Mike Heimerdinger rejoins Titans as offensive coordinator
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Tennessee Titans hired Broncos assistant Mike Heimerdinger as offensive coordinator Thursday, his second stint with the team after spending the past two seasons in Denver.
Heimerdinger had a successful five-year run as the Titans offensive coordinator from 2000-04. A formal announcement will be made at a news conference Friday morning.
"Mike was at the top of my list and we are fortunate he was available to come back," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said in a statement. "We know each other very well and he is without a doubt the right person to help the offense take the next step."
Heimerdinger takes over an offense that was one of the NFL's worst this season. The Titans are hoping he will jump-start what was a vanilla scoring attack headed by quarterback Vince Young, who threw nearly twice as many interceptions as touchdown passes this season.
Players and coaches say Heimerdinger could help improve an offense that finished 27th in passing in 2007 and was last in the league in touchdown passes and red-zone efficiency.
Guard Benji Olson, a 10-year veteran who was still mulling whether or not to retire, said Heimerdinger's first tenure in Tennessee was productive.
"Dinger was very good at exploiting things in the secondary and opening up the passing game," Olson said prior to the announcement.
Heimerdinger replaces Norm Chow, who was fired Tuesday even though Tennessee reached the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
Chow wasn't able to develop Young liked many in Tennessee had hoped. The Titans fared well in Chow's second season in 2006 when Young was the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year. But Young struggled last season, throwing nine touchdown passes and 17 interceptions.
The Titans expect Heimerdinger to change that.
Tennessee running backs coach Sherman Smith said Heimerdinger's return would be a welcome one.
"We know his strengths as a coach. He knows the offense and knows the coaches and can help us win," Smith said.
The past two seasons in Denver, Heimerdinger held the title of assistant head coach and worked with the offense.
He helped quarterback Jay Cutler, drafted behind Young in 2006, move into the starting role as a rookie and a full-time starter entering this season. Cutler ranked fifth in the AFC in passer rating in 2007, with an 88.1 rating, while throwing for 3,497 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Heimerdinger originally joined the Titans as offensive coordinator in 2000, supervising the maturation of quarterback Steve McNair. The highlight was the 2003 season, when the Titans scored the second-highest point total in franchise history (435) and McNair earned NFL co-MVP honors.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Chargers will test Gates before Sunday's game, then decide status
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Antonio Gates' limp suggested that he's going to have a hard time playing Sunday when his San Diego Chargers face the Indianapolis Colts in a divisional round playoff game.
But with two days left to treat his dislocated left big toe, the star tight end said the decision whether he plays will be made Sunday morning.
"It's definitely going to be a game-time decision," Gates said Thursday after missing his second straight day of practice. "I'm not going to make any decisions before that. We're just going to wait to see how it feels on Sunday."
Gates was hurt in the second quarter of Sunday's 17-6 wild-card win over the Tennessee Titans and didn't return.
His left foot was in a boot Thursday.
"It's pretty sore. It's going to be sore. That's expected with this kind of injury," he said. "I've still got a couple of days to do treatment and get some rest on it."
Gates, San Diego's leading receiver the last four seasons, said his confidence level is 50-50.
"It's a tricky situation, really it is," Gates said. "As far as the risk and reward, I'm trying to measure that. If all else fails, I'm going to definitely be cheering. I have a lot of confidence in the guys in this locker room. They definitely have the confidence that I'm going to do everything I can the safest way for me to get out there and play."
Gates hasn't put any pressure on the toe, so Sunday "would be the first true test on how much I can do on it. It's going to be interesting because we're doing everything we possibly can but it's still nature. The human body is the human body and we'll just kind of see what happens on Sunday."
That's when the Chargers will see if Gates can run and cut.
"I'm still optimistic because he's optimistic," coach Norv Turner said.
Gates had 75 catches for 984 yards and nine touchdowns. If he can't play, he'll be replaced by Brandon Manumaleuna.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Cardinals offense rolling as season ends
TEMPE, Ariz. -- This hasn't been the bruising, run-oriented offense that Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt envisioned. The Cardinals can move the ball, though.
Heading in to Sunday's season-ending home game against St. Louis, the Cardinals rank fifth offensively in the NFC and are among the league's best in the "red zone," that critical land mass inside the opponent's 20 where Arizona had been so anemic in prior years.
"Even with the ups and downs of the season -- everybody getting hurt, the games where we didn't play as well as we'd like, we're still one of the top offenses out there," wide receiver Anquan Boldin said after practice on Wednesday.
With last Sunday's 30-27 overtime victory over Atlanta, the Cardinals have scored more than 20 points in seven consecutive games, the longest such streak for the franchise since 1983-84.
Kurt Warner's 24 touchdown passes are tied for third-most in team history. Neil Lomax (1983) and Charley Johnson (1963) share the franchise record at 28.
The Cardinals have gained 339 yards per game. They rank fourth in NFC passing at 251 per contest. On the ground though, Arizona is 14th out of 16 teams, gaining 88 yards per outing. Only Chicago and Detroit are worse.
"I'm disappointed that we haven't run the ball better," Whisenhunt said. "That's an area that we really need to work on. We've shown slight improvement in the last couple of games."
Warner, who has multiple TD passes in a career-best seven straight games, has a different take on the running statistics. The team, he said, has altered its approach to give more emphases to a passing game that features one of football's best receiving duos in Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald.
"It just seems more to me, and I could be off base, that we've used the pass a little bit more to set up the run than the run to set up the pass," Warner said.
Boldin, who missed four games because of injuries, came back to catch 13 for 162 yards against the Falcons. Fitzgerald has 89 catches for 1,238 yards and is the team's lone Pro Bowl representative.
"I know those guys have been banged up," St. Louis coach Scott Linehan said, "but it looks like they're healthy now. I could see why you'd have a tendency to put the ball in the air a little bit."
Nowhere has the offense looked better than in the red zone, where Arizona has scored touchdowns 69 percent of the time. In the NFL, only New Orleans (71 percent) and New England (70) percent have done better. Many of those scoring plays have been improvised, Warner said.
"We try to design plays," he said, "but things don't quite measure up like they do when you're on the 50-yard line, with spacing and all of that."
While his overall offensive review is mixed, Whisenhunt praised the red zone play and the hurry-up offense, which against Atlanta scored touchdowns at the end of the first half and, most importantly, earned a game-tying field goal as the fourth quarter ended.
"That's something you can build on," he said. "I think anytime you're good in those areas, it's going to give you a chance in a lot of games."
If the offense has been effective, why are the Cardinals 7-8 and out of the playoff picture? Blame penalties, turnovers and an injury-depleted defense that's been increasingly leaky in recent weeks.
For example, Arizona has averaged 28 points in its last seven games. The Cardinals' opponents have averaged 29.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Najeh Davenport fills Parker's shoes in Steelers' victory
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Willie Parker's season ended after his first carry, and the Pittsburgh Steelers will miss the NFL's leading rusher if they get to the playoffs. But they don't miss him yet.
Najeh Davenport, a career backup running back with typical nondescript statistics, has two huge games since entering the league as a fourth-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2002. Both have come against the St. Louis Rams, with Davenport's two-touchdown, 123-yard rushing effort pacing a 41-24 victory on Thursday night.
"I took it upon myself to put the offense on my back and carry it," Davenport said. "He's our guy, he's our breadwinner. Not having him, everyone has to pick it up a level."
Parker broke a bone in his lower right leg in the first quarter, giving the Steelers plenty of time to adjust to the new reality.
"Our heart goes out to him because he's a competitor, he's a warrior," coach Mike Tomlin said. "As a team, we're not going to throw a pity party. It's part of the game, people get hurt, we'll adapt and improvise and move forward."
The Steelers' top-rated defense was porous again, yet they made enough stops to help Pittsburgh (10-5) out of a late-season swoon and move one step closer to the playoffs. They're still thinking beyond just a playoff berth, though.
"With Willie down it's going to take something away from us," said Nate Washington, who caught two touchdown passes. "If we dwell on Willie being down it's going to be that much tougher for us to get to (the Super Bowl), and we don't need anything else making it hard for us."
Isaac Bruce caught a 12-yard touchdown pass for the Rams and moved into third place on the career yards receiving list, moving ahead of James Lofton. Marc Bulger threw three touchdown passes but was intercepted twice, and Ike Taylor's 51-yard return on an overthrown ball on 4th-and-10 with 3:46 to go put the game out of reach.
Wide receiver Torry Holt was caught on cameras screaming at coach Scott Linehan after the interception. Holt declined comment after the game.
"It's not a big deal, not to me," Linehan said. "It something said in the heat of the battle to his coach and it's over as far as I'm concerned."
Bulger said and Linehan had been talking about backup Gus Frerotte taking over before Holt started yelling at the coach.
"I honestly don't know what they were arguing about," Bulger said. "My discussion had nothing to do with Torry unless he was really upset I was going out of the game."
Pittsburgh had taken a 10-point lead on a 29-yard field goal by Jeff Reed only seven plays earlier.
The only other highlight for the Rams (3-12) was retiring Marshall Faulk's No. 28 jersey at halftime of the Rams' home finale. Bruce, who passed Marvin Harrison last week on the yardage list, caught seven passes for 87 yards and has 940 career receptions, tied for sixth with Art Monk.
"I hear the names," Bruce said. "Next Sunday night when the season is over for us, I'll go back and I'll just go look at it."
St. Louis finished 1-7 at home and had three games blacked out because it didn't sell out, and in each of the last two weeks there have been nearly as many visitors as home fans in the Edward Jones Dome.
Parker, who has 1,316 yards, limped off the field with about 12 minutes to go in the first quarter. Davenport eased any worries with a game that rivaled his 178-yard effort for the Packers against the Rams, in a 45-17 Monday night victory in 2004. He was filling in for Ahman Green at the time.
"They just executed," Linehan said. "It didn't matter who was in there."
Ben Roethlisberger was 16-for-20 for 261 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions for the Steelers (10-5), who had lost three of five to fall into a tie with the Browns for the AFC North lead. Roethlisberger had his first 200-yard passing effort in five games by halftime, helping to revive a struggling offense.
He hit Santonio Holmes for an 83-yard gain on the Steelers' first drive, helping the Steelers recover from starting at their own 4 after Allen Rossum fumbled on a punt return.
"We felt we could take some shots down the field," Roethlisberger said. "Our receivers, a lot of people don't give them credit, but they're pretty fast and they got down the field well."
The Steelers, 8-8 last season, can clinch the division with a Cleveland loss at Cincinnati on Sunday. They also can clinch a playoff berth if the Titans lose to the Jets.
Davenport entered the game with 349 yards, a 4.9-yard average and three touchdowns as Parker's backup. His best game before Thursday came against the Seahawks when he had 58 yards rushing on seven carries and two touchdowns.
Bulger was 18-for-35 for 208 yards and Steven Jackson had 85 yards on 12
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Low-key Colston continues to impress everyone but himself
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Marques Colston grimaces at the prospect of recounting his second season in the NFL.
His right knee has been sore since training camp. His back has been bothering him since he fell hard after an acrobatic reception in Week 2. The nagging injuries caused New Orleans' top receiver to lose most of the bulk he added to his 6-foot-4 frame over the summer.
Then there's the inconsistency of the Saints, who have struggled to stay near .500 and have narrowly kept alive hope of an NFC wild-card playoff berth.
"It's been a pretty trying season, personally just being injured the whole year and having to continue to fight through the injuries week in and week out," Colston said. "Obviously, as a team, we haven't performed on the field like we expected to, so it's been a pretty frustrating year."
And yet, the low-key, seventh-round draft pick out of Hofstra remains one of the top receivers in the league and a crucial factor in whatever success the Saints (6-7) have had.
He leads the team with eight touchdowns, matching his total for all of last season. His 79 receptions is tied for eighth in the NFL, and his 978 yards is tied for 10th in the league.
Colston is on pace to easily eclipse the 1,038 yards he gained during his surprising rookie season, when he emerged from virtual obscurity and performed so well in training camp that the Saints decided to trade Donte Stallworth.
One of his better performances of the season came Monday night in Atlanta, when he caught nine passes for 92 yards, including two difficult touchdown receptions in tight coverage.
"He is a legitimate big-time player in the league," said Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt, whose team must deal with Colston on Sunday in New Orleans. "There's certainly a confidence factor between the quarterback and him.
"Whenever you have that working, they understand the timing and where to put the ball, makes it much more difficult to defend those types of players. I have a lot of respect for what he's accomplished in those two short years."
Both of Colston's touchdowns in Atlanta illustrated Whisenhunt's point.
On the first, Drew Brees took advantage of Colston's height and agility, throwing a 15-yard pass high and over Colston's back shoulder so it would be out of the reach of a closely pursuing defender. Colston leapt up and twisted in the air to grab the pass before crashing down in the back of the end zone.
Colston's concentration and sure hands helped him on his second TD, when he crouched between two defenders to grab a quick slant from Brees along the goal line.
"I've had some good games and made some good plays, which is what I expect myself to do, but just from a consistency standpoint I haven't been where I'd like to be this season," Colston said. "I pretty much go out and do my job. That's the way I look at it."
Colston's new teammate, veteran receiver David Patten, gushes about Colston's maturity, work ethic and selflessness.
"True professionalism, work ethic second to none, a team-oriented guy," Patten said. "Although he knows he's the man, when things don't go his way, he has such a great attitude he never complains.
"He never wants to take plays off in practice. ... It's just not in his nature. It's not in his being. He cannot sit out. He feels like he's letting us down when he doesn't take a snap in practice."
Colston, who began class at Hofstra as an electrical engineering major before switching to psychology (the engineering labs too often conflicted with football, he said), is very soft-spoken and doesn't seem to enjoy talking about himself.
When asked what has been good about this season, he steers the focus of his answer to the team.
"We definitely found out the kind of character we have in this locker room. We've got guys who are going to fight to the end and always keep believing," Colston said. "So just from that standpoint, that's definitely a good thing to take away from this season."
Patten, however, said Colston has much to be proud of, and has the potential to be "one of the all-time greats" if he maintains the approach to the game he has had his first two seasons.
"The team has struggled this year, but if you look at him, he's been doing great with the opportunities he's given," Patten said. "Every time you throw him the ball he makes something happen. He's tough. He does everything you ask of him.
"We have a receiving corps of guys who work every day and are unselfish, and he's the leader of that because he leads by example."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved
Four Ravens fined by NFL
NEW YORK (TICKER) -- Bart Scott and his Baltimore Ravens teammates lost their cool while losing to the New England Patriots. The NFL decided that they also will lose some cash.
Scott and three of his teammates were fined by the NFL on Friday, four days after publicly defying game officials during Monday's heartbreaking 27-24 loss to the undefeated Patriots.
Scott was fined $25,000 for verbally abusing the officials and for throwing a penalty flag into the stands.
Cornerbacks Samari Rolle and Chris McAlister and wide receiver Derrick Mason all were fined $15,000 for questioning the integrity of the officiating following the contest.
"This is about the importance of sportsmanship and respecting the integrity of our game," NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson said. "We do not tolerate inappropriate conduct between teams and game officials.
"This includes reminding game officials that they are to conduct themselves at all times as professionals in their dealings with players, coaches, and other club personnel."
Incensed at a pivotal defensive holding call late in the fourth quarter Monday, several Ravens visibly argued with the officials down the stretch.
"As I said earlier this week, our actions were not appropriate near the end of our game against the Patriots," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "We, our players and coaches, understand and accept the fines levied by Commissioner Goodell. We believe in the integrity of NFL officials and don't believe they, in any way, favored the Patriots with their calls."
The most demonstrative was Scott, who threw a tantrum on the field following Tom Brady's go-ahead 8-yard touchdown pass to Jabar Gaffney with 44 seconds remaining.
The linebacker launched a penalty flag into the stands behind the goalpost and had to be restrained by teammates, drawing a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Rolle claimed the following day that he was baited by an official, telling the Baltimore Sun that head linesman Phil McKinnely of made an insensitive comment to him.
Rolle, McAlister and Mason all questioned the officials in the hours following the loss.
"It's hard to go out there and play the Patriots and the refs at the same time," McAlister said. "They put the crown on top of them, they want them to win."
Billick criticized his players Friday, saying in a statement that they should have demonstrated more restraint in their postgame comments.
"As a team, we've discussed a number of times about not speaking publicly about any unhappiness we have with the officials," Billick said. "As emotional as the end of Monday's game was, I should have reminded the players of that in our postgame meeting. That's my mistake."
Copyright 2007 PA SportsTicker. All Rights Reserved
NFL files motion to dismiss Bryant's drug-testing lawsuit
DENVER (AP) -- The NFL said Wednesday that a judge should dismiss a lawsuit filed by former 49ers receiver Antonio Bryant over drug testing, saying the matter should be resolved under grievance procedures set out in the league's collective bargaining agreement.
Bryant filed a lawsuit last month in U.S. District Court seeking to stop the NFL from requiring him to submit to drug testing. He contends that since the 49ers terminated his contract March 1, he is no longer under contract with the NFL.
Bryant's lawyer Peter Schaffer has said Bryant, who wasn't looking for another job in football from late July through the second week of October, began looking to join another NFL team and that the fight over drug testing was complicating that.
The NFL said in court documents filed Wednesday that its collective bargaining agreement still covers free agents.
Schaffer, who is based in Colorado, said he had read the NFL's latest filings only briefly and had no immediate comment Wednesday.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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