Drew Brees enthusiastically lets his boys play football

As brain injuries have become a bigger concern, more parents express doubts about letting their children play tackle football. Saints quarterback Drew Brees, however, is an enthusiastic football dad. “Do my boys play? Oh, yeah. They knock the crap out of each other,” Brees said. Brees said he still sees football as the same physical…

As a head coach, Dirk Koetter apparently will take more chances on offense

Dirk Koetter has done well as an offensive coordinator in the NFL. He possibly could have done even better, if he’d felt free to roll the dice more often. Now that he’s a head coach, Koetter apparently will. Asked by Gil Brandt of SiriusXM NFL Radio whether a playcaller who also is the head coach…

Ramsey to Rodgers: ‘Throw my way if you want to’

Jaguars corner Jalen Ramsey knows he's facing an all-time great in Aaron Rodgers on Sunday. The rookie said he's not "scared" of the challenge in his first NFL game.

Police unions offer to pay fine if NFL disciplines player for 9/11 cleats

Titans linebacker Avery Williamson said he was planning to wear special red, white and blue cleats to commemorate 9/11 on Sunday. The NFL told him that if he did, he’d be fined for breaking the uniform rules. Now two police unions have stepped up to say they’ll pay the fine if Williamson goes through with…

Brandon Marshall defends his patriotism

The NFL, which officially will not require players to stand for the national anthem, unofficially has linked standing with patriotism, which by implication means that anyone who sits or kneels isn’t patriotic. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has taken issue with this in relation to comments from Commissioner Roger Goodell regarding 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.…

Graham Gano says timeout didn’t make him nervous

The idea behind icing the kicker is that by calling timeout before a potentially game-winning field goal, you can make the other team’s kicker nervous. That seemed to work for Broncos coach Gary Kubiak on Thursday night. Except that Panthers kicker Graham Gano says that isn’t the case. Gano split the uprights on a kick…

Gronkowski officially out for Sunday

The Patriots won’t have two of their top offensive weapons on Sunday night against the Cardinals, for very different reasons. Quarterback Tom Brady will miss the game due to his #DeflateGate suspension. Tight end Rob Gronkowski will miss the game due to a hamstring injury. The Patriots have announced that Gronkowski has been officially downgraded…

Some Eagles veterans have concerns about decision to dump Bradford for Wentz

Last Saturday’s surprising two-in-one decision by the Eagles to trade starting quarterback Sam Bradford to the Vikings and to make rookie Carson Wentz the new starter raises an obvious question: Will veteran players be concerned about the perception that the franchise has decided on a path that makes the Eagles less competitive in 2016? Appearing on…

Kubiak disagrees with call that kept Carolina’s last drive alive

Before Graham Gano missed a potential game-winning field goal and before the questionable decision to not call for a concussion evaluation of Cam Newton, Carolina kept the final drive of Thursday night’s game alive by converting a fourth-and-21 play, without the assistance of Freddie Mitchell. Amid plenty of talk regarding officiating errors that helped the…

NFL admits the obvious: Marshall got away with illegal hit on Cam

Everyone watching the game knew Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall got away with an illegal hit to the head of Panthers quarterback Cam Newton last night, so it would have been alarming if the NFL tried to claim otherwise. Fortunately, the NFL is not trying to claim otherwise. NFL Media reports that the league office considers…

Hits on Cam Newton should have resulted in more penalties

Helmet-to-helmet hits on Cam Newton resulted in just one penalty on the Denver Broncos during their 21-20 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Thursday.

Report: Shaun Hill will start Sunday for Vikings

Vikings players were informed Friday that Shaun Hill will be the team’s starting quarterback in Sunday’s opener at Tennessee, NFL Network reported Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer told reporters that he had made a decision on who would start but wouldn’t share until Sunday for strategic reasons. The team has…

Christine Michael to start, Graham to play for ‘Hawks

The Awakening has entered the starting lineup in Seattle. Christine Michael will start at running back for the Seahawks against the Dolphins on Sunday, head coach Pete Carroll told reporters.