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Holdouts may a have preseason point
This summer's evidence that training camp is too long, and four exhibition games too many, comes pouring in this week from contenders and pretenders. We start in Washington, a legitimate Super Bowl candidate. Center Cory Raymer partially tore two right knee ligaments in practice this week, leaving the job to third-year center Mark Fischer, who has never started an NFL game. Fischer will only have to block Sean Gilbert in the season opener against Carolina. Redskins offensive line coach Russ Grimm tells me there's an "outside chance" Raymer, who has started 37 consecutive games at center, will be out for the year. In Carolina, valuable wideout Patrick Jeffers is lost for the year after knee surgery. In Green Bay, Brett Favre is hurting and Dorsey Levens just had arthroscopic knee surgery, so that means Packers fans will be watching Matt Hasselbeck and Basil Mitchell in their place. And No. 3 receiver Corey Bradford was nonsensically lost for six weeks when he broke a leg covering a kick on special teams -- in the fourth quarter Sunday. Why do players like Simeon Rice, Tony Brackens and Erik Williams hold out of training camp? One big reason is they're protesting what teams are doing to their bodies after a full offseason of workouts and borderline scrimmages. Why teams have to have six weeks of heavy contact in July and August to prepare for the season is insane.
Parcells continues to hold grudgeThe Patriots-Jets war just won't die. In a soon-to-be-released book, Bill Parcells writes that he's "still not happy" with Bill Belichick for walking out on the Jets' coaching job when Parcells left in January. Seems Parcells hasn't forgiven Belichick for taking a $1 million bonus from late Jets owner Leon Hess after the 1998 season. Belichick has claimed the bonus was for work well done in the past, and for turning down other coaching jobs; Parcells' side is that the bonus fortified and confirmed that Belichick would definitely be the coach whenever Parcells left.
Out of a job before he starts?Michael Irvin's arrest on marijuana charges means he may never take the set for FOX Sports. FOX is waffling about whether it wants to keep Irvin. In the days following the arrest last week, it appeared as though Irvin would keep his spot in the broadcast booth, but some in the FOX hierarchy believe that it's only a matter of time before Irvin implodes from his sometimes-wild nightlife. Now he may get fired before he ever works for FOX. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and appears each Sunday on CNN's NFL Preview. Chat with Peter on Wednesday, Aug. 23, at 2:30 p.m. EDT. To send a question in advance to this chat, click here.
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