QUICK SNAPS

Good work

Koy Detmer made $90,000 last week, which isn’t staggering for an NFL player -- unless you consider he did little more than stand around for three Minnesota practices.

The Vikings signed him as a reserve quarterback because they weren’t sure Tarvaris Jackson and Kelly Holcomb were sound enough to back up Brooks Bollinger. But when Jackson proved he was OK, Minnesota cut Detmer.

He didn’t leave empty-handed. He received a game check of $42,352.94 and termination pay of $48,000. Not a bad gig.

Taking it personally

As good as they are, the Dallas Cowboys have been flagged for 10 personal fouls. And Wade Phillips is not happy about it. So the coach has gone to unusual lengths to curtail the problem. This week, he asked his players to sign a pledge they will not commit any more personal fouls.

Although Phillips told his players they didn’t have to sign it, they all did.

“I want their word they’re going to try to do the right thing,” he told reporters. “It may be silly. I was serious about it, and I think I feel like I needed to do something they’re going to respond to.”

Phillips said he underestimated how amped his players would be for last Sunday’s game against the New York Giants, when Bradie James, Kevin Burnett and Keith Davis all drew 15-yard penalties.

“I didn’t know we were going to be that emotionally charged that we would overdo it in a game,” Phillips said. “But we were, and that’s my fault. But I’m aware of it now.”

Kudos from Kubiak

Houston Coach Gary Kubiak, whose team plays New Orleans today, said Reggie Bush -- passed on by the Texans in the 2006 draft -- does so much more for New Orleans than the box score indicates.

“They do everything they can to find ways to get him the ball,” Kubiak said. “They can always put him back there to return. He’s getting his touches as a running back, he gets his touches as a receiver.

“When he’s not, they’re using him to fake reverses and stuff, which helps the game plan and everything else they do. So, I mean, he’s scary.

“He’s a threat to go the distance every down and he’s a big part of what they’re doing, down in and down out.”

Nothing special

With all their injuries, the Colts have had to tap into special-teams players to fill the holes on offense and defense. That’s made their shaky coverage teams even more suspect, as the football world saw last Sunday when San Diego’s Darren Sproles returned a kickoff and punt for touchdowns.

Since the start of the 2006 season, Indianapolis has given up seven returns for touchdowns -- among them Chicago’s Devin Hester running back the opening kickoff in Super Bowl XLI. In the last few years, the Colts ranked 31st, 30th, 32nd and 20th in punt coverage, and 30th, 21st, 11th and 20th in kickoff coverage.

Softer than steel

Pittsburgh is ranked No. 1 in defense and No. 5 in offense, but Coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t need to look far to find a sobering weakness. The Steelers’ special-teams units are not good at all.

Or, as Tomlin delicately put it: “One thing that is for certain: We stink as a kickoff coverage unit.”

Wish you were here

In a conference call with Jacksonville reporters this week, San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson used the same kind of nifty moves he usually reserves for the field when asked whether he misses fired Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Tomlinson didn’t give a firm answer.

“I have always been a person that doesn’t dwell in the past,” he said. “So for me, there’s no reason to miss them or talk about them not being here, because they are not here. That won’t do anything for the team and myself. I try to focus on what we try to do out here [now].”