Independent neurologists will be included in NFL’s concussion research program

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will have independent neurologists work with teams’ medical staff on concussion issues. The policy will be implemented as soon as details can be worked out. Goodell also urges players to tell medical staffs possible head injuries to their teammates.


Goodell and union director DeMaurice Smith also testified before Congress at hearings on football head injuries. He promised to Congress that the league will make better effort in taking care of players who had head injuries or sequelae of head injuries. That might be one of the causes for his recently urging players in NFL jerseys to tell their teams’ medical staffs if they think a teammate shows symptoms of a concussion.

Another cause should be a survey conducted by the Associated Press this month. 160 NFL players were surveyed and 30 replied that they have hidden or played down the effects of a concussion. Being told of the findings, the league began to emphasize the importance of players reporting head injuries, no matter how minor they believe they might be.

Steelers’ safety Polamalu has been ruled out for Sunday game

After missing all week’s practice with a left knee injury, the Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu has been ruled out for this Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.


Polamalu missed four of Steelers’ past five games because of a ligament tear and injured the same knee again on his first returning game: last Sunday’s 18-12 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. And it is very likely that he will miss more than one game after being injured again, but perhaps less than four because the latest injury to a different ligament seems less serious than the previous one.

Along with Polamalu, defensive end Travis Kirscheke has also been rule out of this Sunday’s game and it will be the third consecutive he will miss since tearing his left calf muscle. Originally filling in for Aaron Smith who is out for season with a torn right rotator cuff, Kirschke will be replaced by Nick Eason this Sunday. And Tyrone Carter will put on his Steelers jersey and start in replacing Polamalu.

Saints RB Bush missed another practice with knee injury

The New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush may need more than expected time to take care of his injured left knee. Missing the second straight practice on Thursday, Bush remains an uncertain part of the team that will play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday.


Bush gained 98 yards and scored two touchdowns on six rushes and a pair of receptions while playing against the St. Louis Rams last Sunday, making it one of his best games of the season. But the knee he had surgery on last December to repair cartilage seemed in need of more care, and he began to have some swelling in the knee after last Sunday’s game.

According to Saints Coach Sean Payton, Bush is getting some rest for the knee and team will be cautious to avoid doing anything that may worsen the injury, although they all hope that Bush could wear back his Saints jersey and return to practice Friday.

Bills new coach Fewell made impression on his first day

What is different on the first day of having a new coach with the Buffalo Bills? A different coach Perry Fewell and a different starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. And that are enough to impress all those who wear Bills jerseys.

Perry Fewell joked that he threatened to start cutting off players’ fingers if they jump the snap count in practice. Comparing to his predecessor, Fewell said himself of a little bit more fired up and a lot more emotional.

Fitzpatrick and several other players noticed that.


“He’s got some fire in him and I like what he did in the first meeting,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’s here to kind of break us out of our little funk, and I think he’s a good guy to do it.”

At least his decision to start Fitzpatrick over Trent Edwards at quarterback has been supported by the team. Any receiver Terrell Owens said, Fitzpatrick, in his fifth season, is more experienced than Edwards, who is in his third year.

Browns Coach wished he would have handled final play differently

After Monday night’s 16-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns Coach Eric Mangini said he wished he would have handled the game’s final play differently so that the team would not have its best player injured.


The best player referred to wide receiver Josh Cribbs, who was flattened by Ravens defensive end Dwan Edwards on the last play. In the team whose offense just scoring nine points in the past three games and 78 all season, Cribbs at least poses the threat of going the distance when he has the ball, and that is why the Browns cannot afford to be without him.

After Cribbs spent several hours at the Cleveland Clinic undergoing tests, Mangini worried less as he knew the receiver did not sustain a concussion. The coach was even optimistic that Cribbs would wear back his Browns jersey to play on Sunday against the Detroit Lions. But who care? The Browns anyway have no chance to the playoff.

Jets safety Leonhard had surgery to repair broken thumb

Even the New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan was unsure the nature of the procedure safety Jim Leonhard underwent on Monday night. He was as unsure about whether Leonhard might be sidelined this weekend or longer.


“They said when they go in, they’ll have a much better idea,” Ryan said of the doctors. “They don’t even know if they’re going to put screws in it, what they’re going to do. When I heard it, surgery, that doesn’t sound good to me.”

The safety was injured early in the first quarter of last Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Maurice Jones-Drew’s 33-yard touchdown run. Leaving the field after score without taking off his Jets jersey, Leonhard went into the locker room to have the thumb placed in a cast before coming back into the game on defense. However, he was not able to field punts and had to leave again with Darrelle Revis filling in as replacement.

Infected tooth caused Lions safety to miss game

Sometimes infected tooth can cause enough discomfort to prevent you from doing important thing, like missing a game. The Detroit Lions starting free safety Louis Delmas was just held out of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings by such discomfort.


Delmas felt increasing discomfort during warmups before Sunday’s game, and the team had to replace him with Marquand Manuel, who did not finish the game and left in the third quarter with a shoulder injury and was replaced by Kalvin Pearson. And it was the first game Delmas missed since he put on Lions jersey after being drafted by the team in the second round out of Western Michigan. He had been the starter at free safety for all the first eight games of the season.

The Lions right guard Stephen Peterman and cornerback Jack Williams also left the game in the third quarter with injuries, and the injuries just made it even easier to the Vikings to beat the 1-7 Lions. The game ended with Vikings’ 27-10 victory.

Two Cardinals starting linebackers may miss Sunday game

The Arizona Cardinals starting linebackers Gerald Hayes and Chike Okeafor did not practice Friday after missing all previous workouts this week, indicating that they are unlikely to play this Sunday against NFC West foe the Seattle Seahawks.


If so, Hayes will miss two consecutive games since he got the injury. Ali Highsmith will start for the second time in Hayes’ place. The team will have Bertrand Berry start at Okeafor’s place if the latter will not play.

Backup left tackle Jeremy Bridges will probably get his chance to start, too. As starting left tackle Mike Gandy was struggling with a pelvis injury and listed as questionable for Sunday’s game after being limited in practice Friday. His absence will also break his 28-game streak of starting for the Cardinals at the same spot.

Dolphins starting guard Smiley remains sidelined with shoulder injury

The Miami Dolphins starting guard Justin Smiley was sitting out for a second consecutive day with his shoulder injury. In fact he was sent to a doctor and would unlikely be able to play this week’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.


Having started all eight games for the Dolphins this season, Smiley could not keep the streak for the second half of the season. Not the first time did he have such experience. In 2007 season, he missed a whole half of season because of shoulder problems while he was playing in the San Francisco 49ers jersey.

According to Dolphins Coach Tony Sparano, the team has been ready for Smiley’s absence. And Joe Berger, Nate Garner and rookie Lydon Murtha are preparing for starting at left guard in case Smiley will not play.

Along with Smiley, three other injured Dolphins were sitting out for the second straight practice Thursday. Outside linebacker Joey Porter was still struggling with a hamstring injury, nose tackle Paul Soliai had ankle problem and special team contributor Erik Walden had hamstring injury.

Several Panthers key players missed practice Wednesday

The Carolina Panthers practiced Wednesday with quite a few key players sidelined because of injuries, including running backs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart and fullback Brad Hoover. Some other injured players were limited in practice.


Williams missed the practice because of a sore knee. According to Coach John Fox, the running back tweaked it while playing in his Panthers jersey during Sunday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints, although he managed to rush for 149 yards and two touchdowns in the game. Steward’s absence from Wednesday workouts has been a routine since he had a sore Achilles’ tendon. Hoover was sidelined with a sprained ankle.

Defensive end Julius Peppers had a messed up right hand and took limited part in Wednesday’s practice, so did tight end Dante Rosario, who had knee injuries. Players returning to practice from injuries included backup fullback Tony Fiammetta and receiver Muhsin Muhammad.

LB Williams found job in Patriots’ practice squad

Thomas Williams, a linebacker picked by the Jacksonville Jaguars in last year’ fifth-round draft out of USC, is not one of the eight players on the roster of the New England Patriots’ practice squad.


The Patriots announce Tuesday that they signed Williams to the practice squad to fill in the spot left by cornerback Kyle Arrington, who was promoted to the 53-man roster over the weekend.

Staying in a team’s practice squad may not be so exciting, but at least it offers chance. Chance is what Williams needs. The 6-foot-1, 237 pounds linebacker did not play much since being picked by the Jaguars, appearing in six games in Jaguars jersey as a rookie and spending much time on the practice squads of Seattle Seahawks and Houston Texans after being waived by Jacksonville before the season began.

Former NFL star Taylor was arrested for hit-and-run crash

Ex-NFL linebacker Lawrence Taylor is facing charge of a second-degree misdemeanor after being released on bond following his arrest in traffic accident.


Playing for the New York Giants, Taylor was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1999 and competed in ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” this year. But what he did on Sunday night in Hialeah, Miami was not so decent as a star used to wear NFL jersey.

A Florida Highway Patrol spokesman says Taylor left the scene after the accident causing property damage happened. There were no injuries in the hit-and-run crash and troopers did not conduct a sobriety test. Taylor’s excuse was that he thought he had hit a guard rail.

Anyway the rich former football player did not stay in the Miami-Dade County jail for long. Later that same night, he was released on $500 bond.

Winless Bucs gave 4-3 Packers fourth loss of the season

The Green Bay Packers fans were disappointed again. They made a good preparation for Brett Favre’s comeback but the Packers frustrated them with a 26-38 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. When they pulled themselves together and expected that their team would at least win the next game, which was against the last winless team of this season. However, they had to face another embarrassing loss.


The Tampa Bay Buccaneers welcomed their first victory of the season by beating the Packers 38-28. The victory also confirmed rookie Josh Freeman’s starting job in the Tampa Bay as it was his first start and he managed to end the league’s longest losing streak at 11 games.

Being the 17th pick in the draft and the third quarterback taken behind Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez, Freeman was playing with poise that belied his inexperience and passed for 205 yards and three touchdowns. As the third and youngest starting quarterback for the Bucs, he gave the struggling team plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future.

As for the starting quarterback wearing Packers jersey, Aaron Rodgers, he threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns. Comparing to rookie Freeman, the league’s top-rated passer threw three interceptions but had one returned for a TD that put the game out of reach in the final minute. Not beyond expectation, Rodgers was sacked six times, amounting to 37 times in eight games. The frustrated quarterback may need a good rest to gain enough strength for next playing.

Dolphins LB and NT to be doubtful for Sunday game with injuries

After being limited in practice all this week, it is very doubtful that the Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder and nose tackle Jason Ferguson will be able to play against the New England Patriots this Sunday.


Both are with injuries. Crowder suffered a left shoulder injury and has already missed last week’s win over the New York Jets, and Ferguson has an elbow injury. Coach Tony Sparano declined to predict if Crowder would play, instead he said that he has been satisfied with Crowder’s replacement, Reggie Torbor, who tied for the team high with seven tackles against the Jets.

As for Ferguson, there also has been already good replacement. Paul Soliai would take over the job and make the first start since he put on NFL jersey three years ago if Ferguson is confirmed not able to play.

Roger Goodell wants legislation to protect collectively bargained steroid policies

Obviously unhappy with Minnesota Vikings’ Williamses’ suspension being blocked, the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell found the way solve the conflict between state laws and NFL policies- to persuade Congress to publish new legislation that would protect collective bargaining agreements from state law challenges.


“We believe that a specific and tailored amendment to the Labor Management Relations Act is appropriate and necessary to protect collectively bargained steroid policies from attack under state law,” Goodell said in prepared testimony for a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing Tuesday.

As Minnesota state law ruled that Vikings’ Pat Williams and Kevin Williams should not be suspended for steroid use, the NFL players union filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of the Williamses and New Orleans Saints players who were also suspended. If the NFL just let it go, it will definitely cause more similar cases to players in other teams' NFL jerseys.

Goodell will not let that happen. He wants legal help from the Congress, not only for NFL, but also for other national sports organizations.