Greenway should get super duper fined for asking fans to get “super duper drunk”

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As the Vikings prepare to host the Bears in a game that will go a long way toward determining whether they’ll have a domed stadium’s chance in a blizzard of making the playoffs, linebacker Chad Greenway has a request for the home team’s fans.

“Hopefully, they’re super duper drunk,” Greenway said recently, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  “So drink liquor, not beer.”

Since the game begins at 12:00 p.m. CT, how can a fan get “super duper drunk”?

“I would say morning drinking,” Greenway said.  “Why not?  You could pull an all-nighter.  Then you’d have the drunk, tired guys who will really be obnoxious.”

Last year, Pats quarterback Tom Brady made similar but far less over-the-top remarks in the days before a late-afternoon kickoff against the Chargers.

“Yeah, start drinking early,” Brady said at the time.  “It’s a 4:15 game.  They have a lot of time to get lubed up, come out here and cheer for the home team.”

The Patriots promptly issued a statement with tongue clumsily planted in cheek, explaining that Brady “wants everyone to drink a lot of water, stay hydrated.”

Binge drinking remains a serious problem in our society, and the NFL continues to struggle with striking the balance between selling beer to fans while also ensuring that those fans don’t become sufficiently intoxicated to ruin another fan’s experience at the game or an innocent stranger’s life while driving home.  Public comments from players urging fans to get sloppy drunk become irresponsible in this context, especially since plenty of fans are young and male and more than happy to oblige the home team’s request for folks to be “super duper drunk.”

The league’s best response is simple.  Greenway should be super duper fined, and any player who makes similar remarks in the future should be treated the same way.

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In 2006, the Rams spent a third-round draft pick on defensive tackle Claude Wroten even though he had been arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute three months earlier. That turned out to be a mistake: Wroten was suspended four games for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy in 2007, then suspended for the entire season for another positive drug test in 2008. After that, his career was effectively over.

At least, it appeared to be over. Now Wroten is playing Arena Football for the Orlando Predators, and he says he is done with drugs and hoping for another chance in the NFL.

“NFL teams don’t have to worry about me,” Wroten told the Orlando Sentinel. “My ultimate goal is to make it back to the big show, back to the NFL. I feel I’m on the brink. I’m in the best shape of my life mentally, spiritually and physically.”

Wroten threw away most of his prime athletic years, but at age 29, there’s still a chance that he could convince some NFL team to give him one more chance. The NFL reinstated him in 2010, so he can play if he can find a team willing to sign him to a contract.

“I don’t look back at my life and say ‘shoulda, woulda, coulda,’” Wroten said. “I don’t live with regrets. My goal is to become a renaissance story and come back to the NFL. That’s my driving force.”

Playing well in Arena Football — and staying out of trouble — could be Wroten’s ticket to an NFL training camp.

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Publicly, the NFLPA has been mum on the manner in which the sports agency owned by Jay-Z recruited Jets quarterback Geno Smith.  Privately, the NFLPA will say just enough to spark action.

According to Albert Breer of NFL Network, the union plans to send a letter to agent Kim Miale, the certified agent who works for Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and who represents Smith.  The NFLPA wants to know whether and to what extent Jay-Z was involved in recruiting Smith to hire Miale.

Under a rule passed by the NFLPA in 2012, only NFLPA-certified agents may be involved in recruiting clients.  Thus, if Jay-Z engaged in any recruitment of Smith to hire Miale, Miale has a problem.

Complicating matters are comments from Smith’s advisor, John Thornton, to CBS and a photo of Jay-Z and a photo that appeared in social media of Smith with Jay-Z, before Smith hired Miale.

Said Thornton, who later claimed that he was misquoted:  ”It really all came down to who he was most comfortable with.  I was in those meetings and Jay-Z connected with him on many levels.”

In our view, information sought by the NFLPA could include the full list of Roc Nation employees who met with or talked to Smith, the circumstances and timeline surrounding Miale’s arrival at Roc Nation, whether Smith actually met Miale at any point before signing the Standard Representation Agreement, the number of times Smith and Miale communicated during the recruitment process, the number of times Miale communicated with Thornton and other Smith advisors, the number of times Smith and Jay-Z met and communicated during the recruitment process, and the number of times Jay-Z communicated with Thornton and other Smith advisors.

Phone records, emails, and other documents could be sought to confirm the things that potential witnesses may say, given the strong incentive to conceal any evidence of recruiting by Jay-Z.  Interviews could be conducted of Smith, Miale, Thornton, Jay-Z, and others with knowledge of the situation.

The biggest problem for the NFLPA could come from its lack of jurisdiction over Jay-Z.  While the union can take action against Miale, the NFLPA can do nothing to Jay-Z or anyone else who doesn’t fall under the union’s regulatory umbrella.  Indeed, the NFLPA lacks the power to compel Jay-Z or anyone else not certified by the NFLPA to cooperate.

Thus, the problem could repeat itself, with the NFLPA suspending Miale and Jay-Z then hiring another certified agent.  And so on.  While we’re not advocating this specific solution, the only way the NFLPA could end the cycle (if Jay-Z intends to be involved in recruiting clients and if he can’t or won’t obtain NFLPA certification) would be to issue a blanket statement that any agent who associates with Jay-Z automatically would be subject to discipline.

The union is a long way from that point.  But the decision to look into the Miale-Smith arrangement represents much more than some agents thought the NFLPA would do.  Those agents and plenty of others will be keenly interested in how the inquiry proceeds, the information it uncovers, and the manner in which the situation is resolved.

AP

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made quarterback Tony Romo one of the highest-paid players in NFL history this offseason, and he also said publicly that he wants to see Romo spend more time in the facility and get more involved in the offense. That raises a question: If there were any issues with Romo’s commitment, why give him that kind of contract?

But Jones says it’s not about questioning Romo’s commitment. Instead, Jones told Albert Breer on NFL Network that he simply meant that if he’s going to pay someone the kind of money he’s paying Romo, he wants to be certain that player is giving everything he can possibly give to the team.

“When you give somebody $100 million, you’d like to get every ounce of anything they can bring to the table to win a football game,” Jones said.

Jones said he believes Romo is a great offensive mind who can add a lot to game planning sessions.

“He’s outstanding on offensive concepts and he’s got a vantage point that very few people have,” Jones said of Romo. “So anything that he can bring from the concept to the field has got to make us a better football team. I think it will.”

Romo has led the Cowboys to an 8-8 record in two straight seasons, but Jones says that doesn’t mean Romo is mediocre.

“We’ve been disappointed the last two years,” Jones said. “Nobody more so than him. We’re going to take what we’ve got with Romo’s great experience, ability, decision making, all of those things and we’re going to try to win more ballgames.”

Romo will have to help the Cowboys win a lot more ballgames to justify that contract.

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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.

AP

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.

AP

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.

AP

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.

AP

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.