PFT’s Week Two picks

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Last week, MDS and yours truly disagreed on only one pick.  I trusted the J-E-T-S, and he didn’t.

So I finished 11-5, and he’s already in second place with a 10-6 mark.

This week, we’ve doubled our disagreements.  Which means that there’s a good chance I’ll be in second place by next week at this time.

Tune in to PFT Live this Thursday and every Thursday for MDS and yours truly talking about three or four of Sunday’s games.  And, yes, there may be gloating.

Bears at Packers

MDS’s take: This is about as close as a Week Two game can get to being a must-win for the Packers. Lose here and they’re two games behind the Bears, plus the Bears have the tiebreaker edge, plus they’re 0-2 at Lambeau Field, plus they’re behind the Lions and Vikings in the NFC North as well. Jay Cutler will have a good game against the Packers’ suspect pass defense, but Aaron Rodgers will have an even better game, and the Packers will win with their backs to the wall.

MDS’s pick: Packers 34, Bears 31.

Florio’s take:  The Packers have beaten the Bears in five of their last six games.  And other than the 2010 NFC title game, none has been bigger than Thursday night’s contest at Lambeau Field.  If the Packers lose, the team that was 15-1 in 2011 will fall to 0-2 in 2012, with 25 percent of the home schedule completed.  Look for the Packers’ defense to find something close to their groove — finally — and for Green Bay to get things moving in the right direction with a strong offensive output.

Florio’s pick:  Packers 28, Bears 24.

Chiefs at Bills

MDS’s take: Picking the Bills burned me in Week One, costing me the head-to-head battle with Florio in last week’s picks. Will I learn from that mistake and avoid the Bills this time? Nope. I think the Bills are a better team than they showed against the Jets and should win a close one at home.

MDS’s pick: Bills 14, Chiefs 10.

Florio’s take:  Last year, the Bills went to Arrowhead in Week One and spanked the Chiefs.  This year, the Chiefs return the favor in Week Two.  (And as long as MDS keeps picking the Bills, I’ll keep building an edge in the season-long contest.)

Florio’s pick:  Chiefs 34, Bills 21.

Saints at Panthers

MDS’s take: Can Cam Newton do to the Saints’ defense what Robert Griffin III did? Or is the Panthers’ offense going to lay an egg for the second week in a row? In a game that will leave the loser in a big hole in the NFC South, I’m picking the Panthers in a home upset.

MDS’s pick: Panthers 27, Saints 24.

Florio’s take:  The loser of this game will fall to 0-2.  For the Panthers, that would be a problem.  For the Saints, it would be grounds for panic.  Caught napping last Sunday against the Redskins, the Saints wake up in a big way.

Florio’s pick:  Saints 42, Panthers 24.

Browns at Bengals

MDS’s take: Both of these teams looked bad in Week One, but the Browns seem to be on a different level of bad, because Brandon Weeden just doesn’t look like he’s ready to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. Joe Flacco showed on Monday night that a good quarterback can beat the Bengals deep, but Weeden is not a good quarterback.

MDS’s pick: Bengals 24, Browns 10.

Florio’s take:  The Bengals lose the games they’re supposed to lose, and they win the games they’re supposed to win.  That trend held on Monday night, and it’ll hold on Sunday.

Florio’s pick:  Bengals 28, Browns 16.

Vikings at Colts

MDS’s take: Andrew Luck had four turnovers in his debut against the Bears, but what would really concern me about that game if I were a Colts fan is that the Colts’ defense didn’t look any better than it did last year. Christian Ponder will have his second consecutive big game and the Vikings will start a surprising 2-0.

MDS’s pick: Vikings 27, Colts 20.

Florio’s take:  Andrew Luck will always be compared to Peyton Manning.  And Peyton Manning lost the first home game of his career.  So if Luck can pull this one off, he’ll already be ahead of the curve.  Though the Vikings aren’t nearly as good as they were the year that Peyton Manning entered the league, they’re good enough to spoil Luck’s debut at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Florio’s pick:  Vikings 24, Colts 20.

Texans at Jaguars

MDS’s take: Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert looks like he’s taken a big step forward since last season, and Jacksonville should put some points on the board. But the Jaguars won’t be able to keep pace with the loaded Texans offense, and this game could get ugly.

MDS’s pick: Texans 35, Jaguars 14.

Florio’s take:  Jaguars owner Shahid Khan wants to remove the tarps at EverBank Field.  His players may want to hide under them when the Texans come to town.

Florio’s pick:  Texans 35, Jaguars 17.

Raiders at Dolphins

MDS’s take: Both of these offenses looked like they leave a lot to be desired in their Week One losses, but I have a lot more faith in Carson Palmer turning things around than I have in Ryan Tannehill turning things around. The Dolphins, who started last season 0-7, will take another step toward another dismal start.

MDS’s pick: Raiders 24, Dolphins 6.

Florio’s take:  The Raiders may need sunglasses to dull the glare of all those empty orange seats.  And it will only get more empty in the second half.

Florio’s pick:  Raiders 24, Dolphins 17.

Cardinals at Patriots

MDS’s take: The Cardinals somehow seem to keep playing in close, competitive, exciting games: Last year 13 of their 16 games were decided by a touchdown or less, and they went down to the wire against the Seahawks in Week One as well. So will they be in a close game again? No. The Patriots win this one easily.

MDS’s pick: Patriots 34, Cardinals 14.

Florio’s take:  The two hottest teams over the last 10 regular-season games get together in Foxboro, but there’s still a huge gap between the 9-1 Patriots and 8-2 Cardinals.  Actually, there’s a pretty big gap right now between the 9-1 Patriots and 31 other teams.

Florio’s pick:  Patriots 31, Cardinals 13.

Buccaneers at Giants

MDS’s take: Greg Schiano had his team playing exactly the kind of tough, physical football he promised they would play in Week One against the Panthers, while the defending champion Giants looked surprisingly out of sorts in their Week One loss to the Cowboys. But the Giants are still the Giants and the Buccaneers are still the Buccaneers, and Week One will look like an anomaly when this game is over.

MDS’s pick: Giants 27, Buccaneers 10.

Florio’s take:  This is the kind of game that Giants could have lost, if they’d beaten the Cowboys in Week One.  But since the Giants lost to the Cowboys in Week One, they’ll be guarding against another letdown — and quarterback Eli Manning will do what he has to do to propel the team in an early must-win situation.

Florio’s pick:  Giants 27, Buccaneers 17.

Ravens at Eagles

MDS’s take: The Eagles won ugly in Week One, while the Ravens won big. Much like they did last year, the Eagles look like a team that’s less than the sum of its parts, and I like the Ravens to go to Philadelphia and win.

MDS’s pick: Ravens 24, Eagles 17.

Florio’s take:  A week after barely beating the toothless new Browns, the Eagles get a taste of the old Browns.  By the time it’s over, Mike Vick may need Jeffrey Lurie to push the wheelchair.

Florio’s pick:  Ravens 30, Eagles 21.

Redskins at Rams

MDS’s take: I liked the way the Rams’ defense looked in the first game of the Jeff Fisher era: Yes, they gave up 355 passing yards to Matthew Stafford in a loss to the Lions, but they also mixed up their coverages and picked Stafford off three times. The Rams will do a better job of containing Robert Griffin III than the Saints did, but the problem for St. Louis is that the offensive line is a mess, and they’re not going to be able to put many points on the board.

MDS’s pick: Redskins 20, Rams 13.

Florio’s take:  If the Rams had known how RG3 would make his NFL debut, the price for the pick that was sent to the Redskins would have been a lot higher than three ones and a two.  And the Rams may regret sooner rather than later the decision to not simply pick Griffin themselves.

Florio’s pick:  Redskins 28, Rams 20.

Cowboys at Seahawks

MDS’s take: Russell Wilson struggled against the Cardinals’ defense, and he’s going to struggle again against an athletic Cowboys defense that can limit Wilson’s mobility. The fans in Seattle may be calling for Matt Flynn soon.

MDS’s pick: Cowboys 21, Seahawks 6.

Florio’s take:  Tony Romo returns to Seattle for the first time since he fumbled the snap on a field goal that would have secured a win in his first career playoff game.  This time around, the defense will be the difference, especially since the Seahawks’ receivers are banged up.

Florio’s pick:  Cowboys 24, Seahawks 13.

Jets at Steelers

MDS’s take: No one saw the Jets’ offensive explosion coming last week, so maybe I’m underestimating them here, but I just don’t like Mark Sanchez’s chances of moving the ball effectively against the Steelers’ defense.

MDS’s pick: Steelers 17, Jets 10.

Florio’s take:  The Steelers saw some Tebowing late in Sunday’s loss to the Broncos.  The Steelers will be hoping to see none of it on Sunday.

Florio’s pick:  Steelers 20, Jets 10.

Titans at Chargers

MDS’s take: Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips had an excellent game against the Raiders, and he’s going to make Titans quarterback Jake Locker’s life very difficult on Sunday. The Chargers will be off to their first 2-0 start since 2006.

MDS’s pick: Chargers 24, Titans 17.

Florio’s take:  The Chargers begin what could be one of their final seasons in San Diego  in style.  Except for all the empty seats at the stadium.

Florio’s pick:  Chargers 21, Titans 17.

Lions at 49ers

MDS’s take: The Lions survived with an unimpressive win over the Rams at home, while the 49ers had an extremely impressive win over the Packers on the road. San Francisco may just have the best team in the NFL.

MDS’s pick: 49ers 27, Lions 17.

Florio’s take:  The 49ers have gotten better since the last time these two teams met in Detroit.  The Lions haven’t.

Florio’s pick:  49ers 31, Lions 17.

Broncos at Falcons

MDS’s take: The loss of starting cornerback Brent Grimes is a huge blow to the Falcons, and Peyton Manning is the worst quarterback to face for a team trying to adjust to an injury in the secondary: Manning will find places to pick apart the Falcons’ secondary and get a big road win against a good team.

MDS’s pick: Broncos 31, Falcons 28.

Florio’s take:  Last year, Denver’s defense kept games close long enough for the quarterback to do something heroic.  This week, they’ll do the same thing — without having to give up so few points.

Florio’s pick:  Broncos 38, Falcons 35.

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From the “Who Doesn’t Belong and Whhhhhhyyyyyyy?” file, Pop Warner football will honor on Saturday night the Patriots, Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez, former Patriots TE Ben Coates, Redskins RB Alfred Morris, and Nancy Kerrigan.

The Bills’ new defense is designed to create confusion.  (Unlike the team’s recent defenses, the confusion ideally will be experienced by the members of the opposing offense.)

Dolphins OT Jonathan Martin is “excited” (calm down, Tebow) for the chance to play on the left side, and he has bulked up to help improve his performance.

When scouts went to Tennessee to watch wideouts Cordarrelle Patterson and Justin Hunter, they’d emerge curious about Jets WR Zach Rogers.

P Brian Moorman is more than a camp leg for the Steelers.

The Browns are shaking up their media relations department.

Ravens LB Elvis Dumervil already is emerging as a leader.

Here’s a look at whether Bengals CB Leon Hall is underrated.

Texans QB Matt Schaub says he’s his toughest critic.  (That makes me feel like less of a jerk.  Slightly.)

Titans WR Kendall Wright is determined to make more big plays in 2013.

Former Jaguars TE Pete Mitchell autographed a photo of himself being chased by Ray Lewis in creative fashion.

Colts G.M. Ryan Grigson will be honored next month by the National Football Foundation.

The Chiefs’ offensive linemen are learning fast, thanks to having not one but two position coaches, Andy Heck and Eugene Chung.

Here’s a look at possible surprises on the Broncos’ final 53-man roster.

Raiders LB Nick Roach said it’s obvious his teammates showed up for OTAs ready to work.

Former Chargers coach Sid Gillman is No. 18 on ESPN’s all-time list of coaches.

Redskins LT Trent Williams thinks the team’s offense doesn’t put QB Robert Griffin III at risk, because the plays on which he injured his knee weren’t “called runs.”

Cowboys DT Josh Brent has been placed on a new portable alcohol monitoring system that requires urine and breath testing at regular and random intervals.

It’s still too early to know who’ll win the starting quarterback job for the Eagles.

When the Giants recently welcomed the Manchester City Football Club to the Timex Performance Center, defender Micah Richards passed on the chance to catch balls from the JUGS machine; “I don’t trust my hands actually,” Richards said.

Vikings RB Adrian Peterson doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage, but he also doesn’t believe P Chris Kluwe’s support for it got him cut.

Lions S Ricardo Silva heard that people thought he was a little slow last season, so he has worked on getting faster.

LB Brian Urlacher says of the Bears organization:  “There’s one person I could really take or leave.”  (Bill Swerski?)

A Janesville, Wisconsin couple has won the truck previously owned by Packers QB Aaron Rodgers.  (It’s a Ford, which is fitting, since the Fords and Rodgers separately own the Lions.)

Panthers QB Cam Newton has a new clothing line at Belk, the store with the name that sounds like an interrupted burp.

Retired Buccaneers DB Rondé Barber has gotten the key to the city of Tampa.  (There’s only one condition:  He can’t loan it to Tiki.)

Saints coach Sean Payton apparently spent plenty of time working out during his one-season suspension.

A Georgia man is accused of trying to alter checks written by Falcons WR Julio Jones and Falcons CB Christopher Owens.

Rams WR Tavon Austin took a few handoffs during practice on Friday.

Seahawks WR Justin Veltung can perform a 56-inch standing box jump.

With the Cardinals drafting LB Alex Okafor, LB Sam Acho once again will help mentor Okafor.

Decensae White, a star basketball player at San Francisco State University and a former college roommate of 49ers WR Michael Crabtree, has been arrested on suspicion of murdering rapper Lil’ Phat, also known as Melvin Vernell III.  (And he’s where we emphasize that Decensae White, not Michael Crabtree, faces the murder charge.  Not Michael Crabtree.  Not Crabtree.  Not.  Crab.  Tree.)

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From the moment the Cowboys opted to install a 4-3, Cover 2-style defense, we began beating the drum (or, as the case may be, the dead horse) for the team to sign middle linebacker Brian Urlacher.  Apart from his lingering physical skills, his leadership and knowledge of the system would have dramatically assisted with the transition.

But just like 2009, when the Cowboys perplexingly passed on adding Ray Lewis, they never batted an eyelash at Urlacher.  And he recently has said that he wishes they had.

“If I could have picked a spot, it would have been Dallas,“ Urlacher said, via the Dallas Morning News. “[The Cowboys] run our defense. They took our [defensive] coordinator.  That would have been ideal.  But they have two really good young linebackers.”

Still, their young linebackers have no NFL experience in the 4-3 system.  Urlacher does, and he would have been a perfect option as the Cowboys make the change.

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Typically, players don’t participate in voluntary offseason practices only when the players choose not to do so.  In the case of Jets running back Mike Goodson, the recent decision to not volunteer was made involuntarily.

According to Seth Walder of the New York Daily News, both the Jets and the league held Goodson out of OTA sessions this week after his May 17 arrest on weapons and drug charges.  Goodson hopes to resolve the issue and return to practice next week.

Goodson could force the issue if he wants, filing a grievance via the NFLPA.  Teams can’t keep players from practicing unless they are suspended or cut.  In Goodson’s case, however, pushing for the team and/or the league to let him practice could prompt the team and/or the league to shrug.  And then to suspend him.

Goodson’s primary defense is that the gun found in the car in which he was riding wasn’t his.

Which, to the older folks in the crowd (like me), also is known as the Greg Brady defense.

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Maybe he’s just sucking up to his new quarterback.  Or maybe he genuinely believes it.

Either way, new Ravens defensive lineman Chris Canty would take quarterback Joe Flacco over Eli Manning.

“He won a Super Bowl and he’s one of the best deep-ball passers in the NFL,” Canty said during an in-studio Friday visit to Pro Football Talk on NBCSN.  “Take a look at the tape.”

While Canty credits Eli for being “good in clutch situations when you’ve got to have that fourth-quarter drive,” Canty believes more in Flacco.

“He throws a beautiful deep ball, he throws it only where the receivers can get their hands on it,” Canty said.  “You’re talking about in the vertical passing game and they’ve got some vertical pass threats.  They got Torry Smith.  They’ve got [Dennis] Pitta.  They’ve got [Ed] Dickson.  They’ve got some good weapons for him to use down the field.”

It also was fitting that, with Canty choosing a current teammate over a former teammate as the better quarterback, Canty also picked another former teammate as his favorite quarterback to sack.  “I’m on Tony Romo more than the Dallas media,” Canty said.

For more of Canty’s foray into the national media, check out his full chat with Erik Kuselias below.

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Dr. James Andrews, the renowned surgeon who rebuilt Adrian Peterson’s knee before his MVP 2012 season, and who has said Robert Griffin III is making “superhuman” recovery from his own reconstructive knee surgery, would like everyone to understand something: Peterson and Griffin are the exception, not the rule.

Andrews told Newsday that a couple of high-profile players making great progress from torn ACLs should not be taken as a sign that a torn ACL is the kind of injury that players can always expect to shake off over the course of an offseason and come back as good as new.

“The last thing I’d want people to be thinking is people are coming back quicker and quicker,” Andrews said. “The few individuals that you know of who have come back quickly are what I call ‘superhuman’ athletes . . . There are only a few of those superhuman athletes out there. Their healing potential for some reason is much better than the average patient, but you can’t extrapolate their ability to come back from an injury to the average athlete.”

Andrews added that even the greatest of athletes can have a long and difficult rehabilitation process after a major knee surgery, and the next NFL superstar to blow out his knee won’t necessarily come back as strong as Peterson did, or as progress as quickly as Griffin seems to be.

“They’re all different,” Andrews said. “There’s still a big spectrum in how they heal and how they come back . . . It’s hard to predict recovery from an ACL surgery, and to say that we’re getting them back quicker than we used to would be false information from my standpoint.”

That’s an important reminder for fans, and for the players themselves: A player who pushes himself to come back on Peterson’s timetable is probably going to do more harm than good. Going from ACL to MVP will always be the exception, not the rule.

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Mike Ditka will be the 14th Chicago Bear to have his number retired. He will also be the last.

The Bears, who have retired the most numbers of any NFL team, have announced that they will no longer retire numbers after Ditka’s 89 is retired at a Soldier Field ceremony this season.

“If there is going to be a last one, there is no more appropriate one than 89,” Bears owner George McCaskey said in a statement.

That means great Bears like Dan Hampton, Mike Singletary, Richard Dent and Brian Urlacher won’t have their numbers retired, but Hampton told the Chicago Sun-Times that’s fine by him.

“It’s simple math,” Hampton said. “This is a franchise with so many great players. If everybody’s number got retired, it would diminish the honor in a way. I understand. The trap of it all is that if you played for the Bears, you’re one of many. If you played in Tampa, what is there, a handful of guys?”

It’s still possible, of course, that the Bears will change their minds and decide to honor some great player of the future. But for now, the plan in Chicago is to retire retiring numbers.

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Carson Palmer hasn’t been the Cardinals’ quarterback for long, but he already knows one thing: He loves playing for head coach Bruce Arians.

Palmer gushed about Arians to Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports, and he said he can already tell the rest of the team loves the new coach as well.

“I love the head coach,” Palmer said of Arians. “I mean, I love the head coach. He keeps it real. He already has this team wrapped around his finger. And we have some talented players in this locker room.”

Veterans like Palmer don’t often describe offseason workouts as enjoyable, but that’s the way Palmer feels in Arizona.

“When you like the coach and the guys in the locker room, and you know you can still play at a high level, and you feel like you can help take a team to a Super Bowl, and you know you’re job’s not gonna be as hard as it may have been before – it’s just fun,” Palmer said. “It’s been very fun since I’ve been here. And nobody thinks OTAs are fun.”

Nobody thinks Palmer has much of a chance to take the Cardinals to the Super Bowl, either. But Palmer thinks he and Arians are building something special together.

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In 2012, the Saints’ defense fell apart during a season marked by suspensions for the bounty program run by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. In 2013, one Saints player says, they’re going back to that old Gregg Williams mentality.

Minus the bounties, of course.

Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins says new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is a lot more like Williams than he was like last year’s defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo. And Jenkins likes the toughness and aggressiveness that Ryan preaches.

“Personality-wise they are very similar,” Jenkins told the Associated Press. “They’re cut from the same cloth in that they know that players and matchups are what defense is all about and they have a lot of personality and they’re aggressive in their play-calling.”

Williams was an assistant to Rob’s dad, Buddy Ryan, and both Williams and Rob Ryan have said many times that Buddy Ryan’s influence was extremely important.

“They’re all from the same school, the Buddy Ryan defense, so there are a lot of similarities between what Gregg was running and what Rob is bringing,” Jenkins said. “But I think Rob has a few more wrinkles with the 3-4 and everything, and I think we’re going to have fun.”

Jenkins says the Saints under Ryan will have a defense that the rest of the league fears.

“There’s a line and you don’t cross it, but you want to get as close to that line as you can,” Jenkins said. “We definitely want to be a physical, feared defense.”

Williams did cross the line. But a physical, feared defense is just what the Saints want Ryan to bring.

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Rams tight end Lance Kendricks is sitting out Organized Team Activities with a knee injury.

Coach Jeff Fisher announced that Kendricks had been dealing with knee issues this offseason and ultimately a knee scope. Fisher said Kendricks is doing well, but he is not participating in OTAs as he rehabs.

A 2011 second-round draft pick, Kendricks played in all 16 games last season, starting 14, and had 42 catches for 519 yards and four touchdowns.

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In four NFL seasons, Mike Goodson has totaled 160 carries for 722 yards and three touchdowns, with seven fumbles. Those aren’t exactly the kinds of numbers that would seem to justify the three-year, $6.9 million contract the Jets gave him this offseason.

And that’s before we get into his off-field problems.

Goodson was arrested last week on drug and weapons charges, and that kind of issue arising apparently came as no surprise from NFL people who knew Goodson’s background. ESPNNewYork.com quotes a scout from another team saying of the Jets, “Do these guys do background checks?” The Jets say they do, in fact, investigate players before signing them, although they declined to comment specifically on Goodson’s past.

That past, according to ESPN, includes a slew of lawsuits over everything from child support to repeated failure to pay his rent to refusing to pay the bill after buying jewelry on credit to skipping his car payments.

Goodson has been sued by three different women for child support for a total of six children he fathered with them. He also didn’t pay a $56,465 bill at a jewelry store, and after the store sued him, the amount he owed was garnished from his Raiders paychecks. And when Goodson was playing for the Panthers, he failed to pay his rent so often that he was sued for it three times and received two eviction notices. Goodson was also sued by a man who sold him a $49,000 Mercedes and said Goodson didn’t make the payments.

So either the Jets knew all that about Goodson and wanted him anyway, or they signed him without fully exploring his background. It’s tough to say which would be worse.

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With last year’s leading receiver, Michael Crabtree, out an estimated six months with a torn Achilles tendon, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh says he’s confident someone will step up to fill the void.

Harbaugh isn’t totally sure who that “someone” will be, though.

Harbaugh said on 95.7 The Game that he believes the most likely candidates to take Crabtree’s place in the offense are last year’s first-round pick A.J. Jenkins and this year’s fourth-round pick Quinton Patton as well as Ricardo Lockette, who has never played in a game for the 49ers but spent most of last year on the roster and has reportedly looked good in practices.

“We’ll put Jenkins, Patton, Ricardo Lockette at the same position and let them compete and emerge,” Harbaugh said. “The good news is that somebody will emerge because they have to.”

Harbaugh also said he believes the 49ers have a lot of depth at the receiver position.

“Then on the other side, Anquan Boldin, Chad Hall, Marlon Moore has been doing some really nice things in the offseason,” Harbaugh said. “Joe Hastings will compete on the other side. Kyle Williams eventually will come back from his injury. He’s doing real well, coming along very nicely. And Mario Manningham — probably a little bit later than Kyle, but he’s on track to be healed up and ready to go, as well. A real good chance for some young guys to emerge, get some reps and contribute. I very much anticipate that will happen.”

For the 49ers, it needs to happen. Crabtree was the 49ers’ best wide receiver and a big reason that Colin Kaepernick settled into the starting quarterback job so smoothly last year. He won’t be easy to replace, but the 49ers have no choice but to find someone who can do it.

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Former Bears, Lions and Rams defensive tackle Dick Evey passed away Thursday at age 72 in Knoxville, Tennessee, multiple media outlets reported.

A three-time letter winner at Tennessee, Evey was the Bears’ first-round pick in 1964 (No. 14 overall). He played six seasons for Chicago before moving on to Detroit (1970) and Los Angeles (1971) to finish out his career.

At the time, Evey was Tennessee’s fourth-ever first-round pick and its first since 1953, when the Browns took future Hall of Famer Doug Atkins. Evey and Atkins were teammates for Evey’s first three seasons in Chicago.

Evey’s daughter told the Knoxville News Sentinel that her father, who suffered from an illness, was a member of the 88 Plan, a program designed to help retired NFL players pay for the treatment of medical conditions such as dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Dave Costa a four-time AFL All-Star in the 1960s, has died at the age of 71, according to the Broncos’ website.

A defensive tackle from Utah, Costa was selected by the Rams in the 1963 NFL draft and by the Raiders in the 1963 AFL draft. Costa ultimately decided to go with the Raiders, where he came in second place in AFL Rookie of the Year voting.

Costa had his most successful seasons in Denver, where he played from 1967 to 1971 and was chosen to the AFL All-Star team in each of his first three seasons. Costa played for the Chargers in 1972 and 1973 and finished his career with the Bills in 1974.

In all five of his seasons with the Broncos, Costa was chosen as the team’s defensive captain.

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A settlement has been reached in the lawsuit filed by two massage therapists against Brett Favre, the Associated Press reported Friday.

The lawsuit stemmed from allegations that Favre, who played for the Jets in 2008, sent suggestive text messages sent to one of the masseuses. The Jets and another club employee were also named in the suit.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed by the therapists’ attorney, according to the AP.

The Jets released Favre, who indicated he was retiring, after the 2008 season. However, the quarterback came out of retirement to play for the Vikings in 2009 and 2010.

AP

Washington coach Mike Shanahan says quarterback Robert Griffin III isn’t just a good young quarterback. Griffin is, according to Shanahan, a unique talent who has the potential to be the best ever to play the game.

Shanahan told Albert Breer of NFL Network that players like Griffin come along so rarely that a blockbuster trade like the one Washington pulled off to draft Griffin is a bargain.

“That’s why you give up two 1s and a No. 2 for him. You give those things up because you see something very, very special,” he said. “You see what type of athlete he is and what type of ability he has. He can make every throw on the field, he’s extremely bright, he’s got great work ethic, and he’s got passion for the game. Those are the things you look for. Now, the rest is taking it to the field.”

Most quarterbacks improve significantly in their ability to read NFL defenses and run NFL offenses after their rookie seasons, but Shanahan said that even if Griffin doesn’t get any better, he’ll be one of the all-time greats simply by playing the way he played last season.

“If Robert plays like he did [in 2012] the rest of his career,” Shanahan said, “he’ll go down as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.”

That’s high praise, but it’s not unreasonable to think that Griffin can be a truly great player. Which is why Shanahan’s No. 1 priority has to be making sure Griffin gets healthy and stays healthy.