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.

Davis has been frustrated while watching his teammates play to a 10-4 record: "It's tough to watch the games, knowing that you can help, knowing that you could be the deciding factor of the game,'' he said.

Davis is supposed to get his cast off on Dec. 2 and he'll have to do a little more rehabbing before he can get back into a game and do something with that frustration.

Anaheim tried to snag Halladay this summer and probably tied the Philadelphia Phillies for being the closest to getting a deal done. But former J.P. Ricciardi drove too hard a bargain for both of those teams and so they went without and did pretty well anyway.

The word is that Anaheim will need to give up a slew of prospects along with one of three pitchers -- Jered Weaver(notes), Ervin Santana(notes), or Joe Saunders(notes) - to get the Blue Jays to open that little window for the Angels to negotiate an extension with the 32-year-old Halladay and finish off the trade.

Halladay has supposedly informed the Blue Jays that he isn't going to re-sign after next season.

But that low price and high production are also making the Rangers loathe to trade Cruz. So the fella who became an All-Star for the first time this year is very likely to be back in the Texas Rangers outfield next year.

Some teams that are believed to be interested include the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants.

The 33-year-old lefty is benefiting from there not being a whole lot of other strong pitching on the market right now. He had a 3.23 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 129 strikeouts in 214.1 innings this year. Lackey pitched fewer innings (176.1) and had a higher ERA (3.83).

More than half the teams in Major League Baseball are supposedly trying to get him.

The word is that the Angels like Granderson more simply because his contract runs through 2012 and has a $13 million option for 2013 while Jackson's only goes till the end of 2011.

The Angels are supposedly good potential trading partners with Detroit because the three areas of depth - catcher, low-paying pitching, and shortstop - are what the Tigers need.

In 2009, center fielder Granderson hit 30 homers, had 71 RBIs, FOXSports, 91 runs scored, and 157 hits.

That minority stake has got to burn sometimes since the team used to be known as Gillett Evernham Motorsports and simply as Evernham Motorsports before that, since he was the founder and majority owner.

The word is that he's trying to get out of that minority ownership (and its non-compete clause) so he can return to the racetrack as early as next year to work with another team, according to NASCAR.com. Evernham is spending the next few weeks trying to work out the legal issues while an offer from ESPN to work races next year sits on the table and waits. "I love working for ESPN," he said. "I have a blast with what I do there. We'll have to see. I'm not going to say that I'll never be back over here. I just don't know in what capacity."

For Richard Petty, Evernham hasn't done any consulting for the team or majority owner George Gillett since this past May.

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 Wizards have played 12 games together this season but it doesn't appear that the 3-9 squad is getting any closer. Instead, it seems the team is moving apart irreparably. Just after the game Brendan Haywood(notes) was saying ego was getting in the way of the Wizards winning any games.

And even though Gilbert Arenas(notes) has stopped blogging, it appears he has no problem still letting the world know his feelings. He took the blame as a leader: "The NBA's a ship. It's going to keep moving. Teams are not waiting for us," Arenas said. "As the captain, I've got to steer my ship. If I've got to steer it to land until everybody wants to jump on, then I'm going to do it. . . . And we'll see who comes and follows. If nobody wants to follow, then the boat's just going to keep moving."

As he was talking, Haywood reportedly walked by and started singing Beyoncé's "Ego."

It's not looking good for the Wizards this season.

The 36-year-old Damon is apparently thinking that he would like a three- or four-year deal and the Yankees supposedly only want to give him a two-year deal. The 2010 salary is still being finalized for the Yanks but it is believed that the team's priorities are to bring back Damon and Andy Pettitte(notes).

The Daily News reports that Damon told friends earlier this year that he would accept a shorter deal from the Yanks but then his annual salary would have to go up.

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.

The Daily News reports that the Mets only have $20 million to spend this off-season.

While the Mets are sure to reduce the $147 payroll it had last season, which would allow for more than $20 million to be spent on free agents, it is believed that there is no way the Mets can compete in the free-agent bidding wars that will take place for Lackey, Matt Holliday(notes), and Jason Bay(notes).

So Sheets and Jason Marquis(notes) are apparently the two pitchers that the team is focused on snagging

First it was reported that center Emeka Okafor(notes) was on the block and then another report came that pretty much the whole team was on the block except for Chris Paul(notes). Neither story was apparently true, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Team execs tell the paper that nobody on the team is getting moved right now. When the February trading deadline comes, things could be a lot different but the team apparently wants to stick with this group for a little bit and see what it can do.

The word is that the Red Sox will pay half of the 35-year-old Lowell's $12 million salary next season to anybody who will take him.

Lowell hasn't played more than 120 games in the last two years so if anybody takes him, they better have a decent backup.

If the Sox can get Adrian Gonzalez(notes) from the San Diego Padres, he'll be playing first and Kevin Youkilis(notes) will be moved to third. Otherwise, Boston will be bidding for the likes of Adrian Beltre(notes), Placido Polanco(notes), Chone Figgins(notes), and a bunch of others, though Beltre is believed to be the one of most interest to the Sox.

It isn't clear which one it is but the San Francisco Giants are the most likely team since it needs someone to hold the spot till top prospect Buster Posey(notes) is ready to fill it.

The Rockies have also supposedly given a call to the agent for Brian Schneider(notes) just in case Torrealba doesn't end up back in Denver.

One guy who could come over from Chicago is defenseman Brent Sopel(notes), who Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke apparently liked when they wer together with the Vancouver Canucks. Sopel is getting paid $2.33 million and only getting about 14 minues of playing time a gam.

Part of the problem is that the Maple Leafs aren't quite sure of the value of some of its minor-league talent. Center Tyler Bozak(notes) is apparently just coming off having H1N1 and it's unclear if he can play at the top level or not.

Another rumor has veteran defenseman Tomas Kaberle(notes) getting moved even though he has a no-trade clause, but Kaberle isn't reportedly interested in going anywhere. "Where is this coming from?" he said. "I'm the wrong guy to be asking (about a trade)."

Burke says he hasn't asked Kaberle to waive his clause - yet.

The word from "top NASCAR officials" was that the fella, Hans-Joachim Stuck, was meeting with NASCAR's sanctioning body. Brian France, NASCAR's chairman, said this year that NASCAR would be totally cool with having more manufacturers come on board as long as it has at least one production plant in the U.S. VW is building one right now in Tennessee and should get rolling in 2011.

But now the Speed Channel is saying that the meeting had nothing to do with bringing VW to NASCAR but it was all about three of its brands --VW, Audi, and Lamborghini - getting into Grand-Am Road Racing, which is owned and operated by NASCAR.

Bay apparently has an "unbelievable" number of teams making calls for him, says his (totally unbiased) agent. Bay, Matt Holliday(notes), and John Lackey(notes) will be the three biggest free agents on the market this off-season but Bay seems to be the most accessible of the three to more clubs.

Bay reportedly wants a five-year deal worth $17 million annually and supposedly declined a four-year, $60 million proposal on the table from the Red Sox. Now he's waiting to see what kind of dollars and years will be offered by such clubs as the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and Seattle Mariners.

And, of course, the Red Sox will keep a watchful eye over the proceedings and try to get back in at an opportune moment.

He and coach Rick Adelman then apparently had an "emotional and sometimes loud" meeting about what the plan is for McGrady. The meeting supposedly kicked off with McGrady slamming the door shut.

McGrady is apparently feeling recovered from the microfracture surgery on his left knee and wanted to hear straight from Adelman - not Rockets general manager Daryl Morey or trainer Keith Jones - about his plan for McGrady, who apparently has to wait to play till at least next week when he will get another MRI to see if everything looks healed up.

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.

However, an exec on the team has apparently told the New York Post that Swisher isn't going anywhere and the Yankees are very happy with having him out in right field.

So now Swisher can just go ahead and relax and get that tattoo he was planning to get this winter to honor his departed grandfather that will match the one that he has on his chest in honor of his grandmother. The pair basically raised him after his folks got divorced.

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).

For that reason, Sabean isn't even going to extend any kind of offer to either one of the top offensive free agents on the market this year now that any team can make offers to any free agents. Sabean is saying that he doesn't want to be a "stalking horse" this off-season and get used as a negotiating tool for these players with other clubs.

So Sabean says the Giants will be focusing on so-called second-tier players to fill out the batting order and bullpen. That terminology sure is going to make those players feel good about themselves, too.

Lo Duca told the satellite radio station that he's completely healthy and everything he's had surgery on (hamstring, knee) feels perfect. "I want to go back in it full bore and [do] whatever needs to be done," he said. "I want to play on a team that wants to win and wants a player that wants to win. I'll do whatever I need to do. If it's come off the bench, if it's spot starts, I'll do whatever they need me to do."

The 5'9" 36-year-old who has a .286 career average and popped only 80 homers in his ten years in the league isn't expecting to be the starting catcher for anybody. "I really feel like I can offer a good bat off the bench to somebody and do whatever needs to be done," he said.

Guess he was getting bored as a horse-racing analyst for the TVG Network.

Earlier this week, Knicks prez Donnie Walsh said it was a long shot but he must be liking what he's hearing and seeing of Iverson because a deal is supposedly imminent. There are other sources to NBA.com that are saying the deal isn't so close to happening and the 2-9 Knickerbockers are still looking at the plusses and minuses of signing Iverson.

But what do the Knicks have to lose? They've blown a lot more money on far worse players to try and inject some energy into this losing franchise. Then again, the last thing this team needs is another diva who is going to fill up gossip pages rather than the basket.

The deal for the 32-year-old is supposedly for seven years and $39 million. That's $5.7 million a year for those of you keeping score at home. He reportedly could have signed an extension worth $6.5 million a year, but that was only for three years.

He supposedly will be back in action on Monday against the St. Louis Blues: "I feel great out there. You've got to put in your time, though," Savard said. "You've got to skate a couple of times. I'd love to be playing ... but I've got to wait a bit."

Washburn apparently is interested in signing with the Brewers or the Minnesota Twins so he can finish out his career not far from home, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The Brewers are also apparently looking at pitchers Doug Davis(notes), Randy Wolf(notes) and Mark Mulder(notes). Mulder apparently wants to get back together again with pitching coach Rick Peterson.

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.

But Hicks, who has owned the team for more than a decade, has apparently collected a large number of local investors that will help him maintain his majority ownership. Staubach is reportedly one of those folks.

Current club president Nolan Ryan also said he would be part of that group. Ryan is hedging his bets since he has also been working with prospective owner Chuck Greenberg.

Bids for the club are still due on Friday so get your pals together tonight and give Hicks a call before the weekend.

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).

Halladay only has one year left on his contract but the Blue Jays let it be known the other day that whatever team is interested in Halladay and makes the best offer will get a time window to try and get Halladay signed to an extension. And the Yankees are, of course, one of a small bunch of teams that can offer Halladay massive bucks over a long term.

It is believed that the Blue Jays would like a package of players from the Yankees that would include Phil Hughes(notes) or Joba Chamberlain(notes). Toronto's last GM, J.P. Ricciardi tried to get the Yanks to trade him both of these guys for Halladay and that went nowhere.

"Leaving my options open," the 36-year-old righty said. "At this moment, no, I'm not thinking about pitching anymore. Down the road, I'm not sure. Initially, I'd say no way. I'm not planning on playing at this moment. In my mind, I retired when I left in August."

He only had 10 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2009, going 3-6 with a 6.02 ERA. It's an unfortunate way to finish off a career in which he has a 130-96 record, 3.96 ERA and 1,758 strikeouts.

Someone associated with the team apparently told the paper, "It's a given. They're going to make the biggest play for him." Who else would at this point? Iverson was a big distraction instead of a savior for his last two teams, the Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies, so not too many other teams are clamoring for his services, except apparently the Miami Heat. One of Iverson's pals told the New York Daily News that the team is "hot" after Iverson.

The struggling Knicks have no other way of injecting any talent into their team chemistry so might as well give it a shot and see what happens. What can it hurt? They can always do what the Grizzlies did and put him on waivers.

Well, now the guy who won back-to-back Daytona 500s back in 1994 and 1995 is telling folks that he isn't retiring, according to Race 2 Win Radio. He apparently will think about it this winter but there is nothing certain just yet.

The rumor is that the Blackhawks would like to keep Keith in town until he decides to hang up his skates years down the road. The extension could be for as low as eight years and as high as 13.

And why not? The 26-year-old All-Star is considered one of the best defensemen in the league and regularly is a leader in minutes played for the team. In 2006-7, he had 31 points with 29 assists and 2 goals and led the team in blocked shots with 148.

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.

Mauer has another year on his contract but the team would love to get an extension signed as soon as possible. The addition of Hardy may help their cause since he is one of Mauer's biggest buddies in baseball. The pair apparently became pals when they were teammates on the U.S. Junior National team.

The 26-year-old Mauer could supposedly get around $25 million annually on the open market.

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.

He reportedly has a partially torn ligament in his left wrist and only miss four or five weeks if the wrist isn't in terrible shape. But if he needs to have screws put in, his whole season is likely lost. "I'm going into it, assuming it will be a big surgery," Bell said. "If I wake up and it's not, it's icing on the cake."

Golden State apparently knew about Bell's scenario when it made the trade that finally cleared Stephen Jackson(notes) out of California.

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.

The Nats want to change their perception and going after Lackey will certainly help just as the team's pursuit of Mark Teixeira(notes) last off-season started to turn that dial.

Going after Lackey is one thing but getting him would help a whole lot more on the perception front. If the Nats can get him, they'd expect him to also help mentor the rest of the young staff, such as Stephen Strasburg(notes), Ross Detwiler(notes), and John Lannan(notes). Lackey would surely help bring the team's National League-worst ERA of 5.00 down.

But of course everybody else wants Lackey, too, so it remains doubtful that he'll end up in D.C. Another person who also isn't likely to end up in the District is shortstop Adam Everett(notes), who has been linked to the Nats numerous times this off-season already. The team supposedly has no interest in the defensive specialist.

Ricciardi is no longer GM and the new guy, Alex Anthopoulos, is reportedly shifting things around. He is supposedly ready to give other teams a short time window to let them try to negotiate an extension with Halladay if a trade were to get that far, according to MLB.com.

Halladay has one year left on his current contract and it's looking pretty good right now that he won't be wearing a Blue Jays uniform during that time.

Head coach Mike D'Antoni didn't seem overly excited about the prospect of signing the 34-year-old guard who has been put on waivers by the Memphis Grizzlies. "He's been a force in this league for God knows how long," D'Antoni said. "I'm not taking anything away from him. At the same time, there's a lot of organization stuff to talk about."

Still, the team will do pretty much anything to dig itself out of its 1-9 worst start of all time.

Isn't now the time to a few Greek teams to say they'd take Iverson in a heartbeat?

The No. 1 Chevy will reportedly have current Roush Family Racing driver McMurray behind the wheel and feature its main sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops. The 33-year-old McMurray replaces Martin Truex Jr., who has a new deal with Michael Waltrip Racing.

McMurray got his Sprint Cup start back in 2002, winning in only his second race, under Chip Ganassi so the whole thing kind of makes sense.

Even with the disappearance of Stephen Jackson(notes) and Acie Law(notes) to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Raja Bella and Vladimir Radmanovic(notes), Nelson is apparently not very excited about coaching Monta Ellis(notes) and all the other young guys on the team. But there is one big thing supposedly holding him back from calling it quits: Lenny Wilkens.

Nelson has to win 21 more games to break the NBA all-time wins record that Wilkens now holds. Once Nelson has that under his big belt, there's not much incentive to stay on board.

So the expectation is that if he can feel that he's getting closer to that goal on a consistent enough basis, Nelson will stay till he sets a new record and then go home.

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.

The Celts would end up with Andres Nocioni(notes) out of the deal while Kenny Thomas, Tony Allen(notes), and Brian Scalabrine(notes) would be unpacking their bags in the City of Brotherly Love, and Dalembert and J.R. Giddens(notes) would be headed to the Sacramento Kings.

The conversations are supposedly "ongoing." This is at least keeping a few assistant general managers very busy.

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.

There's a rumor floating around that the team (along with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees) is waiting to throw more than $100 million at outfielder Matt Holliday(notes), who hit .313 with 24 home runs and 109 runs batted in for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals this past season. But GM Tony Reagins is saying that no such thing is true. "Our focus is not on him right now."

It is extremely doubtful that Reagins will get Figgins or Lackey to sign anything before Friday. Both are highly coveted on the free-agent market and would likely get paid to play more elsewhere. "They have earned the right to see what their value is," Reagins said.

Lackey supposedly wants to sign a deal worth more than $100 million and has interest from the Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and New York Yankees. Figgins is likely to sign a deal for half of that and his suitors supposedly include the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Cubs.

Supposedly, the White Sox would send Konerko and prospects to San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez. Then San Diego would trade Konerko to Anaheim and give San Diego more prospects.

The 27-year-old left-handed batter Gonzalez is coveted by more than a few teams (40 homers, 99 RBIs, and a .407 on-base percentage will do that for you) so the Padres would have to be receiving some stellar prospects in the deal.

The Grizzlies were unhappy with Iverson's griping and have waived Iverson and he is set to become a free agent on Wednesday. Iverson was displeased with his playing time once he finally came back from an injury. Meanwhile, the Knicks have been less than excited about the work of current point guard Chris Duhon(notes), who head coach Mike D'Antoni thought was going to help turn his team around before Duhon got to New York at the start of last season.

Knicks president Donnie Walsh is saying that the Knicks will at least look into signing Iverson. He remains doubtful but is at least leaving open the possibility: "Right now, I'd say probably not but we'll see," he said.

The rumor is, of course, that the 34-year-old Iverson would absolutely love to be playing for the Knicks, where he would likely get a lot of attention.

But when will Iverson learn that attention can be a bad thing sometimes, too?