You have to feel for former Maryland guard Andrew Crummey. Projected last summer as one of the nation's top offensive guards, Crummey was playing well when he broke his left fibula against Georgia Tech in midseason. He came back to play in the last two regular season games and the Terps' bowl game after a seven-week absence.

But Crummey suffered a second fracture to the same fibula while playing in the East-West all-star game in Houston in January. This time he needed surgery.

So he showed up this week on crutches and in a boot. He got rid of the crutches on Thursday, but obviously hasn't participated in an drills. He still has the boot on. What it means to his draft stock is uncertain. But it's probably not good.

"I'm the same player," he said. "It's how the teams want to perceive this, how they want to value me. I don't think I'm less of a player, less of an investment."

Crummey expects the injury may cost him a couple rounds in the draft, but won't know until April 27, the second day, how far he's dropped. He is hopeful he can rehabilitate in time to have a workout before then.

Considering he started three years at Maryland and never had any other serious injuries, he'd be a good pick, without much risk, for a team that needs interior linemen.

Posted by Ken Murray at 3:57 PM | Permalink
                    

Mike Smith, the first-year coach of the forlorn Atlanta Falcons, handled his first session with the national media with aplomb yesterday in the Indiana Convention Center. He fielded all questions and delivered few answers with the skill of a veteran coach.

Smith's coaching staff is in place and his rebuilding plans are in order. What little the former Ravens assistant was willing to divulge is that the Falcons will be physical up front and they're open to all options in the draft.

Holding the No. 3 pick and in need of a franchise quarterback, Smith declined to surrender any clues. "When you get to the draft, there are a lot of options," he said. "At three, there are a number of otpions. The dynamics always change day to day in the draft. You have to have contingency plans in everything."

Sitting behind Miami and St. Louis, the Falcons might be able to land quarterback Matt Ryan of Boston College. Although Ryan had some flattering things to say about both Miami and Atlanta during his session with the media, Smith had little to say about the No. 1 quarterback in the draft.

"This is a quarterback driven league," Smith said. "We have to look in all the areas, including free agency and the draft [for a quarterback]."

Smith is also the brother-in-law of former Ravens coach Brian Billick, who was fired in January. Smith said Billick had just returned from a visit to Iraq and was "doing well."

Posted by Ken Murray at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

The best players always come to the NFL combine, but they don't always participate in drills. Some prefer the comfort zone of familiar surroundings. That's the way it'll be for quarterbacks Andre Woodson and, to a lesser degree, Matt Ryan this week.

Neither quarterback will throw, and only Ryan will run for the NFL scouts. Woodson, from Kentucky, said he has a hamstring pull that will keep him out of drills here. He will instead throw at Kentucky's pro day next month.

Ryan, the Boston College quarterback who could well be the first pick in the draft, said he will run for scouts here, but wants to throw to his own receivers back at BC's pro day. He wants to present an "accurate representation" of his skills with receivers he knows.

Yesterday, Kevin Colbert, the director of football operations for the Steelers, pointed out that quarterbacks often has issues with accuracy at the combine because of the lack of familiarity with the receivers. That's also a problem at the all-star games at season's end.

By waiting, of course, the quarterbacks have removed their margin of error. If they show poorly on pro day, they're going to be scrambling.

Posted by Ken Murray at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Super Bowl victory aside, Giants coach Tom Coughlin said he's the same guy who was on the hot seat this time a year ago. He climbed the mountain with the Giants' stunning upset of the Patriots earlier this month, rode in a parade in New York City and now is getting back to work. He says he hasn't changed, that only the perception of him has changed.

That brought a knowing smile to Tony Dungy's face yesterday during combine activities in Indianapolis. Dungy won a Super Bowl a year ago, and he found he was viewed differently in a lot of areas. But in fact, Dungy hadn't changed either.

"You try very hard not to change," Dungy said. "You try to do things the same way. But the perception of you does change. ... You're perceived as being smarter."

At least until the next tough loss.

Posted by Ken Murray at 12:42 PM | Permalink
                    

The most bizarre, yet unreported, story here at the combine is that the NFL is here en masse covering itself. How? Web sites. Every NFL team has a web site and its own set of writers/videographers. Mike Duffy is here for the Ravens. Many teams are represented.

What does it mean? That your team news is filtered through the lens of the team, if that’s where you get the news. That questions are being asked by team employees. That journalists must share elbow room with people who have vested interests and precise agendas.

It’s all part of the evolution of the NFL’s media arm. NFL Network covers the combine drills live, but accredited journalists can’t get in to see the workouts. The NFL plays the game, sets the rules, bars who it wants, enlists who it needs, and rules the sporting world. It’s a great life, if you’re in the NFL.

Posted by Ken Murray at 11:02 AM | Permalink
                    

While most combine news encompasses 40 times, vertical jumps and psychological profiles, the real decisions during the NFL combine here are made by the league's competition committee. That's the body of executives who wrestle over rules changes and issues dealing with competitiveness.

Toward that end, the committee yesterday listened to explanations on the handling of the Spygate controversy and talked about last season's trend of last-second timeouts to ice the opposing kicker.

One by one, members of the committee said they were satisfied with the explanations of why commissioner Roger Goodell burned the tapes and notes from the Patriots' filming scandal early in the year. When coach Bill Belichick taped the Jets' sideline for defensive signals in Week 1, the incident flared into a major issue of cheating.

"What was on the tapes was explained to us and what was in the notes was explained to us," said Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian, a member of the committee. "From my perspective, that was a thorough, fair and efficient process with lots of integrity. It's behind us. It's time to move forward."

That's what the league would like, anyway.

Committee members said there was no need to change rules because Goodell has already sent a stern enough message with his fines of both Belichick and the Patriots.

As for those timeouts just as a kicker attempted a field goal, Jeff Fisher said he believes it was just a trend that disappeared later in the year.

"We can't legislate when you can call a timeout, or when you can't," the Tennessee Titans coach said. "I think early in the season it was a trend, but I don't think you'll see much more of it."

Posted by Ken Murray at 2:15 PM | Permalink
                    

It's only in the preliminary, talking stages, but the NFL's competition committee will take a look at reseeding playoff teams in the future. Acknowledging that some divisions are stronger than others, the committee allows that a superior record doesn't necessarily reflect the true merit of that team.

"You can have a 12-4 team traveling to a 9-7 team," said Rich McKay, who is president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a member of the committee. "There definitely are people on both sides, and they have good arguments on both sides."

Currently, the four division winners in each conference are seeded by their record, ahead of two wild-card teams, regardless of the latter's record. That's one element that may change to acknowledge better teams in tougher divisions.

While the New England Patriots went 16-0 in the AFC East this season, it was obvious the East was among, if not the worst division in the league.

Several teams responded in the annual year-end survey that they wanted to look at a reseeding. There appears to be no consensus at this point, but McKay said the committee would take the issue to the league meetings in Naples, Fla., in March and explore it further.

McKay said it could come to a vote, but did not indicate how the committee was leaning. It's up to the competition committee to bring a recommendation to the owners at the league meetings on anything that could be changed.

Posted by Ken Murray at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

The song and dance part of the NFL combine began in earnest this morning. Lovie Smith, who coached the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl two years ago and to a 7-9 record in 2007, was the first coach on the podium.

He didn't have many answers, but he did acknowledge the Bears have to reshape their offensive line and are very much uncertain at quarterback, where Rex Grossman is the incumbent, so to speak.

The Bears have released tackle Fred Miller and guard Ruben Brown since the end of the season, and that makes the offensive line a priority in the draft and/or free agency. What happens at quarterback, though, is more compelling.

Smith said the Bears would like Grossman to come back, but stopped short of an endorsement for the unrestricted free agent. "We're trying to improve every position right now," Smith said.

That doesn't sound like a Grossman return.

Posted by Ken Murray at 10:29 AM | Permalink
                    

Players begin arriving at the NFL combine in Indianapolis today.

The Sun's Ken Murray will be covering the event in print and online as college prospects look to improve their stock before April's draft. Look for Murray's first blog post Thursday.

In the meantime, here's a preview of the combine on the Moving the Chains blog.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 4:02 PM | Permalink