Associated Press
The NFL notebook …
NEW YORK ó Leaders of animal rights groups are hopeful that Michael Vick can use his second chance to discourage others from participating in dogfighting.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell conditionally reinstated Vick on Monday after the quarterback served 18 months in prison for running a dogfighting ring.
Humane Society of the United States president Wayne Pacelle met with Vick in federal prison in the spring about how the quarterback could help. Pacelle says the public won’t “be pleased if he just gets back into football and puts aside the anti-dogfighting activities.”
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals president Ed Sayres says he hopes Vick “rises to the occasion and proves worthy of the rare second chance commissioner Goodell has granted him.”
BURRESS UPDATE
NEW YORK ó Manhattan’s district attorney says he wants former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress to serve time in prison, the New York Post reported.
Robert Morgenthau told the newspaper that Burress, who shot himself with an unlicensed gun in November, was willing to agree to spend a year in jail, but prosecutors insisted on two.
“We’ve always taken the position that he’s going to have to go to jail, whether by trial or by plea,” Morgenthau told the Post for a story in Monday’s edition.
A spokeswoman for Morgenthau, Alica Maxey Greene, declined to comment on the Post story or to confirm that the district attorney made the comments.
Burress shot himself in the thigh at a nightclub early on the morning of Nov. 29. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and faces up to 31/2 years in prison. Burress has pleaded not guilty and is free on $100,000 bail. The Giants released Burress in April.
His attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said he was “disappointed and surprised” that Morgenthau spoke publicly while a grand jury decision on indicting Burress is pending.
EAGLESBETHLEHEM, Pa. ó One day into his 11th NFL training camp, Donovan McNabb is sounding like a coach.
After Philadelphia reached its fifth NFC championship game in eight years last season, the Eagles added several players to boost an offense that seems to perpetually rely on McNabb and running back Brian Westbrook.
The Eagles drafted receiver Jeremy Maclin, running back LeSean McCoy and tight end Cornelius Ingram. Maclin scored 33 touchdowns in a two-year career at Missouri, McCoy rushed for almost 1,500 yards last season at Pitt, while Ingram was Florida’s top tight end before missing last season with a knee injury.
All three are talented, explosive ó and young.
McNabb knows.
“We’ve got a lot of 20- and 21-year-old kids on this team,” McNabb said as the Eagles hit the practice field Monday at Lehigh University. “I’m 32 years old. I’ve seen a lot of what they’ve done in college, but again, it goes back to, ‘Can you do the same things in college on the pro level?’ And some have, some haven’t.”
“We have a lot of young faces. We have a lot of new faces. For me to sit here and say, ‘Hey, we’re a Super Bowl team and we’re going to win the Super Bowl,’ I don’t believe in all that. I think that’s something that at the end of the year, we’ll find out who wins and who doesn’t.”
Coach Andy Reid couldn’t have said it better himself.
PATRIOTSFOXBOROUGH, Mass. ó Safety Patrick Chung is the latest second-round pick to sign with the New England Patriots.
Chung signed on Monday, the last of the team’s four second-rounders to agree to terms. Details were not disclosed, although the other three Patriots draftees in that round signed four-year contracts.
The former Oregon safety started the most games in his school’s history. He was the Patriots first selection in this year’s draft after they traded out of the first round.
CHARGERSSAN DIEGO ó Shawne Merriman was back at work at Chargers Park on Monday with an eye on the future.
The imposing linebacker, who missed all but one game last season because of an injury to his left knee, wants to be able to make a contribution this year.
“I just want to help the team get back what we lacked last year ó nastiness and intensity and being physical,” Merriman said. “I think that’s where you notice it, being away from the game. Some of the things that I was really good at doing, that is motivating everybody else, getting everybody else to take their game to another level.”
Merriman reported to training camp Monday along with the quarterbacks, rookies and other players coming off injuries. The balance of the squad checks in Thursday, with a full-team workout on Friday.
The medical staff kept Merriman from team drills.