NFL preseason

NFL preseaon kicks off


Eagles and Raiders to open NFL preseason~!!


NFL.com wire reports
For more info on the game
CANTON, Ohio (Aug. 5, 2006) -- The Eagles want to perform well in honor of Reggie White. The Raiders want to excel in tribute to John Madden.
Otherwise, the Hall of Fame Game (8 p.m. ET on Aug. 6, NBC) isn't much more than an NFL preseason opener. That means lots of rookies, undrafted free agents and guys few people have ever heard of on the Fawcett Stadium field.
Don't expect a lot of Donovan McNabb or Randy Moss in this one.
"You want to see them line up and play football," said Raiders coach Art Shell, returning to Oakland after an 11-year hiatus. "I mean, you can do all the blitzing, you can do all the little fancy versions and things like that. Those things will come down the road. I want to see our guys play.
"I want to see them display basic football, line up and play whether they're on the defensive side of the ball ... let's see can we cover somebody, let's see how we do matching up with their run blocking and their pass protection on the same side.
"We're not going to be extraordinary, we're not going to be trying to do a whole lot."
Madden will be in the broadcast booth for NBC, which has taken over the prime-time Sunday night NFL package. It will be his debut for the network -- he's also worked for CBS, Fox and ABC -- and comes one day after he entered the Hall of Fame along with White, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Harry Carson and Rayfield Wright.
Shell hasn't been as successful as Madden on the Raiders' sideline, but he has been pretty good. While Madden was 103-32-7 games and won a Super Bowl in 10 seasons. Shell was 54-38 and, like Madden, did not have a losing record in his five-plus seasons as coach.
Shell is most concerned with improving the mind-set and atmosphere with the Raiders, who were 4-12 last season.
"It's changed drastically. All these guys are into what we're trying to do," he said. "Mainly it's because they want to win. And there's only one way to win and that's to work at it. They are willing to work, they're willing to do anything ... we have their attention now. And the good thing about it is they have each other's attention. You can hear the older guys prodding our other guys: 'Let's go. We've got to get this thing going.' "
Many of the Eagles are going to Canton for the first time, including McNabb. He's quite familiar, though, with the achievements of White, who died nearly two years ago.
An ordained preacher known as the Minister of Defense, White was a two-time defensive player of the year who made 13 consecutive Pro Bowls. He was the career sacks leader with 198 when he retired -- Bruce Smith since has passed him -- and won a Super Bowl with Green Bay in 1997 after starting his illustrious career in the USFL, then moving to Philadelphia.
"Never been there, never drove past it or anything," said McNabb, who comes off abdominal surgery that sidelined him for much of the 2005 season. "So, it will be an honor for me to get the opportunity for me to see the building, see what it's all about."
McNabb knows all about White, who once spoke at McNabb's church in Chicago.
"It's easy to sit and talk about people's performance on the field, the success that they've had," McNabb said. "But you have a guy that was a role model, a guy that was great in the community, a guy that kids could look up to and say, 'You know what? I want to be just like Reggie.'
"He handled himself with class; he was a professional at all times, that's how you measure an individual in this sport. It goes way beyond sacking quarterbacks or tackles for losses, in his case. It's about a guy that you can sit down and talk to, no matter who you are, and won't have to worry about Reggie turning his back or just telling you something you want to hear to make you feel good. He will give you inspirational words and when the conversation is over, you feel better about life."