Wonder returns to Motown
NOTEBOOK Stevie to perform before Super Bowl Browns’ Edwards gone for season
Stevie Wonder will perform during the pre- game show at the Super Bowl in Detroit. Wonder will play three or four songs during the pre- game show before the game Feb. 5, his record company said yesterday. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league was not yet prepared to make an announcement about the pre- game show. Wonder performed during halftime in 1999. The NFL’s announcement last week that the Rolling Stones would provide the halftime entertainment prompted an uproar in Detroit, the original home of Motown Records, which gave the world such artists as Wonder, Smokey Robinson, the Supremes and the Four Tops. SEASON’S OVER: Braylon Edwards, Cleveland’s top pick in the 2005 draft, is done for the season. Edwards tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while trying to make a catch in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 20- 14 loss to Jacksonville.
“ I knew right away,” Edwards said. “ To be honest, I hoped for the best. I prayed right away. But I knew as soon as I landed it was bad. I heard it buckle. I heard it crumble.’’ DONAHUE ON BUBBLE?
Is Bills president Tom Donahoe in jeopardy after Buffalo blew a 20- point fourth- quarter lead to the Dolphins on Sunday? The Bills are 30- 46 since Donahoe took over in January 2001. Asked directly about his job security on the team’s website yesterday, Donahoe responded: “ My status is probably not any different than it was a month ago. We have had three very difficult losses over the last month. Each of those games could very easily have gone in another direction, but they didn’t.’’ STICKING WITH ROOKIE:
Ryan Fitzpatrick will get his second start for the St. Louis Rams, even though the rookie quarterback struggled in his first one.
Interim coach Joe Vitt says he’ll stick with Fitzpatrick, who was held without a touchdown pass in the 24- 9 loss to the Redskins, until Marc Bulger is ready to return from a shoulder injury. BACK HOME SOON?
The New Orleans Saints will likely play some of their 2006 home schedule in the Louisiana Superdome, commissioner Paul Tagliabue says. The giant stadium, which was wrecked by Hurricane Katrina, will not be ready to resume its role as the Saints’ home until late in the season, however, so the team will probably split the remaining games between San Antonio and the LSU Stadium, as they have this year. But Tagliabue again emphasized that the Saints will remain a New Orleans-based franchise next year.