Poor playing conditions at Heinz Field under NFL scrutiny

PITTSBURGH -- The NFL is closely monitoring conditions at Heinz Field, a league source said Sunday, after the Oakland Raiders became the latest Steelers opponent to complain about the playing surface.

The New England Patriots also complained about the field conditions last week.

The portion of the field between the hashmarks between the 30-yard lines is pocked with soft spots and areas where the sod easily comes out. The footing is poor there, and the Steelers plan to re-sod at some point, but timing is an issue.

The Steelers have a heavy home schedule, the University of Pittsburgh play here Friday, and Heinz Field also is home to high school playoff games. Therefore, the Steelers know this problem will be much worse before it can get better.

The NFL will remain in contact with the Steelers about the issue.

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Agents under scrutiny amid reports of paying potential clients

The NFL Players Association has suspended contract adviser Marlon Sullivan for six months and fined him $10,000 because his employee gave money to a former college football player.

Under NFLPA regulations, contract advisers are held responsible for the actions of recruiters.

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Sullivan also failed to sign a disclosure form acknowledging that he would pay the recruiter a fee to recruit the player as a client of Sullivan's firm.

The NFLPA didn't name the player involved.

The announcement Tuesday came on the same day that Sports Illustrated published an article detailing how a former sports agent paid college football players early in his career.

Josh Luchs says in the Oct. 18 edition of the magazine that he paid more than 30 players from 1990 to 1996, including many who didn't sign with him.

He says Ryan Leaf, the 1998 No. 2 overall draft pick who famously flopped in the pros, took more than $10,000, most of which the quarterback voluntarily paid back after signing with another agent. Leaf declined to comment on specific allegations.

Luchs also says he paid former first-round picks Jamir Miller and Chris Mims. Miller, a linebacker from UCLA taken 10th by the Arizona Cardinals in 1994, declined comment. Mims, a defensive lineman from Tennessee taken 23rd by the San Diego Chargers in 1992, died in 2008.

Luchs was suspended for a year by the NFL Players Association in 2007 over the handling of a commission check. He says he's telling his story because "I don't want my career to be defined by that suspension."

Luchs says he didn't pay players while working with Gary Wichard, the agent linked to the investigation of NCAA violations at North Carolina. But Luchs says Wichard and John Blake, the Tar Heels assistant who resigned amid the investigation, worked together in violation of NCAA rules in 2002.

Wichard and Blake declined comment through their lawyers.

Luchs sued Wichard for breach of contract after leaving his agency and lost the lawsuit. Wichard filed the grievance with the NFLPA over Luchs' handling of the check.

Luchs says Jonathan Ogden, the Baltimore Ravens' 11-time Pro Bowl tackle, wouldn't take money but accepted concert tickets in violation of NCAA rules. Ogden confirmed the account.

Luchs lists more than 20 other players he says he paid: Michigan State's Tony Banks; Arizona's Rob Waldrop; Tennessee's Chuck Webb; Portland State's Darick Holmes; Illinois' Mel Agee; USC's Travis Claridge, Phalen Pounds, R. Jay Soward and Delon Washington; Colorado's Kanavis McGhee, Joel Steed and Greg Thomas; Washington State's Leon Bender, Torey Hunter, Singor Mobley and John Rushing; and UCLA's Chris Alexander, Ryan Fien, Carl Greenwood, Othello Henderson, Vaughn Parker, Matt Soenksen and Bruce Walker.

Alexander, Greenwood, Henderson, Mobley, Soenksen, Soward, and Walker confirmed receiving money. Fien, Hunter, Steed and Waldrop said they didn't receive money from Luchs.

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Banks, Parker, Pounds and Rushing declined to comment on the allegations. Holmes, McGhee, Thomas, Washington and Webb didn't respond to requests to comment.

Agee, Claridge and Bender are deceased.

Luchs says Dana Stubblefield, J.J. Stokes and Keyshawn Johnson -- all of whom later played in the NFL -- declined to take money from him.

Luchs says that while he was recruiting Ohio State's Santonio Holmes in 2005, the receiver said he had been taking money from an agent for a couple of years. Holmes, now with the New York Jets, said the story was untrue.

Luchs also says that ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper helped Wichard recruit players. Kiper denied the claim.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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NFL official: Controversial 'catch rule' coming under review

CHICAGO -- Calvin Johnson's no-catch might become a catch in the future.

The NFL expects to review the rule that cost the Detroit Lions' star wide receiver a potential winning touchdown during a season-opening loss to the Chicago Bears. It has been one of the season's most discussed -- and dissed -- calls.

"The going-to-the-ground rule definitely will be discussed," NFL competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay said Tuesday at the NFL Fall League Meeting. "It's been discussed the last couple of years. It's a difficult rule. It was made for on-field officials, not as much for people watching on TV."

"There's a definite conflict," McKay added. "We have to go back and look if we extended it too far."

With Detroit trailing Chicago, 19-14, with less than a minute left in the game, Johnson leaped to grab a pass from Shaun Hill in the end zone. Johnson got both feet and a knee on the ground before putting the ball on the grass and beginning to celebrate a touchdown. However, the pass was ruled incomplete because Johnson didn't maintain possession of the ball throughout the entire process of the catch.

The league's competition committee will meet after the Super Bowl, then suggest any rules changes to team owners at the Spring Meeting in March.

McKay also said another move that drew criticism, switching the umpire from behind the defense line to behind the offensive backfield, is working. He hasn't seen any video of an umpire being hit by another player; last season, there were "between 105 and 115 hits on video."

But the move has affected the number of offensive holding penalties, which were up through four weeks. Placing umpires behind the offense apparently has given them a better view of blocking on the line.

Several quarterbacks, particularly Peyton Manning, complained during the preseason that the new positioning of umpires delayed spotting of the ball to restart play.

"That has not been an issue, like some thought it would be in the preseason," said McKay, the president of the Atlanta Falcons.

One trend concerning the league is the number of helmets that have flown off players' heads. McKay informally charts such things, and the league office is keeping count.

"We're going back to the each manufacturer and asking why it's happening," he said. "It's definitely something we should be looking at. The union ... and everyone is in on this issue."

McKay said he was encouraged that some of the hits on defenseless receivers have disappeared, which he credited to "players adjusting to the way they play the game."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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