As Brett Favre stands at the edge of owning the record for most career touchdown passes, here's hoping he and the Green Bay Packers can leap beyond the mark and achieve something great.

Not just fall off the edge the way Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins did in 1995.

The Packers travel to play the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday with Favre and Marino tied at 420 scoring passes. More important, the Packers enter the game 3-0 and play the first of two straight NFC North foes (the Chicago Bears visits the Pack next week).

Similarly, when Marino broke all the significant passing records (touchdowns, yards, completions and attempts) in 1995 with Miami, the Dolphins started 4-0. Under coach Don Shula and loaded with a roster that included 19 former first-round draft picks, there was great hope.

Unfortunately, hope deteriorated quickly in a season of backbiting. By the end, the Dolphins were 9-7 and limped into the playoffs where they were crushed by the Buffalo Bills. Shula retired a week later,

While the NFL Players Association has taken heat from former players for red tape involving disability claims and lack of pension increases, the union did investigate the idea of providing medical insurance for players until they are 65 years old.

The conclusion from that study, which was conducted by the Towers Perrin consulting firm, was bleak. In March 2005, NFLPA director of benefits Miki Yaras-Davis informed all of the player reps of the 40-year estimate.

It was a $16.2 billion charge just to cover currently active players who qualified and the following wave of players who would qualify over that period until they reach 65 years of age. To qualify, players must have been in the NFL for at least three seasons – generally putting them at the age of 25 when they reach eligibility.

Towers Perrin calculated that in order to fund that immediately, the NFLPA would have had to give the firm $3.1 billion in 2005, Towers Perrin senior consultant Rob Schlau said.

"That assumes our ability

PITTSBURGH – Strong safety Troy Polamalu has become known around the Pittsburgh Steelers as the last guy out of the locker room on Sundays after home games. All of his teammates are long gone and even most of the equipment guys have cleared out by the time he emerges. Polamalu goes through a detailed process, including a dip in a cold tub and a lengthy shower to relax after a hard-hitting afternoon.

However, for a guy who doesn't seem to be in a hurry to leave, Polamalu does put a serious priority on his time away from the field with his wife, Theodora, the sister of Polamalu's former USC teammate Alex Holmes.

Polamalu took some after Sunday's win over the San Francisco 49ers to engage in a Q&A with Yahoo! Sports.

Cole: Do you have a routine you follow on your day off?

Polamalu: We work out together because that's our only day off together. It's a pretty decent workout. She does a lot of running and I do a lot of stretching. Tuesday is also our only opportunity to go to church

PITTSBURGH – First-year Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin strolled quietly through the locker room after his post-game press conference. As he did, linebacker Clark Haggans shouted, "Coach T, we got the goods."

It's a little early to be projecting much about this NFL season, but one thing is clear after the Steelers continued their early-season sprint by reaching 3-0 with a 37-16 pasting of the San Francisco 49ers: The Steelers love their new coach, as much for what he says as what he doesn't.

Among Tomlin's pet phrases: "Do you have the goods to be a champion?" and "It is what it is." Those two statements meld perfectly in a city that has come to expect title-contending play and where the residents don't waste much time getting to the point.

On Sunday, the Steelers didn't waste much time throwing the "kitchen sink" – as linebacker James Farrior put it – at San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith, the youngest starting passer in the league. While Smith didn't make any huge mistakes

Judging by the contracts signed by first-round picks this season, it paid to wait.

Even until after the season started.

The top two rookie contracts signed this season belong to No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell and No. 14 overall pick Darrelle Revis, according to a member of the NFL Players Association, a general manager and an unassociated agent who were surveyed by Yahoo! Sports.

Russell and Revis were the longest holdouts this year, Russell’s deal getting finalized last week after he missed all of training camp while agents Eric Metz and Ethan Locke stood firm on full guarantees for injury and skill. Revis’ deal, which was negotiated by Neil Schwartz and Jonathan Feinsod, got done on Aug. 16 after the cornerback missed the first three weeks of camp. Ultimately, Revis agreed to a six-year deal rather than the usual five-year contract given in his spot of the NFL draft.

“Those two deals really stand out,” the general manager said. “There are some other good ones when you look

KING COUNTY, Wash. – Dave Pear's speech is halting and he stumbles through his thoughts even though he has a spiral-bound binder of notes in his hands to prompt him. He repeats himself at times and gets frazzled with a brain that simply won't cooperate after too many concussions from his days on the football field.

But there is one thing that can't be stopped as the 54-year-old Pear grapples with a life stunted by a game that has crossed the thin line from love of his youth to loathe of his middle age.

Pear with his wife Heidi. (Rod Mar/Special to Yahoo! Sports)

The tears. As they stream from his face, Pear's wife Heidi gently touches his leg. She flashes a consoling smile, her expression barely hiding years of anguish from watching her college sweetheart deteriorate in ways she couldn't understand until recently.

"The NFL destroys families," Pear said. "I wish I had never played."

Those 10 words, combined with the fact Pear wouldn't let his now-adult son play football, speak

The NFL Players Association heard the latest round of complaints from its former players Tuesday when a group of Hall of Famers led by Mike Ditka and Gale Sayers voiced their displeasure with the union's handling of pension benefits in a hearing before the U.S. Senate.

Amid the back-and-forth between the retired players and NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw, one question remains: Why has it taken so long for this heavily-debated issue to come to the forefront?

The simple answer is that for a long time, players barely spoke up about what they wanted. Worse, many of them gave little regard to their futures.

"We barely had a union when I got started," said former Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Manny Fernandez, a key cog of the team's defense during their 1972 undefeated season.

"We weren't even thinking about fighting for a pension, benefits,

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Troy Vincent is sweating as he keeps a good pace on a typically hot and wet June morning in South Florida, the place where his career as a defensive back began 15 years ago.

Vincent is training, but the goal now is different. The purpose of his long morning walk around the PGA Golf Course is more about mind and spirit than tackles and defensive schemes. Vincent is talking about his work as president of the NFL Players Association, which many people think will lead to him eventually succeeding Gene Upshaw as executive director.

Upshaw himself has said in many executive meetings that "the future leadership of the union is already in place," an obvious hint that Vincent should be his successor.

"It's something I'm very passionate about," said Vincent, a former Pro Bowl player and successful businessman, of the union. "I believe