National Football League News and Rumors
Ravens, 49ers share practice field at Saints facilityCurtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers shared the same practice at the same time Thursday at the New Orleans Saints practice facility. According to John Clayton of ESPN.com, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh elected to move their team’s practice fro… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com On Thursday morning, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said that the 49ers were coming off a perfect Wednesday practice, and he wanted an exact duplicate of that later in the day. On Thursday afternoon, Harbaugh said his players had exceeded his expectations. “I… |
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Curtis Crabtree, profootballtalk.com Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent following Super Bowl XLVII but general manager Ozzie Newsome doesn’t see Flacco leaving Baltimore under his watch. According to Bob Glauber of Newsday, Newsome wan… |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Less than 18 months after the league and players signed a 10-year CBA, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and union president Domonique Foxworth used a Super Bowl news conference to lay out a series of complaints about safety issues. |
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Calvin Watkins, ESPN.com Jerry Jones said that any decisions regarding the Dallas Cowboys' offensive play-calling system will be made by head coach Jason Garrett -- not the owner himself. |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Seahawks linebacker Leroy Hill has made his first court appearance since he was accused of assaulting his girlfriend. |
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Report: Osi says if Giants pass, Jets a 'good fit' |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com The head of the NFL Players Association calls the league's lockout of its officials at the start of this season "one of the most deliberate disregards of player safety that I think has occurred in the National Football League since our inception." |
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) San Francisco defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois made one of his greatest football memories to date in the Superdome, where he won a national championship with LSU against Ohio State in January 2008. |
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Calvin Watkins, ESPN.com Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker and soon-to-be defensive end DeMarcus Ware said there's a good possibility the window to win a championship is closing on his team. |
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Frank Schwab, yahoo.com And you thought Ray Lewis' deer-antler spray controversy would be the biggest distraction for the Baltimore Ravens during Super Bowl week. That was until Courtney Lenz said on "Good Morning America" that she believes the team won't let her che… |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Three black former NFL head coaches say the league needs to rethink its Rooney Rule for promoting minority hiring after 15 top vacancies -- eight head coaching jobs and seven general manager positions -- were all filled by white candidates since the reg… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com The NFLPA has demonstrated its general mistrust of team doctors. Now they have a specific target. According to Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego, the union wants the Chargers to replace Dr. David Chao. The union has asked the league find a “suitable repl… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Tight end Tony Gonzalez’s chances of retiring were up to 97 percent by the end of the season, but the Falcons are making sure that three percent doesn’t go away without being contemplated in full. General Manager Thomas Dimitroff said that he is makin… |
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ESPN.com news services, ESPN.com Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed said Thursday the NFL is fining players for the wrong infractions. Reed, in an interview with Comcast SportsNet-Baltimore, said the NFL is "policing the wrong things, for real." |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com In a development that shocks exactly no one, the NFLPA announced today that the vast majority of their players did not trust their team’s medical staffs. According to an internal survey conducted by the players union, asking players to rate their satisf… |
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) NFL general counsel Jeff Pash says he expects independent neurological consultants to be on sidelines during games next season to help diagnose and treat concussions. |
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John Koblin, deadspin.com The past week in sports has been so gay! We've had Manti Te'o saying he's "far from" gay last Thursday; we've had Ronaiah Tuiasosopo claiming he's trying to recover from his gayness (good luck with that, champ); we've had that SI photo of the … |
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Hall of Famer Jerry Rice has no interest in a back-and-forth debate with Randy Moss during Super Bowl week about who's the greatest NFL wide receiver of all time. |
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Jay Busbee, yahoo.com Well, there you have it. Beyonce, who will perform at halftime of this year's Super Bowl, opened her Thursday media conference with an off-the-cuff rendition of the National Anthem. (The waving flag in the background suggests this was not entirely unpla… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com After 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver stuck his foot in his mouth when asked what he’d think of having a gay teammate, some words of wisdom during this Super Bowl week came from Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs. Asked if he would have a problem w… |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com Joe Flacco's expiring contract doesn't seem to concern anyone with the Baltimore Ravens, including the quarterback himself. |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com When the Jets were casting around to find a replacement for tackle Wayne Hunter last summer, they reached out to former Dolphin Vernon Carey. Carey told them he was happy coaching high school and didn’t plan to play football anymore. The Jets moved on a… |
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Evan Silva, profootballtalk.com Baltimore wide receiver Anquan Boldin has been a playoff difference maker, catching 16 passes for 276 yards and three touchdowns through three postseason wins. But Sunday’s Super Bowl may be his last game in a Ravens uniform due to Baltimore’s forthco… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com The Pro Football Talk crew is still hanging in New Orleans and they’ll be bringing you another hour of everything you need to know from the Super Bowl on Thursday. Former Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith will join the crew a day after he spoke to Mike … |
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Chris Culliver of the San Francisco 49ers found his words about gay players were not in line with mainstream thinking. |
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Nick Friedell, ESPN.com Chicago Bulls point guard Nate Robinson said Wednesday he had a plan if he didn't sign with an NBA team last summer, and that was an NFL tryout. |
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David Brown, yahoo.com What do Canadians covet from the U.S. more than anything else? Is it our socialized medicine? Our unparalleled macrobrews? Our legendary curling industry? They all might be good answers it's really our hilarious Super Bowl commercials that our neighbors… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com Brian Stropolo lost his gig as an NFL replacement ref when Facebook pictures of him in Saints gear emerged just before he was supposed to officiate a Saints game. But the pictures were far from a secret, and were even discovered by Ravens coach John Har… |
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Unhappy with the hard artificial turf at Tulane University's baseball field, the Baltimore Ravens will hold their main practice Thursday at the Saints' facility instead. |
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Evan Silva, profootballtalk.com The league office fined Ravens safety Ed Reed more than $100,000 this season for helmet-to-helmet hits. Reed isn’t happy about it, and he made that abundantly clear in a Thursday interview in New Orleans. “If you’re just somebody who is upstairs jus… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com When in front of the media, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh presents a very narrow slice, perhaps only a sliver, of his actual personality. But those who work with him say the sometimes-curt, rarely expansive coach can actually work the room with the best of t… |
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Field Yates and Mike Reiss, ESPN.com New England Patriots linebacker Dane Fletcher, who was scheduled to be a restricted free agent this offseason as he recovers from a torn ACL that sidelined him for the entire 2012 season, has re-signed with the team. |
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Frank Schwab, yahoo.com I realize that there's no room for great off-field stories on athletes in the post-Manti Te'o era, but all the same, Donald Driver provided one. If you want a feel-good story to latch onto (and yes, we take it all back if we find out Ronaiah Tuiasosopo … |
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Barry Petchesky, deadspin.com The Super Bowl media crush isn't just about the players actually playing—the black hole also sucks in retired stars like Marshall Faulk and Jerry Rice and, um, Amani Toomer. The former Giants receiver has an extremely tangential connection to Sunday's m… |
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Doug Farrar, yahoo.com NEW ORLEANS -- This may be one of the more interesting incentives any football player could receive. Restaurant chain Red Robin, upon hearing that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick really likes its food, decided to throw down the gauntlet… |
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ESPN.com news services, ESPN.com Honolulu Police have arrested a third man in connection with a brawl at a nightclub that left Washington offensive tackle Trent Williams unable to play in Sunday's Pro Bowl. |
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Evan Silva, profootballtalk.com Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis announced on January 2 that this year’s postseason run would be his “last ride” in the NFL. Lewis isn’t the incredibly high-impact football player he once was, but there are stats that suggest his on-field presence is a… |
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ESPN.com, ESPN.com ESPN's pro football braintrust assembles its list of predictions for Super Bowl XLVII. |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com We’re drawing ever closer to the Super Bowl and there’s no shortage of things to talk about. Greg Cosell of NFL Films will join Mike Florio to share his insights on the Ravens and 49ers. Cosell has broken down these teams on film for months now, so he… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com After the Vikings fired receiver Randy Moss during the 2010 season, the Titans claimed his contract on waivers. And then Moss languished in Tennessee, with six catches for 80 yards in eight games. So what happened? As part of his compulsory media avail… |
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Confessions Of A Glory BoyJan 31
Drew Magary, deadspin.com Drew Magary's Thursday Afternoon NFL Dick Joke Jamboroo runs every Thursday during the NFL season. More » |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware doesn’t think the Cowboys have underachieved during consecutive 8-8 seasons. Ware agrees with Bill Parcells, the man who drafted him in 2005, that teams are what their records say they are. The record says that the Cowbo… |
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Darin Gantt, profootballtalk.com As impressive as his deep ball skills, Joe Flacco’s ability to keep discussion of his contract situation at arm’s length is exceptional. While the looming contract negotiations for a quarterback in the Super Bowl have the potential to be a huge storyl… |
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NEW ORLEANS -- Colin Kaepernick might be all the rage at this year's Super Bowl, but the most recent quarterback to beat San Francisco and its wunderkind second-year passer showed up here today with a little buzz of his own attached to his name. Seattle… |
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Barry Petchesky, deadspin.com You're a football player. You get hurt—dinged up, or seriously injured. Either on the sideline or back in the locker room, the team doctor comes over to treat you. What's his motivation? To do the best thing for your long-term health? Or to get you back… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino has admitted that he is the father of a 7-year-old child with a production assistant he worked with at CBS. When the New York Post questioned Marino about rumors that he had a child with a former coworker, Marino pr… |
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Which Harbaugh Brother Would Philandering Ladies Prefer To Hump? Who Cares, Let's Make Sex JokesJan 31
Tom Ley, deadspin.com It's the week before the Super Bowl, which means that our inbox is getting flooded with stupid press releases. One in particular, from someone affiliated with AshleyMadison.com (a website where married people can find other married people to bone), is v… |
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Brett Michael Dykes, nytimes.com The view from New Orleans: The actor Wendell Pierce, a Saints fan, talks about the Super Bowl, New Orleans and beignets. |
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Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN.com Victor Cruz is still patiently waiting for a contract extension as the wide receiver and the New York Giants still stand apart in negotiations. |
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Maggie Hendricks, yahoo.com Jon Jones had to stay neutral while in Foxboro two weeks ago. The UFC lightweight champion had a brother on both teams. Arthur is a defensive end for the Baltimore Ravens, and will play in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Chandler is a rookie on the New Englan… |
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Doug Farrar, yahoo.com NEW ORLEANS -- Yes, the Baltimore Ravens do know that Super Bowl XLVII will be played in the Superdome, and that the Superdome is an indoor facility. That factoid, however, did not deter John Harbaugh's team from turning down the New Orleans Saints' off… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com The practice plan for Super Bowl week was for the 49ers to use the Saints’ facilities, and the Ravens to use Tulane’s facilities. But it hasn’t quite worked out. After the Ravens tried to make do Wednesday on a baseball field at Tulane (whose footba… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Ted Ginn has done essentially nothing on offense for the 49ers, catching just two passes for one yard during the 2012 regular season. So it’s no surprise that when Ginn was asked today if he’d like to have more of an impact on offense, Ginn answered, … |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is making the rounds in New Orleans this week with a big black cast on his left arm, the result of the arm he suffered in the playoff opener against the Texans. It was the second time he broke the arm this season and Gr… |
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Kevin Kaduk, yahoo.com And, well, they're basically the same uniforms that we've seen the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens wear all season. There is a pretty nifty Super Bowl XLVII patch on both. Alas, because the Nike PR folks couldn't just quote Noah Vanderhoff's &q… |
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Mike Reiss, ESPN.com Rob Gronkowski on Thursday discussed suffering two breaks to his left forearm, confirming what seemed obvious: He was never fully comfortable upon his return to the field in the regular-season finale Dec. 30 after the first break. |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com Bo Schembechler retired from coaching 23 years ago and died six years ago, but he’s a major presence at this year’s Super Bowl. Jack Harbaugh, the father of 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and Ravens coach John Harbaugh, was an assistant to Schembechler at M… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com On Wednesday, we shared some comments from Panther coach Ron Rivera about the decision to promote Mike Shula to offensive coordinator with Rob Chudzinski off to Cleveland to coach the Browns. Rivera said that the move was done to ensure continuity from … |
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Twelve years and a host of changes separate the Ravens from their last title. Yet Ozzie Newsome still presides over one of the NFL's model franchises. Don Banks examines how. |
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And The Winner Is ...Jan 31
The hype is almost over and the actual Super Bowl game is near. Who will hoist all of the trophies handed out this Sunday night? SI's NFL experts make their picks. |
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Brian McIntyre, yahoo.com • Jack and Jackie Harbaugh met the media on Wednesday. • Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti avoids the spotlight, writes Childs Walker of The Baltimore Sun. • 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver said an openly gay teammate would not be welcomed in the locker … |
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Darren Rovell, ESPN.com The NFL, in cooperation with government authorities, announced on Thursday that it had seized a record $13.6 million in counterfeit NFL merchandise this season in a nationwide enforcement effort called "Operation Red Zone." |
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PFT’s Super Bowl picksJan 31
Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com We’ve finally reached the end of the road. After 256 regular-season games (I won by 11) and 11 postseason games (MDS is up three), it’s time to pick a winner in the Super Bowl. So without further adieu, here are our predictions on one of the hardest… |
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Doug Farrar, yahoo.com NEW ORLEANS — San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver has started a grand total of six games in his two-year NFL career. He has three interceptions and he plays in his team's nickel sets when he's not starting. He is a very important player — he… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com When Mike Singletary took over as head coach in San Francisco in 2008, one of his first actions was benching tight end Vernon Davis in the middle of a game because he thought Davis was putting himself above the team. Davis wound up getting the message a… |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com In 2005, then-Vikings head coach Mike Tice found himself in hot water for reselling Super Bowl tickets, which is strictly prohibited under NFL rules. But a new report says that plenty of other players and coaches still sell their Super Bowl tickets. In … |
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Tom Ley, deadspin.com The crux of Rick Reilly's latest column for ESPN.com is this: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick should take steps to foster a relationship with his birth mother because Reilly's own adopted daughter has a healthy relationship with her bir… |
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Barry Petchesky, deadspin.com Earlier this month, one of those "crying children" viral video made the rounds. But this one was different: it wasn't the usual kid crying because their team lost. Six-year-old Breanna was upset that she wasn't 25, because if she were, she wou… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com During the 2012 season, Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Sherman did double duty as quarterbacks coach. Anyone who watched Hard Knocks last summer likely remembers that assistant quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor was also doing a lot of work with Ryan Ta… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com Wednesday’s edition of PFT Live: Vagabond Week included a chance meeting with NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth, which led to an unscheduled special segment of the show. Foxworth, who will be entering Harvard Business School later this year, addresse… |
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Josh Alper, profootballtalk.com The Buccaneers filled an opening on their coaching staff Wednesday while creating one at the same time. Tony Oden was hired to coach the team’s defensive backs and Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Bob Ligashesky was fired as the team’s … |
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Associated Press, ESPN.com The NFL Players Association has appealed a judge's recent rejection of the union's claim that the league colluded to set a secret salary cap in 2010. |
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Frank Schwab, yahoo.com Ray Lewis has said he never took the supplements offered by Sports With Alternatives to Steroids, but it's hard to deny he didn't know the co-owner of the controversial supplement company after Hue Jackson has apologized for introducing Lewis and other … |
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Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh says practices don’t get better than the one the 49ers had on Wednesday. Asked at his press conference on Thursday morning what he’s hoping to see at Thursday practice, Harbaugh said he’d like a practice just like th… |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com The good news for the 49ers is that linebacker Ahmad Brooks returned to practice on a limited basis Wednesday with a shoulder injury. The bad news for the 49ers is that linebacker Aldon Smith also practiced on a limited basis. Per a league source, Broo… |
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Brian McIntyre, yahoo.com No matter how weary of "Harbowl" stories NFL fans may have been the last two weeks, the fact remains that it is rather remarkable that when the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens square off in Super Bowl XLVII, the two head coaches once … |
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Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com With the Commissioner’s annual pre-Super Bowl press conference a day away, a topic that many presume has disappeared has now been resurrected. The 18-game regular season. On the next edition of Costas Tonight, which debuts Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. ET… |
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Brian Burke, nytimes.com The 49ers have been consistently among the best, and the Ravens are hot. We've seen this movie before, but luck can't be counted on to continue. |
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"The running game in pro football has gotten so boring," former 49ers coach Bill Walsh remarked some years ago. "There's just four or five plays they ... |
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"The running game in pro football has gotten so boring," former 49ers coach Bill Walsh remarked some years ago. "There's just four or five plays they ... |
