US PresswireGood news, defensive players for the Minnesota Vikings. You can now touch Adrian Peterson without worrying that it will cost you your job.

Just don't tackle him.

Peterson has been cleared to take contact in practice, but upper body contact only. No one can hit him below the waist, and no one can take him to the ground. There's no report of anyone being threatened with immediate release if they do, but it's probably best if they don't risk it.

Head coach Leslie Frazier was happy with Peterson and how his defense handled their task.

"There were times there was nowhere to go and he had to run into people, and he responded well," Frazier said. "That was good to see. There were some good, hard hits. Nothing to the ground, just guys thudding him."

Peterson still says he'll be ready for the Vikings opener a week from Sunday, but it's fair to be concerned about a running back who is currently only ready for "thudding." Now, the Vikings wait and see how the knee responds to a day of light contact.

EA Sports

It's way easier to forgive flaws and inconsistencies if they're made when someone is trying. To quote legendary coach Tony D'Amato, "If you're going to make mistakes, make them big … I'm not going to eat your lunch for that."

So Madden '13 and I are going to get along just fine. It's not perfect. If you want to play the game while looking for something that's wrong, or off, or somehow not as realistic as you want it to be, you'll find it. But you're also going to find a game that feels infinitely smoother and more flexible than it ever has. You're going to find a Madden that, at long last, acknowledges that it needed to try something big.

That something is what EA Sports calls the "Infinity Engine," which means that players are going to react to what happens around them, instead of just going through the motions of an animation because Madden decided that's what should happen when two guys end up in that particular position. They say that the Infinity Engine means that no two plays ever look or feel the same. After playing several games, I cannot argue with this.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace is ready to end his prolonged summer vacation and rejoin the team, according to Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network. She tweeted this on Monday afternoon:

By the rules of the NFL's labor agreement, Wallace won't be able to practice or play for three days if he shows up and signs his $2.742 million restricted free-agent tender on Tuesday. That means Wallace would miss the Steelers' last preseason game, Thursday night against Carolina.

Wallace had stayed away from the Steelers because of his desire for a long-term contract, which the organization had been slow to give him. While he was away, the Steelers gave wide receiver Antonio Brown a five-year, $42.5 million contract, similar to the one Wallace was seeking.

Wallace caught 72 passes for 1,193 yards and eight touchdowns last year.

Getty ImagesColt McCoy probably led the league in trade rumors this offseason, as he was made expendable when the Cleveland Browns drafted Brandon Weeden in the first round. Head coach Pat Shurmur named Weeden the starter almost right out of the gate, and everyone wondered where McCoy might end up.

And then a funny thing happened. Weeden struggled through the preseason, while McCoy caught fire. Through three games, Weeden is 24 of 49 for 297 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. McCoy is 18 of 24 for 234 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.

It's a small sample size, of course, and Weeden's played against more first-team defenders. Still, aren't the numbers enough to wonder if maybe the Browns shouldn't keep McCoy around for a little while longer? Judging from comments that Shurmur made on Sunday, it sounds like he's leaning that way. Said Shurmur of McCoy, via Mary Kay Cabot at Cleveland.com:

"I think he's done an outstanding job here in training camp,'' said Shurmur. "I'm very pleased with where he's at. I gained an even greater appreciation of him, the way he's competed, the way he's handled the situation, let's just call it that."

[...]

"He's had a full year now --  a season and a full offseason to get to know our system better and I think it's showing up that way,'' said Shurmur. "so I've got a great deal of respect for what he's done.''

McCoy is still only 25 years old. He doesn't have Weeden's arm strength or physical tools, but he's outperformed him on the field. Through his first two years, maybe he hasn't been exactly what the Browns pictured when drafting him, but there's still plenty of time. Are the Browns, of all teams, in a position to toss aside a quarterback prospect just because they have another quarterback with a big arm?

Nothing against Weeden, mind you ‒ he's a rookie with the aforementioned big arm, and his head appears to be screwed on straight. But he's going to struggle, because that's what rookie quarterbacks do.

Getty ImagesTarvaris Jackson is on his way to the Buffalo Bills, according to Ian Rapoport and Michael Lombardi of the NFL Network. Both reporters tweeted that the Bills and Seattle Seahawks have agreed to the trade, with terms not yet finalized.

It's likely bad news for Vince Young, who had been the backup to Bills starter Ryan Fitzpatrick through training camp and the preseason. Young has not looked good, going 25-of-52 for 276 yards in three appearances. He never found the endzone and was picked off twice.

He hadn't even clearly beaten out Tyler Thigpen for the number two job. Brad Smith, quarterback/wide receiver, is on the roster, too.

Jackson, meanwhile, had barely gotten on the field for Seattle in the preseason, as Matt Flynn and Russell Wilson have battled for the starting job. He's only thrown five passes, all of them coming in Seattle's 44-14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday. He completed three of them.

With rosters needing to be trimmed to 75 players by Monday afternoon, the Seattle Seahawks parted ways with wide receiver Terrell Owens on Sunday. The team hasn't made an official announcement, but Owens tweeted this on Sunday afternoon:

And so Owens' stay in Seattle ends with a whimper. In two preseason games, he had two catches, both of them coming Friday night against the Chiefs. The highlight of his preseason was definitely this twisting over-the-shoulder catch in the Seahawks' 44-10 win against the Chiefs.

The lowlight was definitely this unforgiveable drop of a Matt Flynn pass in Seattle's 30-10 win against Denver.

[Les Carpenter: Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck natural frenemies]

Owens' release wasn't a surprise. It always felt like he was a long shot to make the roster, and he'd have had to play lights out to give himself a real chance. He didn't. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't good enough.

Earlier in the week, Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin named rookie Ryan Tannehill the Dolphins' starting quarterback. On Friday night, Tannehill had his first chance to reward Philbin's trust as the Dolphins hosted the Atlanta Falcons in a week three preseason game.

Things didn't go horribly for Tannehill, but they weren't great, either. If you're a Dolphins fan, there was enough there to inspire at least mild excitement. Maybe you're better off not to direct your excitement towards this season, because the supporting cast just isn't there, but there's no reason to be down on Tannehill himself.

His final numbers looked pretty poor ‒ 11-of-27 for 112 yards, no touchdowns and one interception ‒ but the raw numbers miss some things. There were drops and one ball that was thrown away, and Tannehill could've easily had a notch in the touchdown column, too.

Here's the fine-toothed comb. Tannehill dropped back and attempted to throw 29 times, and here are the specific results of each dropback:

• 1st and 5: Tannehill looks for Legedu Naanee on a quick slant. It's in front of him, as Naanee had stopped his route. Incomplete.
• 1st and 10: Again to Naanee, this time on about an 8-yard comeback. Asante Samuel was all over him. Incomplete again.
• 3rd and 15: Middle screen pass set up for Reggie Bush. Completed.
• 3rd and 4: The pocket collapses around Tannehill, but he tucks and runs, showing some pretty good legs. First down, Dolphins.
• 2nd and 12: Wanted Naanee on about a 15-yard comeback on the left sideline, but the pass was too tall.
• 3rd and 12: Interception. Tannehill wanted to go about 13 yards over the middle to Davone Bess, but middle linebacker Sean Weatherspoon tipped it over Bess' head, and Thomas DeCoud picked it off behind him.

Getty ImagesWhen the Chicago Bears signed Matt Forte to a big new contract in July, Michael Bush, who had just signed with the Bears in March, was worried about his role in the offense. He didn't want to be just a short-yardage back.

But Bears offensive coordinator Mike Tice doesn't see him as that. Tice sees Bush as a 1,000-yard back. He sees him as one of the Bears' two 1,000-yard backs, actually. Bush shared Tice's plan with the Chicago Sun-Times:

[...] when he arrived at Halas Hall for a free-agent visit, Bush was fascinated when new offensive coordinator Mike Tice informed him that he wanted two 1,000-yard running backs.

"He said he wanted to do it,'' Bush recalled Tice saying, "and I said, 'Well, you got the right two people.' "

Both guys are unquestionably capable of a 1,000-yard season if they stay healthy. Forte's done it twice before, and while Bush hasn't, it's mainly because he hasn't had the opportunity. Last year with Oakland, he was just 23 yards short of 1,000, and he got there on 256 carries. He added 37 receptions for 418 yards, too, giving him a total of 1,395 yards from scrimmage. He's got the talent if he gets the touches.

And if things go the way the Bears envision them, the passing game will have defenses backing off and giving up more running room. With Jay Cutler, Devin Hester and new addition Brandon Marshall, they've got more talent in the passing game than they've had in years. Head coach Lovie Smith is still a run-first guy, though.

A team having two 1,000-yard rushers has happened six times in the Super Bowl era, the last being in 2009, when Jonathan Stewart had 1,133 yards and DeAngelo Williams had 1,117 for the Carolina Panthers. The year before, Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward did it for the New York Giants.