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SPORTS

Fox still not over season-ending loss to Cardinals

Thursday, March 26, 2009
(Updated 9:58 am)

Carolina Panthers coach John Fox believes his team has moved on from its 33-13 home loss to Arizona in the playoffs. At least as much as any NFL club can after such a lopsided and disappointing ending to a season.

"I don't think you ever get totally rid of it," Fox said Wednesday at the NFL meetings. "But you get over it. Unless you win the Super Bowl, and we have not done that, usually your season ends with a loss."

Reminded that the Panthers came very close to being champions, losing to New England 32-29 in the 2004 Super Bowl, Fox winced.

"That Super Bowl is the hardest to get over, more than that one," he said, referring to the loss to the Cardinals. "The loss in the championship game to Seattle (in January 2006) was harder.

"People on the outside underestimated Arizona. I can't say it's surprising to lose to them. They beat some good teams. It was not like we played some high school team and got drilled by them."

MORE PROBLEMS FOR VICK: The U.S. Department of Labor filed complaints Wednesday accusing suspended NFL star Michael Vick of illegally spending about $1.3 million in pension plan funds for his own benefit, including paying restitution ordered in his dogfighting conspiracy case.

The department filed the complaints in federal district and bankruptcy courts the same day Vick left a federal lockup in Kansas, apparently bound for Virginia to appear at a bankruptcy hearing next week. Vick was at the Federal Transfer City in Oklahoma City late Wednesday afternoon.

Mark Lichtenstein, one of Vick's bankruptcy attorneys, declined to comment on both the Labor Department allegations and the details of Vick's apparent temporary move to Virginia for the April 2 hearing.

The Labor Department said Vick made a series of prohibited transfers from a pension plan sponsored by MV7, a celebrity marketing company owned by the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback. The department alleges that Vick violated his duties as trustee of a pension plan that covered nine current or former MV7 employees.

The filing further complicates Vick's bankruptcy case, which has gradually moved along in Newport News while Vick serves a 23-month prison term in the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan.

LONGER SEASON? Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to expand the regular season from 16 to 17 or 18 games. One problem will be reaching a new collective bargaining agreement with the players' union.

Still, the commissioner hopes to present a proposal to the owners in May after the matter was discussed at length this week at the owners meetings.

"It's possible that we could vote in May, but we want to have core discussions on this," Goodell said Wednesday. "Any time you have change, there is some reluctance. But it's clear we don't need four preseason games anymore."

NEW RULES: Referee Ed Hochuli can rest easier after team owners passed a rule allowing video replays on a loose ball that could be either a fumble or incompletion.

Also, replay now can be used to determine if a loose ball hit the sideline. A Cardinals kickoff in January's NFC championship game was ruled to have gone out of bounds even though it was recovered in bounds by Arizona. Replays showed the ball never hit or crossed the sideline.

The owners eliminated a rekick after an illegal onside kick, awarding the ball immediately to the receiving team.

The draft order for playoff teams was reworked and will be based on where teams were eliminated in the postseason. Last season, the Chargers (8-8) beat the Colts (12-4) in a wild-card game, but San Diego will pick before Indianapolis in next month's draft. The new procedure begins in 2010.

JETS: Free agent cornerback Donald Strickland was signed, adding another new face to the revamped secondary. Strickland, who played the last three seasons for the 49ers, is expected to serve as a backup.

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