NFL Capsules: Packers reunite to receive Super Bowl rings
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Although the ring was even heavier than Charles Woodson expected, it felt just right on his hand.
Woodson and his Green Bay Packers teammates received their Super Bowl rings in a private ceremony at Lambeau Field on Thursday night, and the veteran cornerback's smile beamed just as brightly as the diamond-encrusted ring he was showing off to the cameras.
"I feel like it's my right to wear this ring," Woodson said. "I feel like I worked very hard playing this game. I feel like every time I go out on that field, I leave it all out there on the field. That's the way I've always played this game. I feel like I deserve to win a championship, I feel like it's my rightful place in history to be a Super Bowl champion."
Contact between players and teams generally is prohibited during the ongoing NFL lockout, but the Packers received special permission from the NFL to hold the ceremony.
The Super Bowl was more than four months ago, and the joy-sapping nature of the unresolved labor situation makes it seem even farther in the past. But at least for one night, the memories came rushing back and concerns about the lockout faded away.
"Everybody's been separated too long," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "It's great to see everybody on a personal level. Everybody's anxious to get going on the next journey."
The Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to win the Super Bowl on Feb. 6, then held a "Return to Titletown" celebration for fans at Lambeau Field the Tuesday after the game. But they haven't been together as a team since then because of the labor situation, which has forced the cancellation of team-organized offseason conditioning programs and workouts.
While several other teams have held informal player-organized, OTA-style workouts, the Packers haven't done so yet.
"Now, we have this ring, we'll enjoy it tonight," Woodson said. "And hopefully things will get moving along with the NFL and the lockout, and we can start preparing."
McCarthy put on a cowboy hat at one point in the evening — playfully ribbing Packers players who wore cowboy hats to a preseason luncheon last year, subtly but boldly announcing their intention to finish the season at the Super Bowl in North Texas.
"It was definitely everything we expected," McCarthy said of the ceremony. "The players, they were ecstatic about it, the way they were showing each other the ring, the platinum, the diamonds, the design, I think it's something everybody is excited about it."
The actual ceremony Thursday was closed to fans and the media, but Packers players gleefully posted notes and photos from the party on their Twitter accounts. Linebacker Nick Barnett dubbed it "bling bling day!" and posted a photo of a colorful drink he called a "ringtini."
The rings feature a Packers "G'' logo with 13 diamonds to symbolize each of the team's championships. Surrounding it are four more diamonds to symbolize its four Super Bowl wins.
"The one thing we knew was they wanted big, and they wanted 'bling,'" Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy said. "So I think we were successful in that."
Woodson said he was most proud that one of his postgame speeches — urging his teammates to play with one mind, one goal, one purpose and one heart — inspired an inscription inside the ring. Still, he managed to keep his emotions in check.
"I held it back," Woodson said. "I cried enough this year, so I held it back. But it was definitely an emotional moment, a moment that I waited a long time for. And finally, it's here. I get to hold up a championship ring."
One piece of a traditional Super Bowl celebration still is missing. The Packers haven't been able to schedule a trip to the White House, and Murphy said the league's labor situation is holding it up.
"That really is kind of tied into getting some resolution on the labor situation," he said. "Players don't get many opportunities to go to the White House and I hope that the timing works out to be able to do that."
Murphy said Thursday's ceremony gave everyone a chance to think about their place in the team's history.
"It was a chance for all of us to come together and really celebrate a remarkable season," Murphy said. "I think a theme that a lot of people talked about was, now, we are part of the history and tradition of the Packers. There's not a team in the league that has more tradition and history than the Packers, and we're now a part of that."
Labor Capsules
Locked-out fringe players find ways to get by
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With the NFL lockout putting the squeeze on both his wallet and pursuit of a pro football career, former Connecticut quarterback Tyler Lorenzen has created some of the latest culinary innovations in the Big Easy, just so he can eat at home and save a little coin.
Lorenzen insists that his twist on chicken fajitas, with cottage cheese replacing more fattening sour cream, is delicious, even if it may never quite garner the reputation of, say, the Oysters Rockefeller invented by famed French Quarter restaurant Antoine's.
"It's better for you and it just tastes good," said the clean-cut, 6-foot-5, 245-pound Lorenzen, who is under contract with the Saints. "It doesn't sound good. Everyone knocks it until they try it."
Perhaps most importantly, the homemade dish fits into his shoestring budget. That kind of thing matters to players on the margins of NFL rosters — the ones who seem to be forgotten by those who describe the league's labor strife as a standoff between millionaires and billionaires.
There are a lot of players like Lorenzen who are nowhere near being millionaires. They get invited to training camps and sign "futures" contracts for the league minimum, which are honored only if they make the regular season active roster. Otherwise, they snap up whatever offer they get for a practice squad gig paying about $5,000 a week for however long a team keeps them around.
"It's tough for those guys," said Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who has helped pay for some recent practice squad players to stay in New Orleans-area hotels so they could take part in workouts he organized at Tulane. "I know there's been a few veteran, established guys who've made the comment, 'Hey, we don't mind the lockout. We get all this free time.' Well, that's because you're an established player who's gotten some big contracts.
"But guys like Tyler Lorenzen are fighting their butt off just to make the team and haven't really made any money up to this point, so it's not like they've got a big nest egg."
Lorenzen has been an off-and-on practice squad player since 2009 whose chances of making it in the NFL ride on his ability to convert from college quarterback to pro tight end. The 25-year-old's NFL earnings last season, when he spent about a half-dozen weeks on the Saints' practice squad, added up to about $30,000.
"There are more (NFL players) that are in my position that really aren't millionaires," Lorenzen said. "They don't have tons of money and have to be smart and budget just like everyone else and know that this is a job and a way to make money, but not a guarantee, just an opportunity."
Instead of taking Brees up on a subsidized hotel room, Lorenzen decided to stay in a bedroom in back-up quarterback Chase Daniel's downtown condominium. Initially, Daniel invited him to live there free, but Lorenzen eventually insisted on contributing about $500 a month.
And while Lorenzen lives in a city renowned for fine dining, where chefs like Emeril Lagasse, John Besh and Susan Spicer enjoy celebrity status, and where a popular drive-time radio talk show is largely about where people ate last night and what they had, Lorenzen does his own grocery shopping and cooking.
"We've turned into quite the cooks this offseason," Lorenzen said of himself and Daniel. "We use the George Foreman (grill) on a regular basis."
These days, Lorenzen's idea of dining out is "Taco Tuesdays" at a popular bar in New Orleans' warehouse district, or the 75-cent hamburger slider special at a restaurant Besh opened in the National World War II Museum. Even then, he avoids soft drinks and alcohol, usually settling for ice water. Occasionally, he'll let teammates talk him into joining them for a more fancy meal, as long as they pledge not to settle the bill by "credit card roulette." When he does dine out, he usually eats a little something before leaving home.
"People think I'm crazy and they're like, 'We're going to dinner, why are you eating?'" Lorenzen said. "And I say, 'If I eat now, I won't be as hungry, so I can just get an entree and I'll be good.'"
As for shopping, Lorenzen won't be looking for tailored suits or fancy Swiss watches on Canal Street any time soon.
"I just don't buy stuff that often," he said. "I don't own any jewelry. I buy most of my clothes at outlet stores because they have double-extra-large and it's cheap."
Lorenzen stressed that he doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for him, and adds that he's more fortunate than many players who are also in the stage of their careers in which they're still trying to prove they belong.
He has a lot of support in his hometown town of Fremont, Iowa, near where his family's small soybean genetics business is headquartered. When he was cut by the Saints after 2010 training camp and spent nearly three months out of football, his family found him a job in Minneapolis, where he could stay with his sister and work at one of the company's two plants. He did whatever the plant manager needed, from scheduling, to bagging soybeans for shipment to Japan, to meeting with clients.
After work, he would go straight to the gym to resume his training, which is one thing on which Lorenzen gladly spends money. He considers it an investment in his future, so he doesn't hesitate for pay for a membership at a local yoga studio, for example, that he visits regularly with Daniel and a few other teammates. He also has saved most of his NFL earnings from the past two seasons, which included around $100,000 in 2009, when he spent the entire season on New Orleans' practice squad, benefiting from a few extra weeks in the postseason as the club won its first Super Bowl.
And when he decided last fall to leave the family business and focus solely on the NFL again, his father understood.
"My dad's always preached to me that your window of opportunity in sports is so small, and it will come and go, and as long as you know that you took it for everything it's worth and just had as much fun as you can and smelled the grass, then it was worth every bit," said Lorenzen, who doesn't want to burden his parents by asking for money.
"Right now, this is not ideal for me at all. I finally feel that I can play tight end. I'm big enough, and the best thing for me would be getting work with the coaches, day in and day out, and getting better and better.
"But that isn't the situation, so you've just got to deal with it," Lorenzen continued, reflecting on his decision join his teammates at Tulane. "I'm going to learn from the guys that are around, soak as much up as I can and when the opportunity arises that we play again, I'm going to be ready."
Player Capsules
More than 40 K.C. Chiefs hold three-day workout
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Swimming, boxing and vigorous workouts in the neighborhood gym had kept Ryan Lilja in good football shape. He thought.
During three days of light training with about 45 teammates, the veteran right guard of the Kansas City Chiefs discovered his personal conditioning during the NFL lockout may not have been as productive as hoped.
"I thought I was (in shape), but coming here running some plays and being with the guys, I've got a ways to go," he said. "So I'm excited about refocusing on (conditioning). We came out here and kind of gauged ourselves a little bit and got to work. Hopefully, we can all get back to work because it's fun to be back with the guys."
Organized by quarterback Matt Cassel, safety Jon McGraw and linebacker Derrick Johnson, the Chiefs got together on a local high school football field Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for the first time since the NFL lockout began in March. They mostly ran routine plays and there was never any contact. Media were allowed to watch only the last half-hour on Thursday afternoon.
"This was more of a mental practice, not a lot of physical going on," said Johnson. "You're running around, everybody working out. It's just a good time to get back with your teammates, get the camaraderie going, to freshen up on the mental aspect of the game and some basic plays."
While several other teams such as the Packers and Saints have held public events, the Chiefs had kept to themselves. Not many Chiefs players actually live in Kansas City and the logistics of getting everyone together were somewhat involved. But after getting more than 40 team members to agree to come to town, the players hired security guards to make sure everyone kept order, and paid a professional trainer to stand by in case anyone got hurt.
There was no contact at any time, although the workouts were more vigorous than most anticipated.
"We were going harder than I expected we were going to go," said Lilja. "We thought, 'Hey, one step, chill.' Man, we were running just like we had helmets on, like it was a Friday practice. And guys were moving around. It felt like normal. But we didn't get anybody hurt."
Center and player representative Rudy Niswanger said that after three months off, it felt good just hearing Cassel calling out cadence.
"It was a good workout," he said. "Any time you get the guys together, you call the plays, you run through them, you break the huddle, you get a little sweat, you build that camaraderie, that team unity, that's a good thing. We had a lot of guys. We had almost enough for two full teams, both sides."
McGraw, who has said he might want to coach one day, helped run the pre-practice meetings where everybody was drilled on what they would be working on each day.
"I enjoyed it. We were in the classroom drawing things up, making sure all the guys know what's going on when we come out and do our walkthroughs," he said.
Everybody agreed they're itchy to get the lockout lifted and return to work.
"I tell them to be prepared," Niswanger said. "I tell them to always be ready. We don't know if something's going to happen one day from now or six months from now, so be ready, be prepared. Your body's your business and you've got to be ready to use it."
Tight end Leonard Pope was on hand for the workouts with a fresh perspective on many things. Last Saturday, the 6-foot-7 Pope dived fully clothed into a swimming pool in Americus, Ga., and saved 6-year-old Bryson Ross from drowning.
Pope said the youngster's mother, Anne Moore, still calls him almost every day to express her thanks.
"That could have been my kid," he said. "I would hope someone would do the same thing for my kid. His mom keeps calling me, telling me she can't thank me enough. She said she stayed up all night just looking at her son and just praying about how grateful she was that he's OK, that I was able to get him out."
Pope said he never dreamed the incident would draw so much attention.
"It touched a lot of people," he said. "Me being a father, having kids of my own, I've thought about it a lot. I tell people to be sure you're aware of things, where your kids are, if elderly people are OK. And be grateful for life, one day at a time."
-- Doug Tucker
N.J. charges against Titans' Britt downgraded
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey judge on Thursday downgraded three charges against Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt for offenses stemming from his second recent arrest in the state.
Britt was charged June 8 with resisting arrest and related offenses after being confronted by Hoboken detectives who suspected he was carrying a marijuana cigar. But the charges were downgraded Thursday to disorderly persons offenses and remanded back to Hoboken Municipal Court. A hearing has been scheduled for June 23.
Britt, wearing a three-piece grey suit and reportedly accompanied by his father, smiled broadly and politely declined to comment on the charges. When asked if he had any message for his fans he replied: "I love them."
Britt's lawyer also declined to comment after the hearing.
The 22-year-old pleaded guilty last week to motor vehicle violations related to a previous, unrelated speeding arrest in his hometown of Bayonne. Charges in that case had also been downgraded.
He also has two arrest warrants outstanding in Tennessee. They were issued April 14 by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The agency is investigating an issue on Britt's driver's license applications.
The former Rutgers University standout became the first player from the university drafted in the first round when he was picked by the Titans in 2009.
He played in all 16 games as a rookie, with six starts. Among all rookies, he ranked seventh in the NFL and third in the AFC with 42 catches and fifth with his 701 yards receiving. Overall, he ranked eighth in the NFL averaging 16.7 yards per catch.
But Britt has had seven different incidents with police since being drafted in April 2009.
He was arrested in January 2010 in Glen Ridge, N.J., when police found three outstanding traffic warrants from two different New Jersey towns. Britt paid $865 and was released.
Nashville police stopped him in August 2010 during training camp, ticketing him for driving without a license because he obtained a photo ID after misplacing his license.
He also was accused of being involved in a bar fight Oct. 22 in Nashville, but authorities later decided not to charge him.
Titans coach Jeff Fisher benched him for the first quarter of a game against Philadelphia.
And then at the start of 2011, Britt was faced with a theft-by-deception charge for failing to pay bail he helped secure for a friend. Britt made the $12,500 payment earlier this year.
A few months later, on April 12, Britt was arrested in Bayonne after police said he had been driving his Porsche at 71 mph in a 50-mph zone. He initially faced felony charges in the case, but pleaded to careless driving charges that were downgraded to motor vehicle violations, and paid a fine.
The day after his lawyer appeared on his behalf on those charges in a Bayonne court, Britt was arrested in Hoboken on June 8 and charged with obstructing the administration of the law, resisting arrest and tampering with or fabricating evidence.
Those charges were the ones downgraded to disorderly persons offenses Thursday.
Attorney Jonathan Farmer has said Britt will be in Tennessee soon to deal with the outstanding warrants.
-- Samantha Henry
Redskins players complete players-run practice
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Twenty-three Washington Redskins players finished their third set of players-run practices Thursday morning with the hopes that the 14-week-old NFL lockout will be over before they have to think about working out again without their coaches.
"If it goes another month, I can see getting together again, but we're all pretty optimistic that it can get done before then," said defensive end Kedric Golston of ending the lockout between players and team owners through successful negotiations. He was one of the organizers of the workouts, which were held at undisclosed locations in northern Virginia.
Inside linebacker London Fletcher, a co-captain who ran the defense during the practices, said that if the lockout drags past the scheduled date of training camp in late July, players might have to reconvene for their own two-a-day workouts.
He said the sessions have expanded his knowledge of the defense.
"I'm pleased that we decided to do this," said Fletcher, a 13-year veteran who directed a 3-4 scheme for the first time in his career in 2010. "I think we got better. We were able to give the rookies some foundation on a lot of things that we do. It's good to get out here and go over our terminology. Being able to install the defense, I can get a greater understanding of everybody else, their responsibilities."
Tight end Chris Cooley, the nominal leader of the offense during the workouts, said players have taken ownership with what they're doing.
"Having everyone working together makes a big difference," he said. "It doesn't seem like much what we're doing, but if we had spent the whole offseason away and just showed up to camp, that would've hurt us."
Golston added that the team's performance during the season will define people's impression of their preseason workouts without coaches.
"If we start off hot, everybody will say it's because we came out here. If we start off slow, they'll say it was a waste of time," he said.
Team Capsules
Titans: If Locker is best QB, he will start
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — New offensive coordinator Chris Palmer tells Titans' fans that if Jake Locker turns out to be the best quarterback on the roster, the rookie will start.
Palmer also is confident about one thing in his running game: Chris Johnson can score every time he touches the ball.
"Chris Johnson is one of our playmakers, and we want to get as much out of him as we could," Palmer said.
The Titans put their offensive and defensive coordinators on a conference call Thursday with season ticket holders in their latest outreach to fans during the NFL lockout. Mike Reinfeldt and Mike Munchak had a similar call May 6, while NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell talked to Titans' fans May 26.
Palmer noted coach Mike Munchak and general manager Mike Reinfeldt have declared the starting quarterback job an open competition. Palmer also recalled being with New England when the Patriots drafted Drew Bledsoe and brought in a veteran to hold the starting quarterback job until they thought Bledsoe was ready.
"Ten days into camp, it was very clear to players, the coaches, the fans that Bledsoe was our best quarterback," Palmer said. "...As this lockout continues, we may have to pare down some of the things we do, but I don't think it'll affect our play on the field. And when they're ready to play, they're ready to play."
Neither coordinator could be too specific on some answers. The Titans, coming off a 6-10 season, still have holes to fill when the lockout ends and free agency begins.
For Palmer, that includes the veteran quarterback to work with Locker and Rusty Smith, a sixth-round draft pick last year. Kerry Collins has been with Tennessee the past five seasons and believes he can play a couple more years. Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck also will be a free agent, and Reinfeldt knows him well from his years working in Seattle.
Turns out Palmer knows Hasselbeck too. He said he's known Hasselbeck since 1986 when both lived in the same town.
"I think our pro personnel people and Mike Reinfeldt are working on bringing in a veteran quarterback," Palmer said. "Who that guy's going to be, it's too early to say."
Fans quizzed Palmer on what kind of offense he plans to run, if he'll throw downfield more, if they'll see the screen pass again and if it's time to cut back Johnson's workload. The running back was fourth in the NFL with 1,364 yards rushing in 2010, the second-best follow-up by any of the NFL's six 2,000-yard rushers.
Palmer said he's checked how Johnson maintained his weight throughout last season and isn't worried about his back handling the work. On offense, Palmer wants to be balanced between running and throwing with the run game remaining the same. The coordinator would only say the passing attack will be a little bit different.
Palmer said Munchak mandated to him that the offense work on the screen game. Palmer said too often screens look ugly in practice with players going half speed and work better in games. He estimated they now have 15 or 16 screen pass plays in the playbook.
One fan asked defensive coordinator Jerry Gray how the Titans can trim penalties, especially on third down. Only Oakland (1,276 yards) and Philadelphia (1,101) had more yards off penalties than Tennessee (1,040) last season.
"We can control jumping offsides, we can control hitting the quarterbacks ... Those are some of the little tricks we can do. And to me, you can put earplugs in. It doesn't matter how much the quarterback is counting or bobbing his head. If you're watching the brown thing, when the brown thing moves, go," Gray said.
Gray also told ticket holders that the Titans will use more multiple looks defensively thanks to the return of end Derrick Morgan from a torn ACL that ended his rookie season in his fourth game and the drafting of linebacker Akeem Ayers of UCLA.
His options at end depend on free agency. Pro Bowler Jason Babin, Dave Ball and Jacob Ford are among those who could sign anywhere.
But the cornerback job opposite Cortland Finnegan will be another open competition. Jason McCourty started the first three games before getting hurt. Rookie Alterraun Verner replaced him in the job to finish the season.
-- Teresa M. Walker
Bills add Young to scouting staff
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have hired former Baylor defensive line coach Theo Young to work as a college scout. Young will scout midwest schools, taking over the region after Matt Hand was reassigned. Young has 21 years coaching experience, including the previous three with the Bears.
A former tight end, Young played at Arkansas and spent two seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 1992, Young coached tight ends at Tennessee-Chattanooga under Bills general manager Buddy Nix. The Bills also hired Tim Atkins as football operations assistant, and Pete Harris as a scouting assistant.
