Details are beginning to surface about Rodney Harrison's involvement with performance-enhancing substances.
A Boston Globe investigation today found that the Patriots safety met voluntarily with law enforcement authorities last week before admitting to his wrong-doing.
"I was quite impressed with Mr. Harrison's response when he was confronted with the issue," Albany County (New York) District Attorney P. David Soares declared in the Globe piece. "I commend him for immediately taking responsibility and being completely cooperative and forthright."
"We've had experience with confronting people with this kind of information and they are not forthcoming and cooperative," Soares continued. "Any time they are willing to sit down at the table and be honest and forthright, you have to admire that."
On to actual football now.
The Pats begin the 2007 season (minus Harrison) at the Meadowlands this Sunday. They'll face AFC East Division rivals, the New York Jets, in a contest that could be decided as much on the sidelines as it is on the field. The coaching strategies between Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini are the focus of another Globe feature today.
Two players who likely will start the game on the sidelines are backup QBs Matt Cassel and Matt Gutierrez. But if called into action, third-year pro Cassel feels good about the team's chances with him at the helm.
"I feel confident," he said in a Providence Journal story. "I've been here for three years. I feel confident in the system. I feel confident in the guys around me. God forbid, if something was to happen [to Tom Brady] ... "
