Will they or won't they show up is the significant question facing a number of top NFL players as training camps open for most of the league next week.

Atop the list of players who are unhappy with their contract status are New England Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel and Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs, neither of whom will reach a long-term agreement with their current club this summer as Monday's deadline for such deals passed without a pact for either player.

Both must decide on the one-year tenders they were extended in February. Will they sign and show up for the beginning of training camp? Will they show up for the beginning of the season? Or will they wait until the 10th week and play just enough to qualify for free agency?

Beyond Samuel and Briggs, several other top players are questionable for the start of training camp. Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson has toyed with not showing up in hopes of being granted a new contract. Same goes for New York Jets

From the day after the Super Bowl to the end of the season opener, every fan in America clings to the hope that their team is going to win it all.

Hope is a good thing, but sometimes it's delusional.

Gaping holes in the way a team has been constructed – sorry, Raider Nation, the offensive line still stinks – are often overlooked. With that in mind, here's a list of issues to consider for all AFC teams, including the five or six that could easily win the Super Bowl:

AFC EAST

Buffalo Bills: The Bills may have been 7-9 last season, but they had some serious issues that make that record look like overachievement. They had the fifth-worst run defense last season and they gave up a staggering 4.7 yards per carry. You wonder why rookie safeties Donte Whitner (second in tackles) and Ko Simpson (fourth) looked so good? The guys in front of them were that bad. Sure, Indianapolis may have won a Super Bowl with the worst run defense in the league, but that was a first in

The NFL may soon get its first face-to-face backlash following the federal indictment of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on multiple dogfighting charges.

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has scheduled a protest in front of the league offices in New York on Friday morning.

"This is to show our frustration over the NFL's failure to take a strong stance against Michael Vick," PETA spokesman Dan Shannon said.

The call for protest comes as the NFL has yet to punish Vick, who was charged by federal authorities on Tuesday with competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting, and conducting the enterprise across state lines.

"Aside from Michael Vick and the celebrity status, the details of this case are some of the most shocking we've ever seen," Shannon said. "The cruelty and the size of this dog-fighting organization are staggering."

Falcons owner Arthur Blank addressed the public outcry in a statement Thursday.

"This is an

The NFL may soon get its first face-to-face backlash following the federal indictment of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on multiple dogfighting charges.

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has scheduled a protest in front of the league offices in New York on Friday morning.

"This is to show our frustration over the NFL's failure to take a strong stance against Michael Vick," PETA spokesman Dan Shannon said.

The call for protest comes as the NFL has yet to punish Vick, who was charged by federal authorities on Tuesday with competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting, and conducting the enterprise across state lines.

"Aside from Michael Vick and the celebrity status, the details of this case are some of the most shocking we've ever seen," Shannon said. "The cruelty and the size of this dog-fighting organization are staggering."

Falcons owner Arthur Blank addressed the public outcry in a statement Thursday.

"This is an

The Humane Society of the United States will renew its call for companies using Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick as a spokesman to cut ties with him after a federal indictment for dog fighting was issued Tuesday.

"We're planning to make those calls first thing Wednesday," said Wayne Pacelle, the president of the Humane Society. The organization asked Nike in June to drop Vick, but the company declined.

Now, the organization plans to extend the call to companies such as Rawlings and Powerade. AirTran has already dropped Vick and Pacelle said that the Boys & Girls Clubs of America has recently done the same.

"We don't have all the contracts or know what they're all worth," Parcelle said, "but we know that they have language in those contracts that allows companies to sever ties with an athlete after something like this happens."

Vick and three others were charged with competitive dog fighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting and conducting the enterprise across

Report: Vick indicted in dogfighting probe

Quarterback Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons took a huge hit a week before the start of training camp.

Vick is expected to be suspended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after news broke Tuesday evening that Vick was indicted by federal authorities in connection with dog fighting in Virginia. The indictment followed a three-month investigation.

While Goodell was not reached for comment, two sources said the commissioner has been monitoring the Vick case since April, when investigators initially found evidence of dog fighting at a home Vick owned in Smithfield.

"Where (Vick) is in the most trouble is that he lied to the commissioner," a league source said. "He told (Goodell) in April that he didn't know anything about this. The commissioner gave (Vick) every chance to come clean, be straight about what was going on. Instead, he just kept denying it."

The NFL released a statement that both cautioned in not prejudging the case and said Vick

"Sure, you can get by in coaching working half-days. Do you want to work the first half or the second half?"
– Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Don Shula

A New England Patriots assistant coach was caught in traffic one Friday evening in January three years ago when he called a friend to chat.

The friends exchanged pleasantries before the coach turned sarcastic.

"Everybody in charge around here talks about how the sacrifice is so worth it," the coach said, alluding to the Patriots' three Super Bowl victories this decade. "All they say around here is, 'Your children will get a chance to see things other kids will never see.' Look, my kid would just like to see me once in awhile to play a little catch."

As the NFL prepares for the 6½-month grind that is training camp, the regular season and the playoffs, it is time for coaches to bid farewell to their families.

Increasingly, that's a dangerous goodbye. Over the past two years, head coaches such as Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts, Bill

One of the biggest offseason free-agent spending sprees still wasn't enough to eat up much of the NFL's available salary-cap space. As a result, the league could be in for another significant rise in player salaries this year and next.

Fourteen of the NFL's 32 teams have not used at least $10 million of the $109-million salary cap, according to figures from the NFL Players Association. And of those 14, seven have at least $15 million in cap space.

That means contracts for average players will continue to rise as they did at the start of free agency this year when