Thomas Jones will start this weekend, giving him the inside track to winning the starting job. Cedric Benson doesn’t appear to be very popular with his teammates. A few Bears ratted him out to the press when he left the sideline early during last weekend’s game. Still, if he’s healthy, he’ll vulture some carries from Jones…Terrell Owens had a second MRI on his hamstring, which came back negative. He said that if this were a regular season game, he probably wouldn’t be able to go. This is a little worrisome, but he still has some time to get healthy…Hines Ward is going to miss the rest of the preseason with his bad hammy and it’s not clear if he’ll be able to play in Week 1…In an interview, Steve Smith told the NFL Network that he thinks he’ll be ready for Week 1 if everything stays on track. He also said that he doesn’t think he needs to repeat his monster 2005 season due to the arrival of Keyshawn Johnson. I’m sure his fantasy owners are really happy to hear that…Houston HC Gary Kubiak is hopeful that Domanick Davis could practice by the end of the week. If he’s able to without complications, this would really boost his value, which has taken a big hit over the last couple of weeks…Kevan Barlow compared 49er head coach Mike Nolan to Hitler, saying “Nolan just doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s a first-time head coach with too much power. He walks around with a chip on his shoulder, like he’s a dictator, like he’s Hitler. People are scared of him.” Later, he sort of apologized.