DAN DALY: One year of college was plenty for Beasley

Landeta confirmed as much to Callahan. “If the old rules were still in place, the precap rules, with no minimum salaries, I’d be able to play into my fifties,” he said, “because I’d play for less than anybody. I’d be so cheap that I’d be the most unpopular guy among the other punters in the whole history of punting. But I’d perform.”

Landeta was still practicing his punting four or five times a week - and vowed to continue doing so as long as “at least three or four GMs tell me that they’ll consider me a candidate if their guy goes down or if doesn’t perform. Then it makes sense to stay ready.”

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Can you believe it? Gus Frerotte has lived to quarterback another day - this time with in his second go-‘round with the Vikings, who have temporarily run out of patience with Tarvaris Jackson. A chronological list of the quarterbacks Gus has started in place of during the season: Heath Shuler (1994, ‘95), Trent Green (‘98), Charlie Batch (‘99), Brian Griese (‘00, ‘01), Daunte Culpepper (‘03), Sage Rosenfels (‘05), Marc Bulger (‘06) and now Jackson.

To summarize: eight QBs a total of 10 times.

Talk about a guy who’s been around.

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Trivia question: Only one of those eight quarterbacks was selected later in the NFL Draft than Frerotte. Who was it? (Answer below.)

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Steve Smith returns to the Panthers’ lineup today after serving a two-game suspension for breaking the nose of teammate Ken Lucas with a punch. But as a precautionary measure, I’m told, the team is making him wear 16-ounce gloves.

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So I’m watching the Eagles’ DeSean Jackson let go of the ball before crossing the goal line against the Cowboys, and I’m thinking: This kid would fit in perfectly on our 4x100-meter relay team.

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Blast from the past: Speaking of Jackson, he’s only (as ESPN noted Monday night) the second rookie receiver in league history to begin his career with two 100-yard games. The other, astonishingly enough, did it in the single-platoon era of 1940 - Don Looney, also of the Eagles.

Looney had one other 100-yard day that year - a 14-catch, 180-yard performance against the Redskins at Griffith Stadium in the season finale. At the time, both the 14 catches and the 180 yards were NFL records for a game. His 58 receptions that year were also a record - and broke the existing mark by 17.

Story Continues →