Saints optimistic about McAllister's comeback
METAIRIE, La. -- Defensive end Charles Grant said he could envision naming a son after Deuce McAllister.
Fullback Mike Karney called McAllister "the people's champ."
At Saints headquarters this week, it was clear that fans in the Louisiana Superdome, who howled "Deeuuce!" every time McAllister ran the ball, weren't the only ones energized by the performance of the Saints' all-time rushing leader last Sunday.
"I play for guys like Deuce," said Karney, who watched last weekend's game from the sideline with a sore ankle, but hopes to return Monday night against Minnesota. "I was chanting his name. He gets introduced and the crowd just goes crazy."
McAllister rushed 20 times for 73 yards and a touchdown, and also had a 10-yard, third-down reception to sustain a scoring drive during New Orleans' 31-17 victory over San Francisco. It was his first real work since coming back from his second major knee operation in the previous three seasons.
McAllister, who has now rushed for 5,761 career yards and 45 touchdowns in 71 starts, said the runs that pleased him most were "the ugliest ones, where you have a guy in the backfield and you have to do something that normally you wouldn't have to do."
"It's the ones that you gain 3 or 4 yards, but it should have been a tackle for a loss."
It is that same workhorse approach that may have saved the 29-year-old's football career from a premature end.
McAllister tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in 2005 and his left ACL in Week 3 of last season. He also had microfracture surgery on his right knee last year, a procedure in which holes are drilled into bone in order to regenerate soft tissue that mimics the padding effect of cartilage in the joint.
Having rushed for 1,057 yards and 10 touchdowns after his first knee reconstruction, McAllister expressed confidence he could come back strong from his second.
The Saints were hopeful, but not necessarily convinced. To appease the franchise, McAllister agreed to change his contract so he'd be paid less if he was unable to play regularly.
He carried the ball only twice during the Saints' first three games, when coach Sean Payton said he was trying to be cautious with McAllister's comeback. However, the Saints lost two of their first three games partly because of failures on designed short-yardage runs -- plays on which McAllister had made his living since taking over for Ricky Williams full-time in 2002, his first of two consecutive Pro Bowl seasons.
Fans were getting impatient, flooding call-in shows with complaints. Payton said he understood why fans would be emotional about McAllister, whose popularity extends beyond football. A native of nearby Mississippi and a former Ole Miss star, he has long endeared himself to the region's residents with his charitable causes, his leadership in the business community and his easygoing, approachable manner off the field.
Payton also sought to assure fans that he, too, was a big fan of McAllister and eventually would work the running back into the game plan.
Last Sunday, when it came time to introduce the starting lineups, Payton made sure the Saints' offense was announced, and that McAllister was the last one to emerge from the tunnel.
The crowd loved it.
"It was pretty much flattering, just the fans' response," McAllister said. "But my immediate concern and focus was just trying to win a ballgame, so not getting overly excited and not doing anything out of the ordinary."
On his first carry, McAllister said he was too eager and didn't allow his blocks to set up properly. He plunged into the pile for what looked like a minimal gain, but ended up moving the pile for a gain of 5.
Later, McAllister scored his first touchdown by diving over the pile, then drilled a no-frills spike off the turf.
"There was a lot of relief in (the spike), just because I hadn't been there in so long," McAllister said.
It was his first touchdown since a playoff victory over Philadelphia on Jan. 13, 2007.
"The touchdown was great and everything, him getting over the pile like Walter Payton," Karney said. "But that play where he had a 2-yard gain and turned it into like a 6-yard gain, that rugby scrum -- that's when I was like, 'Oh, he's back. He's ready to go.' Because that's impressive. I mean, two knee injuries and he's carrying a pile like that."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Patriots top receiver Troy Brown retires
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Troy Brown was too short and too slow. He couldn't make the big play. His NFL career was bound to be brief.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
In 15 NFL seasons, all with the New England Patriots, the eighth-round draft choice kept disproving those assumptions. Brown holds the team record for career catches -- and also returned punts and kickoffs, made interceptions and helped win three championships.
Finally, the 5-foot-10 wide receiver decided he can't keep up with younger players.
"I can't think of anything better in life to do than to enjoy a Sunday afternoon playing football," Brown said Thursday, "and now I enjoy those Sunday afternoons watching football and still saying in my head, `I can make that play.' "
But at 37, the soft-spoken Brown, who hasn't played this season, conceded, "You can't outrun Father Time," and so he announced his retirement while fighting back tears. "It's just kind of hard to let it go."
In the front row, Brown's 10-year-old son Sir'mon cried during the news conference as his mother, Kim, and 8-year-old brother SaanJay sat beside him.
Bill Belichick, the dour coach, seemed to choke up as he recalled highlights of Brown's career, some of which were shown on a screen behind Brown.
Belichick recalled Brown's 27-yard punt return to the Patriots 46-yard line in the snowy "tuck rule" playoff game on Jan. 19, 2002. That set up Adam Vinatieri's tying 45-yard field goal with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter after an apparent fumble by Tom Brady was ruled an incompletion.
"Without the punt return to set that up and put us in field position where we could at least get in field goal range, I don't know if there ever is a kick," Belichick said.
Two weeks after that 16-13 overtime win against Oakland, the Patriots won their first Super Bowl.
Then there was Brown's 82-yard touchdown catch in overtime that beat Miami 19-13 in 2003.
"Nobody thought that Troy could go deep. Nobody thought that he could make the big plays," Belichick said. "But all he did was make plays, just kept making them."
And when the Patriots needed help in their injured secondary, Brown filled in there in 2004 and intercepted three passes after learning enough about the Patriots' complicated defense.
"I couldn't go play wide receiver," safety Rodney Harrison said.
One of Brown's proudest accomplishments is that he spent his entire career with the Patriots even though they allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent after four different seasons when he could have made more money elsewhere.
"I would give anything in the world to be able to put those pads on again and do it and I probably had the opportunity to do it, but it just wasn't the right color. I didn't think I would be in green and white," he said, an apparent reference to the New York Jets.
"The only colors you'll ever see on my back as a football player, that's the red, white and blue of the New England Patriots, and I'm proud to say that."
New England drafted Brown out of Marshall in 1993 and he holds the club record with 557 catches. He's second with 6,366 yards receiving to Stanley Morgan's 10,352. Brown played in one Pro Bowl after the 2001 season.
"I remember several times in the staff meetings we talked about getting rid of him," said Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel, the Patriots defensive coordinator from 2001-04, "but you never could."
Brown was primarily a kickoff and punt returner in his first four seasons, catching a total of 37 passes and never starting a game. In 1997, he started six games and finished with 41 receptions. He caught 83 passes in 2000, then set a single-season team record in 2001 with 101 catches. Wes Welker broke that last season with 112.
Robert Kraft bought the team one year after Brown joined it.
"Troy Brown," he said, "is the consummate Patriot."
Brown began last season on the physically unable to perform list before being activated with five games left. He was inactive for all but one, against Miami in the next-to-last game in which he fielded six punts but had no receptions and didn't play defense.
Comcast SportsNet announced Brown will join its weeknight evening New England sports show as an NFL analyst and also do features on the Patriots.
The Patriots plan to honor Brown on Nov. 13, when the Jets visit New England.
"He had such a presence in the locker room and was a great leader," quarterback Matt Cassel said. "A lot of these Super Bowl banners that are hanging up around the stadium have a lot to do with Troy Brown."
Brown thanked Belichick "for giving me that opportunity to be somebody that everybody said I wasn't going to be, and that was a starting receiver in this league."
As the news conference was ending, Brown's son Sir'mon asked the final question.
"If you love the game so much," he wanted to know, "why are you retiring?"
Brown paused, made eye contact with his son and said: "I would love to keep playing, but there comes a time when the man upstairs called God, you can't outrun him as much as you try to and want to. He just catches up to you and tells you that you're 37 years old."
Then, he told his son, "It's a sad day for me, too. I saw you out there crying for me and I love you and it's going to be OK."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Colbert getting second chance in Seattle
RENTON, Wash. -- When Keary Colbert decided Denver was going to be the next stop in his NFL career, he was expected to be at worst the third option in the Broncos' passing game.
That's why Denver was willing to give Colbert a three-year contract.
Turns out, rookie Eddie Royal and veteran Darrell Jackson are filling that position better, meaning Colbert was expendable when the injury-depleted Seattle Seahawks came calling this week.
"With me there, it was a logjam," Colbert said. "We had a lot of guys. I happened to be that guy toward the bottom."
Seattle sent a late-round pick to Denver in order to get instant, experienced help for a receiving unit that has six players sidelined with various injuries. Last week saw the Seahawks lose backup quarterback/receiver Seneca Wallace (calf) and Logan Payne (knee), joining Nate Burleson (knee), Ben Obomanu (clavicle), Bobby Engram (shoulder) and Deion Branch (knee) on the shelf.
Engram and Branch are expected to return after Seattle's Week 4 bye, meaning Colbert's best chance to make a strong impression and secure his spot for the remainder of the season comes Sunday when Seattle hosts St. Louis.
That'll be just five days after he arrived in town.
"I didn't expect this to happen, but I'm here," Colbert said. "It was an unfortunate situation (the injuries), but that's life, and that's football sometimes."
Colbert's cross-country trek from Carolina last season, to Denver and now to Seattle, exemplifies the often-nomadic life of NFL players. Colbert left the Panthers after four seasons for Denver at a time when the Broncos were losing Javon Walker and were unsure if Rod Smith would return or retire. Smith ended up retiring, leaving Colbert, Brandon Marshall and Brandon Stokley as the only receivers on the Broncos' roster with experience.
That was before Denver drafted Royal, an early season sensation, in the second round of April's draft, and signed Jackson, a former Seahawks' star, as a free agent. Colbert was quickly bypassed on the depth chart and left mostly to watch.
"I wasn't surprised with what happened with the emergence of Eddie Royal, and having guys there like Brandon Stokley and Darrell Jackson, Brandon Marshall. I kind of understood the numbers side of football and how things work out," Colbert said. "To that extent, it wasn't really a surprise."
Seattle coach Mike Holmgren had kept on eye on Colbert in the past, in part because of Colbert's success in college at USC. Also in Colbert's favor was the time he spent in Denver, learning Mike Shanahan's offense, where the terminology is similar to what Holmgren uses.
Colbert is also closer to being in game shape than Koren Robinson, whose return to the Seahawks dominated the talk earlier in the week. Robinson was limited in practice on Thursday with what the team listed as a knee injury, while Colbert was out running all the routes.
"It's nice to have some guys who have played. Let's start there," Holmgren said. "I'm kind of encouraged by that. We'll see how it goes."
Holmgren hasn't been shy about saying both Robinson and Colbert will be pushed into action this weekend. Colbert felt fairly comfortable about his grasp of the playbook on Thursday in just his second day of practice, but took a minute away from his studying to share a few laughs with former USC teammate Lofa Tatupu in the locker room.
"The stuff that I learned yesterday I was good with, but the stuff I learned today I had to make sure I had my thinking cap on outside, trying not to mess up on the new stuff," Colbert said. "I'll be ready (for Sunday). Physically, I've been playing, I'm in shape. Mentally, that's going to be the challenge to make sure I do the job that's asked."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Roethlisberger heads to home state to face Browns
PITTSBURGH -- Ben Roethlisberger watched injury after injury befall quarterbacks across the NFL on the first weekend of the season and felt fortunate to still be standing.
One game down, 15 to go.
Roethlisberger came out of the Pittsburgh Steelers' 38-17 victory over Houston with a near-perfect passer rating and sore throwing shoulder that kept him out of practice one day, though he returned to the field Thursday. He sees no reason he won't play Sunday night in Cleveland against the home-state team that snubbed him in the draft four years ago.
Considering the Week 1 injuries to Tom Brady, Vince Young, Brodie Croyle, Alex Smith (in practice, no less) and Jeff Garcia, Roethlisberger is glad to have gotten out of the opener with only an aching arm and shoulder.
"It was a bad week for football players and quarterbacks getting hurt," Roethlisberger said. "That's why they say it's the most physical sport we have. It's kind of what we say at the end of the year, the healthiest team usually does well. You don't expect that (so many key injuries) in Week 1."
Neither did Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who called the numerous injuries "sobering -- it reminds you of the (physical) nature of the game."
Roethlisberger got a scare when Texans defensive lineman Mario Williams sacked him late in the second quarter, landing atop the quarterback's throwing arm and causing a fumble. Roethlisberger played the third quarter, but spent most of it handing the ball off.
"That's a big man," Roethlisberger said. "He about broke my arm. I really thought he snapped my arm. My arm was still attached to the football and he was holding my arm."
One scary play aside, Roethlisberger was 13-of-14 for 138 yards and two touchdowns -- he didn't need to throw any deep passes as the Steelers quickly jumped out to a 21-0 lead -- and he also ran 17 yards for a key first down.
It was exactly the kind of well-executed game that has enabled Roethlisberger to win 40 of his first 56 NFL starts. This week, he goes against a depleted Cleveland secondary that will be missing safety Sean Jones (knee cartilage) -- the 18th Browns player to miss significant time since camp started. The other starting safety, Brodney Pool, has been out a month with a concussion.
The Browns currently have only one 2007 secondary starter, cornerback Eric Wright, in their lineup. The other cornerback, Brandon McDonald, was a 2007 fifth-round pick.
With the Browns' defense so short-handed, it's likely the Steelers will throw the ball much more than they did against Houston, which gave up 138 yards rushing and three touchdowns to Willie Parker.
"Definitely, we'd like to exploit that," wide receiver Hines Ward. "They really don't have much experience. But it depends on how the game goes. We still have Willie Parker and we're not going to change our identity. We're not going to come out and start slinging the ball everywhere."
Even if Roethlisberger wouldn't mind doing that. He grew up in Findlay, Ohio, and played at Miami (Ohio), and hasn't forgotten that the Browns bypassed him in the 2004 draft. They chose tight end Kellen Winslow at No. 6, and the Steelers took Roethlisberger five picks later.
"My friends won't let me live it down if I don't win in that state," Roethlisberger said. "It's just something about going home and trying to win at home. It's a little something added for Cleveland because I think they had a pick higher than No. 11 when I was drafted."
Roethlisberger is 7-0 against the Browns -- he sat out a 2005 game while injured -- and is 9-0 in NFL games played in Ohio.
No wonder Cleveland's Dawg Pound, which dislikes the Steelers like no other group of fans, gives Roethlisberger such a hard time.
"Whenever opposing fans get on you, it's usually because you like to trash talk or because you're a good player," he said. "I hear mixed things from the Pound, not that I really pay much attention to it, but I'll look up and see somebody I went to high school with or something. It's kind of funny. But I'm not too intimidated by it."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Cowboys start "Super Bowl season" in Cleveland
From the moment Terrell Owens broke into tears after Dallas' playoff loss to the Giants last January, the Cowboys have been pointing toward 2008 as the season they WILL get back to the Super Bowl after a 12-season absence.
The quest starts this week in Cleveland against an up-and-coming team that most folks think isn't up-and-coming enough to deal with the Cowboys. On the other hand, if you listen to and read the jibber-jabber over the air and on the net, no NFL team is in Dallas' class.
So while even the always enthusiastic Jerry Jones avoids saying "Super Bowl," he goes to pains during an interview on ESPN a while back to claim his team really outplayed eventual champion New York in the 21-17 loss that sent it home without a playoff win for the 12th straight season. Sorry, Jerry, but the score is all that counts.
And when talking about first-round draft choices Felix Jones and Michael Jenkins and the addition of Adam Jones, the former Pacman, the Cowboys owner says: "All that speaks volumes to what I think we ought to be."
After a 10-6 season in 2007, a six-game improvement, Cleveland had high hopes for 2008. But it had a poor preseason and this game is the start of a killer schedule.
The Browns also are hurting. QB Derek Anderson and WR Braylon Edwards, their two most important offensive players, returned Monday after being out with a concussion and foot cut, respectively. And return man Joshua Cribbs, the AFC's answer to Devin Hester, will likely miss the opener with a foot injury.
The Cowboys also have injuries. Owens and Patrick Crayton are the only healthy wide receivers. Isaiah Stanback, coming back from a shoulder injury, is likely to be No. 3 for this game.
But they still have the weapons that got them to 13-3 in the regular season: a solid defense, Tony Romo, Marion Barber, the aforementioned T.O. Not to mention the rehabilitated (we hope) Adam Jones and Tank Johnson.
The question is chemistry: Owens, "Adam, no Pacman" and Tank could be a volatile mix. And Wade Phillips doesn't have much job security despite last season after Jerry Jones kept Jason Garrett from taking another head coaching job by signing him to a deal that effectively makes him a "coach in waiting.".
It will be an interesting season in Dallas.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Manning turning the corner
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. Eli Manning is at his best when he comes at opponents quietly. He'll make key changes that people don't notice until they're ready to make their move.
Even then, Manning rarely takes credit for the move. He is sly to the point that opponents say they know it was him, but they confess that they're not completely sure.
"It could be the other quarterbacks, but Eli is pretty stealth," New York Giants guard Chris Snee said.
The twist is that Snee is a victim, not a compatriot, of the work in question. While the aforementioned scenario could describe how Manning has played over the first two playoff games this season, it's really about the practical jokes he plays on teammates.
A Manning favorite is to change someone's cell phone or iPod to the Spanish mode, leaving them confused about how to fix the setting. Running back Brandon Jacobs couldn't make calls one day until he got to a store. Snee had to get someone else's iPod to figure out how to reset it.
"He keeps us loose around here," Snee said before turning mockingly serious. "He does it quietly. He's not really man enough to own up to it."
Jokes aside, what Manning has done in getting the Giants to the NFC championship game on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers is display a consistency that has escaped him for most of his four seasons. In the process, he is changing the language people use when discussing his abilities.
Through much of this season, when Manning tied for a league-high 20 interceptions, the discussion continued to be about failed expectations, lack of leadership and a perceived unmotivated approach to the game.
In two playoff games, Manning has completed 31 of 45 passes for 348 yards, four touchdowns and, most importantly, zero interceptions. His rating of 123.2 for the two games is almost 50 points higher than during the regular season (73.9).
"I don't think I'm dong anything different," Manning said. "I'm just trying to take what the defense is giving me. It is just a matter of being in a good situation in the game. We are not having to force things down the field, our defense is doing a great job, or we are jumping out and getting a lead and we are not trying to catch up where you feel like you have to make plays. Just playing smart."
That's a decent way of downplaying what Manning is doing. But anyone who has watched Manning play over a stretch of games can see that he has been far more accurate and focused over the past two games.
When he completed 20 of 27 passes against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round, he was rarely off target. He didn't make receivers reach into awkward spots or stop their routes. Manning's excellence was in the subtle parts of the game. He showed great vision and awareness. He read the changes that Tampa Bay's defense tried to throw at him, pulling the ball down on several occasions rather than falling for what the Buccaneers were trying to do to him.
Against the Dallas Cowboys, Manning was again quietly efficient, throwing only 18 passes. He was electric when he had to be, completing four of seven passes on a 71-yard touchdown drive with only 47 seconds remaining in the first half. But he didn't force anything at other times. Over the two games, he has also avoided taking too many bad sacks, with the exception of a 12-yard loss against Dallas.
Still, on Sunday against Green Bay, the question of consistency will again hang around Manning. That's the fate you face when you play in New York, particularly when you force your way there as Manning did pushing the San Diego Chargers to deal him leading up the 2004 NFL draft.
The burden of such a deal is expectations in a place where people aren't afraid to tell you when you've failed to reach them. To his credit, Manning hasn't folded in the face of criticism.
"I just think he is a real competitive guy, I don't think a lot of people really understand that," Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer said. "I think that is why he is probably playing a little bit better than most people expect, except people in our locker room."
Toomer described a time from Manning's rookie season when he and Manning auctioned off a personal day of working with kids on passing and catching. Eventually, Toomer and Manning split up the kids among them and played a two-on-two game.
"Here I am trying to keep the kids from getting bored and he's running plays trying to win. Reverses, flea flickers. That's how he is," Toomer said.
That afternoon display was nothing compared to Manning's locker room stunts. At least one phone theft resulted in him taking a humorously indiscreet photo with the camera function, sending the picture to the teammate's friends and family, then topping the whole thing off by making it the screen saver on the phone itself.
"Yeah, that's a good one," Giants center Grey Ruegamer said before describing Manning's photo subject. "Really, who wants to see a picture of my ass come up on their cell phone or have it show up every time you open your phone?"
According to Ruegamer, Manning even once went so far as to display "toilet humor" on a teammate's phone. Suffice it to say, the picture of how Manning is playing these days is a lot prettier.
Copyright 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
C Shaun O'Hara takes half of snaps with Giants offense; Boss ill
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- New York Giants center Shaun O'Hara returned to practice on Thursday and took half the snaps with the offense.
O'Hara sprained a knee in the regular-season finale against the New England Patriots and missed the NFC wild-card game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. He is not sure whether he will play Sunday in the conference semifinal in Dallas against the Cowboys (13-3).
"Mentally I am preparing for the game," O'Hara said. "I am feeling better today than I did yesterday and I am hoping that will be the case for tomorrow."
Tight end Kevin Boss, who took over the starting job when Jeremy Shockey broke his leg last month, missed practice because of an illness.
"We're hoping it's 24 hours," coach Tom Coughlin said.
Cornerbacks Sam Madison and Kevin Dockery did not practice for the second straight day.
Madison aggravated a stomach muscle against New England and did not play against the Buccaneers. Dockery, who has been bothered by a hip flexor, played against Tampa Bay, but has been on crutches the past two days.
Receiver Plaxico Burress (ankle) and tackle Kareem McKenzie (ankle) practiced on a limited basis after missing practice on Wednesday.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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