words against the coaching staff, we're told that Burress will be traded, if the team can find a taker. If not, he'll be released.

His salary jumps from $2.355 million in 2006 to $3.295 million in 2007, the third season of his six-year, $25 million deal. He received roughly $8 million in the form of a signing bonus and an option bonus payable in March 2006.

SEAU'S UNRETIREMENT SOFTENS CANTON LOGJAM

A reader has raised a great point in connection with the decision of linebacker Junior Seau to unretire.

Seau's move, if he indeed signs with the Patriots on Friday, removes a huge log from the burgeoning jam of players who will come up for first consideration for induction into the Hall of Fame in 2011.

The list of potential first-timers come 2011 includes cornerback Deion Sanders, tackle Willie Roaf, receiver Jimmy Smith, and running backs Jerome Bettis, Marshall Faulk, Priest Holmes, and Curtis Martin. (In putting together this roster, we relied on a recent item from Michael David Smith of Footballoutsiders.com.)

And don't forget about the potential holdovers from the classes of 2008, 2009, and 2010, which will include guys like Darrell Green, Tony Boselli, Cris Carter, Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, and Emmitt Smith. Given the shorter waiting period for coaches and general managers, Bill Parcells and Ernie Accorsi likely will be in the mix as well over the next few years.

Our advice to the Hall of Fame voters over the next few years? Bring a toothbrush. And a box of wine.

WHEN DOES ROONEY RULE BECOME IRRELEVANT?

In the wake of a study from that Harvard of the Gulf Coast otherwise known as the University of Central Florida, which gave the NFL a B+ for racial and gender diversity, we've got a question.

At what point does the NFL drop the requirement that every team with a head coaching vacancy must interview at least one minority candidate?

Since 2002, the NFL has added six black head coaches, pushing the total to seven out of 32 -- nearly 25 percent of the league. At some point, then, the problem (and it was a real one) that led to the adoption of the "Rooney Rule" will be solved, making the rule irrelevant.

Our fear is that, if the league continues to focus on race in an ironic effort to make the league race neutral, the resentment from non-minority candidates who believe that they are being passed over merely to improve the league's grade on the annual diversity report card will continue to grow.

And that resentment is real. Whether legitimate or not, there's a growing sense in some league circles that, just as the best person for a given job wasn't always being hired when every key position was held by a white male, the current environment could be triggering, in some cases, the same result.

Our suggestion? Once the number of minority head coaches exceeds ten, it's time for the NFL to remove race from the conversation, and trust that the owners will be colorblind when looking for the best folks to help their teams.

Of course, that's a leap of faith that might not be justified, especially as current ownership groups are replaced by new ones. But that's where the NFL can continue to address the issue via training sessions for ownership aimed at ensuring that all hiring decisions in every organization are made without regard to race, gender, age, disability, national origin, religion, etc.

POSTED 8:53 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 11:30 p.m. EDT, August 17, 2006

PORTER CONSIDERED HOLDOUT

On May 23, we reported that Steelers linebacker Joey Porter was boycotting offseason workouts because he is unhappy with his contract.

The next day, Porter denied the existence of any link to his contract, blaming the absence instead on arthroscopic knee surgery.

Now, Porter reveals for the first time that he is indeed unhappy with his contract, and that coach Bill Cowher persuaded him not to hold out.

"I definitely feel that I have outplayed the contract that I am under,'' Porter said Thursday night on the NFL Network. "The whole city of Pittsburgh knows what I bring, coach Cowher knows what I bring. We had a talk and it was 'I need you.' I was unhappy. There was no use me lying about it.''

Porter will make $4 million in 2006 and $5.2 million in 2007.

His decision to speak about the situation seems unusual, since it's highly unlikely that he'll get a new contract. The Steelers don't do extensions for players with more than a season remaining, with the exception of quarterbacks Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox (and we all know how well both of those worked out).

Also, history shows that linebackers are fungible in the Steelers' 3-4 system.

Greg Lloyd. Kevin Greene. Chad Brown. Hardy Nickerson. Jerrol Williams. Levon Kirkland.

Joey Porter.

CINCINNATI NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF CARSON PALMER?

Is it just us, or is there a weird similarity between Will Ferrell's latest alter ego and Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer?

In Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the guy with two first names wrecks while racing a stock car, and though he isn't seriously injured he struggles mentally to get back behind the wheel. In Cincinnati, the guy with two last names blew out his knee during a playoff game, and he now appears to be struggling mentally to get back onto the field.

If Palmer is hesitant, it's hard to blame him. His sense of invincibility evaporated the instant that Kimo von Oelhoffen hit his leg early in a January game against the Steelers. And unlike Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who's not likely to be struck by a car while playing football, Palmer will be stepping right back into the same environment in which the unthinkable occurred less than eight months ago.

To his credit, Palmer isn't mincing words regarding his position that he won't play until he's at 100 percent. And his coach, Marvin Lewis, isn't pushing him.

But the question is when Palmer will be at 100 percent, and whether when he's physically at 100 percent he'll be mentally at 100 percent. If he's thinking about protecting his knee whenever he drops back to pass, his effectiveness eventually will be compromised.

THURSDAY NIGHT ONE-LINERS

The Vikings have "excused" WR Koren Robinson.

Raiders coach Art Shell ended practice early on Thursday, and not as a reward.

As it turns out, Fins coach Nick Saban really does eat Little Debbie cookies. (If you've been with us for less than a year, here's what we're talking about.)

Now that Charley Casserly is a member of the media, will he be reporting that his "resignation" from the Texans wasn't really voluntary?

An industry source advises us that the Chargers actually didn't sign LB Junior Seau to a one-day contract when he "retired" on Monday; the team didn't have a roster spot available.

The Cowboys have acquired WR Charlie Adams from the Broncos for an undisclosed draft pick. (In an unrelated development, Cowboys coach Bill Parcells has a new name for T.O. -- "Undisclosed Draft Pick.")

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is questionable for Saturday night's game against the Vikings.

A couple of Broncos scuffled, but there was no spitting or helmet swinging.

The story that couldn't get any weirder just did.

Seahawks TE Jerramy Stevens was taken off of the field on a cart after injuring his knee. (During the ride, he dropped four passes.)

Ross Tucker could be the answer to the Browns' most pressing question. (Unless he gets hurt. Or quits. Or is suspended.)

T-Rac won't be joining K-Rob.

QB Tarvaris Jackson will be the second quarterback to play on Saturday in Minnesota, which could mean that Mike McMahon won't make the team.

The Packers have booted K Billy Cundiff to the curb.

Saints RB Reggie Bush thinks he'll get a chance to return some punts.

The Vikings will be playing a mock game on Friday morning.

The Polish Cannon has cut back on the Italian sausage.

The Tuna hasn't decided whether T.O. will play on Monday night.

The Vikings have placed first-round draft pick Chad Greenway on IR.

Rams DT Claude Wroten is making progress . . . and not rolling doobies.

More consequences of the lack of competition for EA Sports.

RB Warrick Dunn, TE Alge Crumpler, and DE Keith Brooking will miss the Falcons' preseason game on Saturday.

POSTED 7:10 p.m. EDT, August 17, 2006

JUNIOR SEAU DOES AN ABOUT FACE

Just three days ago, linebacker Junior Seau signed a one-day contract with the Chargers and retired.

Seau is now poised to un-retire.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Seau will travel to New England on Thursday night and will sign with the Patriots on Friday, barring a last-minute complication.

Seau would play middle linebacker with the Pats, who reportedly targeted him after word began to circulate that Seau was planning to pack it in.

If the signing occurs, Seau will be reunited with former Chargers safety Rodney Harrison. Harrison joined the Patriots in 2003, winning his two Super Bowl rings in his first two years with the team.

POSTED 6:32 p.m. EDT, August 17, 2006

BRADY SAYS HE NEVER WORKED OUT WITH ANDERSON

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady admits that he once had a conversation with infamous BALCO-connected trainer Greg Anderson, but that that was the extent of the relationship.

Brady says that the call was made "five or six years ago" as Brady was looking for a place to work out.

"Trying to be a role model for children, that's what I'm all about. That's what I stand for," Brady said after practice on Thursday. "I have a family I represent. I have a team I represent. I try to do that the best I can."

We'll give Brady the benefit of the doubt on this one -- especially since his contact with Anderson came long before Anderson became one of the most notorious figures in sports. Besides, Brady strikes us as the last guy who'd be on the juice. He just doesn't have that "me like football" look to him that most of the rock-faced juice junkies project.

POSTED 3:57 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 4:20 p.m. EDT, August 17, 2006

TUNA 1, T.O. 1

We're officially declaring a tie after two rounds of the Tuna-versus-Terrell battle of wills in Cowboys camp.

Owens won round one by successfully getting coach Bill Parcells to ignore his in-your-face and/or up-your-ass style while T.O. milked a hamstring injury like a cow with five udders.

Round two? Parcells secured it by, according to Mike Silver of Sports Illustrated, forcing Owens to practice by telling trainer Jim Maurer on Tuesday: "Look, you tell Terrell that tomorrow I want him out here for practice. Tomorrow's the day. I don't care. Tomorrow's the day."

Coincidentally, Owens was back at practice, in full pads, on Wednesday.

And one Cowboys player told Silver exactly what we'd previously heard -- the Tuna was being viewed as Chicken of the Sea within the locker room.

"Before T.O. got back out there, a lot of people were starting to second-guess Bill," the player said. "For the first time ever, he'd shown a little weakness, like he might not be totally in control, and like he didn't know how to handle this situation. Because, let's face it, it's been a total spectacle so far.

"We all just sat and wondered, 'Who's gonna win this battle?'" the player added. "As a player, you can't help but get distracted when something like that is going on. The guy comes out last every single practice, has somebody carrying his helmet and is always putting on his uniform at the last minute, and then he's out there riding the bike and drawing attention to himself. Even if he's not trying to be a deterrent -- and he clearly is -- it's obvious that the coach isn't happy.

"The bottom line is, he appeared to be healthy and wasn't practicing. So we'd sit and wonder, Who's gonna win? How's it gonna go down?'"

This one isn't over, especially after Owens gets an eyeful of Silver's report.

The explosion is still coming, folks. It's just a matter of time -- and we can hear the clock ticking.

ANGRY TUNA RETURNS

Folks in Cowboys camp heard more than the clock ticking on Thursday morning. According to Matt Mosley of the Dallas Morning News, Parcells ripped into various folks, and eventually the entire team:

"Bill Parcells spent the first portion of practice having a one-sided conversation with trainer Britt Brown," Mosley writes. "A few minutes later, he ripped into strength and conditioning coach Joe Juraszek for taking too long with the stretching.

"Later in practice, he ripped into veteran offensive tackle Jason Fabini after the offense allowed four sacks on the first six plays of team drills. Fabini appeared to make the mistake of responding to Parcells.

"At the end of practice, Bill ripped into his team.

"Later, he had some unpleasant words for assistant secondary coach Mike MacIntyre and then backup quarterback Tony Romo made the mistake of walking by. Yes, it was a sloppy morning practice, but I'm thinking Parcells was going to be like this no matter what happened."

Bottom line -- the Tuna is back. And if Owens makes another misstep (and he will), Parcells will let him have it.

RADIO UPDATE

Our Wednesday "whoops" regarding Brett Favre hasn't deterred radio hosts from asking us to come on the air.

Yet.

Of course, the purpose of upcoming segments might be merely to give us grief for our gaffe.

Either way, we're glad to oblige. On Thursday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. EDT, we'll make a return visit to The Terry Bowden Show on ESPN Florida. At 8:00 p.m. EDT, we'll spend a little time with Brad Riter of WGR 55 in Buffalo, who apparently forgot all about his pals at PFT during and after the Sabres' improbably playoff run. Then, at 11:25 p.m. EDT, we'll stop by Sporting News Radio with Todd Wright.

On Friday, it's time for our weekly spot with Terry and Drew at WNST in Baltimore in the 8:00 a.m. EDT hour, and we'll close out the week with a 5:20 p.m. EDT visit to "The Rumble" on ESPN Radio in Jacksonville with Mike Dempsey and Tom McManus.

Starting next Tuesday we'll be doing weekly appearances at 10:25 p.m. EDT with Todd Wright on Sporting News Radio throughout the 2006 football season.

POSTED 7:12 a.m. EDT, August 17, 2006

ROBINSON'S MOST IMMEDIATE PROBLEM IS PROBATION VIOLATION

Based on a timeline of the events related to the troubled career of Vikings receiver Koren Robinson that has been compiled by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, it appears that the most immediate problem that Robinson faces is a finding that he violated the terms of probation resulting from his July 2005 guilty plea in Washington to charges of drunk driving.

Robinson already has served 50 hours of community service in connection with two previous violations of the 24-month supervised probation.

Typically, probation violations can be established by the 51-49 preponderance of the evidence standard, and not the far more stringent "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold that applies to criminal charges generally.

Robinson could, in theory, be required to serve the 364 days of his original sentence, which were suspended after his guilty plea. The fact that his 50 hours of community service for past probation violations were the result of a negotiation with prosecutors in Washington could make a jail term now more likely, since our guess is that as part of the deal with prosecutors Robinson acknowledged that any further violations would result in his incarceration.

Meanwhile, it's becoming increasingly clear to us that Robinson will not face any scrutiny from the league until he is convicted or pleads guilty to the new charges. So he could rejoin the Vikings and play, directing his lawyers to delay the trial on these new charges until after the season.

The next question, of course, is whether the Vikings will wash their hands of Robinson in light of this most recent incident. Though a release of Robinson could subject the team to a grievance for his 2006 salary, the Vikings claim to be looking to put the issue of turdish players far behind them.

MORE PROOF OF JOEY SUNSHINE'S INCONSISTENCIES

On Thursday, we addressed the apparent inconsistencies between Joe Theismann's coddling of Koren Robinson (who, by the way, was suspended four games in 2004 not for alcohol but for marijuana) and his verbal crucifixion of Ricky Williams.

In response, a reader sent us clips of two different Redskins-Eagles games called by Theismann as part of the old Sunday night ESPN crew. In both clips, Eagles safety Brian Dawkins body slams a Redskins receiver.

In one clip, Theismann acts like the move is no big deal, and he praises the officials for letting the guys play physical football. In the other clip, Theismann argues that a 15-yard penalty should be imposed.

Though the hit on the second clip looks to be a bit more jarring, it's the same move in both cases -- Dawkins lifts a player and throws him down onto (as Paul Maguire observes in the first clip) "his own body."

The only obvious difference, in our view, is that in the first clip Theismann is responding to the comments of Maguire, who acts like the play was no big deal. In the second clip, Theismann is the first one to speak.

Our take on this? Theismann is too quickly influenced by the opinions of others. Maybe his overriding goal is to promote harmony in the booth. But there's a way, we think, that grown men can disagree with having their disagreements affect their relationships.

Bottom line -- Joey Sunshine needs to stick to his own opinions, regardless of whether the guys in the booth already have said something that is different from Theismann's views.

POSTED 12:53 a.m. EDT, August 17, 2006

PFT PRESEASON POWER RANKINGS: NO. 3

With three teams left in our preseason power poll, we've decided . . . to call it a three-way tie.

Broncos, Panthers, Steelers. Not necessarily in that order.

Okay, we're done. Have a good year.

EARLY THURSDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

Colts S Jahmile Addae was taken to the hospital on Wednesday.

Why in the hell was Chad Greenway playing special teams in the preseason?

Colts K Adam Vinatieri is day-to-day with a sprained ankle.

RB Thomas Jones (hamstring) practiced for the first time with the Bears on Wednesday.

QB Matt Leinart has never been to an NFL game.

OKAY, SO WE WERE JUST MESSING AROUND

We didn't write 29 of these damn things to bail on the last three. We're going to unveil No. 3 now, and then we'll do a double entry of No. 2 and No. 1, since the suspense as to who's No. 1 will be pretty much shot once we name No. 2.

The Denver Broncos.

It took some serious stones for coach Mike Shanahan to trade up to No. 11 to get quarterback Jay Cutler in the draft, given that there are other needs that could have been addressed in order to better equip the team for a run at the Super Bowl. The move also is a not-so-subtle indictment of career head case Jake Plummer, who'll respond to Cutler's presence either by having his best season ever, or one of his worst.

Of course, even if Plummer tanks, Cutler could be good enough to come in and run the show without missing a beat. He looked great in his preseason debut, but it's only the preseason so whether that means anything come September is still an open issue.

Other newcomers could be major factors on offense. Undrafted rookie Mike Bell could be the go-to guy in the backfield, if he can hold onto the ball, and receiver Javon Walker could become the main man at receiver, if his new ACL holds up.

Sure, there have been plenty of losses -- defensive end Trevor Pryce, running back Mike Anderson, tight end Jeb Putzier, offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak. But under Shanahan the Broncos have shown an uncanny ability to reload on the fly, and always be competitive.

They still need to deal with the Ashley Lelie situation, and punter Todd Sauerbrun will miss the first four games. And Courtney Brown a/k/a Cavity Sam is hurt again.

But the Broncos are in one of the weakest divisions in the conference, and we think that the constants over the past decade -- good, sound coaching and depth -- can get this team deep into the postseason again.

And anyone who comes to this site on a regular basis knows that it pains us to admit that fact. We love to twist the tail of the guy who graduated from Coach Teflon to Coach Kevlar by earning an unlikely berth in the AFC title game last year. Still, we've got to call it as we see it, and we see the Broncos as a perennial playoff team that, taking both sides of the ball and the coaching staff into consideration, deserves to be on the short list of elite teams.

Oh yeah -- and if Cutler becomes the guy that motivated football's Coach K to make the move up to get him, the Broncos could be among the top-shelf AFC teams well into the future.

Now, the fantasy grades.

Quarterback: With Jay Cutler breathing down Jake Plummer's neck, we're not comfortable with either of them. We'd consider Cutler in a keeper league. Beyond that, avoid these guys.

Running back: Mike Bell could be the next Terrell Davis. Or not. It's still too early too tell. Besides, the Broncos' glut of tailbacks suggests that none of them will be a superstar.

Wide receiver: Rod Smith had solid numbers in 2005, but he's getting old. Javon Walker has had only one great year in his career. Again, we're leery.

Tight end: We really like rookie Tony Scheffler, but we don't think he'll have big numbers in 2006. In a keeper league, grab him.

Defense: Middle of the pack in yardage allowed, the Broncos created plenty of havoc in 2005. But they plan to blitz less in 2006, which could mean less turnovers. They fall into the "crapshoot" category.

Kicker: Jason Elam is still one of the top kickers in the league. A-.

POSTED 8:53 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 9:07 p.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

SABAN'S TIPTOEING WITH WRIGHT RAISING EYEBROWS

Just as Bill Parcells' pussyfooting with receiver Terrell Owens has caused some league insiders to conclude that the Tuna has gone soft, we're hearing that some of the guys in the Miami locker room are starting to question whether the Nicktator has turned Milquetoaster as to defensive tackle Manny Wright.

Coach Saban, we're told, is losing respect among the troops for his perceived coddling of Wright, who is absent from the team due to clinical depression.

Perhaps sensitive to the perception that he's being too lenient, Saban lashed out at the media on Wednesday for suggesting that a Tuesday night meeting between Saban and Wright might have set the stage for a return.

"When we have medical issues of players, they are confidential," Saban said on Wednesday. "You get this information from other sources. I don't really think that's good for our club, but it's mostly inaccurate. The judgments that you make from the information that you get is totally inaccurate. It's wrong. It is what it is. Because I had a meeting with the guy doesn’t mean anything. Does it? It's headlines in the paper today because you are drawing a conclusion to something that you know nothing about – nothing. It's bad for our team. It's bad for our fans because they get misinformation. I don't think it says a lot about professionalism either."

The problem is one of the reports, from Alex Marvez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, was based on comments from Wright's agent, Peter Schaffer, which strongly suggest that progress toward a return was being made: "We're trying to find a way to get all the parties on the same page," Schaffer told Marvez. "The Dolphins are bending over backward in trying to help Manny out. I think Manny has turned the corner in terms of getting back on his feet and getting ready to play football and moving on with his life."

Our guess? Saban is trying hard to work this out without having to cut Wright free, but Saban is conscious of the possibility that the locker room will eventually wonder why he's going to such lengths to salvage a supplemental fifth-round draft pick.

With Owens and Parcells, we can understand why the Tuna would be inclined to be tolerant. If healthy, happy, and motivated, T.O. is one of the most effective players in the NFL.

Wright isn't, hasn't been, won't be.

T.O. RETURNS TO PRACTICE

After a 14-day layoff following a hamstring tweak that was pushing his relationship with coach Bill Parcells toward full boil, Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens is back at practice.

In all, Owens missed 14 practices with the team. His availability for training camp sessions is crucial because this is the first year of his career outside of the West Coast offense.

Per a league source, however, T.O.'s lollygagging shouldn't have been a surprise. During his time in Philly, Owens' reputation was that he didn't like to practice. It is "part of his make up," said the source.

Such habits, if true, haven't limited Owens between the lines. Then again, he needs to learn the offense in order to be as effective as possible.

POSTED 7:15 p.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

BEN BANGS UP THUMB

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger injured his thumb during a training camp practice on Wednesday.

"I think he hit his thumb, on the next-to-last play he was in there, on a shoulder pad," coach Bill Cowher said. "So we'll look at that, assess it, and I'll probably have more information tomorrow."

A league source tells us that the team does not expect the injury to be serious, confirming Cowher's belief that Ben "looked fine."

Roethlisberger's backup is Charlie Batch. The Steelers play the Vikings on Saturday night in Pittsburgh.

Stay tuned.

POSTED 6:00 p.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

REGGIE CAVES ON SHOE ISSUE

Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal reports that Saints running back Reggie Bush will wear a "non-logoed, non-branded, all black adidas shoe" in the upcoming Monday nighter against the Cowboys.

The move comes after the NFL fined Bush $10,000 for wearing a shoe sporting the adidas brand on Saturday night. On Monday, Bush indicated that adidas would be paying the fine. On Tuesday, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told us that it is not permissible for a third party to pay the fine.

Our guess is that the NFL thereafter got in touch with Bush and/or adidas and forged a middle ground. After all, adidas now owns Reebok. On one hand, the NFL doesn't want to pick a fight with a sponsor. On the other hand, adidas doesn't want to risk losing the ability, through Reebok, to continue to give the NFL a barge load of money.

ESPN didn't kill Playmakers because the show sucked -- the Boys in Bristol dumped it at the direct urging of the outfit to which ESPN now pays $1.1 billion per year.

Bush's marketing agent, Mike Ornstein, told Mullen that Bush has asked the NFLPA to appeal the fine, even though Bush specifically was warned the day before the game that he would be fined if he wore a branded adidas shoe without tape concealing the logos. Ornstein says that Bush didn't want to tape up the shoe because Bush thought it would hurt his on-field performance.

Obvious response: Then wear Nikes, or Reeboks, or Under Armours. It's not as if Bush and his handlers haven't known that he can't wear adidas cleats during NFL games without concealing the logos.

So why the appeal? So Bush, Ornstein, and adidas can continue to get free publicity as the story continues to unfold. Our advice to the NFL would be to refuse the appeal -- and to remind Ornstein that he's getting dangerously close to performing duties otherwise reserved to NFLPA-certified agents.

POSTED 3:00 p.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

VIKES EXPECT TO LOSE ROBINSON FOR A YEAR

Our friends at Fanball.com (with whom we're on the verge, by the way, of launching a new partnership) have advised us that the talk at Minnesota Vikings camp is that the team expects to lose receiver Koren Robinson for the entire 2006 season.

Robinson was suspended four games for violation of the league's substance abuse policy in 2004. Because a player's status within the NFL substance abuse program is confidential (except when someone invariably breaches confidentiality), it's not presently possible to determine the potential consequences for the most recent incident.

Normally, a player in Stage Three of the program faces a minimum banishment of one year for a positive test or a failure to comply with his treatment plan. However, the policy distinguishes positive tests and failures to comply from alcohol-related criminal offenses, and there is a separate mechanism in the policy for fining and/or suspending players who have DUIs.

So, in other words, unless one of those cars chasing Robinson on Tuesday night was also the piss man, an ultimate conviction of drunk driving would not mean an automatic one-year suspension.

Robinson likely would be subject to separate discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy if he is convicted of (or if he pleads guity to) one or more of the other charges currently pending against him, such as fleeing the police and reckless driving.

So, even if there was no positive alcohol test, Robinson is still in relatively deep doo-doo.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Robinson was racing from cops at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. It's our understanding that many of the roads on which he was driving are of the two-lane, yellow-line variety.

"It was definitely a pursuit," St. Peter, Minnesota police chief Matt Peters told Sean Jensen of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "The speeds were very high. It was very dangerous."

We know that Robinson is innocent until proven guilty (which qualifies him for a spot on the Bengals' roster), but at PFT we don't afford such American luxuries as "due process" and "fair trials" (nod to Ned Flanders as the devil). We've been meaning to update the All-Time All-Turd team with a few of the names we overlooked, and it's about time that K-Rob gets a seat at the table.

POSTED 12:24 p.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

JOEY SUNSHINE A HYPOCRITE

As we continue the process of scraping the doggie-poopie from our shoes (nod to Steve Martin), we've decided that the best way to divert attention from our Brett Favre train wreck is to change the subject.

This just in -- ESPN's Joe Theismann a/k/a Joey Sunshine is a hypocrite.

On Monday night, Joey Sunshine was fawning all over Vikings receiver Koren Robinson for his "proactive" decision to seek an alcohol rehab tune-up in the offseason.

Meanwhile, Theismann recently unloaded on Dolphins running back Ricky Williams, who was suspended in May by the NFL for at least one year.

"I don't ever want to be mentioned in the same breath as Ricky Williams as a football player. He's a disgrace to the game. The man doesn't deserve to play football. He should go on with his life and treat his drug addictions or go do whatever he wants to do. He's been suspended from the National Football League on multiple occasions. Doesn't anybody have any class anywhere? For gosh sakes, let the kid go do what he wants to do. He doesn't want to play football," said Theismann.

Okay, Joe. If/when Robinson's four-game sit from 2004 is followed by a year-long suspension for his Tuesday night Mo-Clo impersonation, we expect you to say the following:

"I don't ever want to be mentioned in the same breath as [Koren Robinson] as a football player. He's a disgrace to the game. The man doesn't deserve to play football. He should go on with his life and treat his [alcohol] addictions or go do whatever he wants to do. He's been suspended from the National Football League on multiple occasions. Doesn't anybody have any class anywhere? For gosh sakes, let the kid go do what he wants to do. He doesn't want to play football."

Said the league source who alerted us to Joe's double standard: "If Ricky Williams doesn't belong in the league, how can Robinson be allowed? Joe talks without thinking what he says. He is and has been for years the most unprepared analyst on TV. I said this to you before and I will say it again: How ESPN keeps this guy on the air is beyond me. If I made one tenth the amount of mistakes this guys makes I would have been fired years ago."

Okay, now ignore the next three entries.

POSTED 11:41 a.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

FALSE ALARM ON FAVRE

After further review, it now appears that Brett Favre's Wednesday press conference is simply a standard, weekly media get-together.

The root of the problem was that KSTP-TV in Minneapolis sold the thing as an unusual, out-of-the-norm event with this post from a couple of hours ago:

"Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will hold a news conference at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Lambeau Field media auditorium.

"There's no indication at this point what the legendary Packer quarterback is going to announce. The Packers lost their first preseason game of the year by two touchdowns to the San Diego Chargers."

As it turns out, he's not expected to "announce" anything.

Sheesh. You'd think that a TV station in a rival's market not far from Wisconsin would know this.

POSTED 10:47 a.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

FAVRE RETIRING TODAY?

The early indications based on our discussions with league sources are that Favre will announce his retirement from the NFL at a Wednesday press conference.

As we write this one, we're trying hard not to pull one of those "Favre will retire, unless he doesn't" routines. Instead, our goal is merely to share the information that we currently have. This isn't a report that he will retire, and if he does retire we won't claim "as first reported on PFT". Our goal at this point is only to inform.

So here's what we know -- a response from one member of the organization to a direct question regarding whether Favre is calling it quits today did not have the "No way in hell!" or "I'm looking into this right now!" quality that would be expected upon hearing that The Franchise is walking away in the middle of training camp.

Favre went back and forth in the offseason regarding whether to return for another year of football. Though the team was under the impression for most of the offseason that Favre was indeed coming back, Peter King of Sports Illustrated reported earlier this week that Favre did not make a final decision until he heard former NFL quarterback Phil Simms explain on Sirius NFL Radio that Favre should play as long as he is able to play.

The abrupt decision, if he does indeed retire, would come after a preseason game in which Favre got the potato sack treatment from the Chargers' front seven, due in large part to a young, inexperienced offensive line that is learning a new blocking scheme.

Taking over for Favre would be 2005 first-rounder Aaron Rodgers. The move also likely would put the Packers in the market for a veteran quarterback. Kerry Collins is the most recognizable name on the shelf.

Again, we're not saying that Favre is retiring. But the signs are surely pointing in that direction.

POSTED 10:23 a.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

FAVRE CALLS A PRESS CONFERENCE

KSTP-TV reports that Packers quarterback Brett Favre has called a press conference for 12:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.

The reason for the press conference has not been announced. Obviously, the news will spark speculation that Favre has decided to pack it in and call it a career.

POSTED 9:14 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 10:14 a.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

K-ROB IN THE H-GOW

Vikings receiver Koren Robinson, praised on Monday night by ESPN's Joey Sunshine for his "proactive" approach to his struggles with alcohol, was arrested on Tuesday night for suspicion of driving while impaired.

Sean Jensen of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Robinson is facing multiple charges, and that he was in jail as of Tuesday night.

The team was off Tuesday after Monday's preseason opener against the Raiders. Robinson was driving back to training camp on Tuesday night when he was arrested.

Judd Zulgad and Paul Walsh of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune report that Robinson will be charged with a long list of crimes, including drunk driving, fleeing police, reckless driving, speeding, and driving without a valid license. He allegedly was spotted speeding -- and he made the always wise decision to take off when police tried to get him to pull over.

Fortunately for Robinson, he did not have four loaded guns in his vehicle, a bulletproof vest, an open bottle of Grey Goose, and/or a hatchet.

Robinson was suspended for four games in 2004 for violation of the league's substance abuse policy. If still at Level 2 of the program, the 2005 Pro Bowl kick returner faces a potential banishment from the league for at least one year.

On July 6, we reported that Robinson was back at a rehab facility, which prompted at first a flat denial from Robinson, a concession from his agent that Robinson was back in rehab, and then this explanation from Robinson: "I'm not in rehab; it's nothing like that," Robinson said. "I'm taking prevention classes so I won't have to go back to rehab or won't have a situation. I just wanted to get away, make sure I'm bulletproof. So I'm just trying to be proactive. When did it become not cool to be proactive?"

And "proactive" became the buzzword to describe Robinson's situation.

Though we don't know what prompted K-Rob to fall off of the wagon, the "real" media didn't do this guy any favors by taking his words at face value and heaping "attaboys" on him at a time when he apparently was still in need of real help.

The development leaves the Vikings without a No. 1 receiver, and possibly puts them in the market for Broncos receiver Ashley Lelie, who is a training camp holdout and likely will be traded at some point.

KARMA KILLING THE BROWNS CENTERS?

Another week, another Browns center bites the dust.

First, it was LeCharles Bentley, the centerpiece of the team's big-spending free-agent class. Bentley popped a patella tendon on the very first play of 11-on-11 drills.

Then, Bob Hallen up and quit.

Now, No. 1 guy (by default) Alonzo Ephraim reportedly will be suspended four games for violation of the league's substance abuse policy.

So how in the hell did this happen? Believers in karma will point to the Browns' pilfering of Bentley at a time when he already had a wink-nod deal with the Eagles. Or to G.M. Phil Savage's offseason proclamation that he prefers Christian players. Or to the team's decision to conceal the truth regarding Hallen's departure. Or to the team's decision to admit that it was lying about Hallen's departure in a gratuitous effort to throw him under the bus when he opted not to return.

Regardless, the Browns are currently screwed at the center position. But as we recently explained their best play is not to publicly bemoan their circumstances but to buckle down and get ready with the guys they have.

POSTED 12:22 a.m. EDT, August 16, 2006

PFT TEN-PACK: STEELERS CAMP

It was a wild day in Latrobe on Monday, and (as always) we've emerged from the experience with 10 of our trademark takes on what we saw and heard during our time in Steelers camp.

It's never nine or eight or 11. But always ten. What a strange coincidence. . . .

1. Up Close and Personal.

The most intriguing aspect of Steelers practice is the proximity of the press to the players. As seen in some of the photos snapped with the official PFT Sprint phone (scroll down for more), we were close enough to smell stuff that, well, we would have rather not smelled.

The media is stationed in a strip of grass between the team's two primary practice fields, through which the players repeatedly migrate, at varying speeds. It was a huge difference from Ravens camp, where the media stands along a sideline that abuts the fan viewing area -- and results in the members of the media blocking the view of the folks who buy the tickets and the jerseys. At Latrobe, the media is as close as the media can get to the action.

2. "Hello, Santurdio."

At one point on Monday, the Poobah got a little too close to the action. Early in the practice session, the receivers were running different patterns, one man at a time. They would move methodically through each pattern, one after another, and then they all would switch to a different route.

When it was time for the out patterns, the guys were catching the ball, heading out of bounds . . .

And coming right for me.

In fact, yours truly nearly got flattened by the guy whom we lovingly call Santurdio.

Seriously. Holmes was coming right at me, stumbled a little, and brushed by my shirt. If he'd known who I was and what we've said about him, he could have knocked me out cold and it would have looked like an accident.

3. Tough Decisions at Receiver.

When the time comes for the Steelers to trim the roster, some of the toughest cuts might come at the wideout position. Hines Ward, Cedrick Wilson, Santurdio, and Willie Reid are locks. After that, it's a toss-up. Nate Washington is having a solid camp, and Walter Young is the biggest target by far (unfortunately, he at times moves like it, too). Veterans Quincy Morgan and Lee Mays could be in trouble when Turk time comes along.

4. Omar Could Be Going Homar.

Last year, Omar Jacobs was a dark horse Heisman candidate at Bowling Green. In April of this year, he was a fifth-round draft pick.

Now, he's in danger of getting cut.

Shane Boyd got more reps than Jacobs in the first preseason game, and word is that he's having trouble picking up the offense. Though some in the organization view Jacobs as a better long-term prospect, the thinking is that Coach Chin prefers Boyd. Since there's a chance that Cowher won't be around to reap the benefits of Omar's upside, Jacobs could be finished in the 'Burgh before he even gets started.

And if you think that the Steelers won't dump a fifth-round pick, run that one by Fred Gibson, a fourth-round receiver who was sent packing last season.

5. "Hey, It's LenDale."

We got an eyeful of running back Duce Staley before he put on his shoulder pads prior to practice. And one thing was clear to us.

Duce likes pie.

Seriously, he's a big boy. And not in a good way. We wouldn't be surprised to see him lose his roster spot to rookie Cedric Humes.

Alternatively, we'd be on the phone with the Jets right now to swing a deal. If, after all, Staley stands close enough to well-proportioned coach Eric Mangini, they might not notice the size of Duce's caboose.

Another benefit to moving Staley would be that it bumps Verron Haynes up a notch on the depth chart. We're hearing that Haynes is getting frustrated with his status. The only problem is that there's no way the team can justify running Staley at No. 3, given his $1.5 million salary for 2006. Thus, if Haynes goes up, Duce goes out.

Our guess? Staley won't be with the Steelers on September 10.

6. We Are The Champions.

Though we'd never been to a Steelers practice, we got the impression that the team is very loose but at the same time very confident in their approach to the 2006 season. Where the Ravens training camp practice we attended on July 29 seemed to be very structured and regimented, the Steelers practice was more chaotic than controlled. The players got to where they were supposed to go and knew what they were supposed to do, but there was plenty of standing around, knees on the ground, and butts on helmets.

It could be that the rosters are too big, or that the burgeoning offseason workout programs are making it less important to squeeze the maximum out of every preseason practice session. Still, to the extent that NFL training camps have a reputation for presenting extreme physical challenges, we just didn't see it in Latrobe.

Will it be a problem? Who knows. One league source has told us that there was a sense of complacency during the team's performance in the first preseason game at Arizona. But there's still plenty of time to snap out of it.

7. Harrison Is Ready To Start.

Though it's possible that third-year linebacker James Harrison will get a chance to play if/when one of the starting linebackers gets hurt, we're thinking after getting a look at the team that it's time for Harrison to be a starting linebacker.

Of course, for Harrison to get there one of the current starters would have to be knocked to the bench . . . or to the curb.

It might not happen this year, but it's coming. Harrison is too good, and is getting better. Plus, the incumbents are getting older every year -- James Farrior is in his tenth season, Joey Porter is in his eighth, and Clark Haggans is in his seventh.

8. Gardocki Could Be In Trouble.

We heard some talk at camp -- and we later confirmed -- that veteran punter Chris Gardocki could be in danger of losing his job. Though the only other competition in camp is Mike Barr, don't rule out the Steelers hitting the waiver wire for a punter if they're not happy with Gardocki's play.

Gardocki entered the NFL way back in 1991, and he has punted for the Bears, Colts, and Browns. He was added to the Steelers roster in 2004, enabling the team to part ways with veteran Josh Miller.

9. Ben Looks Fine. (More Than Fine, Actually.)

The star of Steelers training camp, without question, is quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. And he clearly is the leader of the offense, especially with Hines Ward nursing a hamstring injury that put him out of practice early in individual drills.

The motorcycle injury is a distant memory. Hell, it's like the thing never even happened. (Contrast that with Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, who genuinely seems to be messed up in the head regarding the possibility that he'll re-injure himself on the field.)

One thing that impressed us was that Roethlisberger rounded up the wideouts and the quarterbacks after practice and ran through some quarter-speed, four-receiver sets for roughly 15 minutes. There were a lot of short passing and timing patterns, reminding us of the quick-release attack that the Patriots have perfected over the past few years.

After practice, members of the "real" media (and, you know, us) waited for Ben to come over and chat, but he specifically avoided the press, hopping into an oversized golf cart after signing a few autographs, and disappearing.

10. Learning On The Job.

The highlight of the day in Latrobe was hanging around with Peter King of Sports Illustrated. The guy is a machine -- he worked the NBC game on Sunday night, polished off his MMQB column in the wee hours from the Queen City, flew to Pittsburgh early Monday morning, and then drove to Latrobe.

Meanwhile, he was wrapping up a story for the magazine regarding new NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on a Monday afternoon deadline, hobnobbing with Dan Rooney and Art Rooney, snagging an impromptu one-on-one with Coach Chin after he peeled off of his short session with the media, talking with any assistant coach who crossed his path, and getting ready for a Monday night trek to Seattle.

And we were humbled by the fact that, with all of the stuff that he was doing, Peter spent plenty of time talking to yours truly about football, and about the business. I picked up more from watching him and talking to him than I've learned during six years doing this, and hopefully the PFT readers will be the eventual beneficiaries of our on-the-job training session.

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