The NFL will investigate what might have been said by head linesman Phil McKinnely to Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle and other members of the Ravens' defense during the Monday night loss to New England, but it's hard to figure there will be harsh sanctions by the league on the officials.

Rolle said McKinnely told him and Bart Scott on a couple occasions, "Just go play, boy, just go play."

Certainly that phrasing is wrong and the league, I'm sure, will remind all officials to officiate and minimize exchanges with players. The Ravens will claim at least another official was talking to the defensive players during the game.

Without question, Scott will be fined heavily for his tirade at the end of the game and for throwing the penalty flag. Other Ravens might be fined for critical comments about the officiating of the game. It might take a little more than just, "Just go play, boy, just go play," to get the league to do anything against McKinnely. McKinnely played seven years for three NFL teams and is black.

Making the call: Here's why the officials allowed Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan to call a timeout in the final two minutes of the Monday night game: In the normal course of the game, only head coaches and players on the field are allowed to call timeouts, but the Competition Committee went with the officials in being loose with who calls the timeouts in the final two minutes. The reason is that it's so hectic with hurry-up and no-huddle offenses that officials don't want to miss a timeout call from the bench. Because of that, the officials will only listen to the call from the sidelines and not necessarily pay attention to who calls it.

Rare victory: Travis Henry's win of his appeal of a positive drug test is rare. Normally, it's considered almost impossible to overturn a positive test unless there is some technical failure in administering the test. Henry claimed he was a victim of secondhand marijuana smoke, which explained the low levels of marijuana in his system. Henry was aggressive in his defense, which was important. It was important he had Mike Shanahan on his side, not from what would happen with the league, but to have the support of the coach. Henry took a lie detector test and gave hair samples in order to win over Shanahan, and he passed those tests. To win an appeal, an attorney has to beat the NFL's testing procedure on a technical issue. The league ignored the lie detector test and the hair sample. In the end, they felt they didn't have enough evidence to suspend Henry for a year. For Henry, it was a tremendous victory, but he has to be careful because he remains one positive test or one missed test away from that suspension.

Passing the test: Marc Bulger had a favorable test of his concussion Tuesday and could return to practice Wednesday after missing Sunday's game against the Falcons. In many ways, Gus Frerotte is in worse shape than Bulger. Frerotte has a shoulder injury and will be a question mark all week. Bulger just needed to be cleared in order for him to return to the starting lineup.

Up for grabs: The Chiefs expect Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard to be on the practice field Wednesday, giving Croyle the chance to get back his starting job. Croyle had a sore lower back last week. The problem he had in practices was turning around and making handoffs. Croyle's back should feel better with the rest. Larry Johnson was ruled out of this week's game. Don't expect him to play the rest of the season.

Youth movement: With the release of defensive tackle Sam Adams, the Broncos obviously are looking more to next season after a disappointing 5-7 start. Adams was brought in to bring experience and size to the defensive line. He was one of six new changes made to the defensive line heading into the start of the regular season.