Quote of the Week

"It's a day of mourning for the 49er family. We lost a teammate and a very good friend as well. I don't have any medical answers at this time.''
--San Francisco coach Mike Nolan, on the death Saturday night of reserve offensive lineman Thomas Herrion in the locker room following the 49ers' preseason game at Denver.

There's not much more to say, other than what an incredible tragedy it is when someone so young dies. Was his weight a factor? The 49ers say it wasn't, though Herrion weighed 330 pounds and the NFL needs to more thoroughly study the effects of such big people playing such a physically taxing game. Whatever happened, it's a stunning reminder of how tough and demanding a game football is.

Factoid That May Interest Only Me

Remember Big Dawg? The wide-bodied Cleveland Browns mascot with the flabby dog mask?

Got his stomach stapled. He's gone from a Bernese Mountain Dawg to, well, just about a greyhound. The Dawg weighed 539 at the time of the stapling, a year ago. He's down to 249. That's a 290-pound loss. He wants to get to 190.

Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week

Per-gallon gas prices at a Chevron station on Pacific Coast Highway between Oxnard and LAX Friday evening:

Regular: $3.07.
Special: $3.17.
Premium: $3.27.

Sixteen months ago, when I covered the draft in Oakland, I wrote in this space about the outrage of gas being more than $2 a gallon. As I felt then, the interesting thing is I don't sense much outrage, just the willingness of Americans to dig deeper to buy the stuff.

Stat of the Week

From the packet of stats Dick Vermeil reads to his team occasionally:

Of the 48 teams that made the playoffs during the past four years, only two made the postseason after playing a schedule that was among the 12 toughest in the NFL that season.

That can only be calculated after the season, when the 2005 records of each team are totaled. Who knows which teams will turn out to have the 12 toughest schedules this year. But New England may have a tough time this season because of a brutal early schedule. Check out the Patriots' opening eight: Oakland, at Carolina, at Pittsburgh, San Diego, at Atlanta, at Denver, Buffalo, Indianapolis. If the Pats come out of that 5-3, they should thank their lucky stars.

Ty Law-Related Stat of the Week

Last week I wrote that the contract Ty Law signed with the Jets is a fairly onerous one for Law. He'd have to play 95 percent of the New York's defensive snaps (teams average about 1,000 of them a year) and the Jets would have to make the playoffs for Law's $4 million incentive bonus to kick in.

So let's examine some playing-time numbers. Last year, the two starting Jets corners, David Barrett and Donnie Abraham, played 92.5 percent and 89 percent of the team's plays, respectively. So that leads you to believe that if Law's healthy, he has a chance to hit 95 percent.

But this leads you to believe he doesn't: The last time Law took more than 95 percent of the snaps was in 1998, when, as a 24-year-old young stud corner for New England, he played 97 percent of the defensive plays.

Last year, three of the corners who made the Pro Bowl -- Champ Bailey, Nate Clements, Ronde Barber -- played at least 95 percent of the defensive plays for their teams.

So it's possible. But I'll say this: It's not even a certainty that Law will play in the Jets' second-to-last preseason game on Friday night with the Giants, and I like the Jets' chances to make the playoffs a lot more than I like Law's chances to play 950 downs this year.