Matt Forte

• Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez will catch his share of passes in the Falcons offense this season. However, with the offense built around RB Michael Turner, Gonzalez will be relied upon to be a productive blocking tight end. “Tony will help our offense in a number of ways,” offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey said. “One thing he’s going to do is that he’s a productive blocker and that’s important in our offense … As successful as he’s been as a receiver, he’s a good blocker too and he really doesn’t get the credit that he should.”
• Falcons WR Roddy White will be looking to become the second player in team history to post three straight 1,000-yard seasons, joining Andre Rison (1992 to 1994) in the exclusive club. There’s that small matter of White’s contract extension that could get in the way. White’s camp had to like the three-year, $27 million extension that Greg Jennings signed with Green Bay recently).
• Bears RBs coach Tim Spencer said he would like to see second-year RB Matt Forte improve on his yards per carry and yards per catch. Spencer believes both will improve for Forte this season. Spencer said he is not concerned about a sophomore slump. “He’s going to do well,” Spencer added. “We have some new players and we’ve improved on our offensive line. I see no reason why Matt shouldn’t improve this season.”
• Cowboys owner Jerry Jones defended Tony Romo from criticism by Troy Aikman, who said that because success has come so quickly for the undrafted Eastern Illinois product that Romo “hasn’t fully grasped what being the Cowboys quarterback is all about.” “I’ve always been so amused about any talk of Tony and his focus on football and his work ethic,” Jones says. “Tony’s boring. He won’t talk about anything but football and the Cowboys and how to move the ball and what plays we should run. “I don’t know (that) I’ve been around anybody who’s just that into football. I wish he would talk more about spicy things, but I can’t get him to.”
• Browns RB Jamal Lewis should have plenty of opportunities to carry the ball within the team’s new offense. Head coach Eric Mangini wants to control the clock with a power running game, which would seem to suit Lewis. Last year Lewis had 279 carries for 1,002 yards and four rushing touchdowns.

• Browns QB Brady Quinn holds a slight lead over QB Derek Anderson (calf) in the competition for the team’s starting quarterback job. Quinn had a decent, albeit not spectacular, minicamp, while Anderson struggled most of the way through before missing the final two practices with a calf injury. The coaching staff, however, will not make any premature decisions and they will wait until both quarterbacks perform in preseason games, so it is still very much an open competition.

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