The 58-year-old retired New York Giant told The Associated Press onWednesday that he just doesn’t have the drive he thinks is needed to do it.

“I did not have the passion to jump in with both feet and change my lifeand take this on with the same intensity that I played football,” Carson saidin a phone interview.

Democratic officials asked Carson to run against five-term Republican U.S.Rep. Scott Garrett in a northern New Jersey district. The idea became moreattractive after congressional districts were withdrawn this winter and Garrett,one of the state’s most conservative delegation members, was left without aDemocratic challenger.

Although he has never held public office, Carson could afford to bankrollhis own campaign and has instant name recognition among sports fans.

“I was really flattered that so many people were urging me—some were evenbegging me—to run that really did give me reason to give it some seriousthought,” he said.

Carson, who has lived in New Jersey since 1982 and now resides in FranklinLakes, had been talking to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee andlocal Democrats about the possibility of running. He told Bergen CountyDemocratic officials on Tuesday that he had decided not to run.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee didn’t return a call andemail seeking comment Wednesday.

Carson spent 13 years with the Giants, from 1976 to 1988, and was on thechampionship team in 1986. Since retiring, he has worked in broadcasting,written two books and started his own consulting and promotions company. He hasalso acted as an advocate for concussion awareness.

The recent deaths of his brother and stepfather-in-law made him want toensure his family was a priority, Carson said, that would be too difficult if heran.

“If I was 15 years younger, it might be a different situation,” he said.

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The deal announced late Tuesday allows the Rams to play the New EnglandPatriots at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 28. The lease had required the team to playall home games at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

In exchange, the Rams agreed to increase the number of football seasonweekends that the dome can be booked for other uses. The team will also paytemporary employees the wages they would have earned by working the game in St.Louis.

The Rams also want to play games in London in 2013 and 2014. No deal hasbeen worked out on those games.

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Cornwell has represented both the NFL and the union as well as severalprominent NFL players, including Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Healso was a candidate to become executive director of the NFL Players Associationin 2009, a job that went to DeMaurice Smith.

Jimmy Raye, president of the association, says Cornwell’s hiring Tuesdaycomes at a time when the NFL is beginning a period of “unprecedentedopportunities” and his “experience and relationships will enable the coaches’boat to rise with the tide.”

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SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP)—Tom Martinez, the longtime personal coach to NewEngland Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, has died at 67.

His wife, Olivia, told the San Mateo Daily Journal (http://bit.ly/wZC5Vl )that he died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack while receiving dialysistreatment. The San Francisco Chronicle reported he died in Redwood City.

Tom Martinez worked with Brady when he was a teenager growing up in SanMateo, where Martinez coached at College of San Mateo. Their relationshipcontinued during Brady’s NFL career.

Martinez told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/xSIrhf ) before thePatriots’ Super Bowl matchup against the New York Giants this year that healways enjoyed working with Brady and watching him play.

Brady was equally complimentary, telling reporters before the Super Bowlthat Martinez taught him how to throw a football, and he was “foreverindebted” to him.

“He’s been a great friend of mine for a long time,” Brady said, addingthat Martinez had been seeking a kidney for some time.

“A lot of people are looking for kidneys or some different type oftransplants, but he’s very deserving,” Brady said. “He’s a great man.”

A spokesman for the Patriots said early Wednesday that Brady could notimmediately be reached for comment. The team posted to Twitter late Tuesday,“Our sincere condolences go out to the Martinez family & all those he mentoredthroughout his incredible career.”

Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman also tweeted, “RIP coach TomMartinez. He was such a great mentor to many in the bay area. His legacy willalways live on.”

Olivia Martinez told the Daily Journal in an email that Martinez “leavesthree children . their spouses . six grandchildren and hundreds of youngathletes in the Bay Area and around the country.”

[Related: Tom Martinez leaves behind an enduring legacy]

Doctors told Martinez last spring that he had months or less to live due toa combination of kidney and heart problems, the Daily Journal reported. Hisprognosis was, at least temporarily, debunked when specialists discovered thatit was his pacemaker that was killing him. The pacemaker was turned off in Juneand he had been fighting to get stronger while awaiting a kidney transplant.

Martinez was hired at College of San Mateo to coach football and teachphysical education but added softball and women’s basketball to his coachingload.

His teams won 32 championships. He had 400 career wins in football, a staterecord 565 wins in basketball and 800 wins in softball over 32 years, the DailyJournal reported.

“He really was the representation of Bulldog athletics,” said College ofSan Mateo athletic director Gary Dilley. “It’s great (Martinez) made such agreat contribution to Tom Brady, but really the mark he made was in the heartshe trained and coached at CSM.”

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It’s the first topic that comes up when Brandon Weeden’s NFL draft prospectsare discussed.

You see, Weeden is 28—same as NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers. At an age when manyNFL quarterbacks are peaking, Weeden will just be starting his professionalcareer.

Still, the early consensus on Weeden among the so-called experts is he couldgo as soon as the second round or as late as the fourth in April’s draft.

At 6-foot-4 and 222 pounds, he’s got ideal NFL size and an accurate arm. Theknocks on him: his arm strength is good but not great and he doesn’t have muchmobility.

And he’s 28 years old.

For the past six weeks, Weeden has been training for the draft at Athletes’Performance in Phoenix, Ariz., along with about 30 other college prospects,including Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III and Alabama running back TrentRichardson.

Weeden is working on his speed and agility. He’s working on his arm strengthand foot work.

His age? Nothing he can do about that.

“I used to think it was more of an issue than it really is,” Weeden saidTuesday, the day before he was to fly to Indianapolis for the NFL combine, whichstarts Thursday.

Weeden was a first-round draft pick by the New York Yankees out of highschool in Oklahoma City in 2002 and pitched for five years in the minors beforegoing back to school.

He’s got six years minimum on most of the other players at the combine and,as far as he’s concerned, that’s not a negative.

“I think my age is an advantage. Being older, being more mature. I’vealready been a pro. I’ve had to deal with the failures and success of playingbaseball. I’ve overcome those failures and dealt with the success,” he said. “I think I’ll be able to take on more early on.”

Weeden decided after playing Class-A ball in the Royals system in 2006 thatit was time to try something else. He didn’t want to be a career minor leaguerand still had the itch to play football.

Oklahoma State quickly scooped him up. He redshirted in 2007, was a backupin `08 and `09, before taking over as the starter in 2010.

In two years directing the Cowboys’ spread offense, he passed for 9,004yards and 71 touchdowns with 26 interceptions.

He also got married in 2009 to Melanie Meuser. They don’t have kids, yet. Hefigures after he gets a job in the NFL and finds out where he and Melanie willbe living, they’ll start a family.

Right now his job is trying to get a job and that’s how he is approachingthe combine.

“There are 32 corporations there I have to try to impress. I won’t let theprocess overwhelm me. I understand it’s a business. It’s my job,” he said.

The quarterbacks go on display at the combine on Sunday.

Weeden said he was “leaning toward” going through the throwing drills.Many top prospects skip the passing tests at the combine, choosing instead tothrow under conditions they can control at private workouts.

Weeden said he has no reason to worry.

“That’s my strength,” he said. “That’s what I do best.”

He also plans to participate in pro day in back in Stillwater on March 9.After that, he likely will have private workouts for and visits to teams thatare considering drafting him.

There will no doubt be teams interested, but how many could very well belimited by his age.

Weeden inevitably gets compared to Chris Weinke, who took a similar path tocollege football. Weinke won the Heisman Trophy at Florida State in 2000 at theage of 28, then was drafted in the fourth round by the Carolina Panthers.

Weinke was mostly a backup in his seven seasons with the Panthers and 49ers.

Weeden said plenty of quarterbacks play well into their mid-30s, so there’sno reason he can’t have a good 10-year career in the NFL.

“I don’t have much to harp on or any other red flags other than my age,”Weeden said. “I have a lot of football left in my tank.”

——— —

Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

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The article on Tebowmania was written by Michael Silver and titled “Theyear of Magical Stinking: An Oral History of Tebow Time.”

In it, Quinn was quoted as saying, “We’ve had a lot of, I guess, luck, toput it simply.” He also said he felt the fans were the reason Tebow leapfroggedhim on the depth chart when supplanting Kyle Orton as the starter after a 1-4start.

“I felt like the fans had a lot to do with that,” Quinn said in thearticle. “Just `cause they were chanting his name. There was a big calling forhim. No, I don’t have any billboards. That would have been nice.”

Quinn also said in the article that the way Tebow expresses his faithdoesn’t “seem very humble to me.” Both men are Christians.

Quinn took to Twitter after the article’s release Tuesday, saying thecomments attributed to him did not reflect his opinion of Tebow.

Tebow “deserves a lot of credit for our success and I’m happy for him andwhat he accomplished. Most importantly, he is a great teammate,” Quinn wrote.

Quinn said he’s reached out to Tebow directly “to clear this up,” adding,“I apologize to anyone who feels I was trying to take anything away from ourteam’s or Tim’s success this season.”

Quinn is an unrestricted free agent whom the Broncos are consideringbringing back to Denver.

[NFL draft: Fastest combine 40-yard dash times don’t always translate to NFL success]

He was Orton’s primary backup when the season started but when Ortonstruggled, the Broncos’ brain trust wanted to see what they had in Tebow, a 2010first-round draft pick who made more than $7 million last season, including abig bonus that was paid before the season.

Tebow won seven of his first eight starts and produced a series of stirringfourth-quarter comebacks that made up for his poor passing and messy mechanics.

With Tebow at quarterback, the Broncos reached the playoffs for the firsttime since 2005, and they won their first game, against Pittsburgh, when Tebowconnected with Demaryius Thomas on an electrifying 80-yard touchdown pass on thefirst play of overtime.

Thomas chimed into the latest Tebow rift on Tuesday, tweeting, “I’m tiredof ppl talking about my QB.. If u ask me there’s no such thing as luck.. It’shard work and determination.. That’s all…”

[Around the league: QB Jason Campbell leaves bride at the alter]

After the Broncos lost at New England in the divisional round, footballchief John Elway declared Tebow the starter heading into training camp thissummer but stopped short of saying the third-year pro had won the job foropening day next season.

The Broncos haven’t ruled out bringing back Quinn, who didn’t take a singlesnap in his two seasons in Denver after being acquired from Cleveland in thetrade for Peyton Hillis in 2010.

Besides Tebow, the only other quarterback under contract for next season isAdam Weber, who spent last season on the Broncos’ practice squad.

The Broncos will try to add a couple of quarterbacks through free agency andthe draft.

Elway, a two-time Super Bowl winner and Hall of Famer who rejoined thefranchise last year, has said Tebow must morph into more of a pocket passer tosucceed long-term in the NFL.

Coach John Fox reintroduced the option offense to the league last year andTebow piled up yards on the ground, but he completed less than half his passesin both the regular season and the playoffs.

Tebow has already spent time working on his throwing motion and mechanicswith UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone in Los Angeles this month. Mazzonealso helped him work on his fundamentals coming out of Florida, where he was athree-time All-America, a two-time national champion and a Heisman Trophywinner.

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That was the message delivered by Rogers Communications Media presidentKeith Pelley in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.

“We continue to have dialogue, just as we did at the Super Bowl in Indy,and we’re optimistic that an agreement could be reached,” Pelley said. “We’redefinitely interested in continuing the relationship with the Bills inToronto.”

Pelley wouldn’t provide specifics on the length or terms of a potentialextension to the existing five-year deal, but did say that Rogers is not lookingto expand the number of regular-season games the Bills play in Toronto.

“No,” he said. “At this point, without getting into any details of theconversation, I think that it would be a deal that would that would certainlywork for both sides. We’re not looking to increase the number of games.”

That’s a switch from before, when Rogers vice chairman Phil Lind expressedinterest in Toronto hosting more than one regular season game.

[NFL draft: QB Andrew Luck’s talents offset lack of style]

The Bills-In-Toronto series enters its final year after the team and Rogersnegotiated a five-year, $78 million agreement in 2008 to have the Bills playfive annual regular-season and three preseason games at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.

Though talks are ongoing, it’s expected the new deal would be similar to theexisting contract.

Bills owner Ralph Wilson told The AP in December that he’s optimistic anextension would be reached, while adding that Rogers is asking to cut ticketprices, which could reduce the overall value of the deal.

For the Bills, the series has served as an opportunity for the team toexpand its market into Canada’s largest city and financial capital. For Rogers,it was regarded as an opportunity to bring the NFL to Toronto, and for thecommunications giant to build ties with North America’s most lucrative sport.

The series has so far paid off for the Bills, who have experienced asignificant boost in season-ticket sales from fans in southern Ontario, who nowrepresent about 15 percent of the team’s base.

[Offseason: Tom Brady, Gisele and Wes Welker vacation together in Costa Rica]

On Tuesday, Bills CEO Russ Brandon noted that negotiations with Rogers wereunder way.

“Our core goal is to continue to regionalize our franchise,” Brandon said,“and continue our series in Toronto, which has served us so well.”

The Bills announced Tuesday that they are losing their preseason game atToronto this summer as a result of scheduling conflicts at Rogers Centre. Thepreseason game will now be played at Orchard Park.

The Bills will still play their scheduled regular-season game at Toronto,which will be determined once the NFL schedule is released in the next twomonths.

Pelley said he offered the preseason game back to the Bills because RogersCentre was running out of open dates in August. The Blue Jays have a lengthy10-game homestand that spans two weekends, and Pelley said another event thathas yet to be announced has been added to the calendar.

Pelley called the series a chance for Rogers to bring a premium event toToronto, and showcase the Bills.

“The bottom line is, the Bills are premium content, and that’s what we’reobviously looking to bring to Rogers Centre,” Pelley said, noting Rogers has a“terrific” relationship with the Bills. “It’s a complete partnership, andthat’s what we’ve tried to build. And if we are to be successful in extendingthe deal, then the partnership will get stronger.”

Pelley did acknowledge some hiccups, and added Rogers is still attempting toaddress fans’ concerns that Ontario laws are more strict in limiting theirability to tailgate the same way they can at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Another issue has been the price of tickets, which initially averaged about$180. Rogers has responded by offering more than 10,000 tickets for under $100.

The Bills also announced Tuesday that there will be no increase to theirseason-ticket prices, and have dropped prices for certain sections by as much as$15 per seat for the upcoming season.

The Bills already had among the NFL’s lowest ticket prices. And they’recoming off a season in which they failed to sell out their final three homegames last year.

The team’s season-ticket base dropped to 37,555 last year, down from 44,000the previous season. The Bills blamed the drop on the NFL lockout wiping outmost of the offseason, when the team generates most of its sales.

“Everyone in the organization is committed to building upon our strongfoundation,” Brandon said, “and taking a significant step forward this year.”

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The game will instead be played at Orchard Park as a result of what the teamdescribed as “scheduling conflicts” at Toronto’s downtown Rogers Centre. Itwas unclear what the conflicts are.

This was supposed to be the third and final preseason game the Bills werescheduled to play in Toronto as part of a five-year, $78 million agreement theteam reached with Toronto-based Rogers Communication in 2008. The deal, whichexpires after this year, was supposed to include three preseason games and fiveannual regular-season games.

In announcing the preseason game being switched, the Bills said they willstill play their annual regular-season game at Toronto this year. The date andopponent of that game will be determined once the NFL releases its schedule inthe next two months.

Bills CEO Russ Brandon said the team is in negotiations with Rogers toextend the series beyond this year.

“Our core goal is to continue to regionalize our franchise and continue ourseries in Toronto, which has served us so well,” Brandon said. “We willprovide more information once terms are finalized.”

In December, Bills owner Ralph Wilson told The Associated Press that he wasoptimistic the deal would be renewed.

Though playing in Toronto has been a windfall for the Bills in generatingextra money and raising the team’s profile in Canada’s largest city andfinancial capital, the series has experienced its share of growing pains.

Expensive ticket prices and the Bills’ losing record have contributed toseries organizers having difficulty selling out the 54,000-seat venue. That wasparticularly the case for Buffalo’s previous two preseason games in Toronto.

The Bills drew a crowd of 39,583 for their preseason game againstIndianapolis in 2010, and there was an announced crowd of 48,433 for theirpreseason game against Pittsburgh in 2008.

All four previous regular-season games at Toronto were announced assellouts, even though tickets were still available at game time.

The Bills also announced Tuesday that there will be no increase to theirseason-ticket prices, and have dropped prices for certain sections by as much as$15 per seat for the upcoming season.

The Bills already had among the NFL’s lowest ticket prices. And they’recoming off a season in which they failed to sell out their final three homegames last year.

The team’s season-ticket base dropped to 37,555 last year, down from 44,000the previous season. The Bills blamed the drop on the NFL lockout wiping outmost of the offseason, when the team generates most of its sales.

“Everyone in the organization is committed to building upon our strongfoundation,” Brandon said, “and taking a significant step forward this year.”

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Jenkins signed a $25 million, five-year deal last offseason and had 5.5sacks, seven tackles for loss, and 61 total tackles in his first season with theteam. Jenkins spent his first seven seasons with Green Bay.

“We are very excited about having Cullen back on our football team,”Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said Tuesday. “Cullen made an immediateimpact for us this year on and off the field. We look forward to a great futuretogether with him in an Eagles uniform.”

Philadelphia went 8-8 last season.

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Vikings spokesman Lester Bagley declined to name a dollar amount, but saidthe “agreement in principle” would add about 3,000 temporary end zone seats tothe 50,000-seat stadium. Bagley says other details need to be resolved beforeboth parties sign off on the deal.

The Star Tribune (http://bit.ly/xnotMv ) says the Vikings paid $1.7 millionto play a game at TCF Stadium after the Metrodome roof collapsed in December2010.

———

Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com

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