Associated Press
The NFL notebook …
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ó Kerry Collins has a simple plan now that coach Jeff Fisher made him the Tennessee starter at quarterback: make the team his.
The possibility that he keeps the job only as long as the Titans keep winning? The veteran quarterback couldn’t ask for anything else.
“I’m excited about being part of what I think can be a good year,” Collins said Wednesday.
“I think we’ve got a good bunch of guys. We’ve got guys who work hard. When you have that, you have a chance to be successful on Sunday. That’s going to be my approach. Prepare as well as I can each week, try to have a good practice, get the mental part of it down and have fun on Sunday.”
Collins spoke for the first time since Fisher announced he is sticking with the 14-year veteran as his starter while Vince Young heals his sprained left knee. Collins started the first three games over Young in 2006, but the veteran had less than two weeks to learn the offense before that season started.
Hearing Fisher declare him quarterback helps put Collins’ mind at ease, not that he’s looking too far into the future.
“It just puts anything to rest about what’s going to happen. … As long as we’re winning and everything’s going OK, I’ll be in there,” Collins said.
REDSKINS
Chris Cooley’s explicit blog photo was discussed at a team meeting Wednesday, with player and coach on different wavelengths as to which was the more pressing concern: the nudity or the secret study material.
Coach Jim Zorn addressed the team, stressing the need to keep all game-planning under wraps. Zorn was concerned that Cooley posted a photo of study questions while preparing for Sunday’s game against the Saints.
“There’s this new technology out there that you have freedom to use, but you don’t have freedom really to use Redskin things that are really private to us,” Zorn said. “You don’t have the luxury of putting that on anybody’s blog.”
Cooley, meanwhile, was again expressing regret that the photo exposed more of himself that he planned. Cooley was studying in the buff when he snapped the photo, and he posted it without examining it closely. It wasn’t until hours later ó when the number of hits on his blog jumped from 9,000 to 37,000 to 60,000 in a short span after the game ó that he realized something was amiss.
Cooley took down the photo and posted an apology the next day.
“It’s funny, but it’s still dumb,” he said.
PANTHERS
Carolina Panthers left guard Travelle Wharton revealed Wednesday that he has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee, making it possible he’ll miss his second straight game Sunday at Minnesota.
Wharton hasn’t practiced since being injured in the Sept. 7 season opener.
“There’s no real timetable,” Wharton said. “You’ve just go to come, keep working it and getting it better.”
GIANTS
Two games into the season, the Giants (2-0) are averaging 177 yards rushing, with a 5.6-yard average. Brandon Jacobs has been the workhorse with 36 carries for 209 yards, while Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw are not giving opposing defenses any time to rest when they get the call.