Robert Griffin III will be the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins in their Monday Night Football season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 9, ESPN reported Wednesday.

Aug 28 (The Sports Xchange) - Robert Griffin III will be the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins in their Monday Night Football season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 9, ESPN reported Wednesday. That appeared to be a foregone conclusion after Griffin practiced without any problems with his surgically repaired knee the past two weeks. - - Aaron Hernandez was a heavy drug user during his days with the New England Patriots and his behavior angered head coach Bill Belichick to the point that his job was in jeopardy, according to Rolling Stone magazine. ...

The Philadelphia Eagles announced Sunday they have released 10 players, then reportedly parted ways with two additional players later in the day.

Aug 25 (The Sports Xchange) - New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez will not play in Thursday's preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles because of a shoulder injury suffered on Saturday, the team confirmed on Sunday. Sanchez took a hard hit late in Saturday's 24-21 victory over the New York Giants, and there was some concern that he might miss significant playing time as a result. The Jets announced Sunday that Sanchez's status is day-to-day, but offered no details on the severity of the injury. ESPNNewYork. ...

New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez will not play in Thursday's preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles because of a shoulder injury suffered on Saturday, the team confirmed Sunday.

COMMENTARY | When forecasting the NFC East in 2013, it's easy to overlook the Philadelphia Eagles. After all, they finished with a record of 4-12 and ranked No. 29 in the National Football League in both points scored (280) and points allowed (444) last season.

With no preseason games until Thursday night, most of the NFL was back in action on Monday. That includes the Buffalo Bills, who was back on the practice field 24 hours after playing a road preseason game. Bills head coach Doug Marrone discussed his decision to practice so soon after a game. "We’re in a critical point. Maybe critical is not the right word. But we’re in a window of really in the evaluation process to get the players ready," Marrone said. "I think that it’s a short week. We came back. But then again, you might’ve looked it as a practice, but we tagged off every drill, wanted to get them running around. And normally after a game, you come back, they do a heavy lifting, heavy running to flush their body out. And the players did a good job of that. Again, we may be practicing and it might be called a practice, but we’re being smart about it with the players." • New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle is undergoing tests on his right ankle, but the initial diagnosis is a sprain , Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News reports. Rolle will undergo an MRI to confirm the diagnosis and to set up some sort of timetable for his return. • The Philadelphia Eagles added a wide receiver on Monday, trading backup offensive lineman Nate Menkin to the Houston Texans for Jeff Maehl, who played for Chip Kelly at the University of Oregon. Maehl caught 178 passes for 2,311 yards with 24 touchdowns in a 52-game career with the Ducks, but is still searching for his first NFL reception. Maehl appeared in three games for the Texans in 2011, playing nine snaps on offense and 31 snaps on special teams before spending the 2012 season on the Texans' practice squad.

Slow day around NFL training camps, but that's because 28 NFL teams will play a preseason game tonight or tomorrow night. • Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller will have his appeal hearing for his four-game suspension on Aug. 15, Mike Klis of the Denver Post reports. Miller is facing a suspension for allegedly violating the league's substance abuse policy. According to Klis, the format of the appeals hearing has not yet been determined. • Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Dennis Kelly will miss the preseason after undergoing back surgery , Geoff Mosher of CSN Philadelphia notes. Kelly started 10 games last season and with Jason Peters also battling an injury, journeyman Allen Barbre is currently the Eagles' top left tackle. • Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Plaxico Burress was carted off the practice field on Thursday with a right arm injury. According to multiple reports, Burress was going for a jump ball with a pair of defenders and landed his arm. • Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey returned to practice after spraining his knee earlier this week, Mike Wells of ESPN.com reports. • Blaine Gabbert will start at quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars on Friday night, head coach Gus Bradley announced. Running back Maurice Jones-Drew is healthy, but will not play.

Another day around NFL training camps, two more season-ending injuries to wide receivers. • The Philadelphia Eagles announced that wide receiver Arrelious Benn suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during a special teams drill in practice. Benn was acquired in March from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who picked Benn in the second round of the 2010 NFL draft. Benn's rookie season was ended with a torn ACL in the same left knee. Benn is the second Eagles receiver to go down for the season. Earlier in camp, they lost starting wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, also to a torn ACL. Losing Maclin and Benn leave the Eagles with DeSean Jackson, Jason Avant and the Riley Cooper as the only experienced receivers on the roster. • San Diego Chargers wide receiver Danario Alexander suffered a torn right ACL during Tuesday's practice. Alexander went undrafted out of Missouri in 2010 largely due to concerns about his knees, which had undergone multiple surgeries in college and a few months before the draft. In 2012, his first season with the Chargers, Alexander caught 37 passes for 658 yards and seven touchdowns and ranked 16th in Football Outsiders' receiving DYAR (Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement) metric. Alexander, 25, was scheduled to earn $1.323 million in non-guaranteed base salary as a restricted free agent this season. Alexander was projected to start opposite Malcom Floyd, a role that will now go to either Vincent Brown, Keenan Allen or possibly Robert Meachem, a free agent bust in 2012 whose $5 million base salary this season is fully guaranteed. • The Eagles held a joint practice with the New England Patriots on Tuesday, a practice that also featured a scuffle between Eagles cornerback Cary Williams and Patriots second-round wide receiver Aaron Dobson. Bill Belichick and Chip Kelly had lengthy discussions in the days leading up to these practices and one of the rules was if you fight, you sit, regardless of who started it. "Someone got in extracurriculars they were going to be done for the day," said Kelly. "It was one way we made sure that didn't continue. So I don't know exactly name-wise who it was for them, but he sat and our guys sat. That was one thing we agreed upon. We didn't want this to turn into a wrestling match. Both of our squads knew before it happened. If you're going to get in a skirmish, you're going to sit." • New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul will return from his June back surgery when he's ready , not when the team's front office says he should, writes Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News. With Pierre-Paul nearing the end of his rookie contract, the Giants may have no choice but to treat lightly in their dealings with the two-time Pro Bowl defensive end. • On his way towards earning a starting job last summer, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson played a lot in the 2012 preseason. As the starter, Wilson likely won't play as much in this year's preseason as he did last year, but Wilson acknowledged how important staying in the game from a mental perspective is to his continued development. "You know last season, obviously I played a lot. But this preseason, I’m still going to be in on every play even if I’m not in the game," said Wilson. "I want to play a lot, but obviously coach is going to make that decision. In terms of being in the game, whether I’m on the sideline or in the game, I’m going to be paying attention and making sure that I understand what’s going on so that I can get that many more plays. If there’s 75 plays in the game I want to get every single one of the snaps, every one of them. I think that’s the focus that I have to have on a daily basis." • Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy is not writing left tackle Bryan Bulaga (torn ACL) off for the season, but the team apparently has a very capable option in fourth-round pick David Bakhtiari, writes Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. • Potentially bad news for the Atlanta Falcons: Right tackle Mike Johnson was carted off the field with a very serious left leg injury, reports D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Like the Packers, the Falcons have a talented replacement in 2012 third-round pick Lamar Holmes, who did not play much as a rookie. • The Cleveland Browns announced that they have signed long-snapper Christian Yount to a four-year contract extension. Yount has appeared in 28 games over the last two seasons, including 21 games for the Browns, who signed the former undrafted free agent out of UCLA as a street agent late in the 2011 season. Yount had been scheduled to earn $555,000 in non-guaranteed base salary this season and is now signed through the 2017 season.

Aug 6 (The Sports Xchange) - Wide receiver Riley Cooper said it was great to be back at practice Tuesday, four days after the Philadelphia Eagles excused him from training camp after being seen on a video using a racial slur. "To be honest, it felt good," Cooper said. "It felt great. I love being out there on the field playing football. That's what I do and that's what I love. So it felt good to be out there with the guys, catching, running and making some plays." Cooper was fined by the Eagles and sent to get outside counseling last week after using the slur at a Kenny Chesney concert in ...