NFL ROUNDUP | News and notes

Browns: Right tackle Ryan Tucker likely will have minor surgery on his left knee but expects to be back in time for Cleveland's season opener Sept. 10 against New Orleans. Tucker missed his second straight day of practice Sunday to rest his knee, which flared up during Friday's practice. The 31-year-old said a decision on whether to have arthroscopic surgery would be made Monday. An MRI revealed cartilage damage, the result of years of wear and tear on the same knee Tucker injured in the 2004 season and caused him to miss the final nine games. "Anything that we have to do is just some minor adjustments and some cleaning out," said Tucker, who said he his leaning toward having the procedure. "My goal is being there the first game of the season." The Browns need Tucker, who has been their steadiest and healthiest lineman the past few seasons. Earlier this week, the club lost center LeCharles Bentley, their prized free agent signing, for the season after he tore a patellar tendon in his left knee during practice. "Ryan knows his body, he's looking at the big picture," Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. "If he doesn't feel like it's getting good enough, he might want to get it taken care of before the games start." While Tucker is out, third-year veteran Kirk Chambers is getting the bulk of work with the first-team offense. Tucker started all 16 games at right tackle last season.
Steelers: A tractor trailer parked behind the Pittsburgh Steelers' training camp practice fields carries a huge image of Jerome Bettis. Search the camp, though, and there's no Bus to be found. For the first time since 1995, the Steelers are holding a training camp without the NFL's No. 5 career rusher on their roster. That might be why the first practice of camp Sunday didn't seem as loud as many others held since 1996. "It's a little different, not seeing his smile," coach Bill Cowher said. "But it's part of that process of moving on." Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, one of Bettis' closest friends on the team, talked to Bettis last week and recently attended Bettis' wedding in Jamaica. But Roethlisberger didn't think about Bettis not being on the field Sunday until it was mentioned to him. "The last thing I was thinking about was that Jerome wasn't going to be out there," Roethlisberger said. "But I've got things to worry about here -- Willie Parker is back there and Verron Haynes and Duce [Staley], we've got good running backs there." That there was little talk Sunday about Bettis' absence also reflects the Steelers' put-it-in-the-past mentality regarding their first Super Bowl victory in 26 years. No player has been seen wearing a Super Bowl ring since the Steelers reported to camp Friday.
NFL: This time it looks like the NFL commissioner will be all business. The five finalists to succeed Paul Tagliabue were announced Sunday with, no surprise, early favorite Roger Goodell still on the list. Unlike last time, when the late Jim Finks, then the Saints' general manager, was deadlocked with Tagliabue for three months, none of them has a background that includes playing or coaching in the NFL or running a team. The closest is the 47-year-old Goodell, who remains a clear favorite -- as he has been for the last five years or so, or since he was appointed chief operating officer, the No. 2 job to Tagliabue. Goodell, son of a former U.S. senator from New York, began his NFL career in 1982 as an intern in the league office, interned with the New York Jets for a year, and then returned to the league. The other with an NFL background is Gregg Levy, who holds the same job Tagliabue held when he became commissioner -- the league's outside counsel. Because he is known by most of the owners, he is considered the most likely challenger. The other three finalists are Frederick Nance, a Cleveland lawyer; Robert L. Reynolds, of Concord, Mass., the vice chairman and chief operating officer of Fidelity Investments; and Mayo A. Shattuck III of Baltimore, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Constellation Energy. Nance is managing partner of the Cleveland office of Squire Sanders & amp; Dempsey. The only black finalist, the 52-year-old Nance handled the negotiation for the city of Cleveland when the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999 and was the lawyer for the group that developed the construction of the new Browns stadium.
Associated Press
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