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Lenny P's Insider Tip Sheet (10/6)

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  • Lenny P's Insider Tip Sheet (10/6)

    Friday, October 6, 2006
    Eagles' CBs jogging memory banks on T.O.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    By Len Pasquarelli
    ESPN.com

    PHILADELPHIA -- Out of respect for veteran Green Bay wide receiver Donald Driver, Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown didn't spend any time last week perusing tape of Terrell Owens (Brown covered Driver in the Eagles' "Monday Night Football" victory over the Packers).
    Then again, the studious Brown, a film-room fanatic who prepares off the field almost as hard as he does on it, theoretically shouldn't have to resort to celluloid scrutiny of the Dallas Cowboys' wide receiver and former teammate. For portions of two seasons in Philadelphia -- when Owens wasn't suspended or injured -- Brown and fellow cornerback Lito Sheppard worked against Owens in practice. Sheppard is expected to return to action Sunday after battling injuries the past three weeks.

    In the NFL, while familiarity does breed contempt at times, it just as often can result in competitive advantage. Count on a little of both elements when the Cowboys visit Lincoln Financial Field for Sunday afternoon's much-anticipated return of Owens; yeah, expect him to be castigated loudly by the throaty Philadelphia fans.

    But does practicing against Owens in the past, and watching his precision cuts and the way he explodes off the line, give Brown and Sheppard any kind of edge? (Imagine that, a real football question in a week when everything but X's-and-O's has been examined.)

    "Probably not as much as people think," Brown told ESPN.com after Monday's victory. "And the main reason why is because Dallas seems to use him differently than we did here. It's not the same offense he played in for his two years here. When he played for us, T.O. was more of a vertical, up-the-field receiver. From what little I've seen of him in Dallas, they don't get him deep quite as much. The deep stuff is more [for wide receiver] Terry Glenn. When I sit down to start looking at tape of him, I don't expect to see the same guy I saw here for two years, because he's in a different design now."

    Good point from the insightful fifth-year veteran. But the fact remains, there are nuances about Owens' game, body-language signals, the way he likes to set up a certain route, that certainly must have stuck with Brown and Sheppard and upon which they will rely Sunday afternoon. In any game, you look for even the most minute edge, and the Philadelphia cornerback tandem surely will dig deep into their individual memory banks in seeking to gain some leverage against Owens.

    New offense or not, Owens is still the same T.O., and he probably spent the week of preparation poring over his mental notes on the cornerbacks who will attempt to check him Sunday afternoon.

    "That's the thing," Sheppard said. "He's a smart player, too, you know? So it's not like he's coming in here and going against cornerbacks he doesn't know. I'm sure he's thinking, 'OK, when I did this in practice, they reacted this way.' So that part might cancel out, I don't know, honestly. But I know we'll be ready for him. No hard feelings, nothing like that, it's just that he's a great wide receiver and we will pretty much prepare [accordingly] for him."

    While the matchup of Owens and the Eagles' cornerbacks will be a compelling one, it remains to be seen just how much single coverage Philadelphia coordinator Jim Johnson elects to use. Because the Eagles blitz so much, often bringing the cornerbacks off the edge, the perception is that they play a lot of zone behind it, to protect themselves against big plays. But their coverages typically are mixed, with more man-to-man responsibilities than people think. And with a much deeper front four who pressure the pocket with a more conventional pass-rush this season, Johnson may not dial up as many blitzes.

    "One thing I know," Brown said, "is that everyone in here has a lot of respect [for Owens] as a player and a playmaker. Who gets the edge because of our familiarity with each other? I really don't know, and it's not something I'll spend a lot of time thinking about. It's still a game that's all about making plays. My job is to go out and make them, and keep him from going off on us."



    Around the league

    • As the head coach of the Green Bay Packers for six seasons, Mike Sherman probably deserved a better fate, having posted a 59-43 mark (including playoffs) during a tenure in which he took the Packers to the postseason four times, won two division titles and experienced just one losing campaign. Then again, in his dual capacity as the general manager for four of those six seasons, it seems Sherman could not have done much worse, as was evidenced again this week when the Packers released third-year cornerback Ahmad Carroll. The oft-burned cornerback, beaten for 10 touchdowns and flagged for 20 penalties in just 34 games, was Sherman's first-round choice in the 2004 draft, the 25th player chosen overall that year, in a draft that has turned out to be a disastrous chapter in Green Bay history.
    The release of Carroll means that all of the Packers' first-day picks from that draft -- Carroll, cornerback Joey Thomas, defensive tackle Donnell Washington and punter B.J. Sander -- are gone. In fact, they aren't in the league with any team. Just two of the six prospects selected by Sherman that year, backup defensive tackle Corey Williams (No. 6) and starting center Scott Wells (No. 7), are still on the Green Bay roster. But that 2004 draft is just the tip of a titanic draft iceberg during Sherman's years as coach/general manager. In the four drafts Sherman presided over while wearing his general manager's cap, the Packers chose 27 players, and just seven of them are still with the club . Three of the four first-round picks from that stretch -- defensive end Jamal Reynolds (2001), wide receiver Javon Walker (2002) and Carroll -- are gone. The lone first-rounder selected by Sherman and still on the roster is linebacker Nick Barnett (2003).

    But it gets worse. Of the dozen first-day choices from those four drafts, only two are still in Green Bay, and Barnett is the lone starter. Seven of the 27 players Sherman chose are on other NFL rosters, but that means 13 of his selections are out of the league entirely. The players from those four drafts should, in theory, comprise the nucleus of the Green Bay roster, but instead there is a talent void. There's also a financial ramification, as reflected in the 2004 draft alone. Counting the four games in which Carroll played this season, the Packers invested $8.552 million in bonuses and salaries for the first-day picks from that draft. They spent $5.11 million on Carroll alone. And they have very little to show for it.



    Ahmad Carroll
    Cornerback

    Profile
    2006 SEASON STATISTICS
    Tot Solo Ast Sack FF Int
    6 6 0 1 0 0

    • His size (5-feet-10¼), speed (4.34) and youth (23) probably will get Carroll another shot in the league, although teams didn't exactly rush to put in a claim when his name appeared on the waiver wire Tuesday afternoon. Plenty of personnel directors, though, did spend time in their video rooms Tuesday and Wednesday assessing Carroll, whose raw talent will be too tempting to ignore. The consensus: The former Arkansas star possesses NFL-level tools but lacks awareness, and he needs to all but start from scratch in his coverage techniques. Echoing an analysis offered by Packers first-year coach Mike McCarthy after jettisoning Carroll, two AFC pro personnel directors agreed that the third-year cornerback has problems locating the deep ball in the air.

    "It's not that he can't run with [receivers], because he can, and he's in position to make some plays," said one of the scouts. "But the guy doesn't have a clue where the ball is most times. There's no spatial awareness there, you know? And because his technique is so poor, really miserable, to tell you the truth, he's always grabbing people and drawing [penalties]. He's worth bringing in for a workout, because there is talent there, but anyone that wants to take a chance on him is going to have to break him down to the most elemental stuff technique-wise, and get him to pay some attention to the detail stuff, and then you might have something."

    Teams have been phoning agent Eugene Parker to arrange potential auditions. We don't know if New England is one of them, but wouldn't be surprised if the Pats have some level of curiosity. The Patriots once again are battling injuries at cornerback. Carroll might not be able to help anyone until next season, and only if he makes a quantum leap from a technical standpoint, but the Pats have a history of transforming rejects into prospects again.



    • Speaking of big money spent on dubious players, unless he gets his act together, former Detroit Lions' first-round wide receiver Charles Rogers is going to find it increasingly difficult to merit a second chance in the league. Jettisoned by the Lions before the start of the season, after Detroit paid the 2003 first-round choice $16.2 million to appear in only 15 games in three seasons, Rogers has spoken with passion, including during an interview with ESPN.com two weeks ago, about working hard to get out of the unemployment line. But actions speak louder than words, and Rogers' actions of late have suggested he really doesn't care about trying to resurrect his career nearly as much as he claims.
    Rogers recently moved to suburban Atlanta to work out with the renowned Chip Smith, who has trained more than 400 NFL players, including dozens of first-round picks. But after showing up for the first few sessions with Smith, and vowing to sweat hard to reduce a slow 40-yard time, Rogers began missing workout appointments this week at Competitive Edge Sports, sources told ESPN.com. One of the absences was understandable, since Rogers claimed to have a workout with an AFC team, but the others were unexcused. Word is that Rogers really needs the work, since his conditioning is poor. But some who have been in his corner and have tried to help him salvage his career are beginning to back away from Rogers.

    The other thing that won't help Rogers is that he has two strikes against him in the league's substance-abuse policy, and the next misstep will land him a suspension for a full year. Rogers told The NFL Network in an interview this week that it was marijuana abuse that led to his four-game suspension in 2005. Hard to believe, isn't it, that a guy who was the second overall choice in the '03 draft might be done? But if that's the case, the people who have been dealing with Rogers in recent weeks contend the fault will lie with the former Michigan State star, and no one else.



    • There are some quiet rumblings emanating from the Motor City that the man who chose Rogers in '03 and committed plenty of other high-round draft gaffes might finally be having his track record more closely scrutinized by Lions ownership. Team president Matt Millen is a favorite, obviously, of the Ford family, which actually signed him to a contract extension in 2005 despite a dismal record. One would think that, with things going so poorly right now with their day jobs as they try to keep an American industrial icon afloat, the winless record of their football team might be the last thing on the minds of the Ford family.
    But the numbers don't lie: Since Millen took over the top spot in the franchise, the Lions, counting this year's 0-4 start, are a pathetic 21-63 and have finished last in their division in three of five seasons under his stewardship. During that stretch, Detroit has exercised a lot of high first-round picks yet hasn't won more than six games in a season. The whispers are that, if things continue the way they were in the first month of the season, something could happen to Millen, and sooner rather than later.



    Tony Gonzalez
    Tight end
    Kansas City Chiefs

    Profile
    2006 SEASON STATISTICS
    Rec Yds Avg Long TD
    17 147 8.6 21 1

    • It got surprisingly scant notice, but with five receptions for 59 yards on Sunday, Tony Gonzalez of Kansas City moved into the No. 2 spot all-time for catches by a tight end. The Chiefs' seven-time Pro Bowl performer now has 665 receptions, including a team-high 17 this season, and he slid past Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome, who registered 662 catches in his career. The only tight end with more career catches is Shannon Sharpe, with 815. But while Gonzalez's accomplishment was met with little fanfare, there is a chance he could make some noise in another area before the end of the season. Because he was able to void the final two seasons of the seven-year, $31.5 million contract he signed in September 2002, Gonzalez is now in the final year of that deal and will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next spring.

    Even with the emergence of some big-time talents at the position, Gonzalez is a gold standard, and it's difficult to imagine the Chiefs ever allowing him to hit the open market. Coincidentally, agent Tom Condon of CAA and Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson met over dinner earlier this week, ESPN.com has learned, and the subject of Gonzalez's future amounted to a lot more than just an appetizer. There is a long way to go, and negotiations haven't gotten to the substantive stage yet, but there is some urgency for Kansas City to complete a deal. Because his salary-cap number for 2006 is already more than the franchise tag for tight ends will be next spring -- the tight end qualifying offer, usually among the lowest for any position, was $3.327 million this spring -- it would be a big swallow for the Chiefs to use the marker on Gonzalez. To use the franchise tag, the Chiefs would have to tender Gonzalez a deal at 120 percent of his 2006 cap number, and that would be exorbitant, in excess of $11 million. Gonzalez has indicated that he wants to stay in Kansas City and finish his career there, and the Chiefs certainly want him back. Look for extension discussions to continue in coming weeks.



    • When the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission in a Wednesday meeting began discussing options for the deteriorating 84-year-old stadium, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, it was the latest indication that the NFL might not be returning to the nation's second-largest market anytime soon. The momentum generated by league owners, anxious to tap into a market that has been without professional football since the Rams and Raiders loaded the moving vans after the 1994 season, has clearly dissipated over the past year, as estimates about what it will cost to return to Los Angeles spiral upward. Some feel the combined price tag for a stadium, the franchise fee and other costs will top $2 billion, and that figure has a lot of owners gagging.
    "Remember when we all thought the clock was ticking [toward a return]?" one AFC owner told ESPN.com this week. "Well, let me know when you hear the clock, because it's pretty much wound down right now. Things are barely at a simmer."

    So, tired of waiting on the NFL, and having seen little recent progress, the Coliseum Commission is considering alternatives, such as turning over control of the stadium to the University of Southern California. League owners will take up the Los Angeles matter again at a league meeting in New Orleans later this month, but no one holds much promise that the NFL is ready to speed up the process again.

    "We can't just extend this indefinitely, with no promise of a future that includes the NFL," commission member David Israel told the Times. "The stadium … is in dire need of improvements. Maintenance has been deferred. We need new seats, we need new scoreboards, we need to rethink how the concourse works. And every year we wait, it gets more expensive."

    If the commission were to turn control over to USC, it would essentially end any hope of having an NFL team play in the historic sports edifice. Officials from the other two sites that were under consideration by the league, the Rose Bowl and a tract of land in Anaheim, seem ready to move forward, too, as the NFL delays. Anaheim is considering outside offers for the parcel set aside for an NFL stadium, and the Rose Bowl is exploring other options. One of the people who has worked the hardest at returning the NFL to Los Angeles, new commissioner Roger Goodell, might be able to jump-start things again. After all, for years the Los Angeles initiative was his project. But it's going to take a pretty good boot in the rear end, it seems, to get league owners back in step and refocused on the Los Angeles market.



    • The league trade deadline is Oct. 17, a week from Tuesday, and, as usual, there doesn't figure to be much action. While there has been an increase in trades over the past three years -- especially this season, with the nearly 20 percent increase in the salary cap and rules that allow a team to defer some of the prorated bonus money that formerly would have "accelerated" into the present year's cap -- deadline deals remain pretty rare. One player who still hopes to be dealt is Oakland wide receiver Jerry Porter, who has essentially been exiled by owner Al Davis and coach Art Shell. But the six-year veteran hasn't heard much lately about any trades percolating. As one league personnel director noted, no one can figure out exactly what the Raiders would want in return for Porter.


    • As Eagles defensive tackle Darwin Walker watched Albert Haynesworth stomping on the unprotected head of Andre Gurode during several Sunday night replay packages, Walker was shocked by what he was seeing. Shocked but not totally surprised. (Walker started next to Haynesworth at defensive tackle during their time together at the University of Tennessee.)
    "What people need to understand is that Albert is, and always has been, a really emotional guy," Walker told ESPN.com after Monday night's victory over Green Bay. "And he's a guy who will let his emotions get the better of him. I'm not making any excuses for him, you know? But he's a guy who the older players had to take care of back [at Tennessee]. I tried to be a mentor to him. So did other [older] players. Because he needed that. And if he didn't have it, didn't have an older player or two looking out for him, that's when bad stuff happened."

    Some of Haynesworth's former college teammates said that several incidents in his Tennessee career shook them. Haynesworth was considered a talented player whose competitive fire burned bright, but he sometimes turned into an out-of-control inferno, said Green Bay offensive left tackle Chad Clifton, another former Tennessee teammate.

    "There were times when you knew that you wanted to steer clear of Albert, because he'd be so upset about something, and he'd let it get to him," Clifton said. Clifton and Walker both emphasized that Haynesworth is not a bad person but rather one who needs guidance, who has to understand he is going to be held accountable for every action, and who functions best when he is surrounded by a strong support group.

    "I'm not condoning when Albert did," said Walker, who maintains a casual relationship with Haynesworth. "There are no excuses for something like that, and I won't try to make any. But even after being in the NFL for this many years now, I think he's still the kind of guy who needs people around him to help keep him in check. At Tennessee, we tried hard to provide that for him."



    • During the early stages of the 2002 draft, then-Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin was on the phone with Haynesworth, apprising the University of Tennessee defensive tackle whom the Jaguars intended to select in the ninth overall slot. But Haynesworth told Coughlin he didn't want to play for him. And in a moment for which Coughlin and the Jaguars must feel fortunate, the coach decided to choose Haynesworth's teammate and defensive tackle partner, John Henderson. Haynesworth then slipped six more slots before the Titans selected him.


    • There haven't been many silver linings for the ol' Silver-and-Black this season and, if the Oakland Raiders don't beat the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in a battle of onetime Bay Area powerhouses, who knows how long it will be until head coach Art Shell notches his first victory since a 17-16 win at Seattle on Dec. 18, 1994? One area of hope for the Raiders, though, is in the secondary, where some of the young players Oakland has added in the past three years have begun to emerge. Case in point: Fourth-year corner Nnamdi Asomugha, a 2003 first-rounder who finally got the first two interceptions of his career last week, is beginning to play with the kind of physical mind-set the Raiders' brass wants at the position. The former University of California star has always been a hybrid, with teams and coaches never quite sure if he was a safety or a corner. After starting eight games in 2003-04, split between both safety spots, Asomugha started all 16 contests in 2005 at cornerback. He didn't get any picks, but he did display a penchant for coming up and supporting the run, as evidenced by 60 tackles, and he looked a lot more comfortable in coverage as the season wore on.
    At 6-feet-2 and 210 pounds, Asomugha sure looks like the computer prototype for the position. Despite being 0-3, the Oakland defense ranks No. 3 in the league versus the pass. Part of the reason is that opponents know they can run with impunity at a Raiders defense that is 28th against against the rush. But give the Oakland secondary some props, too, and pencil it in as one of the few areas of promise. In addition to Asomugha, fellow cornerbacks Fabian Washington and Stanford Routt should develop into solid cover guys. This year's first-round pick, strong safety Michael Huff, will be a Pro Bowl-level player soon. And free safety Stuart Schweigert is more than adequate. That's five young defensive backs, all with less than four full seasons in the league, who could develop into a top-shelf unit if the Raiders can keep them together.



    • That old saw about how a standout running back can help make an offensive line better than it should be? Not surprisingly, the Arizona Cardinals' sorry blocking unit is making a mockery of it. In four games, Edgerrin James has carried 88 times for 272 yards and two touchdowns. The good news is that his two touchdown runs are as many as the Cardinals managed for the entire 2005 season. The bad news is that James' longest run is for 14 yards, and his 3.1-yard average is the lowest in the NFL among players with more than 150 rushing yards. The yardage for the Cardinals is up over the first four games of 2005. Still, the team's other running backs, J.J. Arrington and Marcel Shipp, managed only 142 yards on 46 carries in the opening month; alas, the puny 3.1-yard average is exactly the same. The sorry Arizona line simply can't knock opponents consistently off the ball, especially the interior three players (most notably center Alex Stepanovich), and there is nowhere for James to run or to hide. Here's hoping that James stashed away some of the $30 million in the four-year contract he signed as an unrestricted free agent, because it looks like he'll need it to buy a vat of liniment after the season.
    Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Colts, who opted not to try to retain James, are doing pretty nicely so far with their tailback time-sharing plan. The tandem of Dominic Rhodes and first-round draft choice Joseph Addai has combined for 396 yards and four touchdowns on 85 rushes, a healthy 4.6-yard average. In the first four games of the 2005 season with the Colts, James carried 98 times for 413 yards and one touchdown, a 4.2-yard norm. So the Rhodes-Addai combo is only 17 yards shy of where James was at this time a year ago, and with 13 fewer attempts.



    • Not much love lost between New York Giants linebacker LaVar Arrington and his old Washington Redskins teammates and coaches, huh? In a week in which the two old rivals meet in a key NFC East matchup, the formerly loquacious Arrington did his best to keep quiet. Most of the woofin' came from Washington, where the Redskins suggested that Arrington didn't understand the defense that coordinator Gregg Williams used the past few years. Cornerback Shawn Springs essentially said that Arrington was clueless about the nuances of the scheme. And asked how much help Arrington's knowledge of the Washington defense might be to his new team, Redskins linebackers coach Dale Lindsey said rather harshly: "None. He didn't know anything when he was here. What makes you think he'll know something up there?"


    • It was back to the drawing board, again, this week for Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis and his defensive staff. While the team's offensive staffers spent the bye week trying to address breakdowns on the offensive line -- with quarterback Carson Palmer having already absorbed 15 sacks in four games after enduring only 21 sacks in the entire 2005 season -- Lewis and the defensive coaches were looking to stem another collapse against the run. It's been a sore spot for Lewis since he arrived; he has an impressive defensive pedigree, but his defenses have struggled.
    Stop the run in the NFL and, more often than not, you win. And in the last two weeks, the Bengals' defense has regressed back to old habits, surrendering an average of 203 rushing yards. Cincinnati looked solid in its first two games, holding Kansas City to 113 yards in the opener and limiting Cleveland to 57 yards the following week. But then Pittsburgh gashed Cincinnati for 170 yards two weeks ago -- even though the Bengals prevailed in a game the Steelers handed to them with late turnovers -- and last week New England backs went for 236 yards. Signing venerable run-stuffing tackle Sam Adams, moving former tackle Bryan Robinson to end and getting back safety Madieu Williams, who missed much of last season, was supposed to solve the Bengals' run-game deficiencies. But only a month into the season, the shortcomings are back.




    The list: Kansas City tailback Larry Johnson needs 78 yards on Sunday at Arizona to become the first player since the 1970 merger to run for 2,000 yards in his first 16 regular-season starts. Here are the next five highest rushing totals by players in their first 16 regular-season starts: Eric Dickerson (Los Angeles Rams), 1,808 yards; Mike Anderson (Denver), 1,756; Clinton Portis (Denver), 1,736; and George Rogers (New Orleans), 1,674.


    Stat of the week: One of the NFL's most accurate and careful passers over the last several seasons, Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is in a bit of a slump, with more interceptions (seven) than touchdown passes (six) through the first four games. Hasselbeck didn't throw his seventh interception of 2005, when he had just nine pickoffs for the entire season, until the ninth game, on his 278th attempt. His seventh interception this year, last Sunday at Chicago, came on just his 105th attempt for the season. The injuries to tailback Shaun Alexander, wide receiver Darrell Jackson and tight end Jerramy Stevens have contributed to the rough start, for sure, but Hasselbeck simply hasn't been as sharp this season.


    Punts: Now that Doug Gabriel is healthy, New England is starting to get solid play from the wide receiver who was acquired from Oakland in a trade just before the start of the season. Gabriel, a bigger target than Tom Brady is accustomed to having, and blessed with great deep speed, has 10 receptions in the past two games. … Only four games into the season, and Atlanta has set a record by becoming the first team ever to have a quarterback and a running back go for 100 yards each in the same game, on two different occasions. What makes the feat even more remarkable is that it was accomplished with two different tailbacks. In a Sept. 17 victory over Tampa Bay, quarterback Michael Vick rushed for 127 yards and tailback Warrick Dunn for 134 yards. Then in last week's rout of Arizona, the mercurial Vick had 101 yards and rookie tailback Jerrious Norwood went for 106 yards, much of it on a 78-yard touchdown run. … The Falcons have scored touchdowns on just three of 17 red-zone forays. That's bad news for the Atlanta offense, good news for 46-year-old field goal kicker Morten Andersen, who is trying to overtake the retired Gary Anderson for the all-time NFL scoring lead. … Kansas City officials contend that the back problem that will sideline offensive tackle Kyle Turley for a second straight game isn't related to the one that kept him out of the league for two seasons. But there are some Chiefs staffers more than a little concerned by the flare-up. … Look for Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher to start giving second-round tailback LenDale White more carries in coming weeks. White is finally in shape and he provides more of a power dimension than either of the Titans' other tailbacks, Chris Brown and Travis Henry. … The New York Giants, who did not play last week, are 3-14 all-time coming out of a bye week. New York hosts Washington on Sunday. … The Arizona Cardinals scored 34 points in the first game of the season. And they've scored a total of just 34 points in the three games since. … Pittsburgh is 39-14 in October games under coach Bill Cowher. … The Baltimore defense has surrendered just three points in the second half this season. … Daunte Culpepper will be the fourth different starting quarterback used by the Miami Dolphins in their last five games against New England. Gus Frerotte started both games in 2005. A.J. Feeley and Jay Fiedler split the two starts in 2004. … Dolphins coach Nick Saban plans to expand the playing time of safety Jason Allen, the team's first-round pick this year. … San Diego linebacker Shawne Merriman left the Thursday practice with a slight Achilles injury, but it is not expected to sideline the 2005 defensive rookie of the year. … Before this season, no one in New England had probably ever even heard of the scaphoid bone, a tiny bone near the wrist. But then linebacker Tedy Bruschi broke his scaphoid bone in training camp and now second-year cornerback Ellis Hobbs has done the same. Hobbs had surgery last Wednesday and hopes to play Sunday against Miami. That might be a bit optimistic, since Bruschi was off the field for more than a month with the same injury.


    The last word: "Four years ago, he was the best wide receiver in the NFL. Today you can't get a pack of gum for him, huh? See how that works with you media people? Four years ago, he was the best thing since sliced bread. Now, all of a sudden, nobody wants to touch him. It's so funny how that works." -- Carolina wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson on Randy Moss, who acknowledged this week that perhaps it's time for the Oakland Raiders to consider trading him
    Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. To check out Len's chat archive, click here .

  • #2
    The Arrington information is hysterical. First off - I don't doubt it that he couldn't pick up the defense but for a coach to say:

    "And asked how much help Arrington's knowledge of the Washington defense might be to his new team, Redskins linebackers coach Dale Lindsey said rather harshly: "None. He didn't know anything when he was here. What makes you think he'll know something up there?"


    Shows that Danny Boy's class permeates throughout the organization.

    Could you fathom any of the Eagles' staff talking like that?

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