Posted by Will Brinson


Chad Henne's coming-out party on Monday night was heavily obscured by the fact that Tom Brady went absolutely HAM on the Dolphins.

But make no mistake, Henne looked substantially better than he had his entire career. And there's reason for it -- as noted before the season began, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was going to give Henne "full reign" to call audibles at the line.

CBS Sports' Charley Casserly noted during The NFL Today that this has resulted in

"He likes the fast-paced offense, he likes the quick-rhythm passing game he's in and he also likes his ability to get through his progression on the passing plays rather quickly," Casserly said.

Most interesting, though? Casserly noted that the Dolphins in general are a much more "loose" team now. And he said there's some belief that this is a result of Bill Parcells not hanging around the complex anymore.

That's an interesting theory, and one that makes sense, because of Parcells general method of leadership. (He's a bit of a hardass, you may have heard.)

And it's not necessarily a rip on Parcells and the way he ran things in Miami -- the team is just looser now than it was when he roamed the office. Because we don't even know if that's a good thing just quite yet.

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Posted by Will Brinson


Donovan McNabb didn't exactly have the best numbers on Sunday -- 39 yards passing against the Chargers in an embarrassing effort as the Vikings fell to 0-1.

Considering that Minnesota drafted Christian Ponder out of Florida State, it wouldn't be shocking to hear any chatter about whether or not McNabb should remain the starter for the duration of the season. He might not hold that role all year, but CBS Sports' Charley Casserly reported Sunday that, at least for right now, the Vikings have "no intention of benching" McNabb.

"I want continuity this year," Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier told Casserly.

Frazier cited McNabb's last season with the Redskins -- proving that we (the public, the media) are not alone in thinking that what went down in Washington was just ridiculous.

And that's precisely why Frazier wants to provide some continuity for the veteran; yanking him out of the lineup and rolling with Ponder might work OK, but it also has the potential for immediate failure. If that's the case, Frazier would have to throw McNabb back out there as a starter.

It's an awkward and touchy situation, but it's a smart move by Frazier to at least stick with one plan going forward. That plan is McNabb, for better or for worse.

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Posted by Will Brinson

It's almost NFL time, kids. Which means it's also time for the 52nd season of the NFL being broadcast on the CBS Television Network.

And that also means another wonderful season of The NFL Today (the best pregame show on Sundays, and, yes, I'd tell you that even if I didn't work here), anchored as always by the excellent James Brown and featuring Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, Bill Cowher and Shannon Sharpe.

We'll have more from the announcement/media thing in New York City later, but for now, the important stuff: the mothership's announced the 2011 announcer pairings.

Jim Nantz and Phil Simms take the spot as The NFL on CBS lead announcing team, as usual, followed immediately by Greg Gumbel, who teams again with Dan Dierdorf.

Ian Eagle will be paired with Chargers great Dan Fouts in 2011, and new legend on the block Marv Albert will team up with Rich Gannon to call games.

Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots are paired again this season, while Bill Macatee will team up with Steve Tasker.

Spero Dedes, in his second year, will call games with Steve Beuerlein, while Don Criqui and Randy Cross will pair up as well.

In bonus news, The NFL on CBS will kick off this Friday, August 26 by broadcasting the Colts-Packers preseason game and then air the Patriots-Lions game on Saturday, August 27.

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Posted by Will Brinson

Early Saturday morning, reports started filtering out that Ray Anderson, the NFL's Vice President of Operations, had spoken with the various head coaches of the eight playoff teams to alert them that actions on the field resulting from off-field trash talk would be punished. The NFL later confirmed these reports, meaning the league is a bit sensitive to any big hits this weekend, especially if they relate to people who were part of the abundance of trash-talking this week.

During his segment on The NFL Today, CBS Sports' Charley Casserly reported that there won't be any discipline for the comments, etc. made leading up to the games.

"None of the players will be fined for what they said during the week," Casserly said.

Casserly spoke with Anderson and the league on Saturday morning, and they also told him their expectations for this weekend's games.

"First of all, they expect all he players to play within the rules," Casserly said. "Second of all, they don't want any of these comments that were made during the week to carry over into actions on the field that are illegal hits. Any flagrant hits, any egregious hits -- those players are going to be kicked out of the game.

"The league doesn't want to have to do it, but they're going to warn the coaches to warn the players about that. Anybody kicked out of the game [faces] possible further discipline from the NFL."



In the early-going of the Baltimore-Pittsburgh game, there've been a number of flags (although Jeff Triplette's crew whiffed on some personal foul penalties in the first quarter), likely the result of a heated rivalry and a "chippy" game. There hasn't been anything that seems like a direct attack based on any trash-talking though (or at least anything that the refs saw), so it seems as if the Ravens and Steelers are safe. For now.

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Posted by Will Brinson

Despite being "let go" by the Carolina Panthers about a week ago, John Fox is a pretty hot name for openings around the NFL. And he'll be interviewing for one of those openings -- with the Denver Broncos -- on Monday.

Charley Casserly of CBS Sports reported on The NFL Today that Fox is among a number of candidates for the Broncos' job and that they've retained a search firm in order to help them narrow the list.

"First of all, they're going to take their time with the search," Casserly said. "Second thing is they've hired the executive search firm, Russell-Reynolds, to consult with John Elway and his staff throughout the process of hiring a coach."

That process involves cutting down the list of candidates which, according to Casserly, includes Eric Studesville (their current interim coach), Perry Fewell (Giants DC), Dirk Koetter (Jacksonville OC), Rick Dennison (Houston OC), Gregg Williams (New Orleans DC), Fox and Mike Mularkey.

Two interesting points about Mularkey and Fox -- Casserly reported that although Mularkey, who cancelled an earlier interview with the Broncos, is still in the mix because "both sides decided they will talk at a later time."



On Fox, Casserly reported that "he'll only get consideration for [the Broncos'] job if he's willing to take less money" than he got with the Panthers in 2010.

That's no huge surprise considering that Fox was, after all, let go. It's not often that you get a promotion simply for becoming unemployed.

Either way, though, it appears the Broncos are seeking a coach who's fine with letting Elway run the show from a personnel standpoint.

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Posted by Will Brinson

Vince Young lost the staring contest between he and Jeff Fisher for the heart of Bud Adams and is likely to be released by the team soon, as finding a trading partner for the former Texas star is unlikely.

Just how unlikely though? VERY unlikely, according to CBS Sports' Charley Casserly, who reported on The NFL Today that he doesn't expect there to be any interest in Young around the NFL next year.

"Look for Young to be released by the Titans on or about February 7th, the first day you can release players," Casserly said. "However, I surveyed all of the teams that need a starting quarterback in the NFL and none of them were interested in Vince Young as their starter. But I believe he will also be signed as a backup in the offseason."

Yikes. That's a fall so precipitous that even Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen are impressed -- just a few months ago, Young was the starting quarterback on one of the best teams in the AFC, trying to get healthy so he could hook up with Randy Moss on deep balls and cementing himself as one of the most impressive maturation stories in the NFL.

Now he's likely headed to the NFL's version of the "street" and even teams like Arizona, Carolina, Seattle and Minnesota (best collective starter: Matt Hasselbeck!) appear uninterested in Young's services.

Casserly also reported that Fisher and the Titans are likely to begin discussions for a contract extension in the offseason, which should be much easier to pull off once Adams realizes just how wisely he chose in his Young-Fisher decision.



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Posted by Will Brinson

Tom Coughlin, despite winning a Super Bowl in 2007, is on the hot seat, heading into the 2010 offseason.

Or is he? Charley Casserly reported on The NFL Today that Coughlin's job is safe in New York and that he's likely to get an extension in the offseason.

"Tom Coughlin will be back as head coach next year," Casserly said. "He's entering the last year of his contract -- look for him to get a contract extension. When the Giants have been in this situation before they've extended that coach one year and both times went to the Super Bowl."

The discussion of Coughlin's job is moot if the Giants win and Green Bay loses, as the Giants will make the playoffs.

However, things could change if the Giants suffer an embarrassing loss to the Redskins Sunday (particularly if the Packers lose), but at this point, it seems as if Coughlin will be coaching the Giants in 2011.

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Posted by Will Brinson

The NFL has moved on from the Brett Favre - Jenn Sterger case, thankfully, after fining the quarterback $50,000 for his lack of cooperation in the investigation.

On The NFL Today , Charley Casserly provided some details of the reason for Favre's fine.

"The NFL told me the specific reasons for the $50,000 fine were the following things," Casserly said. "That he wasn't candid in his interviews, gave half answers, minimized things and wasn't completely honest about the number of communications he had with Jenn Sterger."

Casserly also raised a very interesting point about the forensic investigation into the communications sent that could make things difficult if Sterger decides to pursue the matter in a court of law.

"Now one other point in the investigation -- both sides agreed on using the same company to study the forsenic evidence. That forensic evidence came back and was not conclusive that Brett Favre could definitely have been proven to send those messages," Casserly said. "That doesn't bode well for Sterger if she wants to pursue this in the legal system."

Casserly's absolutely correct -- if the forensic company that Sterger agreed to use couldn't find specific proof that Favre did anything wrong as it relates to the NFL's investigation, there's a precedent already set for use in any (totally hypothetical at this point) legal case.

Although Team Sterger could certainly find another forensics team that does find proof, her agreement to use a prior company would greatly hamper the viability of any further evidence.



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