Bernard Pollard takes out yet another Patriot

Bernard Pollard continues to be a oneman wrecking crew when he plays the New England Patriots.
The Baltimore safety's tackle on Rob Gronkowski in the final seconds of the third quarter sent the tight end limping off the field and on to the locker room.
It's the third time Pollard has knocked a key Patriot out of a game, and the other two were as damaging to New England as any injury that Patriots have suffered in recent years.
In 2008, Pollard's hit on Tom Brady in the seasonopener tore MCL and ACL ligaments and ended the quarterback's season. Pollard was playing for Kansas City then.
The same damage was inflicted on www.buccaneersofficialnflshop.com/Authentic-Doug-Martin-Jersey receiver Wes Welker from a Pollard tackle late in the 2009 season, when Pollard was with Houston.
On the tackle on Gronkowski, Pollard hit him above the waist, but as the two fell to the ground Pollard's weight forced the receiver's lower left leg inward, apparently twisting his knee.
"My gosh, it's Pollard again," said CBS' Jim Nantz.
Nantz went on to recount Pollard's history against the Patriots, and Phil Simms then interjected that: "Saying all that, we're not insinuating, by no means."
Then Simms, with emphasis, added "Clean plays."USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.
Reid Cherner has been with USA TODAY since 1982 and written Game On! since March 2008.
He has covered everything www.buccaneersofficialnflshop.com/Authentic-Darrelle-Revis-Jersey from high schools to horse racing to the college and the pros. The only thing he likes more than his own voice is the sound of readers telling him when he's right and wrong.
Michael Hiestand has covered sports media and marketing for USA TODAY, tackling the sports biz ranging from what's behind megaevents such as the Olympics and Super Bowl to the sometimeshidden numbers behind the sports world's bottom line.

Texans release Ra’Shon Harris, place Sam Montgomery on NFI list

The Texans have released veteran defensive lineman Ra’Shon Harris, the www.buccaneersofficialnflshop.com/Authentic-Doug-Martin-Jersey club said Monday.
Houston also placed rookie outside linebacker Sam Montgomery and rookie safety Orhian Johnson on the active / non-football injury list, the club said. Montgomery is a third-round pick from LSU, while Johnson is an undrafted free agent from Ohio State.
The club also placed defensive end Earl Okine, an undrafted free agent from Florida, on the active / physically unable to perform list.
It is unclear why Montgomery, Johnson and Okine are on the reserve lists.
Harris (6-5, 312) missed the 2012 season with a triceps injury. He was a sixth-round pick of the Steelers in 2009.
The release of Harris leaves the www.buccaneersofficialnflshop.com/Authentic-Darrelle-Revis-Jersey Texans one short of the 90-player roster limit. Montgomery, Okine and Johnson count toward the 90-player limit.

Harbaugh: “Slow time in the media cycle” led to Kaepernick cap flap

One of the most-discussed topics in the NFL this month has been 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick wearing a Dolphins hat. Kaepernick’s coach says that just shows how slow things are in the NFL in July.
Harbaugh told reporters today that he doesn’t have any concerns about Kaepernick’s loyalty to the 49ers, even though some fans and media members questioned what he was doing wearing another team’s colors.
“I know Kap, and I know where his allegiances lie. They lie with us. I chalk that [controversy] up to a slow time in the media cycle,” Harbaugh said, via the San Frank Gore Womens Jersey Jose Mercury-News.
No one doubts that Kaepernick’s allegiances are with the 49ers, and the criticisms Kaepernick took weren’t about having some kind of dual loyalty with the Dolphins. The criticisms were more about whether the best way to be the face of your franchise is to Aldon Smith Authentic Jersey put another franchise’s logo on your head.
But Harbaugh Authentic Anthony Davis Jersey is right that the controversy hit in the slowest time of the year in the NFL. Thankfully, with training camps opening this week, we have real football to talk about now.

lorida House Speaker continues to face questions over his income

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has yet to use his new political action committee to target Will Weatherford, the Florida Speaker of the House who put the brakes in May on legislation that would have allowed a public vote on renovations to Sun Life Stadium.
Ross may not have to.
Reporters in Florida have been chasing loose ends and open questions regarding Weatherford’s income. Last month, questions were raised about Weatherford’s income. More recently, Steve Miller of the Miami Herald found a new wrinkle that will serve only to make things more uncomfortable for the relatively young speaker with, in the view of the Dolphins, big aspirations.
Per the Herald, Weatherford is listed as a founding member and former director of U.S. Cat Adjusters, a Texas company that has receiver $826,676 from Florida’s state-run insurance company.
Weatherford says neither he nor his wife have “received a single dollar of income” from the company, www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Lamichael-James-Jersey even though he www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Joe-Montana-Jersey admits he was “listed” as a board member for several years. Tax records show that his wife owns 2.8 percent of the company.
As the article points out, Weatherford doesn’t say whether he owns or previously owned stock in the company.
“He would have to have an interest beyond sitting on the board,” Lance deHaven-Smith, a professor of public administration and public policy at USF, speculates to the Herald. “He’s not doing this as charity. What is being raised here is the possibility of a rather obscure but significant conflict of interest that would be hard to track and hard to know if there are violations of the spirit of the law.”
While the early portions of the article raise questions about Weatherford’s interest in the Texas company, the bottom of the item seems to concede that Weatherford hasn’t done anything wrong, and that his voting record shows no favoritism to the Texas company.
Still, the overriding message of the story is that Weatherford has landed squarely in the cross hairs of influential portions of the Florida media, and if they ever hit the target a major impediment to the efforts to upgrade Sun Life Stadium will be removed.
There’s a chance that Weatherford’s replacement will be even less favorable to the cause, but it’s clear that, with Weatherford in place, the no public money will be funneled to the project.

Raiders have some offensive woes

Some Oakland minicamp notes:
According to several reports, the Oakland offense struggled Tuesday in its first www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Anthony-Davis-Jersey day of minicamp. My thoughts? Check back in August. If www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Aldon-Smith-Jersey this continues in training camp, it will be an issue. Otherwise, all it was was a bad day in June.
Rookie running back Latavius Murray did not practice due to a foot injury. The sixth-round pick was impressive in previous sessions.
There is no doubt Charles Woodson is making his presence felt in Oakland’s secondary. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that fellow free-agent signee Usama Young isn’t getting much work with the first-team defense. That is no surprise -- Woodson has more to offer. However, because he is 36, Woodson likely won’t be a full-time player -- meaning that Young should have a role.

Bill Parcells made huge impact in AFC East

Perhaps no one coach or front-office executive left a bigger footprint in the AFC East than Bill Parcells. The 2013 Hall of Fame entrant had high-ranking positions with three of the four franchises in the division. His success at various places earned Parcells the No. 11 spot on ESPN.com's all-time NFL coaching list.
Parcells was a rare breed in the NFL, because he was both a very good coach and talent evaluator. That combination made him famous for quickly turning teams around, and he did it successfully during stints with the New England Patriots, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.
Parcells began his stint in the AFC East as head coach of the Patriots. After taking three years off from coaching, Parcells came to Foxborough in 1993 when New England was a franchise down in the dumps. The Patriots were 19-61 the previous five seasons before Parcells arrived and www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Mike-Iupati-Jersey he quickly established a winning mentality. He led New England to the playoffs twice and lost in the Super Bowl to the Green Bay Packers in 1996, which was his final season with the Patriots. In many ways, Parcells jump-started New England’s current run of success that is still going today with head coach Bill Belichick, who is a former Parcells pupil.
In 1997 Parcells continued his AFC East tour with the New York Jets. He went 29-19 in three years with the Jets and never had a losing season. Parcells retired again from coaching in 1999.
Parcells’ final stint in the division was in 2008 as Vice President of the Miami Dolphins. Former owner Wayne Huizenga paid Parcells a lot of money to run and oversee the team. Parcells' magic touch impacted Miami in the first year when the Dolphins went from a 1-15 team in 2007 to a 11-5 team and won the AFC East in 2008. The Dolphins tied the record for biggest one-year turnaround in NFL history.
But things went downhill for Parcells in Miami after his first season. The www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Patrick-Willis-Jersey Dolphins never made the playoffs again during his tenure. After struggles and an ownership change, Parcells choose to step down and hand the keys over to current general manager Jeff Ireland. Parcells is known just as much in Miami for bailing on the Dolphins when things got rough as he is for the historic turnaround when he first arrived.
Still, Parcells’ impact on the entire AFC East is unmatched. He experienced success at three places in the division, which proved it was better to have Parcells on your team than to face him as an opponent.

Tarell Brown has voided a $2 million

San Francisco 49ers starting cornerback Tarell Brown has voided a $2 million escalator in his contract after he chose not to participate in the team's voluntary offseason program. Yet Brown said after practice that he learned of it www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Anthony-Davis-Jersey via Twitter on Thursday because he didn't know about that clause in the deal, and he then fired agent Brian Overstreet for the mistake.
Brown had been due to earn $2.925 million in salary for the 2013 season. The 28-year-old Brown, who is entering his contract year and currently without an agent, worked out on his own this offseason - something he said he has routinely done.
Had he known about the $2 million, he would have done things differently.
''No one wants to leave money on the table,'' Brown said. ''If I would have known the clauses in my contract - that's what agents get paid to do, to orchestrate the contract and to let you know what you can and can't do as far as workouts and OTAs and things of that sort. That's what he got paid to do. He didn't do that, so in my opinion you have to be let go. We all are held accountable for our actions. This is part of the business.''
Brown was still in shock after the Niners' initial training camp practice, having known about the issue for only a matter of hours.
Brown said as soon as he read reports of his lost money, he contacted his agent and Overstreet reached out to the 49ers. Brown also spoke to the 49ers but said ''there wasn't too much I really could say.''
''I tried to let my former agent talk to them and see what we could work out. It's part of www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Aldon-Smith-Jersey the process,'' he said. ''There's no love lost. For me, I always want to be a professional about everything I do. I think I've done that so far throughout my career and I'm going to keep doing that. It's an unfortunate situation. I'm going to take it in stride and get back. I'm going to learn from this. I've been through a lot in my life. This is just another test. The biggest thing for me is to get through it and let my family know the situation. We'll see where it goes from here.''
A call and email to Overstreet weren't immediately returned Thursday evening.
Brown received a $7.125 million, three-year contract extension in late October 2009 that takes him through this season.
''Unfortunate situation. When you have somebody that advises you to do certain things and not knowing clauses in contracts, you put too much trust into people,'' Brown said. ''That's what happened in this situation. It's something I've always done as far as offseason at home and training and getting myself in shape. It had nothing to do with not being in shape, not wanting to work out, no contract problems, it just had to do with me wanting to go back home and train. It's something I've been doing for the past few years.''
A fifth-round draft pick in 2007 out of Texas, Brown became a regular starter in 2011 and has started all 32 games the past two years. He had 57 tackles and two interceptions last season as NFC champion San Francisco's top cornerback and among the best in the league.
Brown said he plans to sit down with coach Jim Harbaugh to discuss matters. Whether he will work out any kind of compromise with the team over even a portion of that money, he wasn't sure.
''Hope for the best,'' he said. ''Pray for me.''

the Washington Redskins

Rookie Philip Thomas, the early favorite to start at safety for , will miss the 2013 season with a torn Lisfranc ligament suffered in the preseason opener last week.
Thomas started Thursday’s game at Tennessee, but suffered what was thought to be a sprained left foot while making a tackle in the first quarter. Thomas left training camp to be examined by specialist Dr. Robert Anderson on Tuesday. Head coach Mike Patrick Willis Authentic Jersey Shanahan announced after practice that Anderson had discovered the Lisfranc tear – the ligament is in the mid-foot – and recommended surgery.
New York Jets wide Anthony Davis Jersey receiver Santonio Holmes tore his Lisfranc ligament in a game last September and is still questionable to play on opening day this season.
Thomas, a fourth-round pick from Fresno State, will be placed on injured reserve, Shanahan said. Recovery will take “four to five months,’’ the coach said.
Thomas and fellow rookie Bacarri Rambo, the team’s sixth-round pick, started together at safety Thursday.

the NFL Renewing 'Hard Knocks'

'Let Me Get This Straight' on HBO and
With HBO and the NFL renewing their joint production of the acclaimed miniseries Hard Knocks, the future of that program appears to be as healthy as it has ever been.
One problem remains: Most of the teams in the league don't want to do the show.
The Cincinnati Bengals are set to be the subjects of the documentary-style peek through this year's NFL training camp, but that's a bit of a disservice, since www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Mike-Iupati-Jersey we've already seen Marvin Lewis' camp in action from when Knocks covered the team before the 2009 season.
But maybe we should be grateful. The miniseries went on hiatus in 2011, since none of the teams were interested in being featured in the wake of the CBA negotiations. And that was after the series came off an earlier hiatus from 2003 through 2006.

NFC North team look in the secondary

How does each , and what still needs to be done?
Chicago Bears: No team in this division is set up quite as well as the Bears, who have a pair of returning Pro Bowl cornerbacks in Charles Tillman and Tim Jennings along with two safeties in Major Wright and Chris Conte who started all but one game together last season. Veteran Kelvin Hayden won the nickelback job last season from the since-departed D.J. Moore, and the Bears also have a number of credible backups at safety, Craig Steltz among them. The Bears also want to find out about 2012 third-round draft pick Brandon Hardin, who missed last season because of a neck injury.
Detroit Lions: General manager Martin Mayhew worked harder than he ever has to address this annual problem spot. He committed $25 million www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Patrick-Willis-Jersey over five years to re-sign his best cornerback, Chris Houston. He targeted and signed free-agent safety Glover Quin, used the No. 36 overall pick to draft cornerback Darius Slay and gave safety Louis Delmas an incentive-laden contract that will pay out based on availability. If 2012 third-round pick Bill Bentley can make it back from a shoulder injury, the Lions will have good depth at cornerback. Regardless, on paper their secondary is as well situated as it has been at any point in Mayhew's tenure.
Green Bay Packers: For the first time since 2005, the Packers will open a season without Charles Woodson manning a starting position. As usual, general manager Ted Thompson has a pile of young players competing to fill in the gaps. Tramon Williams is certain to start at one cornerback spot, while Sam Shields, Casey Hayward and Davon House fight to start on the other side and to form a depth chart for nickel and dime defenses. Morgan Burnett will be one of the Packers' starting safeties, but the other could be M.D. Jennings, Jerron McMillian or even Sean Richardson if he recovers from a neck injury. The Packers are, by definition, in transition, but there are plenty of options for life after Woodson.
Minnesota Vikings: It will be a while before we know if the team can successfully navigate the departure of veteran cornerback Antoine Winfield. Although Winfield is nearing the end of his career, he had a great season in 2012 and played a key role when he handled slot receivers inside. The Vikings have some highly drafted young players at cornerback, most notably 2013 first-rounder Xavier Rhodes, but it's not yet clear how it will all shake out. Former second-round pick Chris Cook (2010) is a starter if he stays healthy, and 2012 third-round pick Josh Robinson is the leading candidate to take over Winfield's nickel spot. Safety Harrison Smith will be a leader, but are the Vikings really going to go through another year with Mistral Raymond and Jamarca Sanford rotating at the other safety position?

Bengals' draft strategy included taking fliers on players

It wasn't long ago that the Bengals' draft strategy included taking fliers on players who arrived in Cincinnati with plenty of off-field baggage. But that philosophy has changed in recent years, so much so that during the 2010 NFL Draft team, owner Mike Brown avoided Aaron Hernandez altogether. Hernandez left the University of Florida as a Mackey Award winner (given annually to college football's best tight end), but concerns about his behavior away from the game saw him last until the fourth round when the Patriots finally drafted him. The Bengals, meanwhile, had their sights on another player. “That one is no secret," Brown told FoxSports.com's Alex Marvez. "We just stayed away from [Hernandez]. We didn't question the playing ability, but we went for [Jermaine] Gresham.” In three NFL seasons, Gresham's numbers compare favorably to Hernandez's. The Bengals tight end www.49ersfootballprostore.com/Authentic-Patrick-Willis-Jersey has 172 receptions, 1,804 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns; the former Patriots tight end has 175 receptions, 1,954 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns. Gresham, a two-time Pro Bowler, has also remained out of trouble since the Bengals took him in the first round. Hernandez, meanwhile, is facing first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd. The Patriots released Hernandez last week, hours after he was arrested, and now he's in jail awaiting trial. Brown explained how the Bengals went from pursuing high-character individuals some years back to at one point recently having more players arrested than any other team in the league. "Going way back to when my father was here, we were very conscious of picking people we thought were people you could live with [and] the right type of person,” Brown told Marvez. “And then, lo and behold, one of the teams we played seemed to reach out and bring in guys who weren't always what they should be – at least that's how it appeared to us. But they were good football players. They sort of had us for lunch. We then began doing some of that. “Sometimes you win doing that, and sometimes you don't. There's no way to tell going in how it's going to work out. We had some people that we had question marks on at the time of the draft. A few were really tremendous players, but there came a time when for the most part they made life difficult. It wasn't always the case, but there was enough of it. In the last few years, we've gone back to our old formula. We bring in guys, but only when we know that they're sound people.” The Bengals weren't alone in shying away from Hernandez in 2010. Then-Colts president Bill Polian felt the same way. “We were not in the Hernandez business,” Polian told the Wall Street Journal recently, saying that the team "never got that far" in the evaluation of the tight end. "There were questions there," Polian added, "which is why a guy of that talent lasted until the fourth round." The Journal also reports that, shortly before the 2010 draft, a scouting service prepared a psychological profile available to every team that described Hernandez as "living on the edge of acceptable behavior," and that he could become a "problem" for any team that signs him. Three years into Hernandez's NFL career -- and 10 months after the Patriots rewarded him with a $40 million contract extension -- that appears to be what happened.