Spending one year in the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad after being picked by the team in second round of 2008, quarterback Brian Brohm decide not to wear Packers jersey but went to Buffalo to seek for better chance.
He made the decision just in time when the Bills lost confidence in Trent Edwards. In agreeing a two-year contract with the Bills, Brohm rejected an offer by the Packers to keep him.
“The last 24 hours have been good to me. I went from being on the practice squad to having pretty much two offers,” he said after his first practice with the Bills. “I just wanted a fresh start, a new start, and I think Buffalo gives me that.”
It is the third change the Bills have made for this week. The first one is to fire Coach Dick Jauron and promoted defensive coordinator Perry Fewell to the job; the second was made by Fewell, who benched Edwards and started backup Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Hope all the moves will work in improving the team.
Good news to Philadelphia Eagles fans: doctors said running back Brian Westbrook has improved significantly since sustaining a second concussion within three weeks last Sunday.
Bad news is that the running back still needs further tests and evaluation to determine whether to return for the rest of the season in his Eagles jersey.
Westbrook was evaluated Wednesday at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and underwent a battery of neuro-cognitive tests as well as comprehensive physical and neurological exam. All showed favorable results.
Before Westbrook went to consult with Dr. Joseph Maroon and Dr. Michael Collins, both sports concussion specialists, people were wondering whether the running back should consider retiring. After that, people may become a bit optimistic that Westbrook will continue his NFL career.
Westbrook suffered his first career concussion on Oct. 26 in a game against the Washington Redskins. Missing two games, he sustained the second concussion as soon as returning to the field to play against the San Diego Chargers. He has been ruled out for this Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are getting rid of miserable kickoff coverage and cut the first player after the team allowed a league-high three kickoff return touchdowns in four games. This unfortunate first player is backup linebacker Arnold Harrison.
Having played games wearing the Steelers jersey since 2005, Harrison missed last season with a knee injury and became expendable this season as the Steelers allowed as many as three kickoff return touchdowns for the first time since 1986. Coach Mike Tomlin decided to give up Harrison and promote Donovan Woods from the practice squad after watching game tapes.
“We’re looking at schematics and potentially making some changes, but we’re also moving some people around, putting some new people in position to play,” Tomlin said. “He (Woods) is going to have an opportunity to run down the middle of that unit to see if he can bring some energy to that group. But Donovan Woods is not all of a sudden going to make us the most dynamic kickoff coverage team in the NFL. It’s detail. It’s about shedding blocks and making tackles.”
But kickoff returns are only part of the Steelers’ problem. The team has also allowed returns on fumbles and interceptions. Perhaps Tomlin still needs do more to reverse the team’s declining tendency.
The Pittsburgh Steelers star safety Troy Polamalu may miss another game this Sunday with knee injury. The safety had already missed four games with torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee but returned and played three games before hurting the same knee again during last Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Steelers did not disclose the results of Polamalu’s MRI exam, but he is not believed to have been as badly injured as he previously was. It is just uncertain whether he would be able to play this Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. His status may be released by coach Mike Tomlin during Tuesday’s meeting with reporters.
What is more: the Chiefs need to beat Steelers, no matter how difficult it looks, to prove that they were right in releasing Larry Johnson, who will possibly sign with the Bengals, the team just beat the Steelers last Sunday 18-12.
The Arizona Cardinals rookie running back scored twice in Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, contributing his best to the Cardinals second home win in five tries.
“What we learned from the coaching staff and the veterans around here is not to give up,” Wells said, “just to keep on truckin’.”
Keeping that in mind, Wells gained a career-best 85 yards on 16 carries and caught two passes for 32 yards. And his second-half 29-yard run setup the team’s final touchdown runs of 10 and 13 yards and helped the Cardinals rally from an early two-touchdown deficit.
Quarterback Kurt Warner, in his fifth year of wearing Cardinals jersey, completed 29 of 38 for 340 yards and two touchdown passes, becoming the 29th player in NFL history to throw 200 touchdown passes and tying Dan Fouts for fourth on the NFL career list with 51 300-yard passing games.
As starting running back Clinton Portis has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos with a concussion sustained in last week’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the Washington Redskins have planned to use Ladell Betts in replacement. However, the plan is now in question.
According to Coach Jim Zorn, Betts is having a sprained ankle. Although he thought that Betts would be fine to put on his Redskins jersey to start, he is also prepared to go with a running back by committee of Betts, Rock Cartwright and Quinton Ganther.
Zorn also said that starting punter and right tackle will not be decided until Saturday. Stephon Heyer, who should be the right tackle after being moved from left tackle this week, has been listed as questionable because of a sprained knee. Chad Rinehart will return to start at right guard.
The Seattle Seahawks defensive back Roy Lewis was among the players being fined by the NFL on Thursday. He was fined $5,000 along with his teammate, linebacker Lance Laury, for hitting opponent players in last Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions.
However, Lewis does not plan to accept the penalty. He said Thursday that he was docked for hitting Lions wide receiver Derrick Williams out of bounds at the end of a kickoff return in Sunday’s game and already received a 15-yard personal-foul penalty on the play.
Laury was fined the same amount of money because of a hit on the same play. Lewis seemed overreacted to the league’s decision. But it is understandable as last Sunday’s game was his debut in Seahawks jersey since being promoted from the practice squad early this month.
The Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter and guard Justin Smiley were working out on stationary bikes while other players wearing Dolphins jerseys were practicing in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Porter has been suffering a right hamstring injury and a sore knee for much of the season. Having only 2 1/2 sacks this season and making no tackles in Sundays’ loss to the New England Patriots, Porter’s performance for this season is too much worse than last season, when he had an AFC high 17 1/2 sacks.
Along with Porter and Smiley, nose tackle Paul Soliai and linebacker Erik Walden were also riding stationary bikes. Smiley had a shoulder injury, Soliai had a sore ankle and Walden has a hamstring injury.
Top topic is about Larry Johnson, who has just been released by the Kansas City Chiefs because of improper behaviors. Soon after, quite a few teams were rumored to be destinations for Johnson, including the Houston Texans, Pittsburgh Steelers and the Washington Redskins. It is very likely that Johnson will put on new team’s NFL jersey within this week.
Darren McFadden took part in the Oakland Raiders’ Monday practice on a limited basis. It seemed that he recovered well from his knee injury and Raiders head coach Tom Cable, who has been involved in allegations of domestic violence, expects the running back to start this Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Cleveland Browns put hopes on Brady Quinn to win a second game for the season. Although they will not announce officially who will start next Monday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, Quinn to be the starter is very likely.
On Monday, the Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris apologized for his unsportsmanlike conduct to a player in Cardinals jersey during Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. But he still may have to face suspension penalty from the league.
Harris was ejected on the fourth play from scrimmage of Sunday’s game after he and Cardinals offensive lineman Deuce Lutui wound up on the ground on a run play. A video replay showed that Harris hit Lutui near the face. For what he did, the Bears got a 15-yard penalty.
“I was embarrassed, especially for my actions,” Harris Monday. “I apologized to him yesterday, called Larry (Fitzgerald) and had a chance to apologize to him. I just wanted to apologize to my fans first off, and the little kids out there that saw that action. I shouldn’t have behaved in that manner, and I apologized to my teammates, and I’ll make up for it.”
Harris said Lutui did something unnecessary during the game but would not say what it was. “That has nothing to do with it. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. I apologized to him as a man and it’s over for right now.”
