According to WIVB-TV in Buffalo, the Bills have contacted former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis about their head coaching vacancy.

Sources tell us the Bills made a back-channel approach to Weis in recent weeks to see if he’s interested in the job. And the sources say Weis is interested. So far, it’s not believed that the two sides have had a formal discussion about the Bills coaching job.

The Bills were interested in Weis back in 2004 before they hired Mike Mularkey, so maybe this report has teeth. That said, one would have to believe that there are more qualified candidates than Weis. I realize they might not be able to land Mike Shanahan, Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden, but given his failures at Notre Dame as a head coach, it would make more sense if Weis assumed a coordinator position in the NFL before being hired as a team’s head man.

Along with Weis, the Bills were also linked to Michael Vick before he signed with Philadelphia. After signing Terrell Owens in the offseason, I fear that the Bills are heading down a path in which they’re focused more on flashy signings and hires than they are about making sound football decisions. But then again, Weis and Vick have only been linked to the Bills and as of right now, neither is close to joining the franchise. Plus, the T.O. experiment appears to be over (he only signed a one year deal and I’d be shocked if the team wanted to re-sign him), so let’s give the Bills the benefit of the doubt.

Buffalo needs a good front office man to come in, evaluate the roster, put together a plan to acquire talent and then get the right head coach to fit the players. The Bills are a long ways off and I highly doubt Weis is the savior they need.

Chris Johnson rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries on Sunday, while also adding nine receptions for 100 yards to help the Titans crush the Bills, 41-17.

Johnson turned simple screen and dump off passes into highlight reel plays and also gained 32 yards on an option pitch. Since Vince Young re-entered Tennessee’s starting lineup, Jeff Fisher’s coaching staff has done a nice job of finding creative ways to get Johnson the ball. He’s racked up 1,091 rushing yards on the season, which is tops in the NFL.

While Johnson was doing everything to help his team win, Terrell Owens was being a distraction to his. He did catch an eye-popping three passes for 85 yards and a touchdown, but he also got into a screaming match with one of his coaches and apparently was slapping people high-fives to the crowd behind the Bills’ bench near the end of the game. What he was celebrating about and whom he was celebrating with are both unknown, although he did go to college in Tennessee so maybe he saw one of his old roommates.

Trent Edwards misfired on several passes to T.O. throughout the game and therefore Owens must have felt that because of that, he didn’t have to pursue Tennessee defenders on two separate interceptions in the second half. One of the interceptions was T.O.’s fault too, as he let the ball slip through his stone-hands.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported after the game that Owens might be trying to get cut. Hopefully the Bills keep him and make him rot in Buffalo for the rest of the season.

The Eagles acquired linebacker Will Witherspoon from the Rams at the trade deadline on Tuesday. In exchange for Witherspoon, St. Louis acquired wide receiver Brandon Gibson and a 2010 fifth round pick.

Witherspoon had been playing the weak side linebacker position for the Rams, but he has experience in the middle, which has been a weakness for the Eagles since Stewart Bradley was lost for the season in training camp. Stewart’s replacements, Jeremiah Trotter and Omar Gaither, are fine against the run but have been a liability in coverage.

Gibson was a sixth round pick of the Eagles’ in April. He impressed Philadelphia’s coaching staff in training camp, but was never going to see the field with DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and others in front of him. St. Louis has had a major need at receiver, especially since Laurent Robinson was lost for the year with a knee injury.

As expected, the trade deadline came and went without any big names being dealt. Rumors circulated last week that Brady Quinn, Joshua Cribbs and/or Terrell Owens might be traded, but nothing came to fruition.

The NFL trade deadline is today and not much is expected to happen because, well, nothing usually happens.

Here are a few reasons why:

- The deadline occurs after Week 6 and good luck getting any head coach to say that the season is over when there are still 10 games left on the schedule. Teams haven’t thrown in the towel yet and still believe the players they have on their roster give them the best chance to win. And if teams with losing records aren’t willing to deal, how are teams with the winning records supposed to improve themselves in an attempt to make the playoffs?

- Not every player is a match for a team’s offensive or defensive system. Football isn’t like baseball where the second base position in Milwaukee is the same as the second base position in San Francisco. It takes players weeks, if not months, if not seasons to learn a new system, so knowing that they can’t get a quick return on their investment, teams are reluctant to acquire new players. Take the Bears and Gaines Adams for example. Chicago acquired him on Friday night from Tampa Bay, but didn’t even bother activating him for Sunday night’s game against the Falcons because they knew he wouldn’t be ready to play in their system. The Falcons traded for cornerback Ty Hill (a former starter for the Rams) right before the season started and still haven’t played him yet.

- Unless an entirely new staff takes over in the offseason (i.e. Cleveland and Tampa Bay), coaches aren’t willing to give up on the players they drafted. You hear the term “his player” used all the time in the NFL. Come hell or high water, a coach is going to fight for the player he drafted (especially if they were a first day pick), because they don’t want to see the fruits of their labor have success anywhere else.

So even if you hear the names Brady Quinn, Josh Cribbs and Terrell Owens thrown around today, don’t buy into the hype that they’ll be traded because those players will likely be wearing the same uniforms come Sunday.

- THE BIG LEAD has the details on Lisa Guerrero’s recent sting on the Tennessee hotels that allegedly filled a creep’s request to get a room next to Erin Andrews (which led to the peephole tape). Did you know that she posed for Playboy a while back? (NSFW)

- Over at YARDBARKER, Brendan Haywood argues that the NFL should just say no to Rush Limbaugh’s bid to buy the Rams.

- THE SPORTING BLOG reports that one Miami scalper took his “job” waaaay too seriously.

- The folks in Buffalo are already talking about trading Terrell Owens, and THE HERD’S WORD wonders where he could land.

- DEADSPIN details how Francisco Garcia will miss four months because of a freak rubber ball incident.

Here are my top four plays against the spread for Week 5 in the NFL. (Fade at will.)

Steelers (2-2) at Lions (1-3), 1:00PM ET
The Lions are in trouble for a couple reasons, although none bigger than not having rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford (knee injury) run their offense. Stafford is expected to be sidelined for Detroit’s game against the defending champs this weekend, which means Daunte Culpepper will get the start. Even without Troy Polamalu, the Steelers defense should handle everything Culpepper throws their way and generate a turnover or two. This is another big test for Rashard Mendenhall. If he follows up his 165-yard effort against the Chargers last week with a dud against the lowly Lions, then the Steelers’ ground game is right back where it started at the beginning of the season (i.e. in trouble). That said, Ben Roethlisberger should have no issues moving the ball through the air against Detroit’s 25th ranked pass defense. Will this be the game Pittsburgh finally plays all four quarters and step on an opponent’s throat?
Odds: Steelers –10.5.
Prediction: Steelers 34, Lions 14.

Patriots (3-1) at Broncos (4-0), 4:15PM ET
The Broncos aren’t going to move the ball against the Patriots as well as the Ravens did last week, but they should have more than enough weapons in Brandon Marshall and Knowshon Moreno to keep the chains moving and give their defense time to rest. Speaking of Denver’s defense, as long as Elvis Dummervil and company continue to generate pressure, the Broncos should pull off the upset as home dogs this Sunday. The Patriots’ issues are far from solved and Bill Belichick knows his team has to go week-to-week and game-by-game. New England has struggled in Denver over the years, covering the spread just five times in its last 20 visits to the Mile-High City. This will be a great test for the Broncos defense to see where they’re at, and I think they harass Tom Brady just enough to earn a victory.
Odds: Patriots –3.5.
Prediction: Broncos 20, Patriots 17.

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In an interview for the radio program the “Two Live Stews,” Bills wideout Terrell Owens said that he believes the media is trying to stir things up in Buffalo by twisting around what he says.

From ESPN.com:

“It really just shows you the angle that the media has taken all these years,” Owens said during the interview. “Over the years I’ve always kind of spoken openly about whatever is being asked with my answers, so the last four or five years I’ve kind of noticed that and tried taking some steps to prevent some of those things from happening.

“But [Sunday] as you saw, it was obviously … [the media] took some more than initiative to try to get me to kind of go down the wrong path. I know the last two teams that I’ve been on, I felt like I left those teams prematurely due to media interviews that I’ve done and things kind of taken out of context and they created sort of a media whirlwind in the locker room and things kind of went downhill from there. I’m just trying to do the best job I can do as far as answering the questions and trying to be a better teammate and not try to throw people under the bus.”

During his news conference on Sunday after the Bills loss — in which his streak of 185 consecutive games with a reception was snapped — Owens was repeatedly asked about his lack of involvement in the team’s offense.

“Just going with the plays that are called,” Owens replied repeatedly to those questions. “Whether I like them or don’t, I’m just going with the plays that are called.”

He admitted some frustration with the lack of pass attempts downfield — “We had some chances to go down the field and we didn’t,” he said — but he sidestepped a question about whether the Bills and quarterback Trent Edwards are looking enough to the team’s top receivers.

“No, I don’t want to answer that,” Owens said Sunday. “I don’t want to answer that, because whatever I say you guys are going to turn it to however you want to say it.”

I heard Owens’ press conference following the Bills’ loss to the Saints on Sunday and the media was definitely trying to get him to say something controversial. They repeatedly asked him questions in an attempt to get him riled up and when he didn’t take the bait, they pushed harder.

That said, I have zero empathy for T.O. in this situation because he brought this on himself. Had he not thrown multiple teammates under the bus and not taken such a me-first attitude throughout his career, then the Buffalo media wouldn’t be trying to conjure up a story. He thinks just because he’s been on good behavior in Buffalo that all of a sudden the media is just going to forget everything he’s done and said in the past.

Sorry T.O., but you’re not getting off that easy.