Second thoughts

there is a regularly scheduled Compensation Committee conference call on Monday,” NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “There is no basis in fact for any of the other reporting. Those trying to peddle that nonsense are profoundly misinformed or deliberately trying to mislead.”

Extension negotiations with Goodell have become contentious, with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reportedly threatening to sue the league and some owners if the deal goes forward. Jones and Goodell have clashed in recent months, most notably about the commissioner’s six-game suspension of Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott.

Goodell has been commissioner since 2006.

Outfoxed

While trying to overturn an out-of-bounds ruling in hopes of a getting a touchdown call in Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears Coach John Fox’s staff grossly underestimated what happened when running back Benny Cunningham lunged toward the pylon with the ball stretched out on third-and-13 near the red zone.

In the split second where Cunningham flew out of bounds, the ball came loose before hitting the pylon. Fox, either not seeing or understanding what took place, challenged the spot thinking the Bears had an easy six points waiting for them on the other side of the review.

Of course, that’s not what happened. After taking a second look at the play, the refs saw Cunningham fumbling the ball as it reached the end zone, which means the Bears didn’t score a touchdown. They actually committed a touchback.

Because of Fox’s challenge, what would otherwise have been first-and-goal became one of the ugliest turnovers of the season.

Job pitfall

JR Motorsports found itself in a pickle ahead of Saturday’s Xfinity Series Round of 8 cutoff race.

Their pit crews were stuck in Arkansas with a flight issue as of Saturday morning … and the race was at Phoenix Raceway, in Arizona. This could’ve proved to be particularly challenging, considering three of their four drivers were still in the running for a championship.

JRM executive Kelley Earnhardt Miller confirmed roughly an hour and a half before the race that substitute crews were on hand to take the place of the starters, and had faith that they’d rise to the occasion. When the news broke, team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. also took to Twitter to call for any and all help.

“Holy crap. All hands on deck!” Earnhardt tweeted.

He then received an offer to pitch in from an unexpected source.

“I’ll change tires for u if u need me,” fellow NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. tweeted back.

Stenhouse does have experience working with race cars — Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush used to make the driver work on cars he crashed to teach him a lesson back in the day.

Fox