I didn't know the man or ever meet him, but I did watch Grambling (what a band!) play in his final season as head coach, and I can just say that in all circles of football — heck, sports — the man is a giant. He was a pioneer and father figure to so many, and he wasn't a bad coach, either: he produced more Hall of Fame players than all but 11 colleges. Think about that!

We always will remember the man paving the way for young, black athletes to make themselves better people and do things the right way. You almost never heard about Grambling kids getting into trouble. You always knew they were going to be tough and well-coached on the field. That's the Eddie Robinson way, and it's the way it should be done.

You'll live long in our hearts, Eddie. 

I have heard from both sides of the equation, and I can say with certainty that the Lance Briggs trade talks with the Redskins are not finished. The Redskins remain interested — they just won't give up Rocky McIntosh. The Bears want something to happen to eliminate the distraction, but they want Washington to sweeten the pot.

One indication that the Redskins are expecting to pick in the 30s and not at No. 6: They are interviewing offensive guards, including Tennessee's Arron Sears, who would make great fits at the end of Round One. The Skins lost Derrick Dockery and don't have a natural fit to replace him (I don't consider 6-8 Todd Wade a realistic fit, anyway).

The Bears don't want to pick at six but reportedly are shopping the pick around, which is what the Redskins have been doing for more than a month. If they stay there, expect them to pick LSU's LaRon Landry. If they trade it, expect a lineman on either side of the ball. It almost seems like the Redskins are desperate to make a move out of that sixth spot and are thrilled at the idea of getting instant value from someone such as Briggs, even if he's not exactly what they need.

Stay tuned. This thing has life still. 

It's true: I don't care what you think. OK, let me explain. I am not any more favorable to people who agree with what I write than I am against people who disagree with my stance on a given matter. And I worried, in my latest column, that people would read it wrong. My point boiled down: The Bears are just good enough to get to the Super Bowl again, but they won't win it, essentially becoming this generation's Buffalo Bills.

And I was happy to receive the following letter from reader Anthony Ray — not because he liked what I wrote, but because he understood what I was trying to say. Here's most of the letter (minus the part where he says he likes it):

... I want to comment on your premise. I think that this could very well happen. The AFC is clearly better and I can say add the Bengals to that list of teams better than the Bears as well. There is only one weakness to your argument: You didn’t give the NFC more credit in relationship to the Bears. Although I would rank the Bears as the #1 team in the NFC, I would not put them that far ahead of Dallas, Seattle, New Orleans, NY Giants, Philadelphia, Atlanta, or any team that could spring up and have a turnaround year. I think that Bears are better, but any of those teams could beat the Bears in a “one and done” playoff game. I think the overarching theme is whoever represents the NFC for the next 3 years will lose.  The Bears have the only legitimate shot of beating the top 5 in the AFC.
 
The Bears are young and have a good core of players (the best in the NFC).  Although I like your article, I wouldn’t take that money to the bank.
 
Anthony Ray
Berkeley, IL
 
P.S.  Full Disclosure:  I am a Bears fan.

And I appreciate his candor and neutrality on the issue. Way to go, Tony. Also, he makes some good points on the NFC field, as well as the potential of the Bengals also being very good.

I am checking out for the weekend to see some old friends, so I'll file next on Monday. 

I was out of the office since Thursday night, so I wanted to pass along two items. First, the funeral information in greater Chicago:

Services for Darryl Stingley will be held on Tuesday, April 10 at the The Living Word Christian Center located at 7600 West Roosevelt Road in Forest Park, Illinois (708-697-5000). There will be a wake at 10 a.m. followed by a funeral service at 11 a.m.

And also, the charitable donation info:

The Stingley family has announced that donations in memory of Darryl Stingley can be made to the National Spinal Cord Injury Association.

National Spinal Cord Injury Association
c/o Heymann, Suissa & Stone, PC
1 Church Street
Suite 600
Rockville, MD 20850
http://www.spinalcord.org/html/giving.php

Let's get it out of the way at the top. The big news today were the suspensions handed down by Commissioner Roger Goodell to Pacman Jones and Chris Henry, and it seems to me that justice was probably served. Were these guys fined in an act of promulgation by the league, indicating that a yet-to-be-enacted new policy on player conduct will be carried out to the fullest extent? You bet.

And I don't think there are many people out there not named Adam Jones who think either one really got shafted. They were repeately found to be on the wrong side of the law, and that just won't cut it for the most image-conscious pro sports league — not following all the bad press the NBA and baseball have received the past few years.

But the NFL might be crossing the line here if they are going to fine guys based on a notion of "guilt by association." In essence, they are saying that you don't have to be convicted of a crime — you can either be present, a la Jones, or merely be brought in for questioning — to face NFL punishment. What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? Guess that's out the door.

It's one thing to clean up your image; it's another entirely to assume guilt before due process takes place. Just wait until the first NFL player is suspended/fined under this new approach and then is found to be innocent by legal authorities. It will rain hell-fire from the activists, and rightfully so.

And though it won't trump the Jones/Henry stuff or push Don Imus off Page One, did you see that two Hall of Famers, Michael Irvin and Warren Moon, each got into a little trouble? Not together, though. 

So let’s take a spin through the divisions, team by team, and look at the highlights of each, shall we?

AFC East

The Bills could be buried by October. How’s this for an opening cluster — vs. Denver, at Pittsburgh, at New England, vs. N.Y. Jets and vs. Dallas — before a well-earned bye?

There’s nothing shocking one way or another about the Patriots’ slate other than four of the final six games are at home, including division games against the Jets and Dolphins. Getting Miami in Foxboro in December is nice, and going down to the Dolphins on October 21 is better than facing them down there in the heat of September.

The Jets open with three of four against division opponents and get a late bye (Week 10). They also don’t leave New York from Oct. 22 until Nov. 21, but they must follow a home game with the Steelers in Week 11 with the traditional Thanksgiving game in Dallas four days later. That’s followed in Week 13 with a Miami trip. They also get a bonus ninth "home game" at the Meadowlands vs. the Giants.

The Dolphins get two September home games — vs. Dallas and Oakland. Neither team is going to melt in the Miami heat, but the Dolphins do have to go to Foxboro and Orchard Park to face the Pats and Bills, respectively, in December. And as everyone knows, one of their “home” games will be played in Wembley Stadium in London. The week before they will have a tough home game against the Pats.

NFC East

We’ll see just where the Eagles stand in the NFC picture with their schedule down the stretch. They face Seattle at home (Week 13), the Giants at home (Week 14), at Dallas (Week 15), at New Orleans (Week 16) before finishing with the Bills at home. I thought they might get some more interesting primetime games than the four they have. They also have an interesting setup in Weeks 4-6 when they play at Giants, then a bye, followed by at Jets. That’s a pretty easy “road” run.

The Redskins have an early bye (Week Four) but no West Coast trips. They travel only as far west as Green Bay, Minnesota and Dallas. The bye game is also bookended by two home games, so that makes for a smooth first month of the season.

The London game is going to be a factor for the Giants, too, but they shouldn’t be too rattled with a home game against the 49ers before and the bye afterwards. Like the Redskins, they do not travel west of Dallas; the Bears game in Chicago — against the team that effectively started their downfall last season — in Week 13 followed by a game at Philly is the only back-to-back road games they see.

Three of the final four games are on the road for Dallas, and though the Lions and Redskins combined for nine wins last season, we are quick to remind you that two of those wins came at the hands of the Cowboys. Going to Chicago in Week Three and Buffalo in Week Five likely means manageable weather for both trips, and the bye week (Eight) is planted nicely in the middle.

We’ll do the other divisions, two at a time … and please let me know if your team got screwed or not. I like to hear these conspiracy theories.

Many thanks to my fellow editors for their help on this ... 

AFC South

The Jags open with back-to-back home games for the second straight season, but they must play 10 games vs. teams with a .500 record or better last season. They will play three straight road games — the only NFL team that has to do that this season — for the third time since 2001. But is that bad news? After all, they won the previous six games with that happening. Considering the bookend games of that three-game stretch, at home against the Colts and Chargers, it probably is.

The Titans, still reeling from Pacman Jones’ suspension, get a brutal opening troika — at Jacksonville, vs. Indy and at New Orleans — before a Week Four bye. What do you want to bet that we’ll be asking, “What’s wrong with the Titans after they finished ‘06 so strong?" when they start out 0-3 or 1-2? Oh, and they close with this four-spot: vs. San Diego, at Kansas City, vs. the Jets and at Indy. Good luck, Vince. Jones can apply for reinstatement after 10 weeks; if he wins his case, he potentially could play in Week 11 against the Broncos in Denver.

The world champs have an interesting but not devastating slate of games. I doubt they will start out 9-0 or 13-0 again, considering they face the Saints in Week One, the Broncos in Week Five, at Jacksonville in Week Seven, vs. New England in Week Nine and at San Diego — the AFC title game everyone expected (wanted?) — in Week 10. Strangely, the Colts get the Titans and Texans on the road (where they each won last season vs. Indy), back to back, in Weeks Three and Four, but don’t play those teams again until Weeks 17 and 16, respectively.

No crazy, daunting road games in September or December for the Texans, but they get two sets of back-to-back away games — first a double West Coast trip with San Diego and Oakland in Weeks Eight and Nine, and then with Cleveland and Tennessee in Weeks 12 and 13. New QB Matt Schaub faces his former team, the Falcons, in Atlanta on Sept. 30 (Week Four).

NFC South

Congratulations for charming the football world, Saints! Sure, they get four primetime games, including the first game of the season vs. Colts on Sept. 6, but they open with back-to-back road games and make two West Coast trips to Seattle and San Francisco in a 14-day stretch in October with a home contest vs. division-rival Atlanta sandwiched between. They also get a rematch of the NFC championship game vs. the Bears in Chicago in Week 17.

The Bucs play four dome games; they were 0-2 in dome games last season. They open the season with back-to-back games vs. division winners Seattle and New Orleans. And here’s a quirk: they play Redskins for the fifth straight season. Hmm. They also get their first game at Houston since 1995 when they faced the Oilers.

The Panthers open the season on the road for the first time in the John Fox era. Four of their first six games are away from home but they finish the season with four of six games at home. They close with Seattle and Dallas at home in Weeks 15 and 16 and take the short trip to Tampa in Week 17. David Carr faces his former team — will he be on the sidelines? — in Week Two when the Panthers host the Texans. There are three straight division games in Weeks 3-5.

Although they start the season with back-to-back road games, the Falcons are scheduled to play 11 games indoors and possibly 12 if Arizona keeps the roof closed. They get two Monday Night games — both at home — and play Thanksgiving night vs. Indy, the first time Atlanta has hosted a Thanksgiving game. Another oddity: the Panthers play division-rival Carolina twice before facing fellow NFC South rival Tampa Bay for the first time.

More coming ... 

Part three of four ...

AFC North

The Ravens open with three of four games on the road, including the Chris Henry-less Bengals (might there be more suspensions on that team)? The Ravens face the Chargers (they were one of two regular-season losses) in Week 12, and old friend Adalius Thomas and the Patriots come to town in Week 13. Another reunion takes place when the Ravens head to Buffalo, Willis McGahee’s old stomping grounds. They get three Monday night games, too.

The Bengals finish with a very manageable seven-game stretch where they should be a favorite in at least four, maybe six. Of course, the game at Pittsburgh should be tricky, and the St. Louis and San Francisco games could be tougher than expected. Last year’s ending schedule helped lead to the Bengals missing the playoffs. This year, they have little excuse. Those eagerly anticipating the Levi Jones vs. Joey Porter matchup will have to wait for a late Christmas gift: the Dolphins and Bengals face off on Dec. 30. Chris Henry's first game likely will be at Baltimore on Nov. 11.

On paper, the Steelers’ slate looks very manageable. There is the matter of having three games in final the 14 days of the season (Jacksonville at home, at St. Louis and at Baltimore). But before that, there are some interesting matchups. First, they face Ken Whisenhunt in Arizona. In Week Five, there will be a Super Bowl XL rematch, followed by the bye week. Porter returns to town in Week 12 with his new team, Miami. Three of the final four are on the road, including games against the nemesis Patriots and Ravens, not to mention at St. Louis for a Thursday game in Week 16. The one home game in that stretch is against the Jaguars, against whom the Steelers have had some interesting and tough affairs recently.

The Browns host all three division rivals in September, along with a road trip to Oakland, in their first four games. Then, potentially with a 1-3 or 0-4 record, they must go to New England, where Romeo Crennel will face off against Old Boss Belichick. That could be the season — and Crennel’s job. They also have a tough stretch of five road games in seven weeks after the Week Seven bye: at St. Louis (Week Eight), at Pittsburgh (Week 10), at Baltimore (Week 11), at Arizona (Week 13) and at N.Y. Jets (Week 14).

NFC North

The Packers’ first three games and four of their first five are vs. ’06 playoff teams. They have back-to-back AFC West road trips (at Denver on Oct. 29, and at K.C. on Nov. 4) and back-to-back Thursday games (Nov. 22 at Detroit, and Nov. 29 at Dallas). The Lambeau edge is a bit limited, too; they have only two games on the Tundra after Nov. 18.

The Lions could start out 2-0 with very winnable games at Oakland and vs. Minnesota. After that, they go to Philly and get the Bears at home. How does 2-2 sound, Lions fans?

The Vikings also start out with a favorable schedule, facing only one ’06 playoff team in the first four weeks. Brad Childress meets his former Eagles team for the first time since becoming a head coach in Week Eight, in Minnesota. And for the second straight season, they’ll go out to San Francisco, which can be a tough trip for some teams. Also: They get their first MNF game against the Bears since ’96.

The NFC-champion Bears open on the road for the third straight season and get three '06 playoff teams (@ SD, vs. KC, vs. DAL) to start the season. They also face a four-division-games-in-five-weeks stretch in Weeks 4-8. We should have a good idea by midseason if they are prepared to make another big run. Of course, the NFC title game rematch vs. the Saints won’t happen until Week 17, which should serve as a nice tuneup for the playoffs, assuming they don’t suffer the typical Super Bowl hangover. Four of the Bears’ five primetime games will be on the road, including the Monday nighter at Minnesota. And for the first time since ’84, the Bears will go to the West Coast three times in a season — they face the Chargers, Raiders and Seahawks away.
 

Thanks to my fellow editors who kept me churning with ideas ...

AFC West

Denver has three Monday Night games, including two marquee QB matchups (vs. Brett Favre and Green Bay on Oct. 29, vs. Vince Young and the Titans on Nov. 19 and — nothing against Philip Rivers — a Christmas Eve matchup against the Chargers). The division could be decided on that last game, and the four games around it (at Oakland, home vs. K.C., at Houston and home against Minnesota) suggest the Broncos could finish strong. The toughest early test is against the Colts in Week Four; past trips to Indy haven’t ended too well for the Broncos in recent years. Gary Kubiak and his Texans go up against old boss, Mike Shanahan, on Dec. 13.

Kansas City has a rough stretch that includes four divisional games and the Super Bowl champs: vs. Denver, at Indy, vs. Oakland, vs. San Diego and at Denver.

No schedules are easy, especially for first-time head coaches, but you have to like the opening stanza for the Raiders — they play vs. Detroit, at Denver, vs. Cleveland and at Miami. However, their last six games are all against teams with a .500 or better record from 2006, including Chicago, Indy, San Diego and Denver. Ouch.

The Chargers’ first five opponents all had .500 records or better in 2006. They’ll have a tough midseason stretch over five games, including teams such as Jacksonville, K.C. and Tennessee, all of which played well at home last season. Sandwiching those games in those five weeks are Indy and Baltimore at home. Wow.

NFC West

Unlike last year, when four of the Cardinals’ first six games were in their new stadium — not that it mattered anyway — they get three of five away from home to start. Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm face the Steelers in a game that probably means more to the Cardinals on Sept. 30 at Arizona. Of course, four of their final six games are at home and their bye week is in a good spot (Week Eight). Here’s an oddity:  The Nov. 11 game at home against the Lions will mark the seventh season in a row that they're playing Detroit. If there are no draft-day trades, that game will feature two top-five picks playing against one another. Could it be Gaines Adams rushing against Joe Thomas? Hmm. Also, Whisenhunt and Grimm should know their AFC North opponents pretty well from the Pittsburgh days.

The Seahawks lost both games to the Niners last season, and this year, they get two early matchups — Sept. 30 at San Fran and Nov. 12 in Seattle. The Super Bowl XL rematch happens at Pittsburgh (not Detroit) on Oct. 7, and another good rematch from last season in a different location happens when the Bears come to Seattle on Nov. 18. The Seahawks finish with four of the final six games on the road.

The Rams open with the first two games at home, but that is followed by four-of-five on the road, including games at Dallas, Baltimore and Seattle — a tough stretch.

Check out the 49ers’ brutal stretch from Weeks 9-13: at Atlanta, at Seattle, home vs. Rams, at Arizona and at Carolina. That November slate likely could define the season. If Frank Gore likes to measure himself against the best, he’s in luck. He’ll face off against, in order, Edgerrin James, Steven Jackson, Willie Parker, Shaun Alexander and Willis McGahee. Fantasy geeks worldwide will celebrate. Head coach Mike Nolan also gets a crack at his old Ravens team at home on Oct. 7. The Niners close with three of the last four games at home.
 

I feel obligated in this post-schedule/Pacman maelstrom to throw a bone to a pretty darned good quarterback who is hanging it up.

Drew Bledsoe is the kind of guy who from now until the quarter mark of the century will be mentioned as one of the most overrated QBs of all time, and it's just too bad. People forget just how good he was. There's so much I could say about the enigmatic, yet intriguing Bledsoe, that it's hard to contain my thoughts to a few grafs.

I can remember vividly rooting for the Patriots (I grew up a fan) to pick Rick Mirer instead. Even then, Bledsoe was overrated -- too gawky, too mechanical. Mirer was the Golden Boy. He was Joe Montana's poor cousin, I thought. I even wanted the much-hyped Garrison Hearst over Bledsoe; it seemed that the Patriots and Seahawks were the only two teams that were not geeked about Hearst's pro potential.

But Bill Parcells went with the tall guy from Washington State who seemed to be the anti-Phil Simms, or everything you don't want in a Parcells-coached QB, and we shrugged. There was excitement, surely, because he automatically put a face on a shockingly faceless team. Name three Patriots from the '92 or '93 teams, dare ya — and I will spot you a very underrated Bruce Armstrong and Andre Tippett, then in the twilight of his wonderful career.

Bledsoe came to town with his dad, Mac, and did OK in the early going, but he had a bad habit of pumping the ball and giving it a slap before he launched a deep throw. He eventually got his starting spot, beating out Scott Zolak and Scott Secules (there's a name from the past), and did a respectable job considering Michael Timpson and Vincent Brisby were his starting wideouts. Bledsoe, slowly but eventually, gave fans a reason to watch the Pats again. As unlikely a pair as he and Parcells made, they had enough of a Starsky-and-Hutch — or perhaps Tango-and-Cash — quality to make it work.

By 1996, Bledsoe was a star. He had revived the long-dormant passing game in New England and was an incredible point guard, routinely finding nine or 10 different receivers in a given game. He helped make TE Ben Coates a star and gamely led a clutch but under-talented Patriots team to within a quarter of winning a Super Bowl.

I cannot deny that Bledsoe hit a wall with the Pats. It happened after Pete Carroll's first season, which happened to be Bledsoe's best statistical year. He started tightening his grasp on a locker room that suddenly was left in the balance as the rah-rah good guy Carroll failed to take command following Parcells' exit. Bledsoe was stamped officially as the team's leader and public figure, and as the team declined slowly, then suddenly. It was a divided locker room and a divided fan base, many of whom thought the idea of giving a $103 million contract to a sometimes star was a poor move by Robert Kraft and Co.

The great irony of Bledsoe's career, of course, is his being replaced by Tom Brady. We all know about the Mo Lewis hit that effectively ended Bledsoe's career. You must point out that Bledsoe got his moment in the sun that season when he came in relief and helped ward off the more talented Steelers in the AFC title game, but lest we forget that Bledsoe was a few more plays and some really bad Kordell Stewart throws from blowing that game. Overall, Bledsoe just did enough to get by then, and before long, his Patriots career was over.

I was always glad that he revived his career in Buffalo and later Dallas, though he met similar fates in both cities, as many aging QBs do, being replaced by the Next Big Thing. Bledsoe always said he never wanted to be a backup, and for the most part, he wasn't. He spent that fateful '01 season, hurt most of the time, watching Brady and he spent half of '06 looking out from under a Cowboys visor and out from above some unneeded eye black to watch Tony Romo charm, then confound, Cowboys nation.

Drew is a smart guy (scored a 39 on the Wonderlic) who loves spending time on his ranch in Montana. He will have a very fruitful life after football with his family. We likely won't hear from him in some time, is my guess.

He has to be in the Hall of Fame consideration purely based on his numbers (seventh in history in yards, 13th in TDs, and fifth in completions with 3,839), but he won't get in. He's seen as too much of a pariah in places such as New England, Buffalo and Dallas, and that's just a shame. He had some great moments on the football field, and when his toughness was questioned, he showed just how gritty he was. I always liked that about him.

Enjoy your new life, Drew. You have earned a lot of respect around the NFL, even if you never properly get your due.