NFL ROUNDUP \ News and notes

Bills: Patricia Dugas reached out, touched Kevin Everett’s arm and asked her son if he could feel her hand. Everett — lying in a hospital bed, barely awake and hooked to life support systems — nodded yes. “I can’t even explain it to you; he’s like a miracle,” Dugas said. Doctors aren’t calling it a miracle yet, but they expressed “cautious optimism” now that reserve tight end is showing significant signs of improvement. Everett can wiggle his toes, bend his hip, move his ankles, elevate and kick his leg, as well as extend his elbows and slightly flex his biceps, said Dr. Kevin Gibbons, the supervisor of neurosurgery at Buffalo’s Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital. But Everett, who’s breathing on his own after being taken off a respirator Wednesday, cannot move his hands after sustaining a life-threatening spinal cord injury. “There are some answers now. And many more questions remain,” Gibbons said. “The patient’s made significant improvement. But no one should think the functions in his legs is close to normal. Not even close.”
Steelers: Receiver Hines Ward suspects the Patriots may have had some type of inside information on Pittsburgh before at least one of the teams’ two AFC championship game matchups since the 2001 season. Ward is certain the Patriots, while known for the thoroughness of their scouting under coach Bill Belichick, had some kind of unusual help before their 24-17 victory in Pittsburgh in the January 2002 AFC championship game. The Patriots went on to win the first of their three Super Bowls. “Oh, they knew,” Ward said Wednesday. “They were calling our stuff out. They knew, especially that first championship game here at Heinz Field. They knew a lot of our calls. There’s no question some of their players were calling out some of our stuff.”
Chargers: All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates missed Wednesday’s practice with a sore back but said he expects to return today. “It tightened up today and we just decided not to see any action today,” Gates said. “I’ll be back tomorrow.” Gates was busy in Sunday’s 14-3 win over Chicago, with nine catches for 107 yards. Among them was a 17-yard touchdown pass from LaDainian Tomlinson.

Associated Press