Brady not thinking about 2008 injury in prepping for K.C.

FOXBOROUGH, MASS. » Patriots quarterback Tom Brady says the knee injury he suffered against Kansas City in New England’s season opener in 2008 isn’t on his mind as he prepares to host the Chiefs on Thursday night.

Brady said Monday that he’s happy to only be thinking about football a year after sitting out the first four games of 2016 as part of his “Deflategate” punishment.

With minimal new film of Kansas City’s starters to dissect at this point, the 40-year-old quarterback says he’s expecting to see plenty of wrinkles from what he called a potent unit.

Le’Veon Bell signs franchise tender, returns to Steelers

PITTSBURGH » Pro Bowl running back Le’Veon Bell is officially back at work with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Bell signed his franchise tender on Monday, clearing him to return for the 2017 season. The team placed the franchise tag on Bell in February. He declined to sign his oneyear, $12.1 million tender while waiting to see if a long-term deal could be reached.

When the Steelers and Bell did not come to an agreement by the midJuly deadline, Bell opted to skip training camp and work out on his own.

The Steelers were given a two-week roster exemption for Bell, meaning they can carry an additional player on the 53-man roster. Bell worked out with the rest of the team Monday. His status for Pittsburgh’s season opener in Cleveland is uncertain.

Texans looking ahead to opener after tough week

HOUSTON » After a tough week waiting out Hurricane Harvey in Dallas and scrapping their final preseason game, the Houston Texans are home and looking toward Sunday’s opener against Jacksonville.

While their thoughts are with the city as it begins its recovery from the storm and subsequent floods, the Texans know they must shift their focus to football this week.

“It’s about winning football games,” coach Bill O’Brien said. “I think that we’ll do whatever we can in our spare time that we have to help the city, but ... as a football team, we’re paid to coach and play and to win games. So, that’s what our job is and we’re going to go back to making sure we do as good a job as we can at our job.”

Houston returned to a normal schedule on Monday for the first time since playing its third preseason game in New Orleans on Aug. 26.

From New Orleans the Texans flew to Dallas in advance of the storm and remained there, practicing in the Cowboys’ facilities, until piling in busses and driving back to Houston on Wednesday when the roads into town were finally clear enough to return safely.