Ten Things I Think I Think

Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski was one of the kickers iced by a last-second timeout by an opposing coach last season. Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

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1. I think it's a total cop-out, that the Competition Committee is doing nothing about the brazenly unsportsmanlike timeout rule that was used over and over last year to ice field-goal kickers a millisecond before they attempted important field goals. As bad as the committee's inaction is, it's worse that not a single team turned in the field-goal-icing issue as a point of concern in the league's end-of-season survey. Talk about short memories.

What is fair, or sporting, about a ball being snapped and two teams of 11 men straining and going all-out, one team to make a field goal and the other to block it, and meanwhile a timeout has strategically been called so the play goes on but then has to be run again? Absolutely nothing. It teases the fans, it perverts the purity of the game and it subjects 22 men to one more chance of being injured. What the committee should have done is prevent a timeout from being called at some point of the play clock winding down -- say, at eight seconds, or five seconds -- and charge the defensive team with an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty if it tries to call time inside that time period.

2. I think that other than Washington at the Giants to open the season on Sept. 4, you won't see the other big-date NFL games announced for a couple of weeks. Too many loose ends for the league to tie up. And I also think you won't see Inside the NFL return in anything like its previous life on HBO. Some TV companies are actively trying to resuscitate the show, including one of the current rights-holding networks, but the cost of doing the show and paying the talent is just too high. There's also a chance that a cut-rate version of the show could appear on NFL Network.

3. I think this is the latest on Pacman Jones to Dallas, straight from trolling the lobby late last night and this morning: "The next 24 hours are crucial,'' a source close to the talks told me this morning. The Cowboys are offering a late 2007 draft choice and a minor player; ESPN's Ed Werder reported last night Tennessee wants two draft choices, one in 2008 and another next year.

The problem, as I see it, is the Titans can't generate much competition for Jones because most teams wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole. Would they find one taker willing to pay more than Dallas? Probably -- maybe Oakland, which isn't a good fit right now -- but I still see Dallas upping the ante if necessary to get a player the organization is starting to see as the kind of underpriced gem who will be supremely motivated to keep his nose clean. I think that whether the deal gets done Dallas' way or not, Jones will be a Cowboy by week's end.

4. I have a kindred spirit in Norv Turner. We both wonder what in the world happened to Brian Brohm, the Louisville quarterback who, somehow, went from the first pick to the 31st by staying in school an extra year and having the best year of his career, a 65-percent passing season with a new coach and a struggling, generous defense making wins and losses problematic. "You tell me how he fell from the guy who was going to be the first pick last April to somebody who might go in the second round now,'' Turner said here.

I've asked the question to two or three scouts I respect, and one said to me: "Classic system quarterback. Kind of a robot. Not a great arm. Might be faster than [BC's] Matt Ryan, but doesn't play fast.'' Well, OK. That's why these guys get paid -- to have opinions. All I know is he produced with a bull's-eye on him, and a year ago he was a lock top-five pick, and he didn't get hurt, and he did what the NFL wants every young player to do: stay in school and get more experience. Some teams are going to be wrong with Brohm.

5. I think the hot guy in the draft is back to being LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, who will go first, second or third (I doubt first) April 28. I don't see him getting past Atlanta at three, though my guess is if he does, a certain team with Elvis on the helmet will be throwing parties up near Fenway Park.

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