Berry was scheduled to make $4 million in the last year of the five-year free-agent contract he signed with the Cardinals in 2004.

He led the NFC in sacks with 14 1/2 in his first season with Arizona, earning his first Pro Bowl berth.

But his past three seasons have been cut short by injuries. Berry missed eight games in 2005 with a torn pectoral muscle, six games in 2006 with a torn triceps and seven in 2007, again with a torn triceps.

The Cardinals were believed to be considering releasing Berry unless he agreed to the restructuring. The new deal is largely based on incentives.

The agreement helps the team’s salary cap situation. The team is trying to restructure the contract of two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald to free more salary cap room.

Real friendly, real peaceful.

A minute later, Pierce went ballistic. His trash talking with Quentin Richardson of the Knicks escalated, and both of them were ejected.

“With the Super Bowl, with New York Yankees-Red Sox, that’s just the way New York-Boston sports are,” Pierce said. “For some reason when we play the Knicks, it’s a heated game.”

Oh, for the record: Pierce hopes the New England Patriots beat his buddies Sunday.

Be it on the field, court, diamond or ice, that’s how it is between Beantown and the Big Apple.

Goes beyond Babe Ruth, Bucky Dent and Bill Buckner, too. Way past Spygate or when Bruins rabblerouser Mike Milbury climbed into the stands and banged a Rangers fan with his own shoe.

Feb. 10 — Pro Bowl, Honolulu.

Feb. 20-26 — NFL scouting combine, Indianapolis.

March 30-April 3 — NFL annual meeting, Palm Beach, Fla.

April 26-27 — NFL draft, New York.

May 19-21 — NFL spring meeting, Atlanta.

“I just want to start by saying I’m awfully excited to be sitting in this chair,” Garrett said.

No, Garrett wasn’t being introduced as Phillips’ replacement. He was merely explaining Thursday why he decided to pull out of consideration for coaching jobs with Baltimore and Atlanta to remain offensive coordinator in Dallas.

Still, the symbolism was hard to miss — especially for a guy who has been viewed the coach-in-waiting since he rejoined the organization last year.

Garrett held a news conference to discuss his decision to stay, which included a promotion to assistant head coach and, presumably, a raise, perhaps approaching the $3 million per season made by Phillips. He insisted that he seriously considered the other jobs and didn’t just see what was out there for the experience of going through the process.

“They weren’t exercises,” he said. “They were great opportunities. … I think maybe this decision to stay here has a lot more to do with the Dallas Cowboys in 2007 and what the Dallas Cowboys can be in 2008.”

Garrett gave thoughtful answers to all questions but one. Asked if he was promised he’d replace Phillips, Garrett said, “No,” then turned his head to seek a question from the other side of the room.

League rules prevent team owner Jerry Jones from anointing Garrett as the heir to Phillips, but the way things have played out sure seems to indicate the likelihood.

After all, Jones hired Garrett before hiring Phillips last year. And when Garrett returned Wednesday night from visits with the Ravens and Falcons, he huddled with Jones to figure out his next move. Hours later, he opted to stay in Dallas, being part of a club that just went 13-3 and sent seven offensive players to the Pro Bowl.

“We’re thrilled that Jason will be with the team in 2008 and moving forward,” Jones said in a statement. “We believe that what we accomplished in 2007 is just the beginning of many productive years ahead. His vision and direction on the offensive side of the ball will only help us improve and get to where we want to be.”

In Garrett’s first year of building a game plan and calling plays, the Cowboys averaged the second-most points, third-most yards and fourth-most yards passing in the NFL. Tony Romo shattered team passing records, Terrell Owens set various receiving records and Jason Witten had one of the most prolific seasons by a tight end in league history. Running back Marion Barber even made the Pro Bowl despite being a backup.

“We made great strides this year,” Garrett said. “We didn’t achieve all of our goals, but we’re heading in the right direction. When (wife) Brill and I looked at each other we said, ‘Boy, we have a great chance here in Dallas.”‘

Phillips said the importance of having both coordinators back is something “I don’t think you can emphasize enough.”

“That familiarity allows us to build upon what we were able to teach last year and puts us so far ahead of where we were at this time a year ago,” he said. “The players learned and accepted two new philosophies on both sides of the ball last year. We will now be able to build upon that.”

Tony Sparano, who had been Dallas’ assistant head coach and line coach, was hired as the Dolphins coach on Wednesday. He worked closely with Garrett last season, helping ease him into the coordinator’s job. Replacing Sparano — and, perhaps, other coaches who follow him to Miami — is next on Jones’ offseason to-do list.

Phillips said the hiring of a line coach would happen “real quickly.” A front-runner is Hudson Houck, who had the job from 1993-2001. He became available when Parcells took over the Dolphins and swept out the assistants.

Some press releases given by the NFL have actually stated that the most recent games of the Super Bowl have been made available to a billion potential audiences worldwide. However, there have been a couple of independent studies that have been done which have suggested that the total number of international viewers on the average is a little over 100 million - and a majority of this number are American viewers.

And because of this great fame of the Super Bowl, you may be astonished to learn that there are completely no videotapes of the first two Super Bowl telecasts. It is particularly surprising for the Super Bowl I, since it has been covered by CBS and NBC, which are two of the biggest television networks. Sports Illustrated has stated that the only first telecast footage that existed was the first game’s two-minute video clip. This is because during the earlier days of the television and sometime in the 1960s, the copies of the TV broadcasts were erased routinely, as nobody ever thought that there would be anyone who would want to replay a show that they have already seen. Also, during those days, videotapes were significantly expensive.

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Alan Faneca

Ben Roethlisberger

Willie Parker

Troy Polamalu

James Harrison

There are three parts to Pro Bowl voting; the fans players and coaches all account for one third of the election process. I’m not sure how Polamalu made the Pro Bowl, he’s missed several games to injury this year. Roethlisberger is clearly the third best QB in the AFC, possibly in the NFL, and in time could rise to the Brady-Favre-Manning level, especially if the Rooney’s shell out some cash for a few linemen who can block, and another wide receiver who can catch. Harrison is making good on the teams decision to let Joey Porter walk. He’s been somewhat quiet lately, but then again so has the defense as a whole.

I’m somewhat amazed Faneca made the team, as the O-line has been porous at best this season. It’s clear many players make the team based on reputation, but to give Faneca the benefit of the doubt, I’ll conclude he’s probably had to cover for Mahan a lot this season. While it’s hard to tell on TV who is missing their assignments, generally a lineman is told to take the inside-most rusher on passing plays, so if Mahan is beat to Faneca’s side, Faneca is supposed to take the guy to his right who just blew threw Mahan. The Steelers generally run to the left side, behind Faneca and Willie Parker does lead the league in rushing.

Obviously, a good line has to work well together, profound football insight I know, but just as stark, is the realization that this Steeler’s line is not greater than the sum of its parts and should be dismantled and reassembled this off-season.

I’m not sure about the intricacies of the Steelers run blocking schemes, but I do know Mahan is terrible, and should be cut after this season. The blame I place on the coaches goes back to the off-season, when Mahan, a guy who played for Tomlin in Tampa Bay, was signed instead of either a good center, or a wide receiver. I know Tomlin’s not the GM, but he obviously thought Mahan was the guy to replace Hartings and he clearly is not. One could argue Faneca has been the beneficiary of playing next to all-pro centers for his entire career.

Becker Lynn is a blogger at http://www.SteelerManiacs.com which is a fansite for diehard fans of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers

While the top-ranked Buckeyes looked awfully good in a 37-17 rout Saturday night of Penn State, potential pitfalls await in their quest for a second straight berth in the national title game.

Wisconsin visits Columbus on Saturday, followed by a Nov. 10 visit from Illinois and its potent offense.

Finally, there’s the annual season-ending rivalry game against Michigan — this year at the Big House.

“It’s a big step winning on the road at any time,” coach Jim Tressel said after the Buckeyes improved to 4-5 at Beaver Stadium. “Now we have to so see how good we are at home.”

AP Top 25 voters were impressed enough with the win over Penn State (6-3, 3-3) that the Buckeyes (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten) gained two first-place votes in this week’s poll. Ohio State notched its eighth double-digit win of the year.

Detractors had worried how first-year starting quarterback Todd Boeckman would fare in his toughest test to date at one of the rowdiest venues in the nation. The Nittany Lions had the nation’s seventh-best defense coming into the game.

Up until Saturday’s confrontation at home against the Ducks, the Huskies had pretty much lost it coming out of the locker room for the second half.

The media coverage following the loss concentrated mostly on the Huskies giving up 661 yards to Oregon’s high-scoring offense, 465 rushing yards and a career-high 251 rushing yards to Duck tailback Jonathan Stewart, a product of Timberline High School in Lacey, who should have been a Husky.

Instead of acknowledging the fact that Oregon gave up 34 points in their win, the media drew attention to the fact that the loose rushing defense caused the Huskies to drop to 118th in rushing defense among 119 major college teams, and rank 107th overall in defensive yards allowed.

Heck, at least half if not three quarters of the teams in America would be exactly where the Husky defense is ranked if they had played Washington’s schedule through the first seven games. Washington has played the toughest schedule for the last five weeks among 242 Division I teams.

The Husky defense is not as bad as the statistics would suggest. For one thing, Washington has no depth anywhere and by the 4th quarter, not only were too many players out of position, they were winded from being on the field with Oregon’s offense for more than 34 minutes.

For another, Washington has played 5 nationally-ranked teams straight up halfway through those games, leading in 3 of them against Ohio State (only the current No. 1 team in the country), USC (then ranked No. 2) and No. 12-ranked Arizona State.

Here is a news flash: Washington was supposed to lose to Oregon. I predicted it weeks ago.

Rather than focus on everything that was not happening against Oregon, let’s recognize what did happen:

1) Redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Locker threw an 83-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Anthony Russo, the 4th-longest TD pass in Husky history. Russo now has at least one reception in 31 consecutive games.

2) Jake Locker threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Marcel Reese.

3) Jake Locker threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to senior tailback Louis Rankin, the longest reception of his career.

4) Jake Locker threw another touchdown pass to Marcel Reese, this one for 38 yards.

5) Louis Rankin racked up 238 all purpose yards, 132 in kickoff returns, 73 in rushing (a 6.6 yard average per carry) and 43 receiving.

6) Jake Locker added 78 yards rushing at 6.0 yards per carry.

I fully expect Washington to lose to California for its 6th loss of the year, after all, California is not like playing against the scout team in practice.

On the plus side, I fully expect Washington to beat Arizona, Stanford, Oregon State, Washington State and Hawaii to end the season with a 7-6 mark and play in a bowl game.

I do not care if the Huskies win in the last minute or if they win by a field goal, a safety or an extra point. If flat does not matter. I do not care if the Huskies finish dead last in rushing defense or overall defense.

Hawaii has won games by 45-44 in overtime against Louisiana Tech, 42-35 in overtime against San Jose State, 52-37 against Utah State, 63-6 against AA Northern California and 66-10 against AA Charleston Southern. Hawaii is 7-0 and currently ranked No. 16 in the AP Top 25 Poll.

If Hawaii can pull off such wonder I think Washington can do the same against better competition.

The Huskies have been through hell and back and have survived. They are getting better and better offensively.

If you think things cannot get worse, check out Minnesota. The Gophers are 1-7 in the Big 10 and still have to play Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. Their lone win came against a mediocre Miami of Ohio team 41-35 in overtime. My guess is they drink an awful lot after games at Minnesota.

Dennis Erickson and his Sun Devils are 7-0 and riding high, but they still have to play California, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Arizona. Have fun, and good luck Dennis.

Who would you rather be now, Arizona State or Washington?

The fun for fans in Huskyville is just beginning. Strap on your shoulder pads, paint your face and put on your helmet because things are going to get better.

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Ed Bagley’s Blog Publishes Original Articles on Current and Past Events with Analysis and Commentary on 5 Subjects: Sports, Movie Reviews, Lessons in Life, Jobs and Careers, and Internet Marketing. My intention is to inform, educate, delight and motivate you the reader. Find my Blog at: http://www.edbagleyblog.com
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South Florida took a 14-3 lead at the half, held the powerful Mountaineers offense to 196 yards - 71 on the ground - and knocked out star quarterback Pat White.

Matt Grothe completed 11-of-20 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown, connecting with Carlton Mitchell for a 55-yard score in the second quarter to put the Bulls on top 14-0.

The two teams combined for 10 turnovers in the game, with West Virginia (4-1, 0-1 Big East) giving the ball back six times. Mountaineers junior quarterback White had a rough first half, throwing an interception to South Florida (4-0, 1-0) linebacker Ben Moffit, who rumbled 26 yards to score the game’s first touchdown.

White was injured at the end of the first half and did not return.

The Bulls extended their lead to 21-3 in the third quarter, when Jamar Taylor completed the first drive of the second half with a 19-yard run.

White’s replacement, Jarrett Brown, completed 11-of-20 passes for 148 yards and rushed for 69 yards but threw two interceptions. He was picked off at the South Florida nine-yard-line and again in the fourth quarter while driving for a score.

The turnovers effectively killed any chance the Mountaineers had of getting back into the game. South Florida sacked Brown twice on West Virginia’s final drive of the game and forced a pair of incompletions with less than a minute remaining to clinch the win.

The Mountaineers outgained the Bulls by 183 yards, but their Heisman Trophy hopeful, running back Steve Slaton, carried the ball 13 times for just 52 yards and fumbled twice.

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The nfl decided to change their ranking criteria of teams subsequent to coming super bowl championship. The baltimore ravens; who is looking for their success in the match against minnesota vikings, is currently ranked at the top by nfl. However, the pittsburgh steelers is among the heart favorite teams for the final match. Steelers won their second match of the season against ravens. That was a major comeback by steelers in the series.

Stoops was resting at home Friday afternoon.

The Wildcats (1-3, 0-1 Pac-10) are coming off a 45-27 loss at No. 6 California last week. Washington State (2-2, 0-1 Pac-10) is also trying to rebound from a 47-14 loss to top-ranked Southern California.