NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Jon Beason is still learning the ropes at the weakside LB spot, but seems to feel like he is getting better at the spot almost on a daily basis.

"I'm making strides every day," Beason said following Tuesday's practice. "The beauty of it is we're still installing, so every day I get a new challenge. It allows me to be a rookie again. I have to be on my toes, have to be in my (play)book. This camp has been eventful."

Beason set a franchise mark of 169 tackles in 2009, but that didn’t stop head coach John Fox from changing his spot on the field. Fox feels that in the long run it will be a good move for a Panthers defense that is going to at times have to carry this team in 2010.

"I feel comfortable with him at any linebacker spot," Fox said of Beason. "He's a guy we know the most about. He's got the most history with us. He's got the ability to play at any of those spots."

Beason has played some at the weakside spot in the past, but not in a long time. He played some in college and early in his rookie season with Carolina, but had reached a comfort level in the middle. Now he knows that the pressure is on to get better and learn the weakside spot – fast.

"I didn't think there would be that much of a (learning) curve," Beason said. "Not so much as it's new, just trying to get that comfort level where I can play free and not think as much, be more instinctive."

The Raiders will be without backup quarterback Charlie Frye, as on Wednesday he will undergo a surgical procedure to repair an unspecified injury in his right wrist, coach Tom Cable said on Tuesday.

Frye hurt the wrist back on August 5th, and hasn't practiced since. Cable said he isn't sure how long Frye will be out of action.

With Frye gone, both backups Kyle Boller and Bruce Gradkowski have been getting increased reps. Boller Tuesday got a lot of time with the second-team offense, but Cable said that doesn’t mean that he’s in line to be the backup in 2010.

"Bruce isn't back (from pectoral surgery) all the way yet," Cable said Tuesday. "We're bringing him back. That's really more the issue than anything."

You had a feeling this was coming – Wes Welker wants a new deal, at least that coming out of the mouth of his buddy – QB Tom Brady.

Wes Welker’s quarterback added the receiver’s name to a growing list of Patriots wishing for new contracts. Tom Brady included Welker when discussing players wanting extensions in a radio interview with WEEI. Brady noted that Welker, who will make $1.9 million this year in a deal that runs through 2011, also is hoping to be compensated in a way that matches his status. “Every player on the team wants a contract and to be fairly compensated,” Brady said. “Wes doesn’t make a lot of money, but he’s one of (the) best receivers in the league. We all want to be compensated fairly, but we also understand we signed contracts.”

I generally have little sympathy for players in the National Football league, I mean, when someone is complaining that they're making $5 million instead of $10 million… I would love to have that problem.

But this situation is impossible not to have sympathy for, and it was just compounded by the fact the team that's partly responsible for this recent event happens to be the squad I support.

After battling back from a brutal weight training injury at USC, which severely damaged his vocal cords, adams apple, and tore numerous muscles, Stafon Johnson suffered a ghastly ankle injury in the second half of the pre season opener against the Seattle Seahawks.

Call it irony that it was the team of Johnsons former coach at USC that ended his rookie season.

After he went down Pete Carroll immediately ran across the field to check up on his former leading rusher. You don't generally see the opposing coach checking up on the opposing players when injuries go down.

You especially don't ever see an entire team take a knee and pray for an undrafted rookie for 10 minutes, never in my life have I seen this happen.

It almost brings a tear to your eye even if you have no personal or emotional connection to the guy. One can only imagine going from having your life flash before your eyes to battling back to make it to the NFL only to have that dream ripped away from you as soon as you set foot on the playing field.

As Johnson was carted off, it was depressing; you could see it in his eyes that he knew his season was over and that he had another steep uphill battle to realize his dream.

Fortunately, the Titans have no plans to rid themselves of Johnson, as coach Jeff Fisher clarified:

“We have not given up on him. This is the opposite of that, we are going to put him on injured reserve for the year, so we can have him next year. In order to do that in training camp you have to release the player. He is subject to waivers, he can get claimed, but it is unlikely that anyone would claim someone that just had major reconstructive surgery on the ankle. So he comes back to us once he clears and goes on injured reserve for the year that was the intention.”

The fact that there is a silver lining to this should be a telling sign the ridiculously resilient Stafon Johnson is going to rise from the ashes of anguish once again.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin appeared on NFL Total Access on Tuesday night, and talked quite a bit about his franchise QB – Ben Roethlisberger. There’s been plenty of talk about Ben being a changed man after the issues he had in Georgia in March, with wide out Hines Ward saying Ben has been “night and day.”

While Tomlin says that Roethlisberger has been doing a good job of being a changed man, he doesn’t quite see that huge of a change in the QB that was on the market around draft time.

“I don’t view it as night and day, I probably have more of a personal relationship with Ben than some,” Tomlin said. “He appears to be the same guy, but I acknowledge that our relationship is probably the one he has with a lot of people. It’s based on truth, we deal with each other in that way, he’s dealt with this situation the way we hoped and would have expected him too, he’s taken it day to day, and he’s doing a nice job of it.”

Tomlin also spoke about the challenges in the QB and trying to figure out the problems going into working out a QB for the first four games and then putting Ben back in. He says there are some issues with Roethlisberger in terms of him dealing with the steps to getting back on the field.

“There are concerns, every step in this process is something that he has to deal with, something that we have to deal with,” Tomlin said. “There’s not a great deal of comfort, but that’s the nature of this thing.”

The other big question on the minds of Steeler Nation is the QB battle to start those four games, and right now Tomlin says that it’s still an open battle, and while Dennis Dixon did a nice job on Saturday night against the Lions, he will have to take the job from Byron Leftwich if he wants to be the starter opening day.

Just days after signing the "other" Adrian Peterson, the Seattle Seahawks have cut ties with the veteran running back to make room for their trade acquisition Kentwan Balmer.

Originally signed for the sake of depth with Quinton Ganther and Louis Rankin ailing, both saw action in the pre season opener against the Tennessee Titans, rendering the purpose of his addition null and void.

He was already somewhat of a longshot to make the roster, and with the revolving door that is Pete Carrolls creation plan, the release shouldn't surprise anyone, the least bit Peterson himself.

Also released today was linebacker Alvin Bowen, who you have probably never heard of unless you are a Seahawks nerd like myself. Kicker Clint Stitser was also added today to give Carroll a training camp body with franchise player Olindo Mare ailing with a sore calf.

“Favre Watch 2010″ seems to be drawing to a close, as all reports indicate that Brett is back, and will be ready to go on Thursday, September 9th when the Vikings take on the Saints in the season opener Kickoff game on NBC.

Here’s the latest from the Star Tribune on the comeback:

Favre flew on a private jet into Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie. There were about 50 fans there who began to arrive as the plane sat on the tarmac and Favre, Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson and Longwell got off. Favre then got into the passenger seat of Longwell’s car, with Hutchinson and Allen in their cars right behind.

There is little doubt that the recruiting pitch put on by those three played a major role in getting Favre to return. As Longwell pulled out of the airport, Favre got out of the car, hugged an unidentified man who had been let into the restricted zone and gave a wave to the fans as they drove through the gate.

Favre and Longwell then returned to the Vikings facility. It’s unclear if there will be a news conference this evening or if that will be held on Wednesday. The Vikings are scheduled to practice at 11:40 Wednesday morning but that time could always be changed.

Jason LaCanfora says that as far as money goes, at the close of business Tuesday there have been no changes to the deal that Favre has, and unless there are changes to his contract, he’ll play the 2010 season for the $13 mil he inked for last season.

The boss is not happy.  When the boss isn't happy, no one's happy.  That was the message sent by Coach Whisenhunt when the Cardinals returned for the last week of training camp after "defeating" the Houston Texans in both squads' first taste of the 2010 season.

"There were a couple of times in the first half, offensively, where it was a joke, to be quite honest with you," Whisenhunt torted.  "Plays that we had run 25 times in two weeks looked like it was the first time we'd run it."  It really can't get worse than that for an offense that is trying to build a level of comfort with a new QB at the helm.

Speaking of Matt Leinart, he apparently was playing and watching a different game than Whisenhunt.  "I haven't watched the film yet, but I think we played pretty well," Leinart said.  "Obviously, we can get better, but (I) completed most of the passes, did everything I think we could.  We just want to be able to move the ball a little better."  The offense can get a lot better as it failed to move the ball at all and couldn't do any better than setting up Jay Feely for a 47-yard field goal attempt, which he missed.  Leinart's completed passes only compiled a minuscule amount of meaningless yards, but he apparently thinks the offense played "pretty well."

Whisenhunt and basically anyone else watching the game feels differently.  The first team offense had receivers running the wrong routes, lineman missing blocking assignments, a fumbled hand off that doomed the opening possession, and both starting tackles gave up a sack in only one quarter.  These things must be corrected before the season starts.  Except for the sacks, which resulted from Mario Williams just whooping Brandon Keith and Levi Brown getting beat, the other problems are inexcusable errors.

The order of the day to correct the offense seems to be focusing on the little things, according to Whisenhunt.  "It's more about paying attention to the details," Whisenhunt said.  "We're rough around the edges.  I'm not down on our team whatsoever.  I think it's a great opportunity to clean things up and improve."  There's plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball so tightening up execution should go a long way if it's done quickly.

In a game with battered bodies standing idle on the sidelines, and a bloodied Lil Manning dripping red juice onto the new $1.6 billion digs, Jim Sorgi and Rhett Bomar had to find somebody to toss the pigskin to.

Minus Kevin Boss, Mario Manningham, Steve Smith, Travis Beckum, Tim Brown, and Jake Ballard, the Giants needed someone to step up.

Boy did someone step up in a huge way.

Even in the pre season, you never see an undrafted rookie free agent steal the headlines from a Super Bowl winning quarterback who has a giant gash pouring blood all over his face on national television.

But Victor Cruz did that and then some.

He hauled in six catches, 148 yards, and three touchdowns for Big Blue including one absolutely gorgeous one handed grab along the sideline that resulted in six points.

As I am watching this uber performance go down, I am asking myself the same question many people were probably asking… Who is that guy?

I was originally under the assumption he had to be a mid round pick or at least late round pick based on the caliber of his performance.

So I got a glimpse of his last name and typed in "Cruz New York Giants".

When I saw he was an undrafted rookie, my jaw dropped.

This is the kind of performance that further removes me from being able to put even marginal faith into what NFL scouts grade prospects on. It's always a site for me to see a guy every team passed over beating the crap out of the prospects teams spent draft picks on.

Note to New York, if you continue to have injury woes at the receiver position, you might have found a capable fallback plan to “Cruz” with.