N FL Notebook

Associated Press

The NFL notebook ...

BOSTON — A convicted bank robber who says he had to panhandle to repay a debt to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has had his debt erased by a local businessman.

Dennis Paiva was ordered by a court to pay $4,000 after selling Brady's expensive flower boxes for scrap metal, mistakenly believing they'd been put behind Brady's Boston condominium as trash in May 2008.

Dan Greenwald, the owner of a Burlington ad agency, said he decided to pay the restitution after reading about Paiva's plight in the Boston Herald on Friday.

Greenwald said it seemed as if Paiva, who says he can't work because of recent surgery, got "the rawest of raw deals."

The 61-year-old Paiva said Greenwald's gift was like "a dream come true."

COWBOYS

DALLAS — The company that built the Dallas Cowboys' indoor practice facility that collapsed this spring is telling its customers that the ill-fated fabric structure got a new roof last year because of team concerns about "aesthetics," not structural problems.

Nathan Stobbe of Summit Structures LLC included the explanation in a letter sent to customers of the Allentown, Pa.-based company. The letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, seeks to reassure customers that their buildings are safe.

"Please be assured that your buildings have been designed, engineered and manufactured to meet or exceed all local applicable building codes," Stobbe wrote.

The Cowboys' 80,000-square-foot facility collapsed May 2, the fifth Summit building known to have fallen in the last seven years. A member of the team's scouting department was paralyzed from the waist down and 11 other people were injured less severely.

CHARGER SHOT

HELTENHAM, Pa. — San Diego Chargers rookie running back Curtis Brinkley was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot at a suburban Philadelphia intersection, authorities said.

Brinkley, 23, was shot multiple times early Friday morning as his car was stopped at an intersection in Cheltenham, police said. Investigators are looking for a gunman who fled the scene in a car. They did not have a motive.

It was the third time in six years a Chargers player has been shot. In September 2006, linebacker Steve Foley was shot three times by an off-duty police officer in Coronado, Calif.

In July 2003, rookie safety Terrence Kiel was shot during an attempted carjacking in Houston.