Associated Press
The NFL notebook …
Carolina coach John Fox believes his team has moved on from its 33-13 home loss to Arizona in the playoffs. At least as much as any NFL club can after such a lopsided and disappointing ending to a season.
“I don’t think you ever get totally rid of it,” Fox said. “But you get over it. Unless you win the Super Bowl, and we have not done that, usually your season ends with a loss.”
Reminded that the Panthers came very close to being champions, losing to New England 32-29 in the 2004 Super Bowl, Fox winced.
“That Super Bowl is the hardest to get over, more than that one,” he said, referring to the loss to the Cardinals. “The loss in the championship game to Seattle (in January 2006) was harder.
“People on the outside underestimated Arizona. I can’t say it’s surprising to lose to them. They beat some good teams. It was not like we played some high school team and got drilled by them.”
–
OWENS HONORED: Terrell Owens has a pretty good reason for missing the start of the Bills’ voluntary offseason conditioning program this week.
The star receiver is in Washington, D.C., attending the sixth annual National Alzheimer’s Gala. He’ll receive the Alzheimer’s Association’s first Young Champions Award on Wednesday night for raising awareness in the fight against the disease. Owens’ grandmother has Alzheimer’s.
Among the others being honored are French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and his wife, Sharon Percy Rockefeller.
Owens, who signed with the Bills on March 7, made headlines Monday when he was one of several players who didn’t show up for the start of the team’s 12-week voluntary workout program.
–
PLAYOFF EXPANSION: The idea of expanding the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams was brought up again this year, as it often is.
Commissioner Roger Goodell is against it.
“Some clubs believe we should expand the playoffs,” Goodell said. “I don’t think it’s required as part of the restructuring of the season to expand the playoffs. The opposing view is, let’s not water down something that’s tremendous. We still have 32 teams. We should keep it to 12 teams and it should be special to be able make that. It makes the regular season special, that you have to qualify to get into that postseason.”
In 2008, the New England Patriots became just the second team in 31 seasons of the 16-game schedule to miss the playoffs at 11-5.
The San Diego Chargers, on the other hand, befitted from being in the weak AFC West and joined the 1985 Cleveland Browns as the only teams to win division titles at 8-8.
–
MR. ROGERS: Charles Rogers used to have it all.
Talent. Fame. Cash.
Now, he’s in jail.
The second pick overall in the 2003 NFL draft chose to be locked up for 30 days, with credit for 15 days served, instead of staying in an intensive drug counseling program after violating probation in a domestic violence case.
“I’m just going to do my 10 days, get out of the court system and try to get in shape for a comeback,” Rogers said Wednesdayfrom the Oakland County jail in Pontiac, Mich. “Am I sad about the way my life has turned out? No, because I know the strides I’ve made to take care of Charles Rogers.”
Court records show the 27-year-old ex-Detroit Lion receiver tested positive for alcohol and falsified records saying he attended Alcoholic Anonymous meetings.
“I was wrong,” he said. “I’m not perfect.”
–
NEW CHARGES: A Chicago woman faces new charges in the 2007 shooting death of the pregnant girlfriend of former Chicago Bears All-Pro safety Shaun Gayle.
A Lake County grand jury on Wednesday indicted 41-year-old Marni Yang on nine counts of first-degree murder and three counts of intentional homicide of an unborn child.
Authorities say Yang shot Reuter seven times at her apartment in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield because she was jealous of the woman’s relationship with Gayle.
–
JETS: The New York Jets signed free agent cornerback Donald Strickland on Wednesday, adding another new face to their revamped secondary.
Strickland, who played the last three seasons for the San Francisco 49ers, is expected to serve as a backup.