Ten Things I Think I Think

Patriots safety Rodney Harrison was suspended four games for violating the league's substance abuse policy. Jim Rogash/Getty Images

MAILBAG Peter King will answer your questions each week in Monday Morning Quarterback: Tuesday Edition. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

1. I think, if you're keeping score at home, this is the latest example of the idiocy of paying full prices for preseason-game tickets: New England did not play 34 of its 76 players Thursday against the Giants. Jacksonville sat 30, Philly 27, Houston 26. The Jets, who "rested'' 26, started these skill-position players: Kellen Clemens, Danny Ware, Darian Barnes, Wallace Wright, Frisman Jackson and Joe Kowalewski.

2. I think I understand the NFL having a zero-tolerance policy for performance-enhancing drugs, and it acted properly in whacking the Patriots' Rodney Harrison for four games after he admitted using a banned substance (reportedly human growth hormone). And good for him, by the way, in admitting it instead of hiding behind some legalese, or saying in a Sheffieldesque or Bondsian way he had no idea what he was taking. But to give Cowboys assistant Wade Wilson five games for taking a banned substance solely to help him fight diabetes? Over-the-top.

When a Lions assistant (Joe Cullen) gets one game for driving through a fast-food drive thru nude and a DUI (that's one game total) and Wilson gets five for using a banned substance to treat his diabetes ... that's just wrong. Now, Wilson should have told someone -- the league, Cowboys officials, someone -- he was taking something illicit. But the punishment here just does not fit the crime.

3. I think these were the most notable cuts and newsy tidbits of the weekend:

a. Richard Seymour to the PUP list for at least six weeks tells me the Patriots will be a little mortal early on. I bet the Chargers (Week 2 in Foxboro) and Bengals (Week 4) are pretty happy this morning.

b. Kevin Jones not on the PUP is a boon to the Lions, who need his versatile running style before Week 7. Because he's not on the list, Jones will likely be ready to play some role with the team in the first two to three weeks of the season.

c. Good for Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, who made the Ravens. Working under Brian Billick, Rick Neuheisel and Jedd Fisch will be good for him as he gets used to the NFL game.

d. The Bucs kept four quarterbacks, including Chris Simms. I don't expect that to last. I expect one will be dealt or cut by opening day.

e. Something stinks in Oakland. The Raiders released third-round defensive end Quentin Moses. When I was in Raiders camp, there was talk of him starting this year. Smells like a disagreement between Al Davis and Lane Kiffin over the final roster. To me, it's a terrible mistake. Moses will play, and play well, in the NFL; and the Raiders will be embarrassed over this. The Cardinals claimed him. I bet he'll be starting for the Cardinals by Oct. 1. What a dumb cut that was.

f. A real live trade of two disappointing defensive players: Houston sent defensive end Jason Babin to Seattle for safety Michael Boulware. The Seahawks used to talk about their star safety tandem of the future -- Boulware and Ken Hamlin -- and now, in the span of a few months, they're both gone.

4. I think this is the most ironic part of the Vick saga: On the same day Vick walked into a Virginia courtroom and pleaded guilty to a series of crimes that will put him in prison for at least a year, Tim Dwight was waived by the Jets, likely ending his football career. The irony? In 2001, a decent receiver/returner named Tim Dwight held up the monstrous trade between Atlanta and San Diego for Vick ... and the deal enabled the Chargers to select LaDainian Tomlinson.

"How about that?'' Chargers GM A.J. Smith said the other day. He was the assistant to the late Chargers' GM, John Butler, at the time of the deal. "You know, with what's happened to Michael recently, a lot of the local media has asked me to re-live the trade. Basically, we had no players, and we needed to use that draft to start a rebuilding process with our team. And if the package we wanted wasn't delivered, we were going to take Michael Vick. That's what we told the Falcons, and that's exactly what we were going to do. What held up the deal for a while that week was Tim Dwight. The Falcons wouldn't put him in the deal.''

Atlanta was picking fifth, San Diego first, and the Chargers wanted a first-, a second- and a third-, plus Dwight, to make the deal. The Falcons were fine with the picks, but not with including Dwight, who coach Dan Reeves loved because of his versatility. In fact, the standoff lasted 36 hours, until the Falcons caved and finally handed Dwight over because they wanted Vick so much.

Once the deal got done, the day before the draft, the Chargers determined their rebuilding would start with the TCU running back Tomlinson as the first of the three picks acquired. "If Michael Vick was here,'' said Smith, "how do you know whether the roads traveled would have been the same? You go through the what-if scenarios, but you never know what would have happened if we'd have taken him.''

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