NFL Feature Capsules - AFC: Chris Johnson has sights set on Dickerson's mark
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee running back Chris Johnson appreciates being named the AFC's offensive player of the month for November. His goals are set just a bit higher.
He says Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record is within his reach.
Dickerson ran for 2,105 yards in 1984 for the then-Los Angeles Rams. Right now, Johnson is leading the NFL with 1,396 yards with five games remaining. He just finished November with 800 yards rushing for the best month in the league since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.
That earned him the AFC offensive player for the month Thursday, making him the first player from this franchise to win this award since Steve McNair for October 2003.
"I'm pleased with that," Johnson said. "I'm just trying to keep being consistent, keep doing the right thing and continue to keep having good games and hopefully get closer to that record."
Consistency has not been a problem for the second-year back out of East Carolina.
He currently is on pace for 2,030 yards having averaged 126.9 yards per game this season. He has rushed for at least 125 yards in six straight games, tying the NFL record set by Dickerson and fellow Hall of Famer Earl Campbell (1980). Dickerson tied Campbell in his record-setting season in 1984.
Johnson already has made NFL history by becoming the first player to average 5 yards or better per carry in each of those six games. Jim Brown did that in five games in 1958.
He has talked about 2,000 yards being a goal of his this season. Jamal Lewis was the last to hit that number in 2003 when he fell short of Dickerson's mark and finished with 2,066 yards rushing. It's an elite and short group to reach 2,000 that features Barry Sanders, O.J. Simpson, Dickerson and Terrell Davis with Lewis.
"I feel like I can get it," Johnson said of 2,000.
Titans coach Jeff Fisher knows Johnson is setting his sets high when asked about the running back pushing himself by setting his goals.
"I know first and foremost he wants to try to win this ballgame, that's the most important. Anything else that comes off of that is good," Fisher said.
Johnson has some extra motivation Sunday when the Titans (5-6) visit Indianapolis (11-0).
The Colts held him to a season-low 34 yards on nine carries Oct. 11 in a 31-9 loss. Teammate LenDale White split the work with him in that game, getting 10 carries for 51 yards. Johnson credits the Colts for a good job defending him but notes the Titans had to turn to the pass after falling behind.
"I just feel this game, if we can stay close, I'll have more carries," he said.
This will be Johnson's first game at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Titans sat him last December rather than risk an injury to the rookie in the regular season finale with Tennessee already having clinched the AFC's No. 1 seed. He walked on the artificial surface to the sideline but can't wait to try running the ball Sunday.
"Every time I'm on a surface like that I'm a little bit faster," he said.
Johnson's very fast. He was timed at 4.24 seconds running the 40-yard dash during the 2008 NFL Combine at the old RCA Dome. He heard through a friend earlier this week that Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo wanted to race him, and he accepted on his Twitter account.
The running back said he had to go public with Rondo's comments.
"When you're the fastest guy ever, that's what kind of things you get. Everyone wants to race you. Everybody wants to take out the big dog," Johnson said.
Patriots hoping for improvement on road at Miami
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots had to travel all the way to London to win a road game.
The other four times they left home, they lost. On Saturday, they'll board another airplane for a much shorter journey — down to Miami instead of across the Atlantic — for a game with major implications in the AFC East race.
Lose to the Dolphins on Sunday and the Patriots' division lead shrinks to a single game.
"We're not going to be able to get where we want to get if we don't start winning on the road," tight end Benjamin Watson said Thursday.
The road woes began on a warm late summer day in The Meadowlands and continued in the high altitude of Denver and indoors under the retractable roof of Indianapolis' stadium. They reached a low point in a 38-17 loss to the Saints last Monday night inside the noisy Louisiana Superdome, the same building where the Patriots won their first Super Bowl title in 2002.
And that game in London's Wembley Stadium? The crowd of 84,254 in the soccer venue didn't boo either side very often. One team had to be designated as the home team and that was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Patriots won 35-7.
"We won the one game in London, but it wasn't the hostile environment like going to someone's home turf," Watson said. "That's another point of emphasis, that's getting a win on the road."
The explanation for the huge difference between their records of 6-0 at home and 1-4 on the road could be as simple as the quality of the competition. Indianapolis and New Orleans are 11-0, Denver is 7-4. None of the Patriots' opponents at home is better than 6-5.
Coach Bill Belichick offered a more basic reason for why teams win on the road: "They play well."
In his nine previous years as Patriots coach, the home-road differential during the regular season was marginal: 53-19 in Foxborough, 49-23 elsewhere. In their three championship seasons, the Patriots were 22-2 at home, going 8-0 twice. With home games left against Jacksonville and Carolina, they have a good chance to go unbeaten there again.
First they must deal with Miami — and the Patriots have won there each of the past two years.
But if they lose, they'll not only lead the Dolphins by just one game but will fall behind them in the division record and conference record tiebreakers. Last year, Miami won the AFC East with a better conference mark, leaving New England out of the playoffs.
"I really haven't been paying attention to the standings because the standings don't play football," Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas said. "Playing football is going to take care of the standings, whatever the record is."
Players' memories are still fresh from the last time the teams met. New England won 27-17 at home on Nov. 8, scoring the go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter on a crowd-pleasing 71-yard pass play from Tom Brady to Randy Moss.
Wes Welker also has some fond recollections of Miami.
"I played a few years there and was at home there," he said. "It's always nice to go back and see some old faces and (have) a little familiarity with the field."
But last Monday night, Moss and Welker were held to a combined nine catches for 99 yards by the Saints, who double teamed both of them on many plays.
The Patriots hadn't played the Saints in four years. They face the Dolphins twice each season.
"We are familiar with playing Miami, but it's still a road game," Watson said. "That's something that we haven't done very well.
"We've played some very good teams, teams that we thought we could've beaten, but they were better than us. They came out and played better than we did. The only thing you can say is just to execute. There's no magic formula or anything like that. There's no excuse we can give for not winning on the road, except that the teams that we've played have played better than we have."
The Patriots were competitive against three of them.
Despite Brady's worst offensive performance of the year, they lost a close 16-9 game to the New York Jets in Week 2. Three games later, the Broncos won the overtime coin flip and eked out a 20-17 victory. Four games after that, the Patriots led 31-14 in the fourth quarter but lost to the Colts 35-34 after Belichick's much-questioned decision to go for it on fourth-and-2 at the Patriots 28-yard line with 2:08 left.
"It doesn't matter where you're located, you have to play well," Thomas said. "It's no secret."
-- Howard Ulman
Ravens benefit from production by trio of rookies
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Ozzie Newsome and the Baltimore Ravens are reaping the benefits of yet another good draft.
Three players selected by Newsome in the 2009 NFL draft have become significant contributors. The play of rookies Michael Oher, Lardarius Webb and Paul Kruger have the Ravens (6-5) in the thick of the AFC wild-card hunt.
Oher has started every game at offensive tackle and Webb was a solid special teams contributor before taking over last week for injured Fabian Washington as a starting cornerback. Kruger didn't get much action in September and October, but his interception in overtime last Sunday night against Pittsburgh was one of biggest defensive plays of Baltimore's season.
Oher was taken with the 23rd overall pick, Kruger went 57th and Webb was No. 88. Combine those three with second-year standouts Joe Flacco and Ray Rice, and it's no wonder the Ravens are excited about the future.
"We've had really good drafts the past two years, so if you look at our group out there, it's really a young team in a lot of ways," coach John Harbaugh said Thursday. "We have a great mix of veteran leadership, but there's a lot of first, second and third-year players who are playing a lot of football for us and having an impact on games. That's really important in this league."
Newsome has been in charge of Baltimore's draft since the team arrived from Cleveland before the 1996 season. Even when forced to draft late in each round because of the Ravens' success, he still manages to find a gem or two — or three.
After Baltimore won the Super Bowl in 2001, Newsome snagged tight end Todd Heap in the subsequent draft. Last April, though the Ravens were coming off an appearance in the AFC championship game, Newsome outdid himself.
Oher has been outstanding at right tackle and held his own when forced to move to the left side for two games.
"He came in and looked good from the start," third-year guard Ben Grubbs said. "I don't see anything but an upside for him."
Said Oher: "The coaches and everybody are doing a good job of getting me prepared for Sundays. I'm just doing my part, working hard and staying focused."
Webb began the returning and covering kicks on special teams. But after Washington was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury, Webb got his first NFL start and had nine tackles against the Steelers.
"Lardarius Webb, he hasn't slowed down at all. He wants to learn so much and he's trying to dissect it all," said linebacker Ray Lewis, one of Newsome's former first-round picks. "The conversations we have, he's always trying to grab something. He plays the game with complete passion and has ability, too. Anytime you have that combination in a young kid, you put him on the field, sometimes you find a star very early.
"I don't want to put too much pressure on him, but I just love the way he plays the game," Lewis said. "Kruger's the same way. He's a very energetic guy in his own way. He's our type of player."
Kruger was a star linebacker at Utah, but upon arriving in Baltimore found himself stuck behind three-time Pro Bowl standout Terrell Suggs. Kruger was on the inactive list for seven of the first eight weeks, but he worked himself into the lineup Week 9 against Cleveland and has showed steady improvement heading into Monday night's game at Green Bay.
Any lingering disappointment over his slow start was erased by his performance against Pittsburgh, when he picked off a Dennis Dixon pass and returned it 26 yards to set up the game-winning field goal in a 20-17 win.
"It was what I've been working for. As soon as you see that happen, it's really an awesome thing," Kruger said. "It was definitely awesome to be a part of the win."
That kind of performance — and a willingness to improve — has enabled the three rookies to avoid getting ribbed by their older teammates.
"Each week I try to get better. Last week wasn't good enough," Webb said. "It hasn't come to the point where they've seen me slacking off. I know they're waiting for that, but I'm not going to let it happen."
Notes: Fullback Le'Ron McClain (chest), left tackle Jared Gaither (illness), Suggs (knee) and safety Ed Reed (ankle, hip) did not practice Thursday.
-- David Ginsburg
Browns: Lewis brought up concussion day after game
BEREA, Ohio — One day after two players had their seasons — and perhaps careers — ended by concussions, the Cleveland Browns practiced in full pads.
In the NFL, there's no time for sentimental sendoffs.
The 1-10 Browns, banged up and crawling to the finish line, have moved on. They have no choice.
On Thursday, players were still coming to terms with the fact that Jamal Lewis, a bruising, durable running back who may one day make the Hall of Fame, had played his last down.
Lewis was placed on injured reserve Wednesday, effectively ending his 10-year career with five games left. The 30-year-old had planned to retire after this season, but was forced out early after telling the team he was experiencing concussion-related symptoms and consulting with doctors.
"I feel bad for him based on everything that he's gone through and the career he's had, to go out on IR, if it is his last game, you don't want to see a guy do that," said quarterback Derek Anderson. "You want to see him finish the right way, and at least finish the season healthy."
Browns coach Eric Mangini said Lewis did not complain of any symptoms until Monday, a day after what turned out to be his final game in Cincinnati. Mangini said the team began immediate tests on Lewis.
Anderson has known Lewis since they played together in Baltimore. He said his close friend told him that he visited a specialist on Tuesday.
"He told me he went, but I didn't really get into details," Anderson said.
It's still not known if Lewis' career was stopped by a single blow to the head in the Bengals game or the cumulative effects of 131 regular-season games and roughly 1,000 practices. Obviously, Lewis didn't encounter contact on all those occasions, but his battering-ram running style made him more susceptible to concussions.
"He's a big back, so he probably ran into a million people," Browns running back Jerome Harrison said. "I don't think he knows for sure what caused it."
Browns fullback Lawrence Vickers said the loss of Lewis, who ran for more than 10,000 career yards, creates a large void on the team.
"That's someone I've looked up to," Vickers said. "We talked about his health and what he has to do. It's a sad feeling to lose somebody I see every day. He's a first-class type of guy and to go out that way, it's kind of sad — not sad for him, but sad the way it happened. Jamal is always going to be OK in whatever he does."
Along with Lewis, the Browns lost starting safety Brodney Pool to a season-ending concussion. The 25-year-old Pool has sustained at least four known concussions in his five-year career, an alarming number that has the former second-round draft pick contemplating his future.
Pool's fragile state has some of his teammates worried.
"Every time I see Brodney get hit I get a little nervous," Anderson said. "He and I both had concussions in New York (preseason game) and that was kind of like the blind leading the blind in the locker room. It wasn't funny."
The NFL's heightened awareness of the dangers of head injuries and their long-term effects has players thinking more about their safety and long-term health. Instead of ignoring symptoms to stay on the field, the league is hoping players will tell coaches and trainers when they have symptoms.
On Wednesday, commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to the clubs saying a player who gets a concussion should not return to action on the same day if he shows certain symptoms.
Most players saw it as a positive step.
"At the end of the day there's something out there more important than what we're doing right now, there's your family and living a good life," Anderson said. "Guys are trying to be smarter with it. Throughout the league there's been a lot of guys missing time and taking extra precautions with it. Guys are looking into it more than they have in the past."
Anderson said deciding whether to tell the truth is a dilemma all players face at some point in their careers.
"Guys want to win, but at the same time you can't put your life in jeopardy," he said. "Guys who have had a concussion, you can go out there and get one little ding and you might have a stroke. Guys are starting to figure out you've got to protect your brain.
"It's such a cutthroat business, if you're not out there for a few weeks your job's gone. Guys know that, this league doesn't last very long, they want to show they can play when they're dinged up. I guarantee everybody in here has probably had one (concussion). That's the nature of the business."
-- Tom Withers
Steelers accustomed to late-season adversity
PITTSBURGH — Hines Ward says one more loss might be too many. At the locker stall next to him, Deshea Townsend says just one victory might be exactly what the slumping Pittsburgh Steelers need.
A few lockers down, Ryan Clark notices the lack of panic among the Steelers (6-5) despite a three-game losing streak that includes successive overtime losses, one to the mediocre Kansas City Chiefs (3-8).
The Steelers are flirting with becoming the first team to miss the playoffs the season after winning the Super Bowl — since they themselves did it three years ago. That's not an envious distinction, yet there's no sense in their dressing room that their season has escaped them.
They weren't very good in November (1-3), yet they still expect to play in January.
Maybe it's because they've been in situations like this before. In 2005, they needed to win their final four to make the playoffs and they ended up winning the Super Bowl.
Maybe it's because their schedule is so forgiving, with the Raiders (3-8) up next on Sunday and the Browns (1-10) four days later. Three of their final five games are at Heinz Field, where they have won 10 of their last 11.
Or perhaps it's because the Steelers are accustomed to closing with a rush. They won six of their final seven last year, four of their final five in 2006 and those final four in 2005.
No matter what it is, linebacker James Farrior insists the Steelers remain a confident and close team, despite rumblings they were divided over whether quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (concussion) should have sat out Sunday night in Baltimore.
"This locker room is tight; we're a close-knit group," Farrior said. "Everybody is in it to win it. We're all in it for the same thing. We're just going to try to move forward."
They've been in reverse since mid-November, losing to the first-place Bengals (8-3) at home before overtime losses at Kansas City (27-24) and Baltimore (20-17). They've gone from 6-2 and in position to seize the AFC North lead if they had defeated Cincinnati to virtually being out of the division race.
However, an AFC wild card would seem to be there for the Steelers — their remaining opponents own a .400 winning percentage — and they could go from 6-5 to 8-5 in a matter of five days if they beat two teams with a combined record of 4-18.
"Think about it," nose tackle Chris Hoke said. "(In 2005), we were 7-2, lost three in a row, went to 7-5; this year we were 6-2, lost three in a row and went to 6-5. Quite similar situations, so we know it can be done. We know we can get back on track and start winning these next five games and get on a roll. It's a very similar group; we got the same group of core guys."
Still, the Steelers don't have much margin for error; a second loss to the Ravens (6-5) in their Dec. 27 rematch at Pittsburgh might doom their season given that both division rivals could be playing for the same wild-card spot.
The Steelers' key veterans have been together so long — 11 starters, plus kicker Jeff Reed, also played on their 2005 Super Bowl-winning team — that they realize there's no reason to give up on the season, according to Clark.
"Some teams, you look for that guy you always put out in front and put him on TV and let him say, 'So-and-so gave a big speech in the locker room and it changed what everybody was doing. Everybody kicked in,'" Clark said. "That's only on TV. That's not reality. That's not the NFL, at least on good teams. Nobody here is going to sit down and hold a players-only meeting. I'm not knocking the guys that do that. Here, we don't need that. Guys pull their own."
The Steelers also aren't pointing fingers at each other, Clark said, because there isn't a single position coach who believes his players are doing the job right now. Any player looking for someone to blame needs only to look in the mirror.
"The coaches are giving that speech in every room," Clark said. "They (all position groups) heard they're the reason we're not winning right now."
The Steelers must get by for a third consecutive game without safety Troy Polamalu (left knee), who could miss the Browns game as well. What they can't do is wait for their defensive star to return before they resume winning.
"All we can control is what we do moving forward. I think we've got a great deal of resolve with this group," coach Mike Tomlin said. "We've got a group that doesn't blink in the face of adversity. Really, it's kind of a business-as-usual mentality right now."
-- Alan Robinson
Big Ben now agrees he shouldn't have played
PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger was "hurt" by teammate Hines Ward's remarks questioning why a concussion kept him out of an important game against the Ravens. But the Steelers quarterback now agrees he shouldn't have played.
Roethlisberger patched up his relationship with Ward during a phone call Monday, and the two have since moved on to Sunday's game against Oakland.
"He reached out to me and I told him I was just hurt more than anything else," Roethlisberger said Thursday. "You know, we got over it, moved past it and now we're preparing."
Ward apologized separately to Roethlisberger and the Steelers (6-5), saying he spoke out of frustration soon after learning the quarterback wouldn't play in the 20-17 overtime loss in Baltimore. Ward didn't know at the time of the interview that a team doctor recommended that Roethlisberger not play due to post-concussion headaches.
Roethlisberger received at least his fourth concussion since 2006 the previous week in Kansas City.
The quarterback said he was "in shock" when coach Mike Tomlin unexpectedly told him the day before the game he wouldn't play. Now that he's had time to consider the reasons for the benching, Roethlisberger said the move made sense.
"(I) respected what they said," Roethlisberger said. "You do have to think about your future and your family. It's not fun, but you can get knee replacement surgery, you can have rotator cuff surgeries, but you can't get a new brain."
Roethlisberger was seriously injured during a June 2006 motorcycle accident in which he received a concussion and numerous other facial injuries, including a broken jaw. He still has five plates in his head resulting from that crash.
"A lot of people forget the accident that I had," Roethlisberger said. "They (the doctors) remembered that. It was life-threatening."
Roethlisberger said he hasn't had a recurrence of the headaches brought on by physical activity that occurred following three practices last week.
"I feel great. I'm ready to go ... ready to rock and roll."
Gradkowski comfortable playing in Pittsburgh
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Bruce Gradkowski is heading home and the Oakland Raiders quarterback wouldn't mind if he and his teammates were greeted with a blanket of snow.
"Being from Pittsburgh and playing at Toledo and Ohio, you face all the weather you can face," Gradkowski said Thursday. "It'll be a nice fall, winter day. I'm looking forward to it. Early December, we might get some snow flurries. It'll be good."
Gradkowski grew up in the Steel City, played in college at the University of Toledo in Ohio and his mother still lives 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. Several other relatives also live in the area, making for a homecoming of sorts for the Raiders' journeyman quarterback who as a youth frequently attended Steelers games at Three Rivers Stadium and at the team's new home at Heinz Field.
Now he comes in as Oakland's starting quarterback trying to salvage what's left of a dismal season.
The Raiders are 3-8 and coming off a 24-7 loss to Dallas on Thanksgiving Day. Gradkowski passed for 200 yards and a touchdown against the Cowboys, and in two-plus games already has thrown for more than half as much yardage (546) as JaMarcus Russell (1,064) did in nine starts.
Gradkowski has started twice before while playing in Pittsburgh, once as a rookie with Tampa Bay in 2007 and in Week 17 last season shortly after he signed with the Cleveland Browns when he passed for just 18 yards and compiled a quarterback rating of 1.0.
"It's always nice going back to Pittsburgh," Gradkowski said. "You have to have fun with it. My family, my cousins, they're die-hard Steeler fans. Last year when I was with the Browns it was hard for then. They wore neutral colors but I think being with the Raiders this past year and getting to know these guys and being with this team, I know I'll have the family behind me on this one."
There's been some speculation Oakland will put Russell, the top overall draft pick in 2007, back into the starting lineup at some point this season. The Raiders, who invested more than $60 million in Russell, need to have a better idea where — or if — he still figures into their future plans.
Oakland coach Tom Cable is sticking with Gradkowski for now and hopes to find some balance to the offense against Pittsburgh.
"You've got to have enough run," Cable said, "But you've got to be able to do it throwing the football."
The weather in Pittsburgh is expected to be in the mid- to upper 30s this weekend but snow is not in the forecast.
"Over the next month, we're going to play three times and will probably be in some severe weather somewhere, whether it's in Pittsburgh, Denver or in Cleveland," Cable said. "We've kind of talked it over and mentally we're prepared for that. Whether it's wind blowing and snowing, icy, whatever it is, it still comes down to both teams have to go out and perform in it."
The Steelers have lost their last three games and need a win to stay in the AFC playoff hunt, while the Raiders have dropped seven of nine and are just trying to make it to the finish.
Gradkowski, who took over when Russell was benched in the second half of Oakland's 16-10 loss to Kansas City on Nov. 15, provided a little spark for the Raiders offense but hasn't been able to sustain it. He has three touchdowns and three interceptions with a 66.3 quarterback rating.
"When I watch him on tape I see a guy that's got very good accuracy and pretty good mobility, can release the ball from a variety of body positions and locations," Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said. "It seems like he's been a sparkplug for that offensive unit."
Even with the improved play from the quarterback spot, the Raiders are still last in the league in passing, scoring and first downs and are 31st in total yardage.
"We just need to execute," Gradkowski said. "When plays are there we need to make them. (The Steelers) don't really lack in any position on defense, and they're experienced. We have to be ready for anything."
Notes: DE Greg Ellis (knee) was held out of practice and is questionable. ... Trevor Scott will make his second career start at weakside linebacker while the Raiders' former starter at the position, Thomas Howard, will start at the strongside spot.
