NFL

Patriots' Seymour feels the love

By wire services
Published August 4, 2005

On his first day in New England's training camp, All-Pro defensive end Richard Seymour felt the love.

Seymour skipped the team's June minicamp and didn't report when training camp began last week. But he ended his holdout Tuesday after reportedly receiving a $1.2-million raise and a promise to talk about an extension.

His first practice session was Wednesday.

"It's a business and they understand it's a business. That's just the nature of the beast," Seymour said. "I definitely have the support of my teammates. ... I felt a genuine love from my teammates. That's what it's all about."

New England's leading tackler among linemen last season, he has helped the Patriots win three of the last four Super Bowls. He had two years left on the six-year, $14.3-million contract he signed after being taken with the sixth pick of the 2001 draft.

"We found some common ground," Seymour said. "I'm in pretty good shape right now. I still have to get in football shape. ... I definitely have some rust I have to knock off the old engine and get it going."

CHIEFS: Maybe this won't be Dick Vermeil's last year coaching after all.

In January, at the end of Kansas City's tough and disappointing 7-9 season, the oldest head coach in the league honestly thought it would be.

"I've told my assistant coaches that next year will be my last," he announced.

But the bounce is back. Despite his 69 years, the only man to coach teams to victory in both the Super Bowl and Rose Bowl feels animated, energetic and eager.

"If the team plays real well and it looks like the way we do things is capable of producing a good football team, then I might stay," Vermeil said. "I'm just going to play it out and see what happens."

JETS: Quarterback Chad Pennington was held out of the team's afternoon practice after throwing passes for five straight days.

Coach Herman Edwards said Pennington had no soreness in his surgically repaired right shoulder, and just wanted to give the quarterback a day to rest.

"He threw five days in a row, and that's the first time he's ever done that," Edwards said. "Five days in a row is a lot of throwing, in my estimation."

DOLPHINS: Although talks between Miami and rookie running back Ronnie Brown are continuing, the No. 2 overall draft pick has still not arrived in his first training camp.

Brown, the Dolphins' lone remaining holdout, is reportedly seeking $3-million more in guaranteed money than what Miami is offering.

EAGLES: Police arrested a fourth teenager in the shooting of defensive lineman Jerome McDougle.

Charles Edward James, 17, was being held at the Miami-Dade Juvenile Detention Center.

McDougle, 27, was shot Thursday after three armed robbers approached him while he was sitting in his silver Mercedes coupe in southwest Miami. McDougle, who played at the University of Miami, was visiting relatives in South Florida.

Over the weekend police arrested Birmmengham Guirand, 19, Lance Grant, 17, and Leonard Jenkins, 15. All were charged with robbery and attempted felony murder, police said.

LIONS: Team president Matt Millen agreed to a five-year contract extension that will run through the 2010 season.

Detroit has gone 16-48 since Millen was hired out of the Fox television booth, including a league-record 24-game road losing streak.

PANTHERS: DeShaun Foster has missed 30 games in three years because of injuries. Now, given the chance to open the season as Carolina's starting running back, he has been peppered by questions about his durability.

He missed his rookie season after microfracture surgery to repair his knee, sat out two games in 2003 with a hand injury, then broke his collarbone last year and missed 12 games.

Foster bristled when told his rash of injuries left him with the reputation of being fragile.

"If I was pulling hamstrings, or breaking a finger to miss games (I could understand)," he said. "But what can I do about microfracture? What can I do about breaking my collarbone? It was a freak accident, I fell down and that's just what happened. It happened.

"If this was table tennis and I'm getting hurt, that would be one thing. As long as there's contact involved, and I'm breaking stuff doing what I am doing, then I can't do anything about it."

REDSKINS: Four years with New England netted David Patten three Super Bowl rings and the perception he was just another cog in coach Bill Belichick's winning machine.

The rings and the memories he'll always cherish, but Patten is ready to take his turn as a leader. He is seeking a new degree of satisfaction with the Washington Redskins, a team that overhauled its receiver corps after a woeful offensive output a year ago.

"I've been working for this for eight years, and the Lord finally put me in this position. I don't want to let these guys down," said Patten, making the point with a voice that grew stronger and more confident with every word.

"I want to take it to a new territory. I've always been the second, third, fourth guy. Now I get a chance to come in here and be one of the top guys. It's going to be exciting, and I feel like the best is yet to come."

SEAHAWKS: Seattle center Chris Spencer had everything packed and was ready to catch the next flight to training camp when he learned his first contract had been completed.

It took five days longer than he'd hoped, but the Seahawks' first-round draft pick finally reported. The center out of Mississippi, the No. 26 overall selection in April's draft, was Seattle's last unsigned rookie.

"Every day, I woke up and had my bag sitting at the door," Spencer said. "All I had to do was grab it when my agent called."

Spencer signed a five-year contract worth $7.4-million, with an additional $2.3-million available in incentives. A spokesman for Spencer's agent, Ken Kremer, said up to $5-million is guaranteed.

[Last modified August 4, 2005, 01:05:20]