WR Jackson looks for third straight big game for Bolts
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- There's nothing like having a breakout game in the playoffs.
In Vincent Jackson's case, make it two.
The San Diego wide receiver will be looking for his third straight big game when his underdog Chargers face the undefeated New England Patriots in the AFC championship game on Sunday.
Of the lesser-known players who helped the Chargers upset the Indianapolis Colts, Jackson had one of the bigger roles. He caught seven passes for 93 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers. The 6-foot-5 Jackson used his height advantage to leap over safety Antoine Bethea for the score.
The week before, he helped the Chargers to a wild-card win over the Tennessee Titans with five catches for 114 yards and one TD.
"Call it what you want to call it, but I've been here about three years, and this is the first time I think I've actually been able to contribute a little more, statistically," Jackson said. "I think I do a great job in other roles they have me doing, blocking and what not. It's fun. I actually get the ball, make some plays."
Come Sunday, Jackson will no doubt meet up for the first time with hard-hitting safety Rodney Harrison, a former Chargers star.
"Can't wait to see him," Jackson said with a laugh. "Let's go. Let's go."
Chargers fans have waited for the third-year pro to start contributing more. Jackson said nothing has changed in the way he plays, just in the opportunities he's getting.
Against Tennessee, he and Chris Chambers (six catches, 121 yards) carried the load as two-time NFL rushing champion LaDainian Tomlinson was being bottled up.
With Tomlinson getting knocked out against the Colts with a knee injury, and Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates limited by a toe injury, Jackson continued to get chances.
"You have L.T. and Gates and those guys are definitely going to get their recognition, and they deserve it, absolutely. There's not a lot of 1,000-yard receivers around here. It's just the way the system's been run, I guess.
"You go back and look at game film, I'm not doing anything differently. There's only one ball to go around on the field."
Coming into the season, the Chargers' wide receivers -- who are coached by Hall of Famer James Lofton -- were young and undistinguished. Chambers was obtained in a midseason trade with Miami and has added a new dimension to the offense, and Jackson has come on strong.
"We're just excited that people are finally starting to see that we have do have a very strong solid corps of receivers here," Jackson said. "It's been a nice postseason so far, but again, we're not even close to being satisfied."
Coach Norv Turner has been impressed with Jackson, who during the regular season had 41 catches for 623 yards and three touchdowns.
"We have guys that have really stepped up," Turner said. "Vincent Jackson is playing as good as any guy I've been around through this stretch of the last six or seven weeks and obviously the last two games. You talk about stepping up in big games, he was unbelievable."
The Patriots certainly have noticed.
"I see a confident football team," linebacker Mike Vrabel said. "I see a physical football team. Philip's making plays. The receivers are becoming a huge part of their offense. You always knew they had Gates and he was going to catch everything that was thrown his way. Those big receivers are making plays so that just gives them two more options."
The Patriots are familiar with Chambers from his Dolphins days.
"And Jackson has stepped up big for them, so they've gotten a lot of production out of their receivers as well as their tight ends, their running backs," coach Bill Belichick said. "I mean, everybody produced, just like what happened in Indianapolis: they got contributions from everybody."
The Chargers will be huge underdogs against the Patriots. They'll no doubt need another big game from Jackson.
"We're excited," he said. "Let's go. Bring 'em on."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Packers ignoring Favre's shaky performances in most recent playoff games
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Maybe it's just a coincidence that since the departure of former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Holmgren, Brett Favre's playoff performances have been uneven at best. With a couple of true stinkers thrown in for bad measure.
Or maybe there's simply a statute of limitations on the relevance of past performances in pro football. After all, Favre is thriving under the new offense being run by second-year coach Mike McCarthy -- so much so he's already talking about coming back next year.
Either way, the Packers aren't putting very much thought into Favre's recent playoff performances going into Saturday's divisional playoff game against Seattle at Lambeau Field. McCarthy said he and his assistants didn't watch film of those games, an indication they don't think it's relevant.
"I don't think it factors into how we're going to play this game, or how he's playing today," McCarthy said. "It's not like we arrived here five or six weeks ago. We've been here. This is our second year. We have history with Brett. You can see the progress we've made with Brett running this style of offense. I don't really feel it's to our benefit to go back and look at those games."
If coaches did want to dig up some of those tapes, they might want to try the "horror" section of the Packers' video vault.
Green Bay is 2-4 in playoff games since a first post-Holmgren playoff appearance in January 2002 -- including two losses at Lambeau. The Packers failed to score more than 17 points in each of their four playoff losses.
Favre threw 14 interceptions in those six games, a number skewed greatly by his six-interception eyesore at St. Louis in '02, and a four-interception clunker in the Packers' most recent playoff appearance against Minnesota in January 2005.
But the man who coached Favre to two Super Bowl runs in the 1990s and who now is charged with stopping him as Seahawks head coach, didn't think those statistics tell a story worth listening to.
"I think it's hard to bunch them all together," Holmgren said. "I would never do that. I think you look at what he's done most recently -- and he's had a marvelous year. My goodness. He has really played well this year, and that's the Brett we're going to have to play against and prepare for. We know that."
Favre, meanwhile, is more focused on how he's going to avoid Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney than getting caught up in some sort of morose history lesson.
But in the run-up to Saturday's game, Favre did concede having only one Super Bowl victory bothers him -- keeping in mind, of course, that some great players never even win one.
"I'm disappointed we didn't win more Super Bowls," Favre said. "But you know, I'm not ashamed by anything I did. I'm disappointed in some of those games."
As much as Favre would like to change the results of some of those games, Favre said he wouldn't change much about the way he prepared for them.
"I'd like to think that we would have or should have won more playoff games, which in turn lead to a chance at the Super Bowl, at least," Favre said. "But I don't know if I would have done anything much different. I think I would have prepared and played the same way. It's just, you have a tendency to remember those because of what they represent."
Favre already has erased plenty of bad recent memories under McCarthy.
The career-worst 29 interceptions he threw in the 2005 regular season? Forgotten, replaced by a smarter, more disciplined -- and ultimately more dangerous -- quarterback playing in a system that usually depends on the quarterback to throw the ball quickly and accurately, putting his wide receivers in position to run for long gains after the catch.
Favre completed a career-high 66.5 percent of his passes this season. And after cutting his interception total to 18 in 2006, he threw only 15 in 2007.
Favre is even talking about returning for next season, telling his hometown paper he was leaning toward playing again.
"For the first time in three years, I haven't thought this could be my last game," Favre said, according to a story that was posted on the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald's Web site on Thursday. "I would like to continue longer."
McCarthy clearly has lassoed Favre's maverick, up-for-grabs tendencies, but is hesitant to take credit for making Favre play more carefully.
"Ultimately, he deserves it, because he's the one that actually did it," McCarthy said. "Do we emphasize it? Yes. Does he want to hear about it publicly? Probably not. But it's something that's been emphasized since the day we got here."
Favre's favorite receiver, Donald Driver, joked that the Packers are relying on their receivers to make plays because of Favre's advanced age.
"Oh, yeah. He's an old man now. He can't do the things he used to do," Driver said with a smile. "We try to take the pressure off of him, so if he gets the ball to us, then we make sure that we capitalize on everything that we have to do."
Tight end Bubba Franks said that an offensive scheme that emphasizes having receivers run for yards after the catch rather than throwing downfield makes Favre more likely to succeed.
"He's playing in a system," Franks said. "He doesn't have to do too much. He just does his job and (we) make sure everybody else does their job. We won't have a problem. It's going to be a good game."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
NFL takes away 2 yards rushing from Jacobs and Giants in game with Bills
NEW YORK -- The NFL has officially deducted 2 yards from Brandon Jacobs' rushing total in the New York Giants' victory at Buffalo last Sunday.
Jacobs goes from 145 yards rushing to 143, and the team total drops from 291 to 289, in the Giants' 38-21 win that clinched a playoff berth.
The 2 yards initially had been credited as fumble yardage.
Because of the change, the Giants' rushing total no longer is the most in the league since 1959.
Along with Jacobs' 143 yards, rookie Ahmad Bradshaw gained 151 yards on the ground.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Carter replaces Smith in Steelers' secondary
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Pittsburgh Steelers free safety Anthony Smith, burned for three long pass plays in two games, was not in the lineup for Thursday night's game against the St. Louis Rams.
Smith, who also motivated the New England Patriots two weeks ago when he guaranteed a victory, was replaced by Tyrone Carter. Carter had two starts at strong safety earlier in the year when Troy Polamalu was injured.
Smith made his second interception of the season last week but was beaten on Dennis Northcutt's 55-yard touchdown catch in the Steelers' 29-22 loss to the Jaguars. Smith became the starter after Ryan Clark was placed on injured reserve with a spleen injury six games into the season.
Left tackle Marvel Smith was out with a back injury, with Max Starks stepping in as the starter. Starks relieved Smith the last two possessions last week against the Jaguars and was making his second start of the year.
Marvel Smith made 28 consecutive starts before the back sidelined him for games on Nov. 26 against the Dolphins and Dec. 2 against the Bengals.
Brett Romberg, who has not played in six of the last seven games due to a high right ankle sprain, replaced Andy McCollum at center for the Rams. Romberg dressed but did not play the last two weeks; both players were told before Sunday's loss to the Packers that Romberg would be starting against Pittsburgh.
The Rams placed backup running back Travis Minor (high ankle sprain) on injured reserve and signed running back Rich Alexis, who had been on the practice squad, to the active roster. Alexis was among the game-day inactives.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Injury-plagued Niners sign former Carolina QB Chris Weinke
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- Chris Weinke doesn't know much about all the drama that's surrounded the position he's filling with the San Francisco 49ers, and he's too busy cramming with his new playbook to care.
The 49ers put quarterback Alex Smith on injured reserve Wednesday and signed Weinke, who will back up third-stringer-turned-starter Shaun Hill on Saturday night against Cincinnati as the injury-riddled 49ers (3-10) limp to the conclusion of a hugely disappointing season.
"This time of year, for me to come in and get as comfortable as I can, it's a crash course," said Weinke, who's been out of football since the Carolina Panthers cut him in March after six seasons. "A lot of things have happened in a short period of time."
Actually, the 49ers' quarterback problems have been dragging on interminably ever since Smith's shoulder was separated on a sack by Seattle's Rocky Bernard on Sept. 30.
Trent Dilfer and Smith took turns in the starting job over the next nine games before Dilfer incurred a concussion last Sunday and Smith elected to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery Monday.
Before Smith traveled to Alabama for his surgery Thursday, he lobbed one last verbal shot at coach Mike Nolan, saying the coach had "undermined" him in the locker room by criticizing his play through the injury.
Smith and Nolan have traded veiled shots for a month, but they apparently cleared the air Tuesday in a meeting. The former No. 1 overall draft pick apologized to his teammates Wednesday morning for creating another distraction.
"I really don't feel it," Nolan said when asked if the drama would hurt his team. "You don't want the truth to stand in the way of a good story, but I'm just telling you there's nothing between us."
Dilfer also seems unlikely to play again this season after getting hurt last week on a hit by Minnesota's Charles Gordon.
When Scot McCloughan went looking for a backup quarterback with NFL starting experience this week, the 49ers' top personnel executive quickly settled on his former baseball teammate. McCloughan, 36, and the 35-year-old Weinke were farmhands in the Toronto Blue Jays organization, hanging out together during spring training in Dunedin, Fla.
"The amount of names are few and far between," McCloughan said of veteran starters still unemployed in mid-December. "He's one I know that's intelligent and can go out and get the job done."
After six years of minor-league ball, Weinke went on to a Heisman Trophy-winning career at Florida State, while McCloughan became an NFL scout after three seasons in the bushes.
"He won't be stealing bases here, I guarantee that," McCloughan said.
Weinke started 19 games for Carolina, but the Panthers didn't re-sign the Charlotte resident even while struggling through their own quarterback injury problems this season. He also had tryouts at Minnesota and Buffalo, but was resigned to spending the year out of football.
Then McCloughan made the 49ers' desperate call while Weinke was in New York with his wife to attend Saturday's Heisman Trophy ceremony.
"I don't think I'm finished, but I had to wait for the opportunity," said Weinke, whose baseball cap said "Old Guys Rule."
"It's always nice to be back in the locker room and among the guys. ... It's a perfect chance for me to get my name out there."
Hill, a career third-stringer who had never thrown an NFL pass in six seasons before last Sunday, will start against the Bengals. Drew Olson, who joined the 49ers' practice squad three weeks ago, is the only other quarterback on the roster.
If both Hill and Weinke were unable to play -- not an impossibility, given the 49ers' recent history -- San Francisco would turn to receiver Arnaz Battle or running back Michael Robinson, who both played quarterback in college.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved
Vikings sign DE Grigsby
EDEN PRAIRIE, MINNESOTA (TICKER) -- The Minnesota Vikings on Thursday signed defensive end Otis Grigsby off the Carolina Panthers practice squad.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 6-3, 260-pound Grigsby, who signed as a rookie free agent with the Miami Dolphins in 2003, spent time on the Carolina practice the past two seasons.
The 26-year-old Grigsby never has appeared in an NFL game.
Copyright 2007 PA SportsTicker. All Rights Reserved
Running back Adrian Peterson gets start for Bears
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) -- One running back named Adrian Peterson has become a familiar name, leading the NFL in rushing as a star rookie for the Minnesota Vikings. Another plays for the Chicago Bears and isn't nearly as well known.
But the veteran Adrian Peterson, a third-down specialist this season whose career has developed on special teams, is going to have an impact, too -- at least for the Bears.
He'll get a chance to start in the backfield for just the second time Sunday when Chicago faces the New York Giants at Soldier Field.
With Cedric Benson finished for the season and placed on injured reserve with an ankle injury, the Bears will count on Peterson. They have to.
His only other start came in 2003 and now he'll be the No. 1 guy for the remainder of the season. It's been a long wait for the sixth-round draft pick out of Georgia Southern in 2002.
"Six years. Six years, but you know, I'm not going out trying to do anything special or anything like that," Peterson said of his opportunity. "Same role, you're just starting the game. Same role."
Not quite. He'll be in the game more and get a chance to develop a rhythm for an offense that has struggled running the ball all season.
Peterson has gained 189 yards on 52 carries and caught 33 passes, tied for second most on the team. He's also a reliable blocker in protection, a must for Bears quarterback Rex Grossman, who's facing a Giants defense led by Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora that has 38 sacks.
"He's had flashes where he has carried the football and looked good doing it, but every running back wants to be the lead guy and now he's getting an opportunity to do that," Bears coach Lovie Smith said.
"Once you have success in a limited role, guys are supposed to get an opportunity to carry more of the load. He's getting his chance."
And it's not like the Bears are playing out the season, either. Chicago is 5-6 and figures it still has a shot in the mediocre NFC at making the playoffs as a wild card.
The Bears were buoyed by a 37-34 comeback win in overtime against Denver on Sunday with Peterson scoring a key TD on a 4-yard run, gaining 45 yards on 17 carries and catching passes for 41 yards. He took over after Benson was hurt in the second quarter.
Rookie Garrett Wolfe now moves into the backup role.
Grossman said the 5-foot-10, 210-pound Peterson's blocking skills go beyond taking out a blitzing linebacker or defensive back.
"He's strong and can pick up," Grossman said. "Sometimes you have to put him on a defensive tackle because a linebacker's blitzing up the gap and he's strong enough to take on some of those defensive tackles for a little bit."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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