An hour after the press conference, SI.com's Don Banks reported that New England and Pittsburgh had both made substantial offers to Johnson soon after Bloch's ruling. Pittsburgh, Banks reported, was close to a deal with Johnson, and a source close to the Steelers said they wanted him to being practice with the team this week, so he'd be ready to play in Pittsburgh's game at Cleveland next Sunday.

Rosenhaus could not be reached for comment -- the first time in the last 11 months his cell phone rang without being answered -- but earlier in the day, he said the Bengals didn't learn from Owens' victory over the Eagles in 2005.

Owens fought to have his contract voided in November 2005, arguing that the Eagles suspended him and planned to deactivate him for the season after the suspension. Bloch ruled the Eagles had to release him because they had no intention of playing him, and were holding him back from earning several incentives in his seven-year, $48 million contract.

Owens, who signed a five-year contract with Dallas a week after the ruling, played a big role in knocking the Eagles out of the 2005 playoffs with his strong play down the stretch for the Cowboys.

Dallas (10-0) six wins away from the NFL's first perfect season since 1972. Owens' 76 catches, 1,047 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns lead all receivers. Off the field, Owens has taken a vow of silence with the media and hasn't antagonized his teammates the way he did a year ago in Philadelphia with his constant badgering of quarterback Donovan McNabb.

Johnson signed a contract extension with Cincinnati in 2003 through the 2009 season. He received a $7 million signing bonus in 2003 and a $3.5 million option bonus in 2004. But he claimed his salaries -- $2.75 million in 2006, $3 million in 2007, $3.4 million in 2008, $3.6 million in 2009 -- were insufficient for a player who led the NFL with 106 catches and 17 touchdown receptions in 2005.

The Bengals, always a hard-line organization, refused to renegotiate the with Johnson, saying they wouldn't be able to withhold the sanctity of their other player contracts if they re-worked a star's deal with four years left on it. That led to Johnson staging a wildcat walkout before the Bengals-Steelers game, for which the club suspended him.

Bloch said in his ruling the Bengals were standing in the way of a healthy player's right to earn a living. He would have been paid while deactivated, but he wouldn't have been able to earn any incentive money in the contract, which makes up a significant amount of money beyond his base salary.

Outside the NFL offices on Park Avenue in Manhattan late today, commissioner Paul Tagliabue said he didn't like the precedents the Owens and Johnson contract reversals set for the league.

"For 86 years in the NFL, a contract has been a contract,'' said Tagliabue. "But with these two rulings, players now understand they can get out of their deals and become instant free-agents by simply acting up, protesting their situations and demanding to be paid more than they are. If we allow this to happen, there's no sense in signing players to contracts anymore.''

Bloch could not be reached for comment.

In Pittsburgh, Johnson would be paired with Pro Bowl wideout Hines Ward to form one of the best receiver tandems in football.

Reached tonight in Pittsburgh, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said: "This is Christmas six weeks early, if it's true. I don't care who's right and who's wrong in the contract part of it. All I know is there's no way we'll lose this division now. We just took Cincinnati's best player.''