Snap Judgments

"It's very easy to argue either side,'' said McKay, who is thought to be strongly in favor of the change. "I do think there are clear benefits to re-seeding. But the other side of it is that our league has always given great importance to winning the division.''

In seeding wild-card teams with better records higher than a division winner in the same conference, the NFL is hopeful of avoiding as many meaningless late-season games as possible. Teams would have more to play for in the last weeks of the season if they were not locked into their playoff seeds as early.

? On another Competition Committee front, don't expect to see the league change its rules to disallow the calling of timeouts just before a kicker attempts a field goal. Despite several highly publicized examples of that move early last season, Fisher said the committee won't attempt to "legislate when to call timeout.''

"There were three or four incidents early in the season, but after that, it died off,'' Fisher said. "It was just a trend. An early season trend. You didn't see it happening after then.''

Fisher said while there was some suggestions that you shouldn't be able to call timeout when the play clock reached 10 seconds or less, there were complicating factors to consider. "What if it's a 12-men on the field situation and you just realize it?'' Fisher said. "There are too many factors involved. You can't legislate when people call time out.''

? Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long was the biggest name to make it into the media interview room on the first full day of the combine. He's expected to be a top-five selection, and the offensive linemen-hungry Chiefs -- who draft either fourth or fifth -- are praying he's still on the board when their turn comes. Long is this year's version of Wisconsin's Joe Thomas, who went No. 3 to Cleveland last year and was a stud at left tackle as a rookie.

I found myself very impressed with the 6-7, 313-pound Long, and not just because in his four years with the Wolverines he gave up just two sacks and got called for two penalties. Those gaudy numbers aside, his honesty was refreshing. Asked if he thought he could have been flagged for holding at times, Long said:

"Absolutely. I'll admit that I hold. I'll get my hands inside and hide it that I'm holding. I try to hide it so the refs can't see it. It's a skill if you can get away with it and not get caught. I try to make sure I get my hands inside every single play so that if I do hold a little bit the refs will not be able to see it.''

? Thursday was the deadline for teams to apply the franchise tag to players and effectively keep them off the free-agent market, and 11 clubs wound up making such a move (12 if you include Colts tight end Dallas Clark, who was franchised for a day before signing a long-term extension Wednesday). The biggest news was that New England did not feel the need to franchise Randy Moss, an indication that the Patriots feel very confident about their chances of signing him to a long-term deal (if they haven't agreed to one already).

Unlike past years, this year's designations have been virtually controversy free, with players generally accepting the tags well.