NFL Nfl Analysis

Every week we analyze line play in a new Between The Lines feature.

In watching line play around the league, it's obvious that there's more than one way to pressure the quarterback. The Jets and Eagles generate pressure with confusion. Teams don't know if they're sending three or eight and they don't know where they will be coming from. The Vikings send their front four most of the time, but with Jared Allen and Kevin Williams, they don't need to confuse people as much as just beat them off the line. It generally works and drives Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers insane (14 sacks in two games).

Once Jamal Lewis returned to his hometown of Atlanta on Wednesday night, things looked the same from afar. Yes, he is retiring after this season. No, it was not an instant decision based on the Cleveland Browns' 30-6 loss at the Chicago Bears last Sunday -- after which Lewis announced his NFL exit plans.

He left the University of Tennessee after three seasons and the Baltimore Ravens after a Super Bowl XXXV championship and seven seasons. This third season with the Browns gives him 10 full NFL years.

Cleveland is 1-7, but Lewis said his choice would be the same if his team was 7-1.

And though the Browns have a bye this week and Lewis, 30, has quiet time to reconsider, he said he will not.

The Chiefs fans who want Larry Johnson off their team aren't your typical angry fans, lashing out over something as unpleasantly common as another losing season. The online petition they started, which was barreling toward 20,000 signatures Thursday afternoon amid a surprising run of national publicity, says nothing about wanting a coach fired or demanding that an owner sell. It is a petition from the heart, whose roots lie not in anger over the team's record or current stretch of on-field futility, but rather in a deep and abiding love of the team and its history.

"People in Kansas City, we don't mind losing," Dan Cataldi said. "We get used to it, actually. But it just gets frustrating when we don't like the team. That's what we can't stand."

Hence, this petition, which is addressed to new Chiefs GM Scott Pioli and makes the simple plea to remove Johnson from the field and/or the team before he collects 80 more yards and surpasses Priest Holmes as the team's all time leading rusher.

In case you hadn't noticed, sports these days are all about Goliath. In 2009, the Steelers, Lakers, North Carolina Tar Heels and now the Yankees have all won titles in their respective sports. Cinderella is yesterday's news. The teams that win these days are the teams that always win, and if you think that's boring, well, tough. You can kiss one of Derek Jeter's five World Series rings.

So with that in mind, we need to be really careful about overlooking the Dallas Cowboys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All you ever hear about the Cowboys is what's wrong with them. Terrell Owens was a pain. Roy Williams is a loudmouth, too, and isn't good enough to replace T.O. Tony Romo's too concerned with his golf game and his high-wattage love life to ever attain his potential. The new stadium is ridiculous...

When Art Modell fled for Baltimore with his Cleveland Browns, the NFL's consolation prize was the new Browns, complete with colors, history and Dawg Pound.

If the NFL had known what it had created, it might have forced Modell to stay. Because a decade after the Browns were reborn, they remain one of the two or three worst franchises in the NFL, a status reaffirmed on Monday when George Kokinis, the newly hired general manager, was asked to leave 10 months after he was hired.

Why? He hadn't done anything anyway, other than stand by and watch as Eric Mangini, who failed as the New York Jets' coach, traded away impact players or guys with potential for a bundle of mediocre ex-Jets.

But the record speaks for itself.

Running back Larry Johnson will not be in uniform Sunday at Jacksonville when the Kansas City Chiefs return from their bye and attempt to reverse the damage of a 1-6 start. That in itself is a small victory for a rebuilding Chiefs organization, which did its level best to severely punish a longtime problem player who crossed a line most agree constitutes conduct detrimental to the NFL.

And that disciplinary action -- a two-week suspension without pay imposed by Chiefs management, that was later arbitrated by the NFL Management Council, the NFL Players Association, Johnson and the Chiefs to return a week's salary to Johnson -- was neither endorsed nor encouraged by the league office, multiple NFL sources said.

Rather, the NFL told the Chiefs they should avoid issuing a suspension (and encountering the subsequent hearing, NFLPA involvement, settlement, etc.), and simply fine Johnson $10,000.

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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell testified before a congressional subcommittee Tuesday, asking U.S. lawmakers for legislative help in the league's ongoing effort to suspend Minnesota Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams for a positive drug test. But at the end of a three-hour hearing, the chairman of the subcommittee made it clear that Congress has no interest in getting involved in the StarCaps case. Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois urged Goodell and players' union head DeMaurice Smith, who also testified, to work out their differences over the case and the league's drug policy through collective bargaining.

"Ask Rodney King for some advice," Rush said in his closing statement. "Can't we all get along?"

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- How can a person that's so fast be so slow? But there was Percy Harvin in the Minnesota Vikings locker room on Sunday night, methodically prepping himself before addressing the media.

Slacks and shoes on. Check. Lotion applied from head to toe. Check. A rubdown of the close-cropped hair atop his head. Check. Repeat. Make sure all in his locker is in order. Check. More lotion applied. Check.

Turn. Breathe. Cameras roll. Recorders shoved his way.

Big smile.

Harvin can light it up without the ball in his hands in a fashion that's nearly as entertaining as he does with it.

PHILADELPHIA -- You don't think of the Eagles along with the Saints or the Colts or the Patriots in terms of the number, the variety and the explosiveness of their offensive playmakers. Teams like that set the standard, and the Eagles don't feel like they fit into that kind of conversation. And that's fine, because they're not there yet.

But if you watched the Eagles score on big play after big play Sunday afternoon against the Giants, you got the feel that they might very well be there soon. Andy Reid's Philadelphia offense remains a work in progress, but with the number of different weapons he has at his disposal on any given play, we could soon be talking about the Eagles as one of the most exciting and dynamic offensive teams in the league.

Modern communication makes every NFL Sunday into a season of its own. This particular Sunday proved that fans should reserve judgment until after their teams have demonstrated some sort of form. In most cases, it's inconsistency more than the opposite.

Thus did this Sunday give us:

• The New York Giants, rated as the NFL's best team in numerous "power rankings'' just two weeks ago, lost their third straight game, 40-17 in Philadelphia. They've been outscored 112-61 in those three losses. They also seem to have been surpassed in the NFC East (at least this week) by Philadelphia and Dallas, two teams written off two weeks ago after dismal losses in Oakland and Denver respectively.