There's just no escaping "Hard Work"

Assistant Coach Hue Jackson on trying to improve struggling wide receiver Darius Heyward-Bay of the Raiders

"I don't think I need to build up any football players confidence,"  Jackson said.  It's rolling up your sleeves every day and going out to work to improve your skill level. That's what the young man has done. Obviously he needs to do it in a game. I think he will."

Are the Raiders finally getting "IT?"

"We don't need to be flashy. We didn't need the high price-tag free agents to come in. We didn't go crazy in the draft. We had a purpose in free agency, a purpose to the draft and a purpose to our trades."

—Coach Tom Cable on the common-sense approach to the offseason.

No entitlement here

"It doesn't matter if you were a 1st round draft choice or undrafted -- if you can play in this league, we'll find a way to get you on the field."  Gary Kubiak, coach of the Houston Texans

"The best players will play.  I don't care when they were drafted, what their salary is, how many years they've been in the league.  Our job is to win games, and the only way I know how to do that is to try to get the best 11 players on the field."  Josh McDaniels, coach of the Denver Broncos.

Chemistry matters

Matt Stafford, quarterback of the Lions and Calvin Johnson, wide receiver of the Lions, have been logging extra practice time on the field and occasionally hanging out away from the facility, trying to build the kind of relationship between a quarterback and a top receiver that has defined winning teams in the past.

Great Example of Preparation

Preparing to play in last year's Super Bowl, Tracy Porter cornerback of the New Orleans Saints studied diligently films of the Indianapolis Colts "china route", a staple of their 3 wideout formations in which the receiver split the farthest wide motions underneath the slot receiver, who runs an in-cut for a short gain.  The play appeared so often on film that "it became imbedded in my brain," says Porter, who compared preparing for the Super Bowl to studying for a final.

When he finally saw the play live, he felt like a student who knew the answer after reading only half of a test question.  "It was like, Here it is.  It finally happened, " says Porter, who jumped in front of Reggie Wayne on a "china route" late in the 4th quarter and returned the interception 74 yards for a Saints score.  Super Bowl over.  Saints win.

Player Development

"Teams won't start to win until they fully develop the second and third year players on their rosters."  Bill Parcells, Miami Dolphins President

Brian Kelly's Rules

Brian Kelly set the rules early for his players: No earrings or ball caps, organize your lockers, keep your helmets on and pay attention to detail during practices that won’t last more than 2 1/2 hours.