Nfl

Brian Price, once a wrecking ball on UCLA's defensive line, has beaten long odds to return to the NFL after two off-season surgeries aimed at keeping his hamstrings attached to his pelvis, rather than breaking loose and coiling down the backs of his thighs. For Price, who will start at defensive tackle Sunday for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his excruciating recovery was a 10-step process. Meaning just two months ago, he could run only 10 steps. "You have these doubts in your head at times," said Price, a second-round pick of the Buccaneers in 2010 who, because of his congenitally malformed pelvis, spent the last half of his rookie season on injured reserve.

The NFL Players Assn. is accusing league owners of secretly -- and illegally -- agreeing to put a salary cap in place in the uncapped 2010 season. The union filed a complaint in federal court Wednesday, alleging the owners colluded to impose a $123-million salary cap on teams, when they did not have the authority to do so. The league has since penalized Washington and Dallas for overspending in 2010, reducing the future salary caps of the Redskins and Cowboys by a combined $46 million over the next two seasons.

Bob Baffert and Wayne Lukas were sitting next to each other at a recent racing function when Baffert said to Lukas, "Everyone used to hate you. Now they hate me." It's as clear as a giant flowered hat, and just as ugly. At rowdy Churchill Downs today, the only thing more quietly despised than Bob Baffert will be a Breathalyzer. The 128th Kentucky Derby will feature 19 horses, 150,000 fans, and one villain. Baffert will saddle longshot War Emblem.

The NFL Players Assn. has accused the NFL of putting a secret salary cap in place in the uncapped 2010 season — a violation of antitrust laws — and is seeking monetary damages that could climb into the billions. The union filed suit against the league Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, accusing the NFL of collusion for conspiring to set a $123-million cap for 2010, when owners would have required the consent of players to do so. The NFL flatly denied the claim.

AEG billionaire Philip Anschutz is committed to the idea of an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles and is willing to buy an entire team -- as opposed to just a part of one -- in order to make the deal work, his top executive said Monday. "Phil is now completely engaged in this process," said Tim Leiweke, AEG's president and chief executive. "And the only thing he won't do is get leveraged to the point of doing a stupid deal on a team. But if this is about finding a win-win for the NFL and Phil Anschutz, he is prepared to write that check now, subject to getting done with the [environmental impact report]

Stanford's Andrew Luck and Baylor's Robert Griffin III appear poised to be only the fourth pair of quarterbacks to go 1-2 in the NFL draft in the last 20 years. Both have had stellar college careers, but only one seems destined to have the same kind of success in the NFL ... if history repeats itself. In all three cases during the last two decades, one member of the quarterback duo selected in the top two of the draft has gone on to enjoy a lengthy and successful pro career; the other has been more or less a bust.

While the legislature in Minnesota continued to work on a solution to keep the Vikings, AEG on Tuesday unveiled its latest vision for an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles. Two weeks remain in the public-comment period of AEG's environmental impact report on the concept, and the company hopes to have its approvals in place by late summer, with the goal of luring a football team back to L.A. next spring. AEG's is one of two competing stadium proposals, with the other in City of Industry.

Hall of Fame receiver Art Monk is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed against the NFL and helmet maker Riddell Inc. over long-term injuries as a result of concussions. The 82-page lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles last week along with two similar ones, with the three encompassing 193 former players. The suits were filed by the L.A.-based firm Girardi Keese. According to NFLConcussionLitigation, which first reported the latest litigation, more than 2,000 former players are currently suing the league over concussions.

Kyle Turley was 6 feet 5, 309 pounds, with hydrant-thick arms covered in tattoos. He was among the meanest, toughest offensive linemen in the NFL. And he was out cold. He had taken a shot to the helmet when playing for the St. Louis Rams in 2003 and was briefly unconscious. He quickly came to and made his way to the sideline, yet was so disoriented that when he tried to wave to his wife to let her know he was OK, he couldn't remember where she was sitting. "I should have remembered that," Turley said.

The heirs of the late Georgia Rosenbloom Frontiere are ready to sell the St. Louis Rams, and a group led by Dave Checketts -- owner of the St. Louis Blues professional hockey team -- is eager to buy it. But the group's offer drew flak from players, the head of the players' union and even the commissioner of the National Football League. The problem wasn't Checketts, it was one of his partners: former ESPN football commentator (and conservative talk radio's firebrand in chief) Rush Limbaugh.

NFL players will be required to wear knee and thigh pads, beginning in 2013, in accordance with a rules change adopted Tuesday at league meetings. Team owners voted in favor of the change, although input from the NFL Players Assn. is still required. The league dropped the idea of requiring players to wear hip pads as well. Many players are resistant to wearing extra padding, feeling it slows them and doesn't look as sleek and fashionable. "By the time you get to the league, you do whatever you can that's going to make you comfortable but you're still keeping within the integrity of the rules," said Roman Oben, a longtime NFL offensive lineman, told The Times in 2008.

By the 2013 season, all NFL players will be required to wear knee and thigh pads. Or will they? NFL owners voted Tuesday to make those pads mandatory, but the NFL Players Assn. quickly responded that changes such as those need to be collectively negotiated, opening another of several battlefronts between the league and the union. "While the NFL is focused on one element and health and safety today, the NFLPA believes that health and safety requires a comprehensive approach and commitment," the union said in a written statement.

Suspended New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma filed a defamation lawsuit Thursday against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell , claiming the league's top executive made false statements that tarnished Vilma's reputation and hindered his ability to earn a living playing football. The suit in U.S. District Court in New Orleans claims Goodell, "relied on, at best, hearsay, circumstantial evidence and lies" in making comments about Vilma while discussing the NFL's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.

Hall of Fame receiver Art Monk is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed against the NFL and helmet maker Riddell Inc. over long-term injuries as a result of concussions. The 82-page lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles last week along with two similar ones, with the three encompassing 193 former players. The suits were filed by the L.A.-based firm Girardi Keese. According to NFLConcussionLitigation, which first reported the latest litigation, more than 2,000 former players are currently suing the league over concussions.

Riki Ellison was a middle linebacker at USC in 1978, '79, '80 and '82, and played with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Raiders from 1983 to 1992 . The following is a letter he wrote with his feelings on the suicide of Junior Seau: Here I stand on the sands of Waikiki with the sounds of rolling, soft waves gliding gently upon the wet sands of retreat. The stoic Diamond Head stands in raw contrast to the Pacific waters, its unmistakable beauty a commanding presence.

While the legislature in Minnesota continued to work on a solution to keep the Vikings, AEG on Tuesday unveiled its latest vision for an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles. Two weeks remain in the public-comment period of AEG's environmental impact report on the concept, and the company hopes to have its approvals in place by late summer, with the goal of luring a football team back to L.A. next spring. AEG's is one of two competing stadium proposals, with the other in City of Industry.

The most-watched NFL conference championship game since 1982 and two "American Idol" episodes helped Fox draw the largest weekly average for any television network in the last two broadcast seasons. With the National Football Conference Championship Game averaging 57.93 million viewers, and the two "Idol" episodes finishing second and third, Fox averaged 24.4 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Jan. 18 and Sunday, according to figures released Tuesday by the Nielsen Co. Viewership for the New Orleans Saints' 31-28 overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday was the second largest for an NFL conference championship game, trailing only the 1982 matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, which averaged 68.7 million viewers.

Baltimore 37, at Carolina 13: Welcome to 2011 draft, Panthers, whose starting quarterback was signed this week. You are on the clock. at N.Y. Jets 30, Houston 27: Jets feel obliged to offer fans free stress tests after consecutive OT road wins and this heart-stopping comeback. Buffalo 49, at Cincinnati 31: Smallest crowd since 2003 feels even smaller after watching Bengals blow a three-touchdown lead to Bills. at Jacksonville 24, Cleveland 20: Jaguars' glass-half-empty game plan allows for six turnovers, including five in the second half.

Consider two projects that could have profound impacts on Los Angeles: Both would create thousands of jobs. One would increase traffic a bit; the other would significantly decrease it. One would be "carbon neutral," meaning it would not help the global environment but wouldn't hurt it either; the other would powerfully reduce emissions. Both could create some inconveniences to their immediate neighbors while delivering tax revenue, jobs and services to the city at large. One is the proposed downtown football stadium, and it has sailed through government approvals despite its potential for increasing traffic and inconveniencing people who live or work downtown.

OCEANSIDE, Calif. - Junior Seau spent Monday morning surfing in San Clemente and that afternoon playing in a charity golf tournament in Dana Point. He joked with his playing partners, was the first to offer fist bumps after clutch putts, sought out course workers to pose for pictures with him and seemed like a retired NFL superstar without a care. Less than two days later, in a bedroom of his beachfront home in Oceanside, while his girlfriend was at the gym, Seau, among the greatest linebackers in football history, put a handgun to his chest and pulled the trigger.