Browns sign FB Williams

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The Browns have signed fullback Eddie Williams to their practice squad and released fullback Will Ta’ufo’ou.

Williams was with Chicago through training camp and spent the first week of the regular season on the Browns’ practice squad. He was signed by Seattle and appeared in three games for the Seahawks before he was released on Oct. 12.

He was drafted by Washington in the seventh round in 2009. Williams spent seven weeks on the Redskins’ practice squad before being elevated to the 53-man roster. He was inactive for three games before being placed on injured reserve. Williams spent the entire 2010 season on the Bears’ practice squad.

Williams played college ball at Idaho.

Ta’ufo’ou was signed to the Browns practice squad on Sept. 15.

NBC

NEW YORK

That Colts-Patriots matchup that looked so attractive in the preseason is losing its prime-time slot.

With Indianapolis winless and Peyton Manning-less, the NFL has already decided to move the Dec. 4 game off “Sunday Night Football” under its flexible scheduling policy. The league will decide on a replacement by Nov. 22. The NFL said Tuesday that the game at New England would now be at 1 p.m. on CBS.

The critical NFC East matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants on Nov. 20 will remain on Sunday night on NBC. The Titans-Falcons game that day will move from 1 p.m. to 4:15 on CBS.

The NFL can use flexible scheduling starting in Week 10 to ensure meaningful matchups in high-profile time slots.

The Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs game is the Sunday night game on Nov. 27.

Raiders

ALAMEDA, Calif.

At times in his first start for Oakland, Carson Palmer showed just why the Raiders gave up so much to acquire him.

He threaded a 40-yard touchdown pass down the middle of the field to a well-covered Marcel Reece, connected on a pretty 18-yard score to Jacoby Ford, and got a ball in between a few defenders to T.J. Houshmandzadeh for a 28-yard gain.

The problem for Palmer and the Raiders is that along with those jaw-dropping throws were three more that ended up in defenders’ hands for interceptions in a 38-24 loss to the Denver Broncos.

The task now during this short week of preparation is to eliminate as many of those mistakes as possible without compromising the big-play ability the Raiders (4-4) will need when they visit the San Diego Chargers (4-4) on Thursday night.

“I really think the sky is the limit for this passing game,” Palmer said.