National Football League

It was an NFL draft of traders and Raiders. It was a weekend of easy street (first-round picks are projected to receive a guaranteed $400 million), Madison Avenue (has Mark Sanchez mentioned he loves New York?) and tackle Michael Oher, the road (grader) not taken. Actually, Oher was taken -- selected 23rd by the Baltimore Ravens -- but it was a lot later than he had hoped. Many people expected him to be a top-10 pick.

State leaders have said there are no winners in California's budget deal to erase a $26.3-billion deficit. But at least one group might come out ahead: the City of Industry, billionaire real estate investor Ed Roski Jr. and backers of a proposed NFL stadium on 600 acres he controls east of downtown Los Angeles.

Is Michael Vick one step closer to an NFL return? A league spokesman declined to comment Thursday on reports that the disgraced quarterback met Wednesday afternoon with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss coming back to football after serving a 20-month federal sentence for dogfighting that ended this week. "We've been consistent in saying we're not going to comment on the details of the review process," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

The National Football League is making a big bet on 2014. That's when its four big television deals are set to expire, which means the league will either have incredible leverage or find itself in a deep hole, depending on what the media landscape looks like five years from now. The league engineered this little coup today by extending NBC's Sunday Night Football deal for two more years, through the 2013 season. Earlier this year, CBS Corp. and News Corp.'s Fox signed similar extensions for their Sunday afternoon packages.

Are you ready for some football? Not as ready as Roger Goodell is, trust me. You might tire of all the non-football NFL news of the last several weeks, but at least you're not living it. The commissioner must long for the days when "Cable fight" meant trying to get the NFL Network in more households, not trying to pry apart Oakland Raiders coaches. Goodell is fond of saying the NFL is the "ultimate reality show," and who can argue? Not with every other story having to do with Michael Vick coming back, Plaxico Burress going away and Brett Favre doing a little of both.

The New Orleans Saints have not only Drew Brees on their side but fate. If Kevin Kolb starts at quarterback for Philadelphia on Sunday, it will be the second consecutive week the Saints defense will face a passer with little to no experience. In the opener, New Orleans picked off Detroit rookie Matthew Stafford three times on its way to a 45-27 victory in which Brees threw a club-record six touchdown passes. Kolb, likely filling in for Donovan McNabb (cracked rib)

Another day, another dollar gone? As the weeks pass and no agreement is reached with the San Francisco 49ers, receiver Michael Crabtree moves closer to missing the entire NFL season, reentering the draft in 2010 and trying his luck again. Texas Tech's Crabtree, the No. 10 pick of the 2009 NFL draft, is the only unsigned player from his draft class, and has turned down the 49ers' reported offer of $20 million over five years, with all but $4 million of it guaranteed. Neither he nor his agent have discussed the situation publicly, but it is believed Crabtree wants more money than the league's unofficial slotting system warrants because he thinks he should have been chosen earlier.

The economy is healthy when it comes to betting on the NFL. "Football is America's game," said John Avello, executive director of race and sports operations at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas. "People seem to have money for it. "Maybe the bettor thinks he can hit eight of 10 straight bets. But we anticipated the bettors being here [for the first weekend of the NFL season], and they were." Avello said the Wynn saw action from the squares betting $10 to the whales betting thousands.

Since the Raiders and Rams left Southern California after the 1994 season, several developers have come forward with grand but ultimately unrealized plans for bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles. Plans have been floated for stadiums in Carson, downtown Los Angeles, Anaheim and Pasadena's Rose Bowl. But at least for now, the proposal attracting the attention of state and local officials is developer Ed Roski Jr.'s plan to build an $800-million NFL stadium near the junction of the 57 and 60 freeways in the City of Industry.

at Baltimore 30, Denver 7: If you're going to fall from the undefeated ranks, you might as well leave no doubt about it. Houston 31, at Buffalo 10: Suddenly, Terrell Owens has fond memories of his good friend and favorite quarterback, Tony Romo. at Chicago 30, Cleveland 6: Had a bad couple of weeks? On a losing streak? Just play the Browns and all of that will end. Miami 30, at N.Y. Jets 25: Dolphins win despite stress of trying to keep Bob Griese away from Mark Sanchez all week.