• Our pal Dan Shanoff has put together an "Anatomy of a Rumor" piece on Brett Favre possibly appearing on "Dancing with the Stars." This is the most we'll write about it, because it's not happening, but Shanoff's piece absolutely deserves a read.

• Mike Mayock, my favorite non-CBSSports.com draft analyst, has some good words of caution for those falling in love with Cam Newton: "the best pro day I ever attended for a quarterback was JaMarcus Russell."

• This is somewhat un-NFL-related, but it's still a great listen, as Jonah Keri invites Richard Deitsch onto the "Jonah Keri Podcast" to talk about sports media, Twitter and the (at some point) Super Bowl. Now I just sit back and wait for my invite, Mr. Keri. Ahem.

• Mark Sanchez led the NFL in dropped interceptions with 15 (!!!). For those of you wanting to crown his butt.

• Go read our own Mike Freeman's column on the lockout. No, seriously, go. NOW.

• The Cardinals appear unlikely to actually use their franchise tag this season.

• Is Michael Oher the first author ever to include the title of the movie made about the book about his life in the title of the book about his life?

• Could some former Panthers end up following John Fox to Denver?

• Wes Welker appeared in a Vitamin Water ad congratulating Ray Allen for his all-time three-point record and he somehow managed to squeeze a Rex Ryan foot joke in his shoutout. So awesome.

• NFL.com writer Vic Carucci mentions that Chan Gailey likes Cam Newton "a great deal." Please let him go No. 3 overall. Please.

Posted by Andy Benoit


The NFL wild card games averaged over 32 million viewers -- a new record.


Not surprisingly, there are now questions about Reggie Bush’s future in New Orleans.


The Baltimore Sun wants to know….Joe Flacco’s playoff beard: hit or miss?


Michael Oher spent most of Sunday’s game scuffling with KC players.


A fed up Bengals fan is auctioning off his NFL allegiance to the highest-bidding NFL city.


Monday night's BCS National Championship will feature Clay Matthews’ brother (how many Matthews stars are out there?)


Brian Cushing has fired his agent and hired Drew Rosenhaus.


Roger Goodell dressed like Joe Fan and attended a town hall meeting with 60 randomly selected Chiefs season ticket holders Sunday.


As expected, the Bucs exercised their one-year option on GM Mark Dominik.


For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsnfl on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS Feed.

Posted by Andy Benoit

We expected Ravens tackle Michael Oher to be fined for his in-game tweet this past Sunday. We did not expect the fine to be so small. Oher was docked $5,000 for using social media during the fourth quarter of the Bucs-Ravens game. (Oher had left the game with a knee injury earlier and, unaware of the league’s rule against using social media within 90 minutes of kickoff or during a game, told his Twitter followers that he’d play against the Steelers next week.)

Darnell Dockett and Terrell Owens were both fined $5,000 earlier this season for tweets inside of 90 minutes. So why did we think Oher’s fine would be bigger? Because the only other player fined for tweeting DURING a game this season (or preseason, as it was) is Chad Ochocinco. And Ochocinco’s fine was $25,000.

We asked the NFL the reasoning behind the $20,000 difference in Ocho’s fine and Oher’s fine. The league at first responded by passing along its original announcement about Ochocinco:

Chad Ochocinco of the Cincinnati Bengals was notified that he has been fined $25,000 for violating two NFL game policies – possession of an electronic device and posting messages on a social media site – during the Bengals-Philadelphia Eagles game on August 20.

Two messages appeared on Ochocinco’s Twitter page during the prohibited period for players to be using social media, which begins 90 minutes prior to kickoff until post-game media obligations are fulfilled.  One Ochocinco message appeared at 6:50 p.m. ET and the second at 9:53 p.m. ET.  The game kicked off at 8:07 p.m. ET.

The only difference we can see between Oher’s actions and Ocho’s actions is that Oher sent one tweet and Ocho sent two. The part about Ocho violating the policy against an electronic device is irrelevant in this discussion, as any player who tweets would have had to have used an electronic device (which means Oher would be guilty of that, as well).

Unless, in the league’s eye, there’s a difference between using an electronic device on the sideline (as Ocho did) vs. in the locker room (as Oher did), the implication is that a second tweet is worth $20,000 more than a first tweet. That would be consistent with the league’s rules against repeat social media offenders. But is that really a $20,000 offense? You can punch out a pesky, dirty cornerback for almost that price.

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsnfl on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS Feed .