Lions' Rogers is not fazed by injury-riddled '03 season

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wide receiver Charles Rogers, who missed the last 11 games of his rookie season with a broken collarbone, took a hard roll on the same shoulder during the Detroit Lions' first training camp practice. Unlike in 2003, however, he jumped up and headed back to the huddle.
"When I saw him roll on his shoulder, I couldn't help but think, 'Here we go,' " coach Steve Mariucci said.
Rogers had no such thoughts.
"Didn't faze me at all," he said. "Last year and the injury are a blank to me. I'm just ready to play."
Rogers, the second overall pick in the 2003 draft, was the team's leading receiver (22 catches, 243 yards) when he was injured during a bye-week practice. Having him back is crucial if the Lions hope to revive an offense that ranked last in the league.
And he'll have help. Quarterback Joey Harrington said he feels more confident this season, and the team used its first draft choice on Texas receiver Roy Williams. That tandem, coupled with free agent Tai Streets and veteran Az-Zahir Hakim, should give the third-year signal-caller plenty of options.
"It's exciting," Rogers said. "We're all young -- young quarterback, young running backs, young receivers. Now we're going to get a chance to see what we can do together."
Let's get physical
The New York Jets' defense has gotten a lot more physical through the first week of training camp. Though the players are not supposed to tackle each other, there have been several jabs at the end of plays and hard takedowns, including some on star running back Curtis Martin.
"I like our tempo, I like our physicalness and I think the more we are in pads, the more we are understanding that we have to be a physical football team," coach Herman Edwards said.
Perhaps it is the influence of the always energetic Donnie Henderson, in his first year as a defensive coordinator. Last year, the defense had tackling problems and played without spirit at times.
But so far through a handful of practices, the unit has a bit more of a strut. Edwards has no problems with that.
"That is good," Edwards said. "You don't want to belittle guys, but it is OK to give him a jab or two and you get after him. You play within the rules, you play within the whistle, but you have to add a little swagger if you are going to play defense."
Winning works
For those who think exhibition games don't count:
The last 10 Super Bowl champions were a combined 30-12 in the first preseason after winning the Super Bowl. Last year's two finalists, New England and Carolina, were a combined 8-0 in the exhibition season.
"We place great value on the development of our team through preseason games," says Houston coach Dom Capers.
The Patriots last season and Baltimore in 2000 are the only Super Bowl winners to go unbeaten in the preseason. The only champions in the last decade to lose more exhibitions than they won were the 1995 Cowboys, who were 2-3 under Barry Switzer.
Over easy
Three years after leaving Penn State, Omar Easy can finally say he is all American. The Chiefs' fullback missed three days of training camp this week so he could travel to Providence, R.I., and complete requirements for full citizenship. A native of Spanish Town, Jamaica, Easy moved with his family to Boston 10 years ago. He was a third-round pick of the Chiefs in 2002.
"I just went up there and answered some questions and that was it," he said. "I've got dual citizenship now."
Easy, at 6-2 and 245 pounds, is being tried for the first time this year at tailback, so the absence from camp actually came at an inopportune time.
"I'm really trying to focus on football now," he said. "I've got a lot of work ahead of me."
International headliners
NFL preseason football will be available for the first time to fans in the United Kingdom and Ireland this summer through an expanded agreement between the NFL and the North American Sports Network.
NASN, the only digital television channel dedicated entirely to North American sports, will broadcast 11 preseason games, beginning with Monday's Denver-Washington Hall of Fame game from Canton, Ohio.
Hair-raising
When Texans quarterback David Carr and his father, Rodger, vowed last season not to cut their hair until the franchise finally won back-to-back games, perhaps they didn't consider what they'd do if it didn't happen.
Well, it didn't. And for the most part, the two Carrs have honored their promise.
The younger Carr has neatened his new wavy coif from time to time, but it hardly resembles the buzzcut look he sported as a rookie.
Rodger Carr is looking a little shaggier.
"I stuck with it," said the elder Carr, a fixture on the sideline each day at Texans practice.
Unlike David Carr, who says he'll probably stick with the new style because his wife likes it, every oppressively Houston summer day makes Rodger Carr want to climb into a barber's chair.
"Hopefully it will be real soon," he said on a typical August day, with temperatures in the 90s and a "feels like" index nearing 110 degrees. "This Texas heat -- it's hot."
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