NFL notes
Published 9:10 pm Wednesday, January 9, 2008
CHARGERS: While Pro Bowler Antonio Gates rehabbed his dislocated left big toe, All-Pro fullback Lorenzo Neal returned to practice for the San Diego Chargers exactly one month after breaking his lower left leg.
It appeared Wednesday that Neal has a better chance than Gates of suiting up for the Chargers in their divisional-round playoff game Sunday at Indianapolis.
Gates dislocated his left big toe late in the second quarter of Sunday’s 17-6 wild-card win against Tennessee and didn’t return.
“We’re getting Antonio ready to play,” coach Norv Turner said. “He’s making progress, he’s going through all his treatments and all those things. We’ll see where he’s at later in the week. He’s making good progress. I have hope that he’ll be able to play.”
Gates was San Diego’s leading receiver for the fourth straight season, with 75 catches for 984 yards and nine touchdowns.
Neal returned to practice for the first time since breaking his left leg at Tennessee on Dec. 9. He was named to the All-Pro team earlier in the day.
The fullback said he’s not going to play if he can’t contribute.
COACHES: There are NFL teams looking for head coaches, and Pete Carroll’s name has surfaced.
According to several reports, the USC coach is a candidate to succeed Bobby Petrino in Atlanta and the just-retired Joe Gibbs in Washington.
Carroll is on vacation in Hawaii. Neither he nor his agent, Gary Uberstine, immediately returned phone calls seeking comment regarding the Falcons or Redskins. However, USC spokesman Tim Tesselone issued the following statement:
“As Pete told our beat reporters last Wednesday (Jan. 3), he understands that his name is going to come up for NFL jobs, as it has in each of his past years here, but that he was not going to comment about NFL openings because it would just lead to speculation.
” ‘There’s nothing going on, no reason to even talk about it,’ Carroll told Tesselone.
“Pete is out of the office on vacation this week, but he reiterated that to me this morning on the phone,” Tesselone said.
BROWNS: Head coach Romeo Crennel and quarterback Derek Anderson are about to cash in on Cleveland’s comeback season. Their rewards: job security and fatter paychecks.
For his efforts in helping drag the Browns out of the NFL’s basement, Crennel is on the verge of being rewarded with a contract extension by the club. Cleveland went 10-6 and barely missed making the AFC playoffs in his third season as coach.
In his first public comments since Cleveland’s turnaround ended one win shy of the postseason, Browns general manager Phil Savage also said he’s hoping to re-sign Anderson, who went from inexperienced backup to Pro Bowl alternate in just months.
Savage feels the 24-year-old restricted free agent did enough in his first season as a starter to deserve a long-term contract.
TITANS: A Nevada judge dropped the Tennessee Titans as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by Tommy Urbanski, a strip club employee paralyzed in a triple shooting following a melee involving suspended player Adam “Pacman” Jones.
Clark County District Court Judge Jessie Walsh agreed with team lawyers who contended the Titans should not be held responsible for Jones’ behavior at the Minxx Gentleman’s Club last Feb. 19, during the NBA All-Star weekend.
That was the night Urbanski and two other people were wounded.
Lawyers for the NFL say they intend to file a similar request next week for the judge to drop the league from the case.
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