Kyle Williams trying to make amends for last year’s mistakes

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No 49ers player has more to make amends for this weekend than Kyle Williams.

Which is why he didn’t bother trying to make Sunday’s NFC Championship Game rematch with the Giants just another game.

“After what happened last year, I definitely want to get back at these guys,” Williams said, via Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. “We look at it as if they have something that we should have had. We’re going to make sure we don’t leave anything on the field again.”

Like, you know, the football.

Williams’ two fumbles on punt returns were signature plays, burned into the memory of anyone who saw the game. The second one set up the Giants’ game-winning field goal in overtime.

Asked if that play would be in the 49ers collective head, the guy who stripped it said he expected so.

“I’m pretty sure,” Giants linebacker Jacquian Williams said, via Jenny Vrentas of the Newark Star-Ledger. “I’m pretty sure any team would be. They’ll be aware of it, but I don’t expect them to shy away from what their plans are to do. I don’t expect them to fair catch it or anything.”

If nothing else, the fumbles changed the way Williams approached the offseason, increasing his workouts. He came back stronger, and has handled returns without a hitch and caught his first touchdown pass last week.

So as much as it will be on his mind, he’s at ease going into the game.

“I’m comfortable in the way I approach every single game,” Williams said. “I’ll be comfortable this week going into it. I can’t wait. I’m not trying to do too much. We don’t need anyone to do too much on this team. Everybody plays their role and does what they have to do. We’ll be fine. We’re a great team.”

Of course, Williams knows better than anyone how an individual mistake can overshadow team success.

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For the first time since Week Two, Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks appears ready to play.

Nicks is on the Giants’ flight to San Francisco for Sunday’s game against the 49ers, which is a strong sign that he will play. Nicks has been listed as questionable, but he said during the week that he was feeling good at practice and optimistic he could go.

After dealing with a foot injury for much of the offseason, Nicks has more recently been set back by swelling in his knee. But he practiced on two straight days this week and didn’t experience any further swelling, which suggests he’s ready to go.

Nicks had a great game the last time he played, catching 10 passes for 199 yards in the Giants’ Week Two win over the Buccaneers. He caught five passes for 55 yards the last time he played in San Francisco, in the NFC Championship Game.

Giants tackle David Diehl and cornerback Corey Webster, who are also listed as questionable, also made the trip to San Francisco. The only players not making the trip are defensive tackle Rocky Bernard, running back Andre Brown and safety Kenny Phillips.

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The New England Patriots have been vague and noncommittal on the Week Seven availability of tight end Aaron Hernandez, who’s been sidelined since Week Two with a high ankle sprain. The Patriots are vague and noncommittal without fail when it comes to injury situations, so this is no departure from their standard operating procedure.

Hernandez is listed as questionable on the Week Six injury report. He was limited in Wednesday and Thursday’s practices, but did not practice on Friday.

According to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald, though, Hernandez’s travel bag was all packed up on Friday to make the team flight to Seattle for Sunday’s clash with the Seahawks. Howe suggests Hernandez was held out of Friday’s practice because the Patriots’ practice field was wet, and he’s trying to come back from a tricky ankle injury.

Howe also surmises that Hernandez could be available for a limited role at Seattle.

We’ll have more updates in Hernandez on Sunday. For now, it looks like his status could go either way. The Patriots may not decide whether to let Hernandez play until a pre-game workout to see how he’s getting around.

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It was considered a surprise in some circles when Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones didn’t declare for the 2012 NFL draft following his junior season. Jones is a big-name player annually on Heisman Trophy watch lists. He’s been a very productive passer in the Big 12 conference.

Jones will be in the 2013 NFL draft because he’s a fifth-year senior. One college scout explained to Albert Breer of NFL.com, however, that Jones’ NFL stock has fallen since early in his career.

“He would’ve been a late first- or early second-(round pick) last year,” the college scout told Breer. “Now, he looks like a mid-round pick, based on this early part of the year.”

The NFL scouting community is reportedly unimpressed by the way Jones handles adversity.

“[Jones] has all the tools we look for in a quarterback,” said the scout, “but if he gets hit a couple times, he’s done. Lots of skill, absolutely — great size, good arm, accurate, tons of production the last three years. But he’s killing himself. … He shows he can do everything we want him to do, he just hasn’t shown he can do it consistently in pressure situations.

“He’s great if his team gets a lead early and mixes it up on offense. If they get behind, and he’s got to lead them back with a defense pinning their ears back, he struggles.”

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Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer has done well to cut down his interceptions this season. Through four starts, Palmer has compiled five touchdowns compared to two picks and is completing 61.1 percent of his throws.

A heavy majority of Palmer’s completions are coming on checkdowns to running backs and tight ends, however, and he is struggling to get anything going deep. According to numbers compiled by Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle, Palmer is just 1-of-14 on throws of longer than 20 yards downfield this season. He failed to connect on each of his first dozen 20-plus-yard pass attempts.

Palmer’s deep-ball efficiency should pick up going forward. The Raiders opened the season trying to nurse back top deep threat Denarius Moore from a hamstring injury. Moore is 100 percent now. Fellow wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey is also returning from a scary neck/concussion injury, suffered before Oakland’s Week Five bye. Heyward-Bey is listed as probable on the Week Six injury report and fully expected to start Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Raiders’ offense is ideally vertical in nature. They want to use a high-volume running game to set up deep shots to their speedy receivers. With Moore and Heyward-Bey back, Oakland has the firepower to make good on the plan.

Now, they just need Palmer to execute.

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The outlook for players who exit games due to injury and do not return is often ominous. Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall exited Thursday night’s game against the Titans with an Achilles’ injury, and did not return.

Mendenhall was in just his second game back returning from reconstructive knee surgery, however, and it appears the Steelers were being cautious with him. Citing a person who’s spoken to Pittsburgh’s running back, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports Mendenhall’s Achilles’ injury is “minor,” and just “tightened up” on Thursday night.

Per Rapoport, Mendenhall’s status for Week Seven will be determined by how his Achilles’ responds over the weekend. The ten-day layoff between Pittsburgh’s Week Six and Seven games should theoretically bode well for Mendenhall’s chances of avoiding missed time.

The Steelers play the division rival Bengals next.

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During last week’s Cardinals-Rams game, St. Louis cornerback Janoris Jenkins was about to intercept a pass when Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald grabbed Jenkins by the facemask to stop him. It worked, but it cost Fitzgerald.

The NFL fined Fitzgerald $7,875 for the penalty, which is the usual fine for facemasking.

For Fitzgerald, who has an eight-year, $120 million contract, it’s probably safe to say that a fine representing 0.007 percent of that amount is not going to dissuade him from doing the same thing if faced with the same circumstance again: If Fitzgerald has to grab somebody’s facemask to stop an interception, he’ll gladly do it, especially when all it’s going to cost him is, to him, pocket change.

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Back in 2007, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers earned the ire of Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey after Rivers engaged in trash talk with then-Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler during a Chargers win.

After the game, Bailey called Rivers “classless” and said he didn’t respect the quarterback. A lot of time has passed since then and Bailey revisited the topic in advance of Monday night’s game between the team. The passage of time has changed Bailey’s mind about Rivers speaking his mind.

“Back then, he was talking when he shouldn’t have. I think he hadn’t earned his respect around the league at that point,” Bailey said, via the Associated Press. “But now it’s a different story.”

Rivers has done well against the Broncos in his career. The Chargers swept Denver in each of Rivers’ first two years as a starter and he’s won five of eight in the last four years. Bailey and the Broncos might not like those results, but they have to give at least grudging respect to a guy that’s beaten them eight of the 12 times they’ve faced off.

If the Broncos can’t beat Rivers on Monday, they’ll be two games back in the AFC West so it would certainly behoove them not to let Rivers’ talking get into their heads this time around.

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Saints quarterback Drew Brees isn’t happy with the league office.  And he continues to talk about it.

Specifically, he remains concerned about the power that the Commissioner possesses.

“Just the fact that, these unilateral decisions can be made without any kind of oversight, just seems like there’s — and I’m not talking about the decisions that are made when a guy gets a DUI, or when a guy gets a weapons charge, or gets caught making bad decision in that regard,” Brees tells Sean Gregory of TIME.com.  “You know, it seems like there’s just this abuse of power in a lot of ways when it comes to things like certainly the bounty allegations and accusations.”

But here’s the thing.  Roger Goodell has the power that the players collectively have given him, via the process of collective bargaining.  And Brees, as a member of the NFLPA Executive Committee, was directly involved in the decision to sign off on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that preserves the Commissioner’s power.

The union erred, in our view, by agreeing to a new economic formula, sending players to training camp in 2011, and then haggling after the players were back to work over non-monetary issues, like the Commissioner’s power.  Instead, the NFLPA should have insisted on getting everything worked out before anything was worked out.  Once the players had returned to their teams and the lockout essentially ended, the players had no leverage.  So Goodell dug in on his power, and the players had no option but to shrug their shoulders and accept it.

Then there’s the fact that the Commissioner’s power isn’t nearly as unlimited as Brees and others would have us all believe.  For example, the restraints on Goodell’s authority resulted in the suspensions of the four players being vacated last month — and the new suspensions eventually could be vacated, too.

Of course, none of this means that the Commissioner properly has been exercising his considerable authority.

“Disappointed with the way that the replacement referee situation went down,” Brees said.  “Really a lack of accountability from the top down.  Also, I feel like, in large part, this bounty scandal, so to speak, is a big facade, and a way to cover up the shortcomings of the league, and the commissioner, with regards to player health and safety over the last three years.”

Plenty of people feel that way.  There’s a chance that more than a few owners share those views, and they’ll all be getting together next week in Chicago for the first time since the bounty scandal and the referee lockout blew up in the league’s face.

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The ability of RB Lamar Miller to crack the Dolphins’ two-back rotation hinges on his ability to pass block.

Pats coach Bill Belichick recently sold his Brooklyn townhouse for $2.75 million.

With Bills DE Mark Anderson out, DE Kyle Moore will get a chance to show that he can do what the team’s other defensive ends haven’t been able to do very much this year.

Jets LB Bryan Thomas sums up the team’s run defense in one word:  “Bad.”

The Steelers released TE Weslye Saunders, who appeared in every game last year but who was suspended four games to start the 2012 season.

On Sunday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh will be going up against the guy who was offered the job before him.

The Browns will be starting a pair of rookie defensive tackles when the Bengals come to town on Sunday.

George Clooney likes to wear a Bengals T-shirt.  (Get back to us when he paints his face black and orange and dons an Adam Jones jersey for a movie premiere.)

After beating the Steelers on Thursday night, the Titans are taking the weekend off.  (Haven’t they already taken three or four weekends off this year?)

Jaguars G.M. Gene Smith has cracked the code for improving the team:  More talent.

As the prepare to face the banged-up Jets, the Colts are banged up.

Texans WR DeVier Posey says the “vibe was down” after the Monday night game because Houston won only by six points.

Raiders coach Dennis Allen says that this week’s opponent, the Falcons, is a team that Oakland hopes to emulate.  (Roughly 25 other teams feel the same way.)

Chiefs offensive coordinator Brian Daboll acknowledged Friday that conservative play calling played a role in Sunday’s 9-6 loss to the Ravens.

Another year, another Denver defensive coordinator for Chargers QB Philip Rivers to beat once, or maybe twice.

Former Broncos S Steve Atwater talks about his election to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

The Eagles are being coy regarding whether WR DeSean Jackson will return punts against the not-so-special special teams of the Lions.

The Redskins are mixing and matching four safeties until Brandon Meriweather finally makes his debut.

When the Giants line up against the 49ers on Sunday, the Giants may be surprised by what they see.

Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan says LB Anthony Spencer (strained pectoral) could miss three more weeks.

Here’s how different the Vikings would have been if they hadn’t won a throwaway game on Christmas Eve against the Redskins.

Even though his skills are declining, LB Brian Urlacher still plays a key role for the Bears.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy could make an exception to his “no practice, no play” rule for DL B.J. Raji.

Based on his time playing at Temple, Lions LB Tahir Whitehead knows too well what Philly fans have in store for the visiting team.

Saints interim to the interim coach Aaron Kromer says the team is now heading in the right direction.

Panthers WR David Gettis will return to practice on Monday after spending the first six weeks on the PUP list.

For all the draft picks the Bucs have devoted to the defensive line, the most pleasant surprise has been DE Michael Bennett, who was claimed on waivers.

Despite their lofty status, the Falcons are 27th against the run — and they know that needs to change.

With 48 receiving yards, Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald will join Randy Moss as the only men to generate 10,000 receiving yards before blowing out 30 candles.

Seahawks K Steven Hauschka, a Needham, Mass. native, has been hearing from plenty of hometown friends with the Pats coming to Seattle on Sunday.

It looks as if rookie CB Janoris Jenkins will continue to return punts for the Rams, with WR Danny Amendola out.

49ers coach Jim Harbaugh is having trouble getting used to running at the front of the pack.

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Colts receiver Reggie Wayne is coming off the best game of his career in Sunday’s win over the Packers, but he had to fight through severe cramps to finish the game. And Wayne says there’s a simple reason for that: He was consuming soft drinks.

Wayne says that soda was the primary culprit in his cramps, and drinking too much soda taught him a lesson.

“That’s me being a victim of sodas and not enough water. I know better than that,” Wayne said, via Phil Richards of the Indianapolis Star.

That’s a valuable lesson for you kids out there: Drink water, not soda. Perhaps Michael Bloomberg will recruit Wayne for his anti-soda campaign.

AP

Lions safety Louis Delmas didn’t practice on Friday, but that doesn’t appear to be an issue with him making his 2012 debut against the Eagles this Sunday.

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports that Delmas looked fine running around the practice field during the portion of the session open to the media and that all indications are still positive for Delmas’ return. It has been a long wait for the Lions to get Delmas back into the lineup, but they don’t plan to push Delmas too far now that they finally have him back on the field.

“First game back, so we have to be patient with stuff a little bit,” Lions secondary coach Tim Walton said. “It’s his first one back, so you don’t want to overdo it. You got to let him get back in the flow a little bit.”

The Lions have struggled to adequately replace Delmas in the first four games, one of the reasons why they lost three of those contests. Even in a limited role, Delmas should give them a boost in the secondary with the promise of better days ahead as long as his knee remains sound.

The Lions have been talking a lot about getting back to what made them a playoff team last season. Getting back a player who helped them get to the postseason should be a step in the right direction.

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When Packers linebacker Nick Perry found out about his $15,750 fine for a hit on Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, he said that he needs to be “more focused on making a play without the head.”

Watching the play that earned Perry the fine, it doesn’t seem like he does anything particularly wrong in that regard. Perry’s technique looks sound, but his helmet appears to ride up into Luck’s. That’s enough to earn him a flag and a fine, although his position coach thinks the NFL’s decision to levy that fine is misguided.

Kevin Greene was a pretty good pass rusher back in the day and feels bad for today’s pass rushers because he thinks they play in a league that punishes players for the wrong kinds of things. Hits like Perry’s are accidental in Greene’s mind and he doesn’t believe the NFL can erase them from the game.

“I think it’s unfortunate for today’s pass rusher because a lot of times we know the rules, but the game moves at such a high, energetic, physical tempo and a lot of these hits are totally accidental – not malicious,” Greene said, via Weston Hodkiewicz of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “People are trying to control an accident. You cannot control an accident. You can control malicious (hits). I understand fining people for malicious (hits), but you can’t control accidents – hence the world accident. It’s like a car wreck. No one wants to be in a car wreck. I don’t know a lot of people who want to maliciously wreck the car. It’s an accident. They are trying to control an accident, which is an uncontrollable occurrence. They’re trying to control it with penalties and/or fines. It can’t be done. In my 15 years, I’m convinced you cannot control an accident.”

To continue Greene’s car wreck analogy, you can control against an accident by being so cautious that it takes you three hours to go 15 miles. An NFL defender could do the same thing, although he wouldn’t continue being an NFL defender for very long if he did decide to go that route. So they’ll keep playing fast and there are going to be hits like Perry’s in the future. Greene’s almost certainly right that there’s no way to legislate such plays out of the game as long as it moves at a high speed, but it’s just as certain that the NFL is going to continue to fine the players who dish them out.

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Anthony Wayne Smith, the 11th overall pick in the 1990 NFL draft who spent eight years with the Raiders, has been ordered to stand trial for four murders and could face the death penalty.

A Los Angeles County judge ruled after a four-day preliminary hearing that there is sufficient evidence for the 45-year-old Smith to stand trial. All four murder charges will be part of one trial, and the charges make him eligible for the death penalty, although the prosecution has not decided whether to pursue it.

In April, Smith’s trial for a 2008 killing of a man found stomped, beaten and shot in Southern California ended in a hung jury, with eight jurors voting guilty and four jurors voting not guilty. Now Smith will face a retrial for that killing and also stand trial for the 1999 shooting deaths of two brothers, and for the 2001 stabbing death of another man.

Smith’s lawyer says prosecutors have no physical evidence and no motive.

Smith was a talented defensive end who had double-digit sacks in each of his first three seasons, but his career fell short of expectations as personal issues began to affect his play. During the 1996 season the Raiders suspended him after he failed to show up for a game, and after the 1997 season he opted out of his contract with the Raiders but didn’t sign with another team. A year later, according to prosecutors, he committed his first murder.

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Texans linebacker Brian Cushing suffered a torn ACL when Jets guard Matt Slauson dove at Cushing’s knee on Monday night.  Asked whether Cushing regards the hit as a dirty play, Cushing opted to avoid the debate.

“Whether it was or it wasn’t, I’m not playing for a while,” Cushing said, via the Associated Press.  “That’s not going to change my opinion on anything.  I’m not a guy that’s going to look back at the past and see what I could’ve done differently.  I’m going to look into the future and see how I can improve. . . .  When you sign up for this game, I understand this is part of it.”

It was easy for Cushing to take the high road on the low blow because most regard the Slauson hit as dirty; Cushing didn’t need to chime in on what is regarded as obvious.  The league agreed on Thursday, fining Slauson $10,000 for an illegal “peel back” block.

Of course, the fact that the NFL fined Slauson doesn’t make it an illegal play.  NBC officiating Jim Daopoulos joined PFT Live on Friday to address the play — and Daopoulos believes the fine will be reversed on appeal.

For Jim’s explanation, click the little triangle below.

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The line between pro football and pro wrestling will further be blurred on Sunday.

That’s when WWE star John Cena serves as the honorary captain of the Jets before Sunday’s game against the Colts, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.

As Mehta points out, Cena is actually a Massachusetts native and a Patriots fan.

The Jets likely were willing to ignore that fact given that MetLife Stadium will be hosting WrestleMania in April.

Jets fans may not be quite as understanding.

The bigger question is whether the Jets’ final pre-election home game will feature former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as the honorary captain.