Junior Seau's family won't be allowed to speak at Hall of Fame induction: Report

It’s always a bittersweet moment when a former National Football League player gets inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame posthumously. And when Junior Seau enters the Hall next month, the scenario will be way more bitter than sweet.

Before his tragic death, Seau told his family that if he was ever inducted to the HoF, the 14-year NFL veteran wanted his daughter Sydney to give his induction speech.

However, it doesn't look like she will get a chance.

HoF spokesman Joe Horrigan spokesman told the New York Times that Sydney won't be allowed to speak due to a recent policy change. Under the new policy, deceased inductees are introduced with a video that's put together by NFL Network.

"There was an acceptance speech for deceased players but it got redundant," Horrigan told the Times. "The honor is supposed to be for the individual."

Living inductees are also introduced by a video, but after the video's shown, a presenter comes out on stage and gives what usually ends up being a pretty emotional speech.

Presenters used to come out on stage to introduce deceased inductees, but the HoF changed its policy "a few years ago."

David Baker, executive director of the Hall, told the Times that Seau's suicide and his family's pending lawsuit against the NFL had nothing to do with the decision in this case.

“We’re not the N.F.L., but the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” said Baker. “Our mission is to honor the heroes of the game, and Junior is a hero of the game. We’re going to celebrate his life, not the death and other issues.”

Seau’s video will not mention the lawsuit that Seau’s family has filed against the NFL, although the league has publicized its crusade to curb injuries in active players and address brain disease among its almost 20,000 retired players.

Seau’s video tribute will be five minutes, two minutes longer than for living inductees, Horrigan said. It will include parts of an interview his daughter gave to NFL Network before, she said, she learned that no one would be making a speech.

Tom Brady pumped up after Edelman touchdown catch (VIDEO)

For a while Sunday night against the Chargers at Qualcom Stadium, it appeared the Patriots were going to have a hard time disposing of their west coast opponents. And it wasn't until Juliane Edelman took this 69-yard catch-and-run from Tom Brady in for fourth quarter touchdown that the Pats finally took control.

And that's also when Brady went into one of his well documented fits on the sideline. This time in a good way — encouraging his teammates with an enthusiastic sideline stroll and no F-bombs. 

Julian @Edelman11 says "GET OFF ME!" And Tom Brady is going bananas on the sideline. #NEvsSD http://t.co/bOe80EdHPg
— NFL (@nfl) December 8, 2014

The Patriots beat the Chargers, 23-14, and maintained control of the AFC’s No. 1 seed. The Pats (10-3) can win a sixth consecutive AFC East title next Sunday with a victory against the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium.

After the win, Brady even blew a kiss to his wife Giselle Bundchen:

Man who went missing from Broncos game found safe: Report

The man who went missing Oct. 23 during the Denver Broncos-San Diego Chargers game has been located and is safe, police confirmed on Twitter Tuesday night.

Denver police said that 53-year-old Paul Kitterman was found unharmed in Pueblo, Colo, after seemingly vanishing without a trace at halftime of the Thursday night game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium, reported the Denver Post.

After he was located, Kitterman told police that he just wanted to escape to some place warm, according to Fox Denver.

Pueblo is about 110 miles south of the stadium he wandered from.

#Breaking: DPD confirming that Paul Kitterman has been located and is safe after going missing from the Bronco Game.
— Denver Police Dept.  (@DenverPolice) October 29, 2014

Kitterman was attending his first Broncos game with his stepson, Jarod Tonneson, and two friends when he mysteriously disappeared — setting off a frantic search for him by family and friends for the past five days.

The missing man had no cellphone, credit cards and very little cash in his pocket after Tonneson claimed his stepdad wasn't in his seat after returning from the restroom. Tonneson publicly criticized investigators for allegedly not doing enough to locate the missing man.

Pueblo police received a call from Kremmling, Colo. police indicating Kitterman might be in their city.

Denver police didn't release details of his disappearance except that he was found outside a Kmart store. Authorities stressed there was no indication of foul play and that charges were unlikely.

Fan mysteriously vanishes without a trace during halftime of Broncos-Chargers game: Report

Paul Kitterman was in the stands with his son, Jarod Tonneson, during the first half of the Denver Broncos game against the San Diego Chargers on Thursday night.

Jarod got up and left his 53-year-old father sitting alone in their Mile High bleacher seats at halftime — but hasn't seen his father since.

Friends and family are now searching for Kitterman — who was at the game with Jarod and two friends — and claim he never returned to his seat for the rest of the game and has since vanished without a trace.

Tia Bakke and her boyfriend had invited Paul and Jarod to see what would be their first Broncos game.

"Paul and Jarod had never been to a game so we got some extra tickets," said Bakke, who drove down to Denver with the two from Kremmling, about two hours away.

The father and son were seated in bleachers away from Bakke, but met up during the halftime intermission. When they separated again, Paul told Bakke he'd see her after the game, reported 9 News.

That was the last anyone has seen of him. His son Jarod was in the restroom during halftime and said that he returned to his seat but that his father never did.

Paul's friends and his son searched Mile High stadium after the game, speaking to staff and police, and phoned the area jails and hospitals without getting any clues as to what happened to Paul.

According to Bakke, Paul is "not a technology guy" and was carrying only $50 in cash, without any credit cards or cellphone.

Though a missing persons report was filed and family and friends have handed out flyers and continuously called hospitals, so far there has been no trace of Paul.

UPDATE: Man found unharmed.

Ex-fan's tweet captures Jets' situation in one image (PHOTO)

It didn't take as long for Geno Smith to get benched against the Bills Sunday as it did against the Chargers a few weeks back and, while his backup, Michael Vick, inserted a little life into the Jets offense yesterday, his spark couldn't hide the fact that this Jets team just plain stinks.

After the 41-23 blowout loss, they now have the worst record in the NFL, they're in the midst of a seven-game losing streak and will likely be looking for a franchise quarterback in next year's draft.

And one fed-up Jets fan summed up this season so far with this creative tweet:

I'm outta here. ✌ pic.twitter.com/lXO3lL1cxM
— Cuffs The Legend (@CuffsTheLegend) October 26, 2014

 And he probably isn't the only one.

Peyton Manning calls out Mile High scoreboard operator for noise (VIDEO)

If Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning seemed a little irked at Broncos fans for making too much noise late in the fourth quarter during Thursday night's win over the Chargers, you weren't alone.

Manning kept shaking his head and signaling the crowd to quiet down while it took the fans a little too long in bringing the noise level down:

Peyton Manning needed Denver fans to shut up: (Vine via @19jms) http://t.co/X4z5iKQbRQ https://t.co/AIgpqsBMgx
— SB Nation (@SBNation) October 24, 2014

Manning was still not happy after the game but, as it turned out, it wasn't really the fans Manning had an issue with, it was the scoreboard operator he wanted to take to task.

After the game, Manning addressed the problem of crowd noise by calling out the man in the booth at his post-game presser:

"I have no problem with our fans. Our fans are great. I've got a problem with our scoreboard operator," Manning said. "I'm gonna have a little talk with him. I'm not sure what he's doing.

"He was playing music, showing people -- showing players dancing, getting the crowd fired up while we had the ball. I don't think we should be doing that. I don't think we should be showing their quarterback on the sideline. I thought that was kind of disrespectful. Our fans are great, our fans are loud, so the scoreboard operators ... it wasn't his best night."

[VIDEO]

Geno Smith missed team meeting because of time change: Report

It sounds like Geno Smith needs to work on his time management skills — before and during the game.

The Jets quarterback, who was benched at halftime, missed a team meeting on Saturday night, the team confirmed.

A team spokesman said it was an “honest mistake” and Smith got "messed up" by the three-hour difference between Eastern and Pacific time.

He arrived 5-10 minutes after the meetings ended, a team spokesman said, after Smith and a few teammates went to a movie.

The quarterback caught up on the missed information later that night with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and quarterbacks coach David Lee, according to the team. 

This was the first time Smith missed a meeting, said the Jets. It is not clear whether he was disciplined.

Smith was replaced by Michael Vick at halftime after going just 4-of-12 passing for 27 yards with one interception in the first half against San Diego.

“You’re down 21-0 and you haven’t converted a first down, you haven’t done anything,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “If not then, then when? Let’s try to give a spark.”

Ryan quickly said after the game that Smith would start against the Broncos this week.

Someone remind him to pre-set his watch.

Rex Ryan blames self after loss: 'It was me that was getting ass kicked'

The New York Jets are a wreck and Rex Ryan wants to take all of the responsibility for Sunday's crash landing.

While any one person never deserves all the blame for a loss, the abysmal 31-0 beat-down by Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers warrants lone blame said Ryan.

“First off, I apologize to our fans – those that are left,” Ryan said to start his postgame flogging presser.

 “This is on one person, and that’s it. It’s certainly not on the quarterback, on one individual that way or anybody else. It’s on me. Clearly got out-coached. I thought we had a good plan going in and, obviously that wasn’t the case.It was a complete ass whipping, and it was me that was getting my ass kicked. I think that’s where it is. It’s on one man. It’s on me. I understand what needs to be done. It’ll start with our preparation, like it always does. I thought I had my team prepared, and clearly that wasn’t the case.”

 "I've been beat before, but not like this," Ryan said.

The 4-1 Chargers dropped a lot of  pain on the 1-4 Jets, who lost their fourth straight game and even turned to Michael Vick. Vick replaced starter Geno Smith on New York's first possession of the second half, but wasn't any more effective.

Still, the Jets players had their coach's back.

"Rex is not playing," defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson said. "He can put it on himself all he wants, but as men as out here, we’ve got to do our job. We get paid to (expletive) play football.”

Sheldon Richardson added, "He can try to take the blame, but it’s us out there playing. All he’s doing is calling plays."

Ryan might feeling the Chargers boots-on-the-rear Monday morning but the real pain might come from planting himself down on owner Woody Johnson's hot-seat.