The NFL’s 107th season kicks off soon. I remember that very first game. Dad didn’t trust the airplane fad yet, so we took a steam-engine train to Ohio. Man, the Dayton Triangles defense was great! Made things miserable for the Columbus Panhandles’ young quarterback, rookie Aaron Rodgers.

Anyhow, I have been predicting games in the Miami ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This one time, anyway, winning a preseason game was a cause for the Chiefs.

Months after the then-American Football League team had been clobbered by Green Bay, 35-10, in the first Super Bowl in 1967, they were left simmering by the postgame words of Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The Chiefs, he declared, didn’t “compare...Read more

FOXBORO, Mass. — The Patriots have been more willing than Christian Gonzalez to publicly discuss their contract negotiations with the star cornerback.

Gonzalez doesn’t seem particularly thrilled by it, and he expressed frustration Tuesday that a deal hasn’t yet been reached.

Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot ...Read more

FOXBORO, Mass. — There was the metaphor, right overhead.

Just past 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, a helicopter descended while Christian Gonzalez took questions from reporters a few hundred yards from its landing pad. The Patriots had just finished their final training camp practice of the summer. Gonzalez was still in uniform, a full participant for a ...Read more

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jed York’s 49ers practiced Tuesday without him present, as they have throughout training camp, as they did two days earlier when the franchise’s 46-year-old owner sat in a suburban Ohio jail.

There is no outcry among the 49ers to shame him or demand change in the hierarchy after his Sunday morning arrest in a ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The Las Vegas Raiders may have been the beneficiary of some good luck with a positive diagnosis on the injury suffered by star running back Ashton Jeanty during Sunday’s practice.

Coach Klint Kubiak suggested there may have even been some divine intervention at play.

“The power of prayer,” Kubiak said Tuesday in addressing ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The mother of Ravens wide receiver Rashod Bateman’s child recanted her original statement that he pushed her into a wall and put his hands on her during a dispute that led to Bateman’s arrest in June.

Bateman’s attorney John Kennedy of New York-based Reed Smith said the alleged victim authorized him to provide The Baltimore ...Read more

San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York used a false name to text a person he believed was a sex worker before being arrested in a sting operation at a mobile home park near his residence in Ohio, according to an incident report obtained by the Bay Area News Group.

On Saturday, the day before his arrest, York texted a number listed in an undercover ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Monday, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid still wasn’t ready to confirm Patrick Mahomes’ Week 1 status.

To this point, the Chiefs have held Mahomes back from any preseason action as he continues his rehab and recovery from the torn ACL and LCL he suffered eight and a half months ago.

Mahomes has never missed ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Receiver Allen Robinson II spent one season with the Rams. It didn't go the way L.A. fans had hoped when the former Pro Bowl receiver signed a three-year, $46.5 million deal with the then-reigning Super Bowl champions.

Still, Robinson had some positive takeaways from that portion of his career to share during a video he posted ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Five plays into the Philadelphia Eagles’ preseason opener against the Baltimore Ravens, Willie Lampkin introduced Ravens defensive tackle Broderick Washington’s backside to the grass — and, in turn, re-introduced himself to the NFL.

Lampkin, 24, had been hidden in plain sight for the past year. The Eagles claimed him off ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The coaches were huddled around one of the tables at Johnny J’s in Medina, Ohio, a pub where a Cleveland Browns flag dangles above the bar.

They were there, the seven of them, to cheer on the Pittsburgh Steelers in their first preseason game on Aug. 13 — particularly Drew Allar, whom they coached years ago just a mile and a ...Read more

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — If you want to find an up and coming unit on the low-expectation Miami Dolphins, a group that’s outperforming since the start of training camp, look toward the trenches and focus your attention on the defensive tackles.

Among veteran Zach Sieler, youngsters Jordan Phillips, Zeek Biggers and Kenneth Grant, and relative ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Higher education is rooted in the mission to provide advanced learning, but let’s be honest: the ultimate objective in attending college is to get a job and make money as a professional.

That first job earning a salary after spending years eating toast for lunch and dinner as a broke college student feels like winning the ...Read more

DENVER — The Denver Broncos’ starting defense dodged a bullet.

Cornerback Riley Moss, who left Friday’s preseason loss to Green Bay on the second play of the night with an injury to his ribs, did not sustain a serious injury, head coach Sean Payton said Monday.

Moss didn’t practice on Monday and was relegated to light conditioning work...Read more

NEW YORK — Malik Nabers hit another important benchmark in his recovery from a major knee injury, losing the red non-contact jersey for Monday’s practice.

Wearing the regular white practice jersey, the New york Giants’ No. 1 wide receiver took part in a good amount of 7-on-7 reps and a handful of 11-on-11.

Nabers’ highlights included a...Read more

SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks on Monday waived former Oregon State running back Anthony Hankerson after signing the undrafted rookie last week. Hankerson, 22, intends to enter the transfer portal and return to the NCAA, according to a report from CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

The report comes on the heels of major developments related to Ole ...Read more

I have a simple request for the San Francisco 49ers:

Can you go 72 hours without being the weirdest team in professional sports?

Scratch that, I’ll take 48.

Just two days, and then you can get back to all the peculiarity that we’ve come accustomed to with your brand, one of the biggest and most important in the world of sports.

Because ...Read more

San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York was arrested in a prostitution bust this weekend by police in East Palestine, Ohio, before pleading no contest to charges of disorderly conduct and possessing criminal tools.

Prosecutors initially charged York with engaging in prostitution, according to court records, but the charge was later amended to ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — While the Pittsburgh Steelers still wonder and wait on cornerback Joey Porter Jr., they finally had one of the key members of their secondary return to practice for the first time since the start of training camp.

Jalen Ramsey, who has been on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list after injuring his knee in minicamp, ...Read more