The Patriots signed Junior Seau on Aug. 19, just days after he announced his retirement. AP

5. I think I would call the Seau signing by New England an OK move. I really don't expect a lot out of it. Maybe he'll turn into Greg Maddux going to the Dodgers. But I wouldn't count on much from him. He hasn't played a full season in five years, and his recent track record shows he gets hurt about as often as I buy lattes. It'll be $1 million well spent (at least they didn't overpay) if he gives the Patriots eight quality games in the rotation at inside linebacker.

6. I think I really liked what I saw in Matt Leinart on Saturday night after only two full practices with the Cardinals following his long holdout. Against a relentless New England pass rush, he drove the previously scoreless Cards to a field goal just before halftime, taking the field for the first time as an NFL player for a two-minute drill. On the first play, he checked down and threw to running back J.J. Arrington for 11 yards, then found Carlyle Holiday over the middle for a quick three. Then LeRon McCoy dropped a first-down conversion. On his fourth play, he pumped once, slid out of the grasp of blitzing defensive back Chad Scott, juked up the middle and ran for 16. One play later, chased again, he looked at one receiver, then another, and with both covered, ran again, this time for 13 yards. Very good presence. No fear. Confident decision-making. I'd like to see him in the pocket when he's got some protection, because when it all broke down, he had his wits about him on every play.

7. I think Dan Wilkinson has this system beat, doesn't he? He doesn't want to go through an arduous offseason program with the Lions and new coach Rod Marinelli, so he tells GM Matt Millen he's not with the program, and the Lions let him go. Wilkinson, 33, stays in shape but doesn't kill himself, and he knows he's not going to be in anyone's camp. He ends up signing last week with the Dolphins, a team that's a much more logical playoff pick than the Lions. So he misses 3½ weeks of training camp and he gets to play a prominent role with a good defense and on a team that finished the season on a six-game winning streak. Smart guy.

8. I think Bledsoe would not take a demotion well. Not at all. In fact, I think he might think of quitting if Bill Parcells names Romo the starter at some point very early in the season.

9. I think the Jets got a good back in Kevan Barlow, but I would worry that a building team like the 49ers was so eager to jettison him.

10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. You know what Josh Beckett is? He's a $30 million nibbler. The man has great stuff, throws 97, and he tries to paint the corners like some sort of Glavine. How'd you like to have paid the guy 30 mil over three years, then watch him walk nine and throw 63 balls and 58 strikes in your team's biggest game of the year? I coach 10-and-under girls softball, with kids pitching fast-pitch, most for the first season they've thrown the fast pitch. And they don't walk nine. I'd never give them the chance. They'd be out of the game. A baseball-writer friend told me Beckett would be a horrible match for the big stage of Fenway. Call it choking, or whatever un-clutch term you'd like, but Beckett had better go into a room somewhere, smack himself in the head and grow up, and he'd better start throwing that heater up and in to the Giambis, Konerkos and Hafners of the American League, or he's going to find himself very rich -- but also very booed.

b. In the first 27 innings of the Red Sox-Yankees series this weekend, New York batters had 44 hits, walked 28 times and scored 39 runs. Imagine getting 2.3 baserunners per inning. Amazing.

c. Coffeenerdness: Now this is sad. Very sad. I get inside security at LAX Friday morning at 5:45 a.m. for a 7 a.m. flight to Newark. There is the longest line I've ever seen for morning coffee -- 56 people, by my count -- snaking out the door at the Starbucks inside the Continental terminal, and only three employees are working behind the counter. Hmmm. Can I make it six hours before I have coffee? Of course not. So I wait 28 minutes. And I get the triple grande hazelnut latte.

d. Good luck, Thomas George, in your new job managing the news side at NFL Network.

e. Good luck, too, Tom Curran, in your jump from very good Patriots beat guy in Providence to the new NBC Sports Web site.

f. If space in the Los Angeles Times is any indication of the interest level in having the NFL return to town, I have no idea why there's such a horse race to get an NFL franchise in Los Angeles.

g. Jason Isringhausen is doing his level best to make sure the Cardinals don't make the playoffs.

h. It's Aug. 21, and how crazy is this: Joe Mauer and Freddy Sanchez have double-digit leads for the American League and National League batting titles, respectively.

Top Photo Galleries College Football Superfans College Football Top 25 Review College Football Top 25 Review College Football Superfans NBA's Start 'Em/ Sit 'Em, Week 4

Most Popular Stories Grzzlies, Iverson sever contract NFL looking into Titans owner's crude gestures Warriors deal Jackson to Bobcats Stay away: ESPN locks in Gruden to multiyear deal Northwestern's Kevin Coble out for the season