PHILADELPHIA -- Brian Westbrook did not practice with the Eagles on Wednesday, nor did he talk about why. His coach, Andy Reid, said Westbrook would practice Thursday and that the reason he was held out Wednesday was his ankle, and not the concussion he suffered in the team's Oct. 26 victory over the Redskins. But if you buy that, I've got a South Philly bridge to sell you, too.
The ankle is a red herring. Westbrook's ankle is a chronic problem, for which he's had surgery, and his ankle probably hurts every day. They can put him on the injury report with an ankle problem anytime they want, and nobody's going to bat an eye. This thing with Westbrook is a case of a player, concerned about his own personal future, taking it slow amid a culture that's only starting to embrace the danger and seriousness of concussions.
In case you hadn't noticed, sports these days are all about Goliath. In 2009, the Steelers, Lakers, North Carolina Tar Heels and now the Yankees have all won titles in their respective sports. Cinderella is yesterday's news. The teams that win these days are the teams that always win, and if you think that's boring, well, tough. You can kiss one of Derek Jeter's five World Series rings.
So with that in mind, we need to be really careful about overlooking the Dallas Cowboys.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All you ever hear about the Cowboys is what's wrong with them. Terrell Owens was a pain. Roy Williams is a loudmouth, too, and isn't good enough to replace T.O. Tony Romo's too concerned with his golf game and his high-wattage love life to ever attain his potential. The new stadium is ridiculous...
PITTSBURGH -- Mike Tomlin wouldn't play along. Oh, it sounded like a good story. Rashard Mendenhall, the Steelers' young backup running back, was benched in Week 3 because Tomlin didn't think he was paying close enough attention to his playbook. Mendenhall was contrite, and spent the week telling folks he hoped he'd get a second chance because he knew what he'd done wrong and was determined to make up for it. Willie Parker, the starting running back, went down with a toe injury, and Mendenhall stepped in and shredded the Chargers on national TV. Great story, but Tomlin says he isn't buying.
"I'm not going to take any credit for that," the Steelers' coach said when asked if he felt he'd motivated Mendenhall. "I didn't rush for a yard tonight."
PITTSBURGH -- They watched, and they kicked at the grass and thought about how it all could have been different. The players on the San Diego Chargers defense watched their brilliant, tough, never-say-die quarterback, Philip Rivers, move the ball with ease on the Steelers late in the game, making a game interesting when it had no business being such. They watched, and they thought, "If only."
If only they hadn't put Rivers in that 28-0 hole. If only they'd been able to get a first-half stop on third down -- on fourth down, for that matter.
"One stop!" Chargers safety Eric Weddle said after Pittsburgh's 38-28 win. "If we could have just got one stop. Our offense is going to keep us in games, and for us not to be able to get stops, it hurts. I mean, they're converting third down after third down after third down. That's hard to handle."
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days. FanHouse is here to help with an in-depth look at each division that should have you plenty prepared for training camp. We're calling it the Summer Scramble. Today we look at some burning questions in the AFC North and offer a ridiculously early prediction for how the division will finish.
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days. FanHouse is here to help with an in-depth look at each division that should have you plenty prepared for training camp. We're calling it the Summer Scramble, and today we look at the AFC North's looming position battles.
Smith seems to have a solid handle on the media/message part of his job. He wants it made clear, to the players and the public, that any threat of a work stoppage is coming from the owners' end. The owners are the ones who opted out of the current CBA. The owners are the ones refusing to share the finanical information Smith is requesting. And if there's no football in 2011, it will be because the owners decided to lock out the players, NOT because the players went on strike. It is crucial for Smith to communicate this message to the players, because he believes it is crucial for the players to communicate it to the public.
Let's be honest, there are few things more entertaining in sports than when an athlete is absolutely despised by a city. And I don't mean despised in the Michael Jordan-tears-out-Cleveland's-heart-with-a-wooden-spoon level hate. That's rooted in Jordan's superhuman play on the field.
I mean on a level like LenDale White stomping on the Terrible Towel and refusing to apologize -- where the entire city is outraged at one particular player.
One of the reasons the Detroit Lions didn't prioritize linebacker at the draft was their belief that the Steelers were on the verge of releasing Larry Foote, and that the Detroit native and former University of Michigan star wanted to sign with them. If that was the plan, it worked. The team announced this morning that Foote has agreed to a one-year contract to fill its hole at middle linebacker.
The 28-year-old Foote, a two-time Super Bowl champion with Pittsburgh, is likely to start at middle linebacker ahead of DeAndre Levy, the Wisconsin linebacker the team picked in the third round of this year's draft. Levy, who played outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense in college, would then spend this year learning the middle linebacker position as Foote's backup.
TAMPA, Fla. -- We don't watch Super Bowls for the chip dip, as Bruce Springsteen wisecracked during his 12-minute party. We crave the emotional bull rush, a crescendo finish, the natural high that Michael Phelps finds in a marijuana pipe. The big game used to bore like a 4 a.m. infomercial, but Sunday, it delivered again, like last year, hijacking our senses with head-banging, back-and-forth drama that even might have thrilled The Boss, the rocker who hates football.
PHILADELPHIA -- Brian Westbrook did not practice with the Eagles on Wednesday, nor did he talk about why. His coach, Andy Reid, said Westbrook would practice Thursday and that the reason he was held out Wednesday was his ankle, and not the concussion he suffered in the team's Oct. 26 victory over the Redskins. But if you buy that, I've got a South Philly bridge to sell you, too.
In case you hadn't noticed, sports these days are all about Goliath. In 2009, the 
PITTSBURGH -- 
PITTSBURGH -- They watched, and they kicked at the grass and thought about how it all could have been different. The players on the San Diego Chargers defense watched their brilliant, tough, never-say-die quarterback, 
The union's message to its players as the collective bargaining negotiations begin is coalescing. Union head 
One of the reasons the Detroit Lions didn't prioritize linebacker at the draft was their belief that the Steelers were on the verge of releasing 
