DETROIT -- Brett Favre has another NFL record.
Favre started Sunday for the 271st straight time in the regular season, playing for the Minnesota Vikings against the Detroit Lions. He handed off to running back Adrian Peterson after taking his first snap.
Defensive end Jim Marshall had the previous mark, starting 270 games in a row for Minnesota from 1961-1979.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
LANDOVER, Md. -- Redskins cornerback Fred Smoot is inactive for Washington's game against the St. Louis Rams with a rib injury.
Smoot is Washington's third cornerback, used primarily in nickel packages with starters DeAngelo Hall and Carlos Rogers. His replacement on Sunday was expected to be second-year player Justin Tryon.
For the Rams, fourth-year defensive end Victor Adeyanju was inactive for the second straight week.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
Despite their stormy relationship, the Denver Broncos are now exploring the possibility of giving a contract extension to wide receiver Brandon Marshall, two league sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Wednesday.
The potential new deal would put Marshall's salary more in line with some of the game's other highly paid receivers.
Due to the fact he has been unable to get a long-term deal, Marshall has been clinging to the hopes that Denver would deal him. But now, in a new approach, the deal Denver might make is not for Marshall, but rather with Marshall.
The fact that they are even talking is an encouraging sign, sources said, and there is some optimism that a deal could be struck that could keep Marshall in Denver long term.
Adam Schefter covers the NFL for ESPN Insider.
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Remember Brett Favre's first answer to Vikings coach Brad Childress? My body isn't up for this, he said. Six weeks later, Minnesota's new quarterback wants to remind the football world just how old he is."I may not finish the year. If you would have asked me my first year if I would finish I'd have said, 'I may not,'" Favre said. "No one thought I'd play 18 straight years without missing a game, me included. I have no idea what's going to happen. None."
After his initial rejection on July 28, Favre accepted the coach's offer to join the Vikings on Aug. 18 for this too-good-to-pass-up opportunity to play for a title-contending team. His reasoning? He didn't want to regret not trying, not even at age 39.
Unless Favre visited some secret Mississippi version of the Fountain of Youth during that time, however, the health of one of the most durable athletes in history is still in question. Favre acknowledged as much Wednesday, the day a rocking chair appeared in front of his cubicle in the locker room courtesy of an unknown prankster.
"I feel good," Favre said, elaborating in his familiar wounded-warrior style. "I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not physically or mentally 100 percent. I don't know at 39 if I'd ever be 100 percent physically."
The partially torn biceps tendon that bothered his throwing arm last December with the New York Jets has been surgically repaired, but he is playing with a torn rotator cuff. Recently, Favre suggested he might have a cracked rib. When he explained his first decision to stay retired, he hinted he's not fully confident in his stamina by noting how many times he's been sacked over the years.
That means this issue will linger for the Vikings until the season is over, though they've downplayed concerns. Childress has repeated that signing Favre was a risk worth taking.
"From last year, me getting put back in there kind of showed me that you've got to be ready any time," said backup Tarvaris Jackson, who regained the starting job when Gus Frerotte hurt his back in the first game in December. "My mindset's no different."
If Favre gets knocked out of a game or two or more and Childress must turn to Jackson or Sage Rosenfels, that's one story. Another noteworthy angle is Favre's ironman image, his proud streak of 269 straight regular season games started.
When he lines up behind center this Sunday at Cleveland, Favre will match what the NFL believes to be the all-time record held by former Vikings defensive lineman Jim Marshall from 1961-79. Favre is also on track this year to pass Marshall's record streak of 282 consecutive games played by a non-kicker.
If his health were to become a hindrance to Minnesota's success this season, would Favre step aside?
"Absolutely. I was receptive to it last year," he said.
Jets running back Thomas Jones criticized Favre after last season, claiming he should've been benched while the team stumbled down the stretch and missed the playoffs.
Favre said Wednesday he felt like he was harming the team with slight misses on some throws. He said he spoke with the general manager, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach -- he didn't name head coach Eric Mangini -- but the consensus was to finish it out.
"Absolutely. I was receptive to [sitting] last year," Favre told the New York Daily News. "When we finally did an MRI and found out I had a torn biceps last year, I felt like, with about four or five games left, that even though I was making some pretty good throws and some decent plays, I felt like I was doing the team more harm because I was missing on some throws."
Mangini, now the head coach of the Browns, said Favre's streak didn't affect his decision to keep him in the lineup last December.
"With that stretch there were things that we could've all done better," Mangini said on a conference call with Minnesota reporters. He added: "All the decisions that I made during that time period followed the same thing I believe, and that's playing the guys that I think are going to give us the best chance to win that week."
Favre also revealed he asked Childress to let him address his teammates "from the heart" on a number of subjects, a 10-minute speech he gave in the meeting room on Monday.
"I wanted the guys to know where I stood, and what I was here for," Favre said. "Sort of the timeline of what happened, and things like that."
Teammates expressed appreciation of his effort.
"He gave his apologies for all the commotion that was caused, even though it might not have been intentional by him," tight end Visanthe Shiancoe said. "The frenzy, he apologized for the frenzy."
Reactions varied on whether it was necessary. Shiancoe said it was.
"There was questions on everybody's mind. I'm pretty sure it was different questions. He pretty much answered everybody's questions. Cleaned up everybody's wonders," Shiancoe said.
Favre also referenced his 1996-97 Super Bowl experience with Green Bay and told the Vikings they've got as much talent as that Packers team.
"I was impressed," cornerback Antoine Winfield said, adding: "Our No. 1 goal is to win a championship. He seems like he's focused on that. He's just trying to fit in. He's only been here a couple weeks. We've welcomed him with open arms."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel practiced for the second time this week, wearing a brace on his left knee as he went through individual drills Wednesday.
His status for Sunday's season opener at Baltimore? Still up in the air.
Unable to participate fully in practice, Cassel is listed as questionable against the Ravens and coach Todd Haley was again evasive on whether his $63 million quarterback would be available.
"He was out there, which was good. That's better than not being out there," Haley said. "He was able to get through some [drills], so that's going to be a situation we'll monitor as the week goes on. I don't know that we're going to have an answer right up until we play."
Cassel was injured in Kansas City's second preseason game on Aug. 29, when he was pulled down from behind by Seattle's Brandon Mebane. He returned to practice Monday, though in a limited role.
Without Cassel, the Chiefs' sputtering offense would seem to be at a monumental disadvantage against Baltimore's stingy defense. Brodie Croyle would likely get the start and he hasn't been the franchise quarterback former coach Herm Edwards had hoped, plagued by injuries last year and unable to get the offense into the end zone this preseason.
Of course, Cassel hasn't exactly looked like the player who led New England to 11 wins after Tom Brady got hurt last year.
The Chiefs traded for Cassel in the offseason, then signed him to a six-year contract that guarantees him $28 million. He was mostly average in training camp and saw limited time in the preseason, throwing for 114 yards and a touchdown on 11-of-19 passing.
The Seahawks game was supposed to be where the Chiefs got a good, long look at Cassel. Instead, he went down on the third play of the game and his first passing play.
Now, Cassel is trying to come back from an injury and get ready for a game with limited practice time -- against one of the NFL's best defenses, no less.
"They're obviously one of the great defenses over the last decade," Haley said. "Even though they've had to plug in different players in different roles, every year they've come and played defense."
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
CINCINNATI -- Chad Ochocinco is working on a tweet surprise for the NFL.
The flamboyant receiver promised something new for the Cincinnati Bengals opener Sunday against the Denver Broncos at Paul Brown Stadium. What exactly? He won't say.
Ochocinco stopped posting on his Twitter account last Friday, saying he didn't want to violate the NFL's new rules on what players can say on social networks. The league said players can't use Twitter, Facebook or other networks immediately before or during games.
Ochocinco said on Wednesday that he has read the NFL's restrictions and has discovered loopholes. Until last week, he had been one of the most frequent tweeters among NFL players.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
CARSON CITY, Nev. -- The attorney for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Wednesday rejected a settlement offer by a Nevada woman who claims the Super Bowl champion sexually assaulted her at a Lake Tahoe hotel-casino.
The rejection was in response to a letter, filed last week as part of a motion from Cal Dunlap, the woman's Reno attorney, that said she would be willing to settle the civil matter against Roethlisberger if he admits to raping her, apologizes and gives $100,000 to the Committee to Aid Abused Women, a non-profit agency in Reno that helps victims of domestic violence.
In a written statement, Roethlisberger attorney David Cornwell called the woman's offer "bizarre" and an "insult to women who have legitimately suffered from sexual misconduct."
Last month, they demanded she drop the lawsuit and write a letter of apology to the NFL star. In return, Roethlisberger would release both the woman and Dunlap from any legal liability stemming from the "conspiracy to extort and defame" him.
Those demands have been rejected by the woman, Dunlap said in his letter. It added that her settlement offer was made to negate claims by the quarterback's attorneys that she filed her suit to get money from him.
Dunlap said the woman is a sexual assault victim who "was violated in every sense of the term."
Dunlap refused further comment when contacted Wednesday.
Cornwell countered that the woman was given the option for a "graceful exit."
"We will continue to press our defenses and claims and pursue our application for sanctions," he said.
In other developments, the case in Washoe District Court has been reassigned to another judge, the third since the case was filed. District Judge Brent Adams will consider pending motions on whether the case should be moved to Douglas County. Depending on that ruling, he also would decide various other motions, including whether the case should proceed or be dismissed, attorneys said.
No hearings have been scheduled.
The woman, a VIP casino hostess, filed the civil suit against Roethlisberger in July, claiming the Super Bowl-winning quarterback raped her in 2008 in a hotel penthouse across the street from a golf course where he was playing in a celebrity tournament.
In other documents filed late Tuesday, Dunlap said the woman was stationed as a concierge on the 17th floor on July 11, 2008, when Roethlisberger returned to his room with a young woman. About 20 minutes later, he walked that woman to the elevator, then stopped by the concierge desk and chatted with staff, including his accuser.
A few minutes later, the documents said, Roethlisberger reportedly called the woman and asked her if she could fix his television. The woman said the television was working properly and that Roethlisberger then blocked her from leaving and assaulted her.
In the same filing, Dunlap also said the woman told her roommate and others of the encounter soon after the alleged attack and in the months that followed.
She did not report the incident to police, something advocates for rape victims say is not unusual.
Roethlisberger has denied the allegations.
Dunlap late Tuesday also countered suggestions by Roethlisberger's lawyers that the woman is mentally ill.
"It is in fact their slanderous allegations and total trashing of every aspect of her life, relevant or not, that adds to her distress," he wrote. "But, despite this horrible barrage of unwarranted defamation, this woman has held her head high, has gone into the den of the defendants and has continued to do her job without fail under the most egregious circumstances possible.
"This is something that a mentally ill person would certainly not be able to carry off."
The civil suit also names eight Harrah's officials as defendants, alleging they orchestrated a cover-up of the incident. The suit says she suffered depression, was hospitalized and forced to take leave from her job in the year after the incident.
In previous court documents, the attorney for hotel security chief Guy Hyder and other Harrah's defendants said the woman kept him "informed with running e-mail commentary about her plan to have sex with Roethlisberger."
"Hyder did not report it to management, since having consensual sex with a hotel patron, while on the job, would get her fired," the motion said.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
