I won't see this week's edition of Hard Knocks until the FedEx truck arrives tomorrow morning.  But MDS is watching the show as it airs, and he has shared with me an interesting observation.

The Jets read PFT.

There we were, on a computer screen with logo and headline in plain sight.  Apparently, the discussion centered on last week's reporting from Tim Cowlishaw of ESPN and the Dallas Morning News regarding the supposedly impending agreement between the Jets and cornerback Darelle Revis.

We don't expect this to make those of you who already hate us decide that you suddenly like us; though we don't share Rex Ryan's desire to be hated, we realize that being hated goes with the territory of expressing strong opinions about teams and players that you happen to love.  But at least you now know that you're reading something that at least one NFL team reads.

Actually, the other 31 do, too. 

The Jets have become one of the most polarizing teams in the NFL over the past year, and they've done it without winning the Super Bowl -- or even appearing in it.

Instead, the Jets have demanded attention, and thus they've invited scrutiny from the media and resentment from non-Jets fans.

Coach Rex Ryan wants more than resentment.  He wants hatred.

"I want to be that team that you hate," Ryan tells Jon Saraceno of USA Today.  "[Y]ou can't stand the Jets."

"I'm not undersell, overproduce," Ryan said.  "Going .500 is for somebody else.  I came here to win championships.  So be it.  If you are worried about [what we're saying], we've got you beaten anyway."

Still, Ryan is taking a major risk here.  He has essentially promised a Super Bowl win, making anything less than that a failure.  As a result, Ryan has placed plenty of pressure on a second-year quarterback with the everything-comes-easy lineage of Matt Leinart.  Whether Mark Sanchez can step up and grow up and make it happen for the team's offense could go a long way toward determining whether the Jets deliver on Ryan's vow.

Though the fans love the attitude, they've got to be feeling more than a little nervous right now.  Ryan has stirred up the kind of hostility reserved only for dynasties -- and yet the Jets have won nothing since the AFL-NFL merger.

Regardless of how it all turns out, it'll be fun to watch.

We've done mailbag videos and columns in each of the last two weeks.  We like them because they don't require much thought, and we usually can regurgitate stuff we've already said in other contexts.

So let's do it again.  Send your questions, and we'll do a video on Friday from the new and improved PFT Daily studio, featuring an HD camera (hopefully my toupee tape won't show) and professional lighting far more sophisticated than a fluorescent tube on the front of the camera that has burned a hole into my left retina.

Then, I'll bang out the written version of the mailbag at some point over the weekend, which further will confirm that I have no life.

The pre-NFL sex tape featuring Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes may not affect his on-field earnings, but it already has cost him off the field.

According to Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald, Reebok has opted not to finalize a marketing deal with Spikes.

Agent Terry Watson confirmed to Rapoport that Reebok has opted to yank the deal off the table.

Meanwhile, several of you have raised an intriguing question regarding the league's decision to investigate the situation.  If Spikes faces scrutiny for making a sex tape (presumably with a consenting adult) before joining the NFL, what if anything has the league done to explore whether an employee of a club was or wasn't sending unwelcome photos via text message to a non-player employee of the club?

By all appearance, that story died faster than a mayfly with a malignancy.  If Spikes' situation could get him in trouble, how can it be that the other situation went nowhere?

Kurt Warner and Matt Leinart have something in common.  By all appearances, neither guy will ever play another game for the Arizona Cardinals.

Warner joined Bickley and MJ of Xtra Sports 910 in Phoenix to discuss Leinart's failure to secure the starting job in 2010.

"It's tough for me," Warner said at the outset of the segment.  "Because I know Coach [Ken Whisenhunt], and I love Coach and believe in him and believe in what he does and decisions he makes and why he makes those decisions.  And I'm also very good friends with Matt.  And we've been very close for a long time.  And I've been in those shoes before, and it's never fun.  It's a difficult situation."

Warner also has been in the shoes of the guy who bounces the presumed starter to the bench; Warner did it to Leinart two years ago.

And while Leinart has claimed that he outperformed Derek Anderson in the 2010 preseason, Warner explained that the decision surely was based on more than that, and that Whisenhunt is making the decision with the goal of winning as many games as possible in the coming season.

"Coach has thought long and hard and watched every play since way back when they started this offseason, and the evaluation process starts with Coach and goes through I'm sure a number of other people," Warner said.  "And they're weighing a lot of different things to come to the final conclusion, whatever that is.  You know, so I think that's where it's hard.  Everybody looks at two preseason games and thinks, 'Well, that's not enough.'  But you have to understand that this process has been going on for a while."

Warner is right.  Leinart didn't lose his job in two weeks; Leinart systematically has been putting himself in this position over the last four years.  He has received every opportunity to succeed.  In 2010, Leinart was backed up with a failed starter from the Browns, hardly a worth adversary.

And Leinart still failed.  Regardless of why or how it happened, everyone seems to agree that it's time for Leinart to move on and, yes, move out.

Blame it on the recession.  Blame it on higher ticket prices.  Or blame it on how awesome and affordable HDTVs have become.

Whatever the reason, there are fewer NFL fans buying tickets than anytime since 1998. Eric Grubman, executive vice president of NFL Ventures and Business Operations, told USA Today that attendance is expected to drop 1-2% this year. 

Season ticket sales should fall 5%, but teams will make up some ground with single ticket and partial season ticket sales.  Teams still keep charging more, however.  The average ticket price raised rose 3.9% to $74.99 last season, according to the report.

"We know some of our fans are struggling. We don't need to see the statistics," Grubman said.  He acknowledged some fans prefer to just watch more games at home.

"The product is really exceptional at home. That makes it a little bit easier, if you're having a tough time making ends meet, to not go to the stadium," Grubman said.

Rising television (and internet) viewers soften the decline in attendance, but an increasing number of blackouts would make it difficult for that trend to continue.

The sudden season-ending injury to the Patriots' best cornerback Leigh Bodden has accelerated the youth movement in the team's secondary.

According to ESPN's Tim Graham, no starting cornerback duo in football will have played fewer games than New England's pair: Darius Butler and first-round pick Devin McCourty.

McCourty showed up well in his first two preseason games, but struggled badly against the Rams.  Butler has shown a lot of promise this offseason after an inconsistent rookie year.  Combine these two players with second-year free safety Patrick Chung and the Patriots may have the youngest starting secondary in the league.

Bill Belichick will have his hands full scheming to help out his young players and he no longer has a good pass rush to help out.

It's been a rough month for the Patriots defense. According to Bill Barnwell, the Patriots are the first team since the 2003 Cardinals to put two defensive starters on injured reserve before the season even started.  Patriots defensive end Ty Warren was also lost for the year.

The Cowboys have received inquiries about wide receiver Sam Hurd's availability, according to Todd Archer of the Dallas Morning News.

The Cowboys are surely listening and we can't imagine it would take much to get Hurd.

Hurd is a fine special teamer, but he's buried deep on a talented Cowboys wideout depth chart.  Archer suggests the Rams and Chiefs as possible teams that could look to Hurd to bolster their receiver depth.

Hurd is due $1.759 million this year, which should soften any trade market for him.

Cardinals defensive lineman Darnell Dockett is finally going to get paid.

After years of pining for a new deal, a league source tells PFT's Mike Florio that the Cardinals and Dockett have agreed to a four-year contract extension.  The deal will take him through 2015.

Dockett is known well for his personality and his Twitter account, but he's also quietly developed into one of the most disruptive pass rushers in football the last few years.  He's listed as a defensive tackle for Pro Bowl purposes, but usually lines up as an end in Arizona's unique 3-4 defense. He's just hitting his prime and has overcome an amazing amount to get to where he is.

The team called a press conference, which will be streamed live online.  It will provide a welcome dose of positive news during a drama-filled week for the organization.

UPDATE: Here's video of the press conference.

UPDATE II: PFT has confirmed Dockett received $30 million guaranteed for injury and $28 million for skill and injury.  The total deal can be up to $48.5 million over four years.  New money is $35.3 million over four years and with the escalators could be $40.3 million in new money. 

He'll make $4.55 million in 2010.  In 2011, there is a $15 million option bonus, a $2.35 million salary, $250,000 workout bonus, and $500,000 in escalators.  The rest of the years include the same workout bonus and escalators with the following base salaries: 2012: $3.4 million, 2013: $4.45 million, 2014: $5.5 million, 2015: $6.55 million.

Dockett also can get a $2.5 million escalator in 2014 if he gets eight sacks in any one of his first four seasons.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has done everything asked of him, and as a result it's widely believed that Goodell will reduce Roethlisberger's suspension from six games to four.

But Roethlisberger reportedly wants the suspension to be even shorter than that.

Sal Paolantonio of ESPN reports that Roethlisberger's representatives plan to ask Goodell to reduce the six-game suspension by at least three games.

Steelers president Art Rooney II apparently supports the idea and plans to attend the meeting to press the case to Goodell.

Although Goodell has gone out of his way to praise Roethlisberger's off-field behavior in the four months since handing down his suspension, it seems awfully unlikely that Goodell would be receptive to a request for a suspension of three games or fewer. Goodell has indicated from the beginning that four games would be the minimum length of Roethlisberger's suspension, and the commissioner is unlikely to waver.

A month after trading for backup quarterback John Beck, the Washington Redskins have made a move to keep him around for a while.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Redskins signed Beck to a two-year, $2.25 million contract extension. Beck was already under contract for this year at $1 million, so the team now has him locked up for the next three years, at a total salary of $3.35 million. There's no word on how much of the contract is guaranteed.

Beck started four games for the Dolphins in 2007 but hasn't played at all since then. He's currently listed fourth on the team's online depth chart, but he's expected to be the No. 3 quarterback this season, behind Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman.

So what caused the confrontation between young 49ers stars Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree on Wednesday, forcing both to leave practice?

"Crabtree's attitude and perceived apathy toward training camp and exhibition season," was the problem, according to Matt Maiocco of Comcast Bay Area.

SI's Jim Trotter heard the same thing, tweeting that "players don't like Crabtree's ambivalence toward preseason & camp. Love his talent, though."

Davis apparently let Crabtree know he felt in no uncertain terms.  Coach Mike Singletary didn't appreciate the way Davis delivered his message, but it sounds like he understood the thought.  Apparently, Crabtree's disinterest has been the "elephant in the room" Singletary referred to at 49ers camp.

"[Davis] is one of the captains. He did the right thing, but he did it the wrong way. So that's all I'm going to say about that," Singletary said.

Crabtree was expected to suit up in last week's preseason game, but was a scratch at the last minute.  Now we wonder if there was more to the story, and whether there's a feeling Crabtree milked his neck strain this month for all it was worth.

We think Crabtree has a great chance to be one of the best wide receivers in football for the next decade, but he's starting to earn that "diva" label stuck on him in pre-draft workouts.

After a day full of Matt Leinart posts, let's pause for a moment and take stock of where things stand.

First, Leinart's time in Arizona appears to be over.

Second, Leinart has done himself no favors with the things he has recently said.  Most recently, his stated desire to be a starter makes it harder for any team to rely on him as a backup, because a good backup must be willing to understand, accept, and embrace his role.

Third, despite rumors in the Cardinals locker room that the Giants could be trading for Leinart, there is no sign of serious interest coming from the Giants, Bills, Raiders, or anyone else.  As Jay Glazer of FOX points out, the Giants want someone who'll be happy to serve as Eli Manning's understudy. 

Fourth, no one in their right mind will trade for a guy with high base salaries in 2010 and 2011, and Leinart likely won't be reducing his high base salaries to facilitate a trade if it means going somewhere else to be a backup.

Fifth, we're told that the players in Arizona don't really care for Leinart.  Former teammate Anquan Boldin addressed the situation recently on 105.7 the Fan in Baltimore, and Boldin said that he's not surprised that Leinart has lost his job to Derek Anderson.

Sixth, even Jon Gruden has jumped into the "Lambaste Leinart" parade.  "I just say he hasn't performed," Gruden said during Wednesday's Monday Night Football conference call, per Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times.  "He hasn't taken advantage of his opportunities. He's clearly been average.  He hasn't been a guy who's really taken control and choked the opportunity that's been given to him, and obviously there's something missing there."

Coming from Gruden, who usually says bad things about others only when others aren't listening  (or when he assumes they aren't), that's a strong indictment.

So what has happened with Leinart?  It arguably all started in 2005, when he opted not to enter the draft despite winning both the Heisman Trophy and a national championship.  He has nothing else to prove at the college level, but he wanted to spend another year as the big man on campus in lieu of embracing the challenge of becoming an NFL-caliber quarterback.  It prompted legitimate questions as to whether he truly loves the game, or whether he loves being a celebrity.

Every player has a ceiling on his abilities, and for many it resides between the college and NFL level.  Some players have the physical ability, mental capacity, and intestinal fortitude to bust through it.  Some don't.

Leinart, at least through four-plus years of his career, doesn't have it.  He entered the NFL with an entitlement mentality fueled by years of being surrounded by blue-chip players at every position.  At the pro level, he learned that it's no longer easy, and he hasn't been able or willing to do anything about it.

Bottom line?  No one will want him as a backup until he shows that he'll accept that role.  And no one will install him as a starter based on the things he has done in Arizona. 

The real question will arise if (when) he's cut on Saturday.  Will Pete Carroll give him a roster spot?  Or will Pete realize that the concerns he once expressed regarding Mark Sanchez apply with equal if not greater force to Leinart?

Cardinals guard Reggie Wells won't create as many headlines as Matt Leinart, but he could be easier to trade.  Although not much easier.

Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic reports Wells is available, although he's set to make $2.4 million this season.

The Cardinals have had an "extra" guard since Alan Faneca came aboard, and Wells' availability indicates that the team wants Deuce Lutui to start.  (Wells has lined up ahead of Lutui at right guard in training camp.)

Somers also confirms that the Cardinals have called to gauge teams interest in Leinart.  More on that in a few minutes.

This time, Mike Singletary went with Vernon Davis into the locker room after the tight end lost control of his emotions.

The 49ers coach reportedly escorted his Pro Bowl tight end and wide receiver Michael Crabtree off the field after the two players had a lengthy heated argument in the middle of practice, according to multiple reports.  The three men stayed inside the team's locker room for 10 minutes before Davis re-emerged.  Then Crabtree and Singletary came out together a few minutes later.

Crabtree and Davis reportedly watched the rest of practice from the sidelines while standing apart.

"I will not talk about the issue, but they both were wrong," Singletary said after practice. 

Disagreements on the field happen all the time, but it's rare when one results in a coach leaving the field with two players for such a long time.  Singletary said it was not about football and it sounds like this issue had been brewing for some time.

Singletary said the team will be better off now that the "elephant in the room has been exposed."

That quote makes us think the elephant will be hanging around for a while.