Tom E. Curran • E-mail

YA DON’T SAY
“Sgt. Windus later advised me that it was Vince Young and that he was driving a black Mercedes and armed with a gun. I asked him (Jeff Fisher), ‘What made her worry about him?’ (Fisher stated), ‘His mood, his emotions, he is injured, he wants to quit, and he mentioned suicide several times.’ He (Fisher) went on to state that he (Young) left the house with a gun.”
— From Nashville Central Precinct Lt. Andrea Swisher’s police report on the Vince Young situation on Monday night.

“The officer let me off for good behavior. Because of Channel 19, it got brought back up, got resurfaced and there it was. I got a ticket. But I’m not the first person to get a speeding ticket.”
— Braylon Edwards, Browns wide receiver, after a Cleveland TV station broke news of an officer not issuing a ticket to Edwards for going 120 mph in a 65 mph zone. A ticket was retroactively issued.

“I don’t combat any of that, OK? I don’t listen to it. No disrespect — football talk, political talk — I like action. I like firsthand knowledge. Other than that, I can’t comment on talk. I respect the people that do it because they have jobs to do, but rumors are rumors and I’m not going to address all of them. I don’t have that much time.”
—Jon Gruden, Buccaneers head coach, on dealing with talk that the team was trying to deal quarterback Jeff Garcia.

“I'm not going to get really get into if I was the defensive coordinator what I would do because that doesn't really matter. I'm the head coach. I oversee everything and I control what I can control. Do I have the exact belief that we do on defense? No, but it’s hard to have the exact belief that we do. So, it is what it is.”
— Lane Kiffin, Raiders head coach, on his team’s lack of blitzes in a loss to the Broncos.

“That’s all on me. I put the game plan in, I run the defense, and it’s all on me. I just want to set it straight because I've been here five years and I don't think people necessarily have the right story.”
— Rob Ryan, Raiders defensive coordinator, on Kiffin’s comments and the perception that owner Al Davis puts in the defensive game plan.

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos

“The fans and just the excitement of me coming there and being there, it became too overwhelming for Donovan. “I think at one point in time, I will say that we had a good relationship. I think I got too big for Philly, too big for him. I just feel like in a sense that he felt like I was just probably getting too much attention.”
— Terrell Owens, Cowboys receiver, on his fractured relationship with former Eagles teammate Donovan McNabb.

“We had great times here. ... It’s unfortunate the way things ended up but he's happy where he's at and I'm happy where I'm at.”
—  McNabb on Owens.

“A lot of people were making the argument that we should pick up and move on, not let it affect us. But, conversely, I think this is a typical response for our culture, to sweep it under the rug, move on, and what not. That’s how we deal with pain and grief: We don’t want to deal with it, so we act like nothing happened. But something did happen, and it’s huge. It’s a huge tragedy. For us to dismiss our feelings about it, I don’t think it’s right. Out of respect for the people involved and the families, I think our nation needs to grieve. I think our nation needs to feel the impact of what’s happened here.”
— Ted Johnson, former Patriots linebacker, speaking on September 1 2, 2001 about the NFL’s debate on whether to cancel games in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.