Jay Cutler Lifestyle

NEW ORLEANS--It's two hours before kickoff at the Superdome, and the atmosphere surrounding the Patriots-Saints game feels like a mini-Super Bowl. The town is about as excited as it gets for a regular season game. According to various accounts, tailgaters started gathering outside the Superdome around 3 or 4 a.m. and were there all day. By early in the afternoon, the crowd outside was sizable. A local television station is showing a three-hour pregame show.

Losses are mounting and so is the criticism, yet coach Lovie Smith insists he's not thinking about his future with the Chicago Bears. He's only focused on the task at hand: Salvaging something from this crumbling season.

A broken finger not coach John Fox may bench struggling Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. Fox said Monday that Delhomme fractured a finger on his throwing hand late in Sunday's loss to the New York Jets and may not be available next week against Tampa Bay.

Brian Urlacher summed up the 2009 in two words:

Some questions for Tiger Woods, while we wait for him to step up and explain why he turned his neighbor's property into a different kind of driving range: -- Why was he driving in the wee hours? Couldn't wait to...

Wide receiver Hines Ward told NBC before the Pittsburgh Steelers' overtime loss Sunday night in Baltimore that opinion was divided among Steelers players about whether quarterback Ben Roethlisberger should have been playing in the game. Roethlisberger sat out the game, a week after suffering a concussion during a defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs. An independent neurologist reportedly recommended that Roethlisberger not play against the Ravens. Ward told NBC, according to a written transcript provided by the network: "This game is almost like a playoff game. It's almost a must-win. I could see some players or teammates questioning like, 'It's just a concussion. I've played with a concussion before.' It's almost like a 50-50 tossup in the locker room: Should he play? Shouldn't he play? It's really hard to say. "I've been out there dinged up, the following week, got right back out there. Ben practiced all week. He

It was garbage time, with about four minutes left in a 36-10 blowout at the Metrodome that would raise the Minnesota Vikings record to a promising 10-1. With the Chicago Bears squashed, Steve Hutchinson figured it was also the perfect time to remind Brett Favre of something he told him in the summer as part of the sales job to lure the gunslinging quarterback out of retirement again.

Quarterback Kurt Warner is on the Arizona Cardinals' inactive list for their game Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Warner suffered a concussion last Sunday. He passed neurological tests early in the week, according to the Cardinals, and participated in practices. However, he reportedly experienced some neck tightness later in the week. Matt Leinart is scheduled to start in place of Warner.

The NFL reportedly is increasing the restrictions on teams putting a player back into a game after he suffers a head injury. Fox reported that the league will inform teams by memo this week that a player must be removed from a game if he demonstrates any symptoms, such as memory loss, of a concussion or head injury. Currently a player may return to a game if he's asymptomatic and is cleared by doctors, according to the Associated Press. The exception is that a player currently is barred from returning to a game if he was knocked unconscious by the hit that he sustained. The network also reported that the possible rule changes being considered by the NFL for this coming offseason include potentially protecting all ballcarriers, not only defenseless receivers and quarterbacks, from helmet-to-helmet hits, and possibly restricting ballcarriers from lowering their heads to initiate helmet-to-helmet contact with

Quarterback Matt Ryan has left the Atlanta Falcons' game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ryan has a toe injury and his return is questionable, according to the Falcons. Backup Chris Redman took over when Ryan exited the game.