Some say he had a concussion, but a team source is saying its tests are showing that it wasn't a concussion, just a good old-fashioned bell-ringing. Either way, it appears that Roethlisberger will be back next weekend for the Steelers game against the Baltimore Ravens, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Backup Charlie Batch(notes) is likely done for the season, though, after he supposedly broke his wrist on the one offensive series in which he replaced Roethlisberger.

It appears that the Steelers will sign Tyler Palko(notes), who quarterbacked for Pitt, to the practice squad and just go with two quarterbacks on the roster; third-stringer Dennis Dixon(notes) will move up to the backup role.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher was apparently contacted by the Bills to see if he had any interest in taking over the team.

He reportedly told the team that he's didn't want to interview for the gig "at this time."

Cowher is supposedly happy to wait till season's end to see what other jobs come available. It's not likely that the Bills will wait till the end of the season to hire a new coach. The team supposedly wants someone to be signed on before then. The team is supposedly meeting with former Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Shanahan sometime in the next seven days.

The 49ers were negotiating with first-round pick/contract holdout Crabtree in September and former player Deion Sanders disrupted the ship when he said publicly that the Jets (and another unnamed team) would pay Crabtree the sum he was desiring. The 49ers filed a complaint pretty quickly after that.

Jets coach Rex Ryan denied the charges at the time and the world will never know exactly what went down since the 49ers are apparently set to drop the charges. Guess they finally are feeling confident in the six-year deal the team signed with Crabtree, who has had 22 catches for 292 yards since early October.

Head coach Raheem Morris will apparently start calling the defensive plays during the game. Earlier this year - just 10 days before the season got started -- Tampa Bay sent offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski packing and named quarterbacks coach Greg Olson to call plays.

Both of these demoted or fired guys were just hired this past off-season by general manager Mark Dominik, who is in his first year on the job.

When McDaniels was walking past the Chargers' linebackers before the game, he supposedly said, "We own you." And that didn't sit very well with the folks in San Diego, as you can imagine.

Outside linebacker Shaun Phillips(notes) told the paper, "I'm not surprised. He's a little cocky (rear end)... To say he owns us? I mean, you beat us one time. What has he really done in this league? He had a team 6-0 and now he's looking up at us from second place."

After the game, McDaniels had the response of a six-year-old when asked about the incident: "(They) talked to me first."

The hit came from Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson who kneed him in the helmet but it's looking like Roethlisberger is recovering pretty well. According to ProFootballTalk, the quarterback was allowed to fly home with the team, remembers everything, and doesn't have any nauseau.

The Steelers take on a division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, next week and it's believed that Roethlisberger is likely to be back for the matchup.

He'll get medical tests today that will determine the true likelihood of that happening, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

So the NFL Players Association is supposedly trying to get Casson ousted from the committee, according to the New York Times. "Our view is that he's a polarizing figure on this issue, and the players certainly don't feel like he can be an impartial party on this subject," George Atallah, the union's assistant executive director for external affairs, told the paper.

So the Vikings are apparently starting to use the threat of moving the team to Los Angeles a little more often these days, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and one wonders if there is a growing truth to the threat.

L.A. has been without a team since 1995 when the Rams and Raiders left town and a new stadium is apparently going to go up there to hold whatever financially strapped team decides to move there.

"There is a very real and meaningful risk we could lose the franchise. It's clear," said Mike Kelly, a Vikings' executive vice president till 2005. "I did a lot of work when I was there on stadium financing and generally on team finances and even when we sold out, it was clear that the team could not be profitable in that stadium."

Benson's hip injury kept him out of a second straight practice and the rumor is that he just won't be ready to bear a full load on Sunday. So the recent signing of Larry Johnson(notes) may come in handy pretty quickly. There is talk that Johnson has gotten a lot of repetitions in practice and will be getting the ball a fair amount this weekend if all goes as planned but the conventional wisdom has Johnson sitting well behind Bernard Scott(notes) on the depth chart.

Johnson has only had two days of practice with the team though he's apparently said that he's feeling pretty comfortable with quarterback Carson Palmer(notes).

Shanahan will supposedly meet with team owner Ralph Wilson and COO/GM Russ Brandon next week. (This will have to be a tough choice for Brandon since Shanahan would likely fire him if the team ends up hiring him.)

Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher is also supposedly on the team's list, according to Buffalo News. And other possibilities include former Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren as well as former Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick.

Meanwhile, interim coach Perry Fewell has seven games to show himself off to the team and will likely get a formal interview at season's end unless he leads his team to a total implosion.

Backup Chris Simms(notes) took all the snaps in practice yesterday and had a dismal outing on Sunday when he went 3-for-13 for 13 yards in the second half against the Washington Redskins. The word is that the Broncos coaching staff doesn't want to see that again and is planning on starting Orton, who won't possibly be fully healed by then.

Orton is in a contract year so he is apparently really wanting to get back out there and show other teams just how tough he is. One hopes Orton's plan doesn't backfire.

The extension is expected to be signed soon but it isn't clear how long the extension is for or how much money Childress will be taking to the bank with this one. It should be announced right at season's end before the playoffs begin.

These days, Childress supposedly makes $2 million a year, which is actually the lowest in the NFC North division. He'll supposedly get at least twice that in his next deal.

Wonder if he would have gotten this deal if Sage Rosenfels(notes) or Tarvaris Jackson(notes) had been his starting quarterback this year instead of Brett Favre(notes).

Things that may hold him back from returning include what other players come back, who the coach is, and what is going on with the team's efforts to get a new stadium.

The scuttlebutt, though, is that Favre has bought a bunch of land in Preston, Minn., for deer hunting. That seems like a pretty good sign that he'd like to stay in the area.

But Pennington is planning on playing again in the NFL, according to the Miami Herald. He's apparently planning to be back next season but isn't predicting where he'll be until he gets some more information about how his shoulder handles the recovery process.

One major thing he has going for him is that the injury and surgery apparently caused no muscle damage. The 33-year-old has his sites set on March 1 being the date he can work out for any team.

Meanwhile, Pennington will have more time to devote to his 1st and 10 Foundation.

There's no information on exactly what that job might entail but the suspicion is that it will include working with the NHL Players Association on the next collective-bargaining agreement. Shanahan has always been heavily involved in union issues so is very familiar with how the machinery of the league/union relationship works.

In fact, Shanahan was one of the main players involved in negotiations with the league during the last lockout so having him onboard should help the league understand where the players are coming from at the negotiating table sometimes.

He has supposedly been coveting former Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren for the gig and the new rumor has it that Lerner actually spoke with Holmgren yesterday about the job, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Jim Brown, who is an executive advisor to the club, kind of spilled the beans at a luncheon yesterday when he told the crowd that Lerner was interviewing somebody right then for the job: "At this moment, right now Randy Lerner is meeting with one of the great football minds in this country," he said. "And if things work out, that person will come in to run the football side of the Browns." When someone asked if it was Holmgren, Brown supposedly said, "You said it ... and I heard it."

Note to self: Don't tell Jim Brown secrets.

Suggs' agent is even reportedly saying that his "minor" tear of his MCL could put him out for the rest of the season. (Is there such a thing as a "minor" tear of an MCL?)

The disappearance of Suggs is bad news for Baltimore. He draws double teams from opponents that rookie replacement Paul Kruger(notes) just won't.

Wonder if the team is wishing it hadn't signed that six-year, $63 million contract this past July right about now.

Team owner Al Davis is a big fan of Russell but Cable is saying the owner has nothing to do with the decision on who plays quarterback this weekend. Part of the problem is that backup Bruce Gradkowski(notes) supposedly has a hamstring injury.

Cable thinks of third-stringer Charlie Frye(notes) as a viable starting option also and he'll meet with all of his quarterbacks today to go over the plan for Sunday and see who seems the most ready for it.

He'll apparently get paid $306,764.43, the pro-rated league minimum, for the final seven games of the season and was purely brought on as an insurance policy in case someone gets hurt. He'll be fourth on the running back depth chart so nobody else should expect changes in playing time - unless, of course, he breaks out and proves to be brilliant with the Bengals.

"It would have zero affect on Cedric Benson(notes), Bernard Scott(notes) or Brian Leonard(notes)," Coach Marvin Lewis said of a hypothetical deal.

Benson left Sunday's 18-12 win over Pittsburgh with a hip flexor strain so that may have helped the front office make the decision to bring on Johnson, who isn't always the most well-behaved fellow.

Polamalu had an MRI done on his left knee but the Steelers aren't talking about the results. But Polamalu has been sitting in on team meetings so the theory is that he isn't done for the season just yet.

The Steelers defense is so good, it seemed to hardly miss the fella after he left once the first series was over, but Carson Palmer(notes) and the Cincinnati Bengals still found a way to win the game and take control of the AFC North.

Cribbs apparently got hammered after the play in which he caught a pass and lateraled the ball to a teammate was over.

Ravens defensive end Trevor Pryce(notes) supposedly got upset after the incident that the Browns even had Cribbs still in the game, which was unwinnable at that point.

But coaches that cross Davis are putting their own jobs in jeopardy. And Cable doesn't seem to care. He must still just be feeling happy about the fact that the league isn't going to take any action against him for clocking one of his assistants this summer so hard that it reportedly broke the guy's jaw (and the supposed whole back history of violence against an ex-wife and an ex-girlfriend), according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Still, Davis is calling Russell a "great" quarterback so Cable might not want to bench this guy just yet.

Jones apparently stayed in a local hospital last night in Arizona while the rest of the Seahawks traveled back to Seattle. Head coach Jim Mora says the team will "play it safe" with Jones for upcoming games, which means he is likely to miss a few games.

And that means Justin Forsett(notes) will be getting more opportunities. He took advantage of them yesterday with a career-best 123 yards in 17 carries, catching five passes and scoring a touchdown.

Coach Any Reid called it a "heck of a hit." Reid wouldn't make any predictions on whether this was career-threatening to Westbrook "In these types of situations, football is secondary. We've got to look [out for] this kid and for his future and make sure everything's OK for him before he gets back out there," he said, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Eagles may look into signing free agents Edgerrin James(notes), Larry Johnson(notes), and Warrick Dunn(notes).

Rosenhaus gained a lot of dislike in Philly because he is the rep for controversial receiver Terrell Owens(notes), who pulled all sorts of stunts while playing in the City of Brotherly Love. Now Rosenhaus is taking the reins of Jackson's career and the team apparently would like to start talking about a long-term deal (even though nothing could be officially signed till March of next year), according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Eagles have locked up such young players as Shawn Andrews(notes) and Mike Patterson(notes) in the past but neither of them seemed to have the probable high-dollar amount needed to sign the way Jackson does. There is no doubt that the talks will be long and sometimes unpleasant.

His 1-7 record is not helping him one bit with front-office support, fan support, and now even player support. A tipping point of sorts has been reached in which players have finally reached the comfort zone of speaking out against Mangini publicly.

Running back Jamal Lewis(notes) is apparently leading the way. He says the team works too hard in practices: "The talent is there. There's talent all over this room, young and old," he said. "At the same time, that talent's got to be able to be ready for Sunday and to be fresh for Sunday and be ready to go out and be efficient on Sunday. You can work hard as you want. You can work all day, seven days a week all the way up to Sunday in practice. But at the same time, if you're going to work like that, then maybe on Sunday you're probably not going to get what you want out of your players."

Anybody want to lay wagers that Mangini takes the advice of Lewis and goes easy on his players next week?

The problem is that the future Hall of Famer who is likely to retire at season's end will be going up against one of the NFL's top run defenses and he's not at full strength. So the Chargers may end up using the five-time Pro Bowler in a limited role for this game in hope of preserving him for the rest of the year.

The guy is only 30 but his numbers have gone down significantly this season and head coach Norv Turner seems to be trusting running back Darren Sproles(notes) with a lot more of the crucial runs.

Prepare the LT highlight reels for endless playing.

One rumor has him going to coach Notre Dame, but not too many seem to think Gruden has the patience to work with college students, according to PFT.

Gruden has apparently been very upbeat this year on the air and not saying anything negative, which has some also believing that he'd like to get back into coaching and wants to protect himself from stepping on any toes of any organization he might work with.

But it appears that the 40-year-old has been playing for the first half of the season hurt. He had ankle, knee, and foot problems to deal with. But now he's got a groin strain, the first one of his 299-game career, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

"I think I'll be fine," said Favre. The Vikes limited him in practice Wednesday due to the injury. "That's something that, for me, I've always said you have to have muscles to pull them. Either that's a sign of old age or I'm developing muscles for the first time in my career," he said.

Favre said the injury happened before the last game against the Green Bay Packers. "It's kind of a new thing for me. Play 18-some-odd years and not have anything like that. That probably worried me more than anything."

The Bears have Smith under contract till the end of 2011 and there is no expectation hat team ownership is going to get rid of Smith before then.

His team is 4-4 so fans could have it a lot worse. Smith has $11 million coming to him for the final two years of his contract after this year. Even if they canned him after 2010 and another team signed him, he would likely take that job with a low one-year salary, knowing that the Bears would have to pay the bulk of cash to him.

The other problem is that it isn't just Smith that the team is worried about. He's got 15 assistants on staff who each apparently average $350,000 annually in salary. The Bears would have to pay all of those salaries, too, if they can those assistants.

Then they'd have to pay for a search for a new head coach and 15 new assistants as well as whatever salary they end up giving the winners of those slots. So bottom line, it's too much dough to waste and Smith will be in place for at least till the end of next year.

The NFL is apparently investigating the punch Cable threw this past August that supposedly broke the jaw of assistant coach Randy Hanson. The Raiders are supposedly cooperating so that the coach can get canned for cause at seasons end.

That would save Davis a lot of salary dough and relieve him of an embarrassment, who recently got a bunch of attention for supposed slaps and punches he's thrown in the past against two different women: an ex-girlfriend and an ex-wife.

Looks like the Raiders will soon be an ex-employer.

However, the league may try to get Cable into counseling for his physical behavior. Hope the therapist can defend him or herself.

And that feeling of discontent over the pick is growing since the 23-year-old Gholston has now had 24 games of experience in the NFL and hasn't had one crummy sack. That makes sense, of course, because he's barely getting any playing time right about now.

It turns out that the main reason Gholston was drafted was because of the extra enthusiasm then-coach Erik Mangini felt for Gholston: "That one's on Eric," one source told the Daily News.

The Patriots wooed him last off-season after Taylor expressed his displeasure with playing for the Washington Redskins. Patriots owner Robert Kraft apparently talked Taylor up to the New England press and head coach Bill Belichick gave him a call, but Taylor chose Miami and is so happy with his choice that the Miami Herald is hearing that Taylor wants to come back next year and might even want to play for three more years.

What else is this 35-year-old guy going to do?

The team has a $2 million roster bonus next March and as beloved as six-time Pro Bowler Tomlinson is in San Diego, it would be a shocker if the team blew that kind of cash on a guy who can't come close to doing the things he used to do.

The rumor is that the Chargers are planning to use an early pick in next year's draft on a running back. So long, LaDainian.

He was completely wild in the loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday and some of his completions only happened because of miraculous moves by his receivers.

Trainers for the team apparently still spend extra time on Stafford's knee and Lions coach Jim Schwartz has said Stafford is not 100 percent. So Lions fans can just hope that Stafford will heal at some point and be a little more consistent.

But the rumor going around, according to the Arizona Republic, is that the team will see what it can get for Boldin this coming off-season. Who wants such a negative influence hanging around? And the team is 5-1 without Boldin over the last two seasons. And it's not like the Cards don't have any talented wide receivers: Steve Breaston(notes), Jerheme Urban(notes), and Early Doucet(notes) seem to get the job done without so much drama.

It's clear the Cardinals will never get Boldin to sign an extension so the general feeling is that the team is hoping to trade him this off-season instead of just letting him walk after next season with nothing coming in return.

At the very least, Redskins head coach Jim Zorn isn't ruling out the possibility. The Redskins are plenty used to offending folks with the name they've got and they're in need of a running back after Clinton Portis(notes) got hurt. If Portis can't play, the team will likely bring a running back onboard.

That could be Quinton Ganther(notes), who the team just released last week, or Johnson. Zorn says the team will discuss all the possibilities.

Coach Andy Reid said yesterday that the surgically repaired right ankle of Westbrook was proving to be bothersome and it's the reason he didn't practice at the end of last week. But Westbrook has had some "work done," on the ankle since then, according to Reid, so it should be feeling a little better. He wouldn't exactly way what "work done" meant, but one guesses it wasn't plastic surgery.

If Westbrook doesn't practice tomorrow, it is likely due to the ankle and not the concussion, Reid said. Any way you slice it, Westbrook is the definition of "banged up" and there's a pretty good chance that he could miss another game for the Eagles.

The 68-year-old former Browns and New York Giants GM Accorsi says he doesn't want to come out of retirement to be a general manager but might do it if he got to run the entire football operation.

The 61-year-old former Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren (who also was GM of Seattle) is supposedly the guy at the very top of Lerner's list. But Holmgren supposedly wants to coach again and not just move into the front office. So Brown coach Eric Mangini may have something else to worry about.

As for Kokinis, the rumor is that the Browns mandated that he go into counseling in order to help him not be so "withdrawn."

At the time, it wasn't clear just how bad the tear was, but as he continues to miss game after game, it appears that it wasn't tiny. Now it's looking like Morris will be out for two more weeks and won't be back in action till Week 11 against the New York Jets, according to the Boston Herald.

The longer he takes to get back, the slower coach Bill Belichick will be about working him into the lineup.

Coach Jim Schwartz isn't showing his cards on that front, though. He is saying that both of these players are game-time decisions on Sunday. However, Smith had a full practice yesterday, taking plenty of reps with the first team, after skipping the pervious day's because of the shoulder injury he earned last Sunday against the St. Louis Rams.

And Johnson apparently looked good in practice after missing a few weeks due to a right knee injury. "We are just going to keep on taking it like we are," Johnson said. "We are going to be careful, do what I can do, and as long as I don't have any setbacks, things look brighter for Sunday."

Now Roy Williams is doing the same thing: taking note that more balls are headed in the direction of the supposed No. 2 receiver than to him, the supposed No. 1 receiver. "It's just not even close," said Williams to ESPNDallas.com. "It's not even funny. Not even close. . . . I'm the No. 1 receiver. But things are just going No. 2's way."

No. 2, otherwise known as Miles Austin(notes), has 563 receiving yards this season and six touchdowns. He's averaging 80.4 yards per game. Williams, meanwhile, has 249 yards receiving this season, good for an average of 41.5 a game and two touchdowns.

Williams lays the blame on Romo. "(Austin) gets the ball thrown correctly his way," Williams said. "I'm stretching and falling and doing everything. Everybody [else] who's been here's balls are there. Our footballs [from Romo to Williams] are everywhere right now."

Others are thinking it could be Williams' fault. It's safe to say there is a new No. 1 receiver in Dallas, though.

"We'll do what it is the best interest of the team," head coach Ken Whisenhunt said, which likely means that Boldin will be sitting this weekend, which is too bad because the former Rookie of the Year is averaging 11.5 yards per reception right now.

Guess he can use his extra time now to hang out with his son, Anquan Jr. and plan for a new way to try and get himself traded this off-season.

The word is that he's asking Dr. James Andrews, who is likely to confirm that he's got more than sprained PCL. The thought is that it is likely torn.

If Gonzalez wanted to keep playing, he should have looked in the Yellow Pages for a doctor. Instead he goes to one of the best in the business.

Head coach Eric Mangini is supposedly very into the idea of working with Accorsi as well. But if Accorsi doesn't want to give up the chances for (though unlikely reality of) Sunday-afternoon dozes in the Barcalounger to help fix the ailing Browns, the team would at least like to have help make the decision on who the next GM should be.

He was apparently consulted before the team hired the toothless George Kokinis and had nice things to say about the fella who was once the pro personnel director of the Baltimore Ravens.

Still, that wouldn't have been Accorsi's choice for the job. That honor goes to New York Giants director of pro personnel David Gettleman.

And there won't be a pot of gold at the end unless you count the fact that Fisher has a contract till the end of 2011. Even with that, there's no reason to think Adams will keep him onboard for another year more than the 16 he's served with the team.

The main sticking point, of course, is the quarterback situation. Fisher really seemed to think Kerry Collins(notes) was the right man for the job and it took massive applications of pressure by Adams to get Fisher to start Young, who won his first game back as starter. "We'll just have to see what happens the rest of the way," Adams said. "I'll have to make my decision after the season is up."

Right now, his decision is looking pretty easy.

Edwards is apparently recovered from the concussion he suffered during the early October game against the Arizona Cardinals. Backup Ryan Fitzpatrick(notes) would have a greater argument for holding onto the spot if he hadn't been so horrendous in a Week 8 loss to the Houston Texans. After all, he had led the team to two wins before that.

Hope that concussion didn't hurt the brain of Edwards too much. Here's a guy who graduated from Stanford and nearly took a job in the electronic design automation industry instead of the NFL.

The team has apparently canned past employees for nasty behavior. Seems like his could fit the bill.

The team said in a statement, "Over the last few days, we learned of the allegations made against coach Cable, and we are, of course, aware of his response thereto. In conjunction with the league office, we will undertake a serious evaluation of this matter. We wish to be clear that we do not in any way condone or accept actions such as those alleged."

In the statement, the team says that some of those past firings, which were done for obviously confidential reasons, the team has "endured public opprobrium for the dismissals, all the while knowing our basis for them was appropriate."

OK, time to go through past Oakland Raider firings that didn't make a whole lot of sense at the time.

Well, it appears that all may be thrown out the window, according to the Washington Post. Holmgren is apparently upset with the treatment Snyder is giving Zorn, who previously was an assistant for Holmgren in Seattle.

He reportedly told a Chicago radio station that "it was very unfair" to strip Zorn of his play-calling abilities.

"The position they put Jim in, it shouldn't happen," he said. "You can be upset with me as a play-caller or how the team's going, [then] fire me. But don't do that. Don't pull the rug out from under me, tie my hands, make me look foolish ... take away what I came there for to do in the first place. Don't do that."

Go ahead and scratch his name off your list, Mr. Snyder.

An ex-wife and an ex-girlfriend are saying he assaulted them numerous times when they were with him. The Napa district attorney decided to not charge Cable with assault in the punching incident with the assistant, Randy Hanson.

Cable's former wife says he hit her in the jaw back in 1988 and she promptly got a restraining order and a divorce. His former girlfriend, Marie Lutz, says he assaulted her only last January.
Cable says that he did hit his former wife, but it was an open-handed slap.

So that must make it OK.

You'd think with a two game losing streak and a 2-6 record, Cable would be hitting himself instead of other people.

Rodgers was apparently "limping severely" after the game, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Rodgers rushed for 52 years on five carries yesterday. He's had a foot issue that could have been aggravated.

Rodgers is saying he'll be fine in a couple of days.

"My highest priority is to have a stable figure that represents the voice that explains the decisions," Lerner said, vaguely.

Lerner apparently isn't happy with the quarterback situation between Derek Anderson(notes) and Brady Quinn(notes) and might bring in a team president to look over the shoulder of Mangini and GM George Kokonis. "We need as many credible, serious eyes and ears assessing this situation as is possible," he said.

Lucky for the Browns, they've got a bye this week.