HONOLULU – Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning did some recruiting this week at the Pro Bowl.

Really, though, it was more "anti-recruiting."

"I kept telling (New England cornerback) Asante (Samuel), 'Yeah, come play for us,' " Manning said, jokingly, after the NFC defeated the AFC 42-30 in the annual all-star game Sunday at Aloha Stadium. "But I told him if he doesn't sign with us, he needs to go to the NFC."

A year ago at this time, the Patriots coaching staff used the Pro Bowl week to get acquainted with linebacker Adalius Thomas, who the team signed at the beginning of free agency. This year, it's Manning's turn to throw in his two cents, particularly for a player who might change the pay scale for cornerbacks this year.

"Yeah, that would be nice if the Colts were in it, but I don't think they have the money," Samuel said with a sly grin. On Samuel's left shoulder are tattooed the words, "Get Rich To This."

"It's about whatever it is you do to get rich," Samuel said. "If

KO OLINA, Hawaii – Chad Johnson alternates between charming, petulant, funny and selfish as quickly as waves hit the sand at this beachside resort where the NFL's finest have gathered for the annual Pro Bowl.

One minute, he sounds as if he's open to staying with the Cincinnati Bengals. The next, Johnson insinuates that he needs a change of scenery. Even more, the Pro Bowl wide receiver insists that he is not a problem child, but a misunderstood individual who just wants to win.

"Me? Controversy? Please," said Johnson, whose AFC squad takes on the NFC in Sunday's Pro Bowl. "I do one thing: I show up on Sunday and make plays."

Johnson made plenty of those this past season, producing a career-high 1,440 yards on 93 catches with eight touchdowns. But since Cincinnati's disappointing 7-9 has come to a close, there's been all kind of buzz surrounding his future.

Reports surfaced that Johnson, two years into a six-year deal reportedly worth $35.5 million, wanted to be traded and that he has

KAPOLEI, Hawaii – Peyton Manning loves the fact that Tony Dungy returned to coach the Indianapolis Colts next season. But the perennial Pro Bowl quarterback does worry.

With the Colts already naming Dungy's successor in current associate head coach Jim Caldwell, has the front office risked Dungy being undermined during the season?

"I'm just hoping that everybody can just focus on this year, on what we have to do," Manning said, referring to the fact that Dungy's career with the Colts is now a year-to-year proposition.

Similarly, the Seattle Seahawks have announced that assistant head coach Jim Mora will follow Mike Holmgren as head coach in 2009. Holmgren is going into the final year of his contract and is expected to step down at season's end.

While such announcements are designed to make the transition from one coach to another "seamless," as Seattle president Tim Ruskell said, the reality is that nothing is ever seamless in football. Manning knows that too well.

"Everybody talks

GLENDALE, Ariz. – This was more than some great comeback, some moment borrowed from the books written by Joe Montana, John Elway or Johnny Unitas.

No, this was something far more extraordinary that Eli Manning and the rest of the New York Giants pulled off Sunday in posting one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. They were, after all, playing the 18-0 New England Patriots, featuring the brilliant duo of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

You see, you're not supposed to beat Brady in the fourth quarter. You're not supposed to beat Belichick when he has his defensive linemen surrounding you.

In short, what Manning pulled off wasn't some type of ordinary bit of football as he earned the game's Most Valuable Player award. It was something from a Criss Angel "Mindfreak" video. Only magicians with expertise in illusion and tempered with the dark side of Houdini pull off stunts like this, a 17-14 victory over New England in Super Bowl XLII.

Down 14-10 with 1:15 remaining and facing a

PHOENIX – Commissioner Roger Goodell continued his role as the NFL's great communicator and great innovator on Friday. But the issue left lingering from his second State of the NFL address – a 46-minute talk with the media (not including another 30 minutes he spent beforehand with members of the Pro Football Writers of America) – is whether he will someday be forced back into a role as the great investigator.

Two days before the kickoff to Super Bowl XLII, Goodell was peppered with continuing questions about Spygate, the infamous moment when the football-loving world found out that the New England Patriots had cheated by videotaping opponents giving defensive signal in the season opener against the New York Jets.

That issue overwhelmed other interesting topics, such as Goodell's discussion about possibly changing the playoff seeding structure (wild-card teams with better records than division winners could host playoff games so that late-season contests would remain meaningful) or

PHOENIX – Bill Belichick essentially asked the question five times in the span of 10 minutes: What is the measure of a Hall of Famer?

What are the criteria?

What's the definition?

By most measures he would consider, Washington Redskins receiver Art Monk should be one.

"What (Monk) did, he was really, really good at," said the New England Patriots coach, who measures his praise as closely as a cartographer. More telling is that Belichick, a man who has great appreciation for the history of the game, took so much time to talk about Monk several weeks ago as his team was getting ready for the first round of the playoffs against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"He has the numbers, the stats and he won … That was a very good offense he played on, an offense that transcended a lot of changes at quarterback. Yes, he had his role and he played it very well. So you have to ask, 'What's the criteria?' " Belichick said.

Of course, that's one of the most difficult questions the 44 voters for the Pro

PHOENIX – Wes Welker didn't tell anyone what he had planned.

Not his coaches. Not his teammates. Not even Graham Colton, his best friend and quarterback since they first learned to throw and catch a ball.

It was the beginning of the second half against rival Millwood High in Welker's junior season at Heritage Hall High in Oklahoma City. Heritage Hall was on its way to a state title, but trailed by four points at halftime against a team loaded with Division I recruits, including future first-round draft pick Rashaun Woods.

During halftime, coach Rod Warner and his staff had laid out the strategy, which revolved around the defense stopping Millwood after the kickoff.

Welker, who served as kicker in addition to being the safety and running back, had a different plan. He went for an onside kick and recovered it himself, helping propel Heritage Hall to its first undefeated season.

"He would just see something and do it, not tell anyone. He probably did that three times when we were in

GLENDALE, Ariz. – There are some great mysteries associated with the Super Bowl this year that defy explanation.

For instance, how did the New York Giants manage to win an NFL-record 10 consecutive games on the road (including three in the playoffs) to get here?

Or, how did New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick really know that Randy Moss would be such a good soldier (Florida innuendo aside), let alone great player, this year?

But perhaps the greatest mystery as the 42nd version of America's greatest sporting spectacle approaches is this: What will be found in Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins' beard when he shaves it off Monday?

This is the kind of question inspired by Media Day, the Tuesday extravaganza before the big game that is more of a sideshow than an exercise in anything truly related to football. There was the usual collection of "media" folks in costume armed with odd-ball questions – the kind of stuff that makes real reporters proud.

New England wide receiver Randy Moss