Yesterday it was reported that the Pittsburgh Steelers and linebacker James Farrior were close to a contract extension, and today it’s being reported that the deal is done.

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that Farrior, who had one year remaining on his current contract at a base salary of $3.24 million, will sign a four-year extension through the 2012 season today.

Per Bouchette, the deal is worth $18.25 million and includes a $5 million signing bonus, slightly less than $10 million over the first two years and $12.6 million over the first three years.

The 33-year-old Farrior is coming off a 2007 season in which he started all 16 games and had a career-high 6.5 sacks.

Steelers left tackle Marvel Smith sounds like a man who expects to finish his career somewhere other than Pittsburgh.

Smith is heading into the final year of his contract, and he and the Steelers are not close to an extension. And with the Steelers’ general policy of refusing to negotiate deals during the season, Smith tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review “it’s pretty much guaranteed” that he will leave after the season, barring a long-term deal suddenly coming to fruition within the next couple of weeks.

Added Smith’s agent, Ken Zuckerman, “He doesn’t like change and would definitely be open to working out a contract before the season. However, once the regular season starts with no extension in place, he will be forced to enter the free-agent market.”

The key issue for Smith is whether he can stay healthy. He missed five games last year because of a back injury, but after surgery, Smith says he has plenty of good years left.

He may play those years for a new team.

In a posting regarding the passing of Executive Director Gene Upshaw, the NFL Players Association discloses that Upshaw first became aware of his illness on Sunday, August 17.

It was only two days after his 63rd birthday.

Four days later, he was gone.

Upshaw had been fighting pancreatic cancer, a disease that often develops silently, producing no symptoms until the final stages of the illness.

The news has sent shock waves throughout the league, and many executives and agents are still stunned by the news.

Though Upshaw was at times a polarizing figure, his contributions to the game were immense.  If he weren’t already in the Hall of Fame for his performance on the field as a long-time member of the Oakland Raiders, Upshaw would merit immediate induction based on his body of work on behalf of the players.

On Upshaw’s watch, the players finally realized their goal of true free agency. And the salary cap system that came with it created a strong sense of parity, giving every team an equal chance of building a winning team. Along the way, Upshaw secured for the players nearly 60 cents of every dollar that was generated by the game.

We send out our deepest condolences to Gene Upshaw’s family, friends, and colleagues at the NFLPA.

Rams running back Steven Jackson has finally ended his holdout, and now he says he’s about to get paid.

“In principle, it’s agreed to,” Jackson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He added that a few more details on a new contract will be worked out today and then, “We’ll be pretty much done … we got it done.”

Although contract negotiations that involve holdouts are often acrimonious, Jackson said he’s satisfied with the way negotiations have progressed.

“Things really got hot and heavy [Wednesday], and that’s when I booked the flight,” Jackson said. “When you’re talking about this kind of money, there’s going to be some kind of gripes and concerns. In negotiations, no one gets 100 percent what they want, so it was just the two of us coming to an agreement on some things.”

The 2008 season represents the final year of the five-year contract Jackson signed as the Rams’ first-round draft pick in 2004. He has said that he is mindful of the risk of injury for an NFL running back and wants to get a long-term deal in place that will ensure him financial security.

The Post-Dispatch reports that the Rams offered Jackson a seven-year, $50 million contract with $17 million in guarantees in late July, and that the final numbers of the contract Jackson is likely to sign this week won’t be significantly different from that.

OK, this one is now officially getting weird.

As the NFL and its 32 teams gets their arms around the new coin toss rule, someone has screwed up the interpretation or application of it.

We contributed to that process earlier today, unfortunately, by reading only some but not all of the Cardinals-Chiefs “Game Book” for the second week of the 2008 preseason.

Per the Game Book (a link to which appears on the right side of this page), the Cardinals won the toss and elected to kick.  The Chiefs opted to defend the East goal.

Per the Game Book, the Chiefs elected to receive to start the third quarter.

But then the play-by-play listed beneath the explanation shows that the Chiefs actually kicked off to the Cardinals.

So we don’t know what the hell happened.  Apparently, the Game Book is wrong.  And, yeah, we made the mistake of assuming that the official documentation of what happened at an NFL game was accurate.

The other possibility is that the Chiefs indeed elected to receive after the Cardinals elected to kick, the Cardinals complained to the officials about it, the officials gave the Cardinals a Mulligan on the coin toss rule since it’s the preseason, and those nuances didn’t appear anywhere in the Game Book.

After several hours of uncertainty and confusion regarding the condition of Hall of Famer Gene Upshaw, it has been confirmed by NFL.com that Upshaw has died of pancreatic cancer.

He turned 63 just last Friday.

It’s still unknown whether he had been fighting the disease for an extended period, or whether he was diagnosed recently.  (Not long ago, I heard of an otherwise healthy man who died only six days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.)

Regardless of whether Upshaw knew about his condition for days, weeks, or months, his passing creates an immediate power vacuum at the NFL Players Association.  With the regular season only two weeks away, a conference call of the players will need to be arranged as soon as possible, and an interim Executive Director will need to be appointed.

Possibilities include NFLPA General Counsel Richard Berthelsen, and NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler.  Another possibility (albeit, in our view, remote) would be agent Tom Condon, who represented Upshaw and previously served as NFLPA President.

Looking ahead, it’s very possible that a permanent replacement won’t be named before the next annual meeting in March 2009.  And this likely means that NFL teams should finalize plans for the “last capped year” under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will begin in late February or early March of 2009.

In 2006, a new CBA was negotiated on the eve of the “last capped year,” since the cap rules and restrictions were forcing teams to realize that the “last capped year” was going to be nearly as much of a headache as an uncapped year.  So if the league ends up entering the “last capped year,” the chances of having an uncapped year in 2010 possibly would increase.

After posting our most recent item about the failure of the Arizona Cardinals to properly invoke the ability to defer the option to kick or to receive until the second half of their preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, we went back and reviewed the official Game Book for every preseason game played this year.

(In response to some questions we’ve gotten, the magic words aren’t “we defer.”  Instead, the team that wins the toss exercises its ability to defer by choosing which end of the field to defend.) 

Of the 33 preseason games, the new rule has been used in only six of them.  (And, in another one of them, it was screwed up by the Cardinals.)

The Patriots used the ability to defer the kick/receive option twice, the Titans used it against the Raiders on August 15, and Ravens used it against the Vikings on August 16, and the Chargers used it against the Rams and the Cowboys used it against the Broncos that same day.

But we also found evidence of a problem with either the application of the rule, or the memorialization of it in the official Game Books.

In three of last weekend’s games (Vikings-Ravens, Chargers-Rams, and Cowboys-Broncos), the Game Book indicates that the team that won the toss elected to kick, and the team that lost the toss picked a goal to defend.  Then, for each game, the Game Book shows that the team that won the toss elected to receive at the start of the second half.

One possible explanation is that each of the teams pulled an Arizona, and the officials either didn’t catch it or let them get by with it at the start of the third quarter.   The other possible explanation is that the folks who put together the Game Books simply wrote the sequence of events up incorrectly.

Then again, it’s the preseason.  Hopefully, all of the teams, game officials, and scriveners will have this one figured out by the time the real games start.

The first commenter who posted in response to Wednesday’s story from MDS regarding the intention of Cowboys coach Wade Phillips to defer whenever winning the coin toss claimed that the Arizona Cardinals opted to defer during their preseason opener against the Saints.

The truth is that they didn’t.

But we appreciate the comment, because it sparked a discussion and ensuing research that allowed us to determine that the Cardinals broke new ground in their second preseason game.

They screwed up the new rule by winning the toss, and then choosing to kick.

That’s not how the rule works.  For the team that wins the toss, there are now two general choices that can be made.  The team that wins the toss can choose to kick or to receive, or the team that wins the toss can choose which end of the field to defend.

If the team that wins the toss chooses which end to defend, the team that lost the toss chooses whether to kick or to receive.  Then, to start the second half, the team that won the toss will choose whether to kick or to receive.

By choosing to kick instead of choosing which end of the field to defend, the Cardinals put the Chiefs in position at the start of the third quarter to choose whether to kick or to receive.  And the Chiefs chose to receive.

So the Chiefs got the ball to start each half of the game.

The lesson for coaches and, more importantly, game captains is simple.  The magic words when winning the toss aren’t “we want to kick.”  You need to make it clear that you’re choosing one end of the field to defend.

If you’re lucky (or if you’re playing the Cardinals), then perhaps the other team will say, “Fine.  We want to kick.”

UPDATE:  As explained right here, the Game Book shows that the Chiefs elected to receive at the start of the second half after the Cards elected to kick to start the game . . . but the Chiefs then kicked off to start the second half.

A report citing unnamed sources from Clear Channel online indicates that Hall of Fame offensive lineman Gene Upshaw, the long-time Executive Director of the NFL Players Association, has died at the age of 63.

Per the report, Upshaw had been fighting pancreatic cancer.

Upshaw’s condition not been publicly known, and it’s unclear whether others at the NFLPA were aware of the illness, which is one of the most serious forms of cancer. 

It’s also unknown whether the disease had developed recently, or whether Upshaw became afflicated with it months ago.

It’s a shocking development, to say the least.  In recent months, Upshaw had indicated a desire to stay on the job through the completion of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations, which became a focal point for the league and the union in May of this year, when owners voted to end the current CBA two years early.

Upshaw also has been criticized for his refusal to allow the NFLPA to identify his successor, out of fears that the league would then undermine him by working directly with the successor as to key terms of the CBA. 

But now the NFLPA by all appearances will be thrust into disarray, with a power vacuum only two weeks from the start of the 2008 regular season.

Our friends at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh (actually, we don’t really know them, but they seem nice) report that the Steelers and linebacker James Farrior are close to working out a contract extension.

Farrior is entering the last year of his current deal.  He’s due to earn a base salary of $3.24 million in 2008.

The 1997 first-rounder from Virginia spent five seasons with the Jets before joining the Steelers in 2002.  He has started all but four regular-season games in his six years with the Steelers.

Per the report, the deal could come as soon as tomorrow, and likely will be hammered out before Saturday’s game against the Vikings.

The Steelers typically don’t negotiate contracts with current players once the regular season opens.

Bills quarterback Trent Edwards didn’t practice on Wednesday, due to a deep thigh bruise suffered when he knocked knees Tuesday night with running back Marshawn Lynch.  (Lynch has refused to be interviewed by authorities regarding whether he ran into Edwards.)

Edwards has a deep thigh bruise, and was walking with a limp.

Wednesday was the final day of the team’s annual training camp.

Five members of the Cleveland Browns were injured on Monday night against the Giants.

Apparently, none of them will play in the next preseason game against the Lions.

Quarterback Derek Anderson (concussion), receiver/kick returner Joshua Cribbs (high ankle sprain), running back Jamal Lewis (hamstring), safety Brodney Pool (concussion), and linebacker Willie McGinest (groin) missed practice Wednesday.

Coach Romeo Crennel said that it’s likely that each will miss the game.

Two weeks after the Jets jettisoned quarterback Chad Pennington, receiver Lanveranues Coles still isn’t talking.

But Chad Pennington is.

Pennington spoke to Tim Graham of ESPN.com about the situation.

“Laveranues Coles’ best trait is loyalty,” Pennington said.  “He’s an extremely loyal guy.  That’s what has made him great in the league, and it’s taken him a long way in life.

“I don’t fault him for that and I respect him for that.  But once the games start and the whistle blows, he’ll play hard for the Jets.  I don’t think anybody can ever question that.”

It’s no suprise to Pennington that Coles was upset by the decision to dump the veteran quaterback.

“There’s a special bond there,” Pennington said.  “We came into the league together, and we’ve been great friends for a long time.  But Laveranues also has that edge about him.  [Coles’ silent treatment] is not something that I would make too big a deal of.”

Meanwhile, Jets beat writer Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post called out Coles, “an unfortunate adolescent act of sulking over his hurt feelings.”

We heard rumors that Coles actually left the team’s hotel in Cleveland for a bit, where the Jets were preparing for a preseason game.  There also has been talk more recently that Coles’ silence is motivated in part by comments made in the media about his silence.

Man, we’ll be glad when they start playing the damn games. 

The PFTV guys take a look-see at the NFC North for the coming season.

Here it is.

Enjoy.

We just saw Jamaica’s Usain Bolt set the world record in the 200-meter dash.  And the first thing that came to mind was this.

How fast would he be if he hadn’t spent much of his life breathing second-hand marijuana smoke?

And then the next thing that came to mind was whether this guy, who stands six-feet, five inches tall, could play in the NFL.

The first key question is can he catch?  (See Williamson, Troy.)  

The second key question is will he take a hit?  (See Pinkston, Todd.)

Still, given this guy’s speed, Bolt deserves a chance to show what he can do.

If he wants it.  At only 21, he might not be ready to give up track and field.  If/when he is, however, we figure he’ll get a shot.

And even if he can’t catch a ball and/or take a hit, he’ll at least be as good as Williamson and Pinkston.

The folks at FOX are blazing another new trail when it comes to NFL coverage.  For the first time, an active player will serve as an analyst on a network preview show.

Specifically, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reports that Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman will join FSN’s Pro Football Preview.

Merriman will join Jay Glazer and Eddie George for the weekly offering on FOX’s all-sports cable network.

“It is one thing to have somebody who played talk about what’s going on each week, but to have somebody who is still playing takes our show to another level,” said FOX Senior Vice President Rick Jaffe.  “The insight he will bring just raised the bar for every NFL pre-game show on television.”

In the past, the various network shows have hosted active players during their bye weeks.  But this is the first time a player will show up every week to talk about the coming slate of games.

Each Thursday, Merriman will fly from San Diego to Los Angeles for the taping of the show.

Accommodations likely will be necessary on October 23, when the Chargers will be preparing for an October 26 game in London against the Saints, and on December 4, when the Chargers will be hosting the Raiders in a game to be aired on NFL Network. 

Broncos center Tom Nalen will have another surgery on his left knee this week, calling into question whether he will be ready to play for the start of the season.

Coach Mike Shanahan described the surgery as a “clean-up,” and he said he hopes Nalen can go when the Broncos open the season on Monday night, September 8, at Oakland. But it sounds awfully optimistic to think that a 37-year-old coming off his second knee surgery of the summer will be ready to play in less than three weeks.

Nalen had arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in the knee in June. He participated in the first week of training camp, but soreness in the knee has kept him out of most training camp practices and both of the Broncos’ preseason games.

Nalen is heading into his 15th year with the Broncos. He has been relatively healthy for most of his career, starting all 16 games in 10 of his previous 14 seasons, including both of the Broncos’ Super Bowl-winning years, 1997 and 1998. But he was lost for the season with a torn right biceps in the fifth game of 2007, and now his 2008 season is getting off to a rough start.

MDS mentioned it in a One-Liner earlier in the day, but I’m compelled to elaborate.

In a nutshell, Colts receiver Marvin Harrison is an odd dude.

He’s a great football player, I’ll gladly give him that.  Last year, we put him at No. 12 in our list of the top 25 players of the past 25 years.  He was on track a year ago to make a run for the records set by Jerry Rice, which many presumed would never be seriously challenged.

That said, Marvin is odd.  His career of choice involves playing a game in front of millions of people.  And yet he’s intensely private.

Usually, guys with “look-at-me” skills crave the attention that goes along with being looked at, even when they’re pretending that they don’t crave it.  Clearly, however, Harrison abhors the attention that his job attracts.

And then, on Tuesday, he opted to break his extended silence via an exclusive interview with the Indianapolis Star, which tends to be favorable (and that’s putting it mildly) when it comes to the home team.

To his credit, Mike Chappell of the Star had the guts to ask Harrison about the incident in Philly involving a shooting with a gun owned by Harrison.  Amazingly, a Colts official intervened at that point to block the line of questioning.

What, is Marvin unable to say, “Mike, I’m not gonna talk about that”?

Harrison also was strangely belligerent in response to questions about his recovery from a knee injury that knocked him out for much of the 2007 season.

Asked whether he’s back to full strength, Harrison said, “I mean, have you been in Terre Haute watching practice?  You can write what you see.  That’s the best way I can tell you.”

Harrison was told that readers might prefer to hear what Harrison has to say on the subject.  His response?

“You all seem to know more about it . . . you all write what you see.  That way I won’t have a comment.”

Harrison also said he was upset with some of the things that have been written about him of late.  He was reminded that, in the past, he’d had some “engaging” discussions with the media.

“Oh, yes, we have,” Harrison said. “Then sometimes you walk out with that knife in your back sometimes.  [Editor’s note:  Or, as the case may be, a bullet in your hand.]  I’ll just say nothing.  There will be better days down the line, but I have nothing right now.”

So Harrison agreed to be interviewed, only to say nothing at all.  And to be pissed off while doing so.

Odd.

In a sign that should be encouraging to every fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, quarterback Jeff Garcia and receiver Joey Galloway are expected to participate in the team’s next preseason game, against the Jaguars.

The third preseason game is usually the most important of the four games that don’t count, with game-planning and starters playing into the second half.

“We’ll see how [Jeff] feels here,” coach Jon Gruden.  “We have that right, but I’d like to get him out there and get him some snaps where he gets some game speed.  I’d like to get him acclimated a little bit.  I asked a lot of race car drivers the same question.  You don’t show up for NASCAR and race around the track for 500 miles.  You have practice runs and things like that.  I want him to get acclimated to the speed of the game.  More than anything I want him to be in the huddle with his teammates.  A quarterback reflects the image of an offense’s football team.  Certainly we need our captain out there and we need to get him some work.”

Garcia strained a calf muscle early in camp.  Galloway missed all of camp with a groin injury.

We’ve taken a few days off from overtly pimping our sister site, CollegeFootballTalk.com.

And, like Kramer when he tried to not talk, we can’t keep quiet, either.

Today’s CFT features a story about the son of a former NFL great who has been suspended by his college team.

Wanna know more?  Click here.

OK.  That’s it.  No more CFT pimping.  Starting . . . . . now.

One of the last remaining NFL holdouts could be ending.

Per Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com, Rams running back Steven Jackson is heading to St. Louis in an effort to work out a new contract with the team.

The move is described as a good-faith effort by Jackson to solve the problem. 

He’ll be accompanied by his agent, and the goal is to get a deal done within the next 24-to-48 hours.

Jackson is entering the final year of his rookie contract.  He presumably wants to haul in a big-money deal before continuing to expose himself to chronic injury. 

And the Rams need him.  They have been listless on offense in the preseason, and quarterback Marc Bulger has looked mediocre, at best.

Jackson is subject to fines that currently approach $400,000.  It’s unknown whether the fines will be enforced or waived.

The Carolina Panthers announced today that they have released defensive tackle Ian Scott, the latest setback for a player who just a few years ago looked like one of the best young defensive linemen in football.

“He did everything right. He was a kid we liked and it was very unfortunate,” coach John Fox said. “The way it worked out there’s a chance when he gets healthy that we can bring him back later in the season. We felt like we dealt with him fairly and he did a fantastic job for us.”

With the Bears in 2005, Scott was a starter on the best defense in the NFL. But he lost his starting job in 2006 and was out of Chicago after the season. Last year he signed with the Eagles but was put on injured reserve before the season, and this year Scott suffered a knee injury early in training camp. Steve Reed of CarolinaGrowl.com reports that the Panthers reached an injury settlement with Scott, and because of that settlement, can’t re-sign him until after the ninth game of the season.

The Panthers will start Maake Kemoeatu and Damione Lewis at defensive tackle, with Darwin Walker as the third man in the rotation and rookie Nick Hayden as the No. 4.

The team signed undrafted rookie wide receiver Sean Bailey to fill Scott’s roster spot.

The Miami Dolphins have announced the trade of cornerback Travis Daniels to the Cleveland Browns.

In exchange for Daniels, Cleveland sent an undisclosed draft pick to Miami.

Daniels was a fourth-round draft pick in 2005, and he was a favorite of Nick Saban, who coached him both at LSU and with the Dolphins. He started 14 games as a rookie.

But Daniels started just six games in 2006 and five in 2007, and he was in danger of getting cut before the season. He’ll have a chance to compete for a starting spot in Cleveland.

The Philadelphia Eagles have lost their No. 1 receiver for what is being described as “a significant amount of time.”

Coach Andy Reid confirmed today that wide receiver Kevin Curtis will have sports hernia surgery. Curtis got hurt in Thursday’s preseason game against the Carolina Panthers. He attempted to practice but hasn’t been able to go full speed since.

Reid said the Eagles will not bring in another wide receiver, and the starters heading into Friday’s preseason game at New England will be rookie DeSean Jackson and either Hank Baskett or Greg Lewis. Reggie Brown is out with a hamstring injury.

In his first four seasons in the NFL, Curtis was mostly a role player and third receiver for the Rams. But after signing with the Eagles last year Curtis had his best season, leading the Eagles with 1,110 receiving yards on 77 catches.

We’ve noted previously that the NFL has changed its coin flip rules to give teams the option of deferring until the second half, also known as the Madden kickoff rule. And we’ve also noted that early in the preseason, Patriots coach Bill Belichick was the only coach taking advantage of the new rule.

But it appears that other coaches are starting to catch on.

Cowboys coach Wade Phillips will defer when his team wins the coin toss this season, Todd Archer of the Dallas Morning News reports. That puts Phillips in line with what the majority of college coaches do at the start of games, but what a minority of NFL coaches have done, at least so far in the preseason.

Is there really a strategic advantage in choosing to defer? Some coaches like getting the ball first in the second half because they think it gives them an edge in halftime adjustments, while others like to get their defense on the field to start the first half, to take advantage of loud home crowds. Belichick and Phillips think it’s enough of an advantage that they’d rather defer than receive.

Tatum Bell opened the 2007 season as the Detroit Lions’ starting running back. But after carrying 15 times for 87 yards in Week 1, he was gradually phased out of the offense, and he was inactive for every game after the Lions’ Week 6 bye.

Bell places the blame for that on one person: Former Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

“I am glad Martz is gone and you can tell him I said it, too,” Bell tells the Detroit News. “I think he played me. He was not honest with me as a man or as a coach and my position coach [Wilbert Montgomery] didn’t have anything to say either. Nobody was telling me stuff.”

Although Bell is far from the first person to complain that Martz doesn’t run the ball enough, he seems to minimize his own role in the Lions losing confidence in their running game.
“I was so happy to get out of here after the last game,” Bell said. “Playing for Martz last year I hated it. You don’t understand how hurt I was sitting on the sidelines and not getting that many carries. I mean, I started the season with like 15 carries and then I got like five carries against Minnesota. I know they are a good run-stop team, but that shows you we’re scared of them. That ticked me off. How many starting running backs do you know get five carries in a game?”

The truth is, Bell carried nine times for 14 yards in the game against the Vikings.  Martz isn’t the only offensive coordinator who would stop short of giving a running back a 10th carry if he totaled 14 yards on his first nine carries.

So far in two preseason games this year, Bell has 12 carries for 17 yards. Bell might be right that Martz wasn’t honest with him, but with Martz now gone, Bell might want to consider that his biggest problem isn’t his coaches, it’s himself.

We’re pleased, thrilled, happy, and frankly a bit befuddled to announce that former Denver Broncos G.M. Ted Sundquist will be joining the PFT team.

Seriously.

Ted will be responsible for a brand-new feature on the site. Each week, he’ll provide a scouting report for three selected games. Then, after the games are played, he’ll provide a scouting breakdown of each of the three contests.

Needless to say, it’s a new frontier for us. Arguably, it’s overdue.

None of it means we’re changing the way we do things. We haven’t, and we won’t, lose our edge. We’re just enhancing the features in order to provide you with an even better experience.

Ted spent 16 years with the Broncos, and ultimately earned the title of General Manager. Before joining the Broncos, he served as head coach as the United States Air Force Academy Prep School from 1990 through 1992. In 1989, he was an assistant coach at the Air Force Academy.

He also has served as an Air Force flight commander, and competed in the U.S. Olympics bobsled team trials in 1988.

Two years ago, when NBC assumed the Sunday night football package and ESPN upgraded (or, as the case may be, downgraded) to Monday nights, NBC also finagled the ability to have the only extensive early evening highlights show.The effort, awkwardly dubbed “Football Night In America” and staffed with (at last count) 63 talking heads, has fallen short thus far of ESPN’s old “Primetime” show, which featured three things: highlights and Chris Berman and Tom Jackson.

We’re told that, during a Tuesday ESPN media breakfast that we were invited to attend but couldn’t (A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin has a great recap of the event), it was announced that Berman and Jackson, as of the start of the NFL season, will take over the Sunday evening SportsCenter, beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.

The show will include NFL game highlights, but not the extensive packages available to NBC. However, it will be Berman and Jackson (and also Merril Hoge, Mike Ditka and probably Trent Dilfer) offering up their analysis of the games.

Though we wonder whether the apparent intent to conjure a Primetime Light might get the folks at NBC a bit nervous about whether their turf is being invaded, we love this move. For two reasons.

First, we missed Primetime. We suspect many others did, too.

Second, the presence of Primetime Light will likely force NBC to roll up its sleeves and try to make its own show better.

In the end, the viewers win.

On Sunday night, Sterling Sharpe of NFL Network threw some barbs at Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel, whom Sharpe believes looked so-so at best during the Pats’ preseason game with the Buccaneers.

Since then, New England starter Tom Brady has taken issue with the comments regarding his understudy’s abilities.

“Watching Matt, hearing all the criticism, I don’t even know where that was coming from,” Brady said Monday on a WEEI appearance with our old friend Michael Felger (who has forgotten, sniff, about us now that he’s big time). “That was so far from what I was watching. The quarterback has a lot of responsibility out there. I thought Matt was making good decisions. He was really decisive with his throws. Was every throw perfect? No. But that doesn’t happen so often anyway.

“I see Matt every day in practice and the improvement he makes. I love what I see in Matt. I have a lot of confidence in Matt . . . for the three guys sitting in the booth, I thought it was unfair to criticize the way they were criticizing, because I don’t think they really knew what was happening.”

Sharpe, however, is standing firm.

“I’m not going to disagree with Tom’s assessment of Matt Cassel,” Sharpe told the Boston Herald. “I can’t. I’m not there every day. But I would still say my criticism of Matt Cassel in that football game was based on the offense not having any shape or form. I’m putting all that on him. I’m not looking at the offensive line being out. I’m not looking at the running backs. I’m just looking at a guy who’s in a quarterback battle and looks this dull from where we were in the booth. That was an opportunity for him to distance himself a little bit. And he didn’t.

“My criticisms were based on the fact the offense hasn’t flowed in the two game Matt has been in. And based on the injuries, there’s a chance, if Tom were to go down, there’s a chance Matt’s going to be [the] quarterback, and I think all of us watching are curious to see what that offense would look like without Tom. Sure, he had a few drops in there, but when the offense struggles like that, I gave a lot of the criticism to Matt.

“[F]rom a player’s perspective, I’m looking at it like, he’s already been in the situation for three years now and he’s in a quarterback battle with a rookie and a guy without much experience? If he’s in a battle, you’d expect him to win it. . . . This was his opportunity to separate himself from the other guys. He has to show why he is the No. 2 guy in New England. So I put more pressure on Matt to perform than I did [Kevin] O’Connell. You bet I did.”

We agree with Sharpe. Cassel is the guy who’ll be expected to step in if/when Tom Brady can’t play. And Cassel has done nothing to make us (or anyone) say “wow” or “damn” or “cool” or “groovy” or “brick-a-brack” (just seeing if you’re paying attention) during his preseason performances.

Though we don’t put much stock in the preseason when a quarterback plays well, we think that a poor performance by a passer during the preseason is cause for concern. Because if the guy can’t keep his head and make his reads and get rid of the ball during live action in a game that doesn’t count, it’s safe to say he’ll struggle in a games that does.

Nobody expects the backup to Tom Brady to play as well as the sure-fire Hall of Famer. But the gap between Brady and Cassel seems largers than it should be. Especially since Cassel has been around the league for a while now.

Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman hasn’t had a good off-season.

Merriman had his Mercedes torched in March, he had to shoot down rumors of a suspension in April and he had strep throat and a fever at the start of the preseason.

And now he’s suffering from what is described as “persistent knee pain,” and he needs to see Dr. James Andrews about it.

The North County Times reports that Merriman missed two more practices Tuesday as he traveled to Andrews’ offices in Alabama, and isn’t expected back to Chargers Park until Thursday. Andrews repaired cartilage damage in Merriman’s left knee five months ago, and the Chargers are describing this as a “follow-up exam.”

In other Chargers injury news, tight end Antonio Gates was taken off the Physically Unable to Perform list and participated in practice. Defensive end Luis Castillo is still hurting with a back injury, but he got his most extensive work in two weeks and says he’d be playing if this were the regular season.

Dolphins LB Joey Porter is feeling frustrated with his nagging injuries, the latest of which is a sprained knee.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick doesn’t worry about game plans during the preseason.

Bills DT Spencer Johnson reflects on the loss of his father.

Says Jets coach Eric Mangini of his comments to K Mike Nugent after Nugent missed a 23-yard field goal, “I just said, ‘Look, we’ve got to move forward.’ I don’t anticipate that happening again in the future.”

Expect Cowboys QB Tony Romo to get plenty of face time on tonight’s Hard Knocks.

Giants RB Danny Ware is looking good in the preseason, but there might not be room for him on the 53-man roster.

The Eagles’ defensive line situation is still unsettled.

If the Redskins keep four running backs on the roster, Marcus Mason has a good chance of being one of them.

Says Ravens TE Daniel Wilcox, “I’ve always had a free-agent mind-frame. I could be gone any day. That’s why I’ve continued to play like every day is my last.”

Bengals DE Antwan Odom walked Tuesday afternoon without a protective boot on his injured left foot.

Said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin after watching S Troy Polamalu practice, “He ran around and looked pretty good. We’re being cautious. We can’t take steps backward.”

Former Browns Coach Sam Rutigliano said after watching the Browns’ performance Monday night, “It looked like the players were trying to get everybody fired.”

Bears S Brandon McGowan says he has been in situations where he was in trouble, “But you look at situations with Adam Jones and Tank Johnson, and you realize how bad things can get.”

Says Lions CB Brian Kelly of why he gets along with coach Rod Marinelli, “He’s a military guy, and my dad’s a military guy.”

Brady Poppinga appears to be ahead of Brandon Chillar for the job of Packers strong-side linebacker.

Vikings LB Erin Henderson gets autograph requests from people who think he’s his older brother.

Asked whether he’s back to full speed after last year’s knee injury, Colts WR Marvin Harrison said, “I mean, have you been in Terre Haute watching practice? You can write what you see. That’s the best way I can tell you.”

Says Texans coach Gary Kubiak of TE Mark Bruener, “He’s such a great presence on this team and positive influence on all of these young kids.”

Jaguars DE Quentin Groves wants to be more than a situational pass rusher.

Titans DE Kyle Vanden Bosch says his body fat is down to 5 percent.

Falcons S Daren Stone is drawing praise for his hitting.

The Panthers may go into the season with just two quarterbacks on the roster.

Injuries are taking their toll on the Saints’ defensive line.

Asked how he’ll account for RG Davin Joseph’s injury, Bucs coach Jon Gruden said, “We’ll look at rookie Jeremy Zuttah over there, and veteran Dan Buenning has the ability to go in there. We’ll adjust if we have to adjust. The show goes on.”

Former Broncos WR Rod Smith is taking on the challenge of mentoring Brandon Marshall.

Chiefs LT Herb Taylor is making an impression filling in for injured rookie Brandon Albert.

Says Chargers GM A.J. Smith of trading for WR Chris Chambers, “We’re very, very happy with how it worked out. It was everything that we hoped and more. We felt he was an outstanding talent who could help the San Diego Chargers win.”

Tyvon Branch is leading a wide-open race to be the Raiders’ kick returner.

Cardinals LBs Chike Okeafor (hip flexor) and Karlos Dansby (elbow) missed practice, but the injuries aren’t believed to be serious.

Rams WR/KR Dante Hall says he feels rejuvenated.

The ankle injury suffered by 49ers LG Adam Snyder isn’t thought to be serious.

Seahawks P Ryan Plackemeier appears to be winning the competition with Reggie Hodges.

When Rams defensive tackle Claude Wroten was suspended for the 2008 season, he forfeited $445,000 in signing bonus money.

He also might have to write a check for more than $200,000 to the team.

Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Rams have filed a grievance against Wroten, seeking repayment of his signing bonus allocation for the third year of his four-year rookie deal.

It’s an open-and-shut case, as we see it.  Wroten, through his own actions (and stupidity . . . more on that in a minute) has put himself in a position where he won’t deliver on one-fourth of the services that he promised to provide when he received a signing bonus, which contrary to the beliefs of many players and agents isn’t a lottery prize but advance compensation for future services.

If Wroten isn’t reinstated for 2009, he’ll owe another $200,000 as well.  And our guess is that, barring a dramatic increase in IQ points, Wroten won’t be back.

Here’s why.  Our buddy Howard Balzer of The Sports Xchange and InsideStL.com recently reported that the league was prepared to withdraw the one-year suspension, since it was imposed not for a positive test but for a missed test.  Instead, he was going to be fined four game checks. 

Wroten, however, didn’t show up for the appeal hearing.

Twice.

Seriously.

When he didn’t show for the first one, the league rescheduled it.  And then he didn’t show for the second.

Over the next year, Wroten will have to show up for every required test and stay clean.  He’ll also need to prove himself worthy of reinstatement come next July.  If the guy can’t show up for a hearing that ultimately has nearly $650,000 in the balance, our sense is that he has decided to pack it in and move on.

We’ve been saying for weeks now that, regardless of how the Cowboys perform in the 2008 regular season, an enormous amount of pressure will bubble up if/when the Cowboys prepare for their first playoff game.

They haven’t won a postseason contest since beating the Vikings the night before my soon-to-be-12-year-old was baptized.  (I took the Cowboys, gave the points, and doubled his college fund.  Just kidding.  It was our rainy-day fund.)  And with high-profile quarterback Tony Romo being 0-2 in the playoffs and another loss or two away from developing a reputation as a guy who can’t win in January, the focus on the Cowboys as they play that first postseason game will be extreme.

It will now be even more intense, given that receiver Terrell Owens has questioned the team’s strategy in last year’s home loss to the Giants in the divisional round.

T.O. had a sprained ankle, but thinks he was 100 percent.  He says that the coaching staff didn’t regard him as 100 percent, and as a result didn’t use him down the field.

“I feel I made the most of the opportunities,” Owens said.  “It was just like when I played in the Super Bowl with the [Philadelphia] Eagles, I told the coach if I am on the football field to treat me as if I am 100 percent.  I don’t think they [were] considering what I did in the game. . . . I felt like I could have done more.”

Owens caught four passes for 49 yards and a touchdown in the first half.  He caught no passes in the second half of the 21-17 loss to the Giants.

The Bengals re-introduced receiver Chris Henry via a Wednesday night press conference, and Henry proclaimed that his second stint with the team will be something lengthier than a 60-day sentence in the county lockup.

“I plan on being around for awhile,” Henry said.

His return, however, came without the blessing of coach Marvin Lewis, who was more than happy to point the finger at ownership for bringing Henry back.

“I obviously know at the end of the day the owner has the final say-so on whether he wants to give a guy an opportunity or not,” Lewis said.

We think it’s time to start taking bets on where Lewis will be working as defensive coordinator in 2008.

Meanwhile, the local reaction to the move has been, in some circles, harsh.  Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer has penned a Pulitzter-quality indictment of the franchise for abandoning its values (if it had any) in order to beef up a weak spot on the roster.

And, if Henry gets in trouble again, the NFL should impose a stiff fine on the Bengals.  Ultimately, we remain convinced that teams will be deterred from harboring turds only when future draft picks are at stake.

For the Bengals, however, losing picks might be a good thing, given some of the bad dudes they’ve acquired on draft days in the past.

UPDATE:  Henry also has landed a new sponsorship deal.  Who’da thunk it?

We’re making a few mild changes to the front page of the site as we get ready for the 2008 regular season.

For starters, we’ve extended the front page to make room for easy-to-find links to every franchise’s Team Page.

Like the “old” PFT, the Team Pages contain links to local newspapers, team-specific sites, and national sites.

The “new” PFT, however, also provides links to the 25 most recent Rumor Mill items regarding each team.  So if you miss a day or two (you anti-dentite bastard), you can quickly see if you’ve missed anything regarding the teams you follow without scrolling past the 30-plus stories we’re now posting every day.

So check out the Team Pages, and bookmark the page for your favorite team.