It turns out there might be hope for a restructuring in Cincinnati after all. While most reports coming out of the Queen City insist owner/general manager Mike Brown will not relinquish power to the league's most futile organization, now comes word the man is at least thinking about bending.

Struggling Bengals coach Dick LeBeau might get run out of town after the season.(AP)

It has widely been assumed Brown would in no way hand over the GM duties to anyone other than daughter Katie Blackburn. But the news that he has sought advice on the matter shows he is possibly willing to properly turn around a franchise that has had just eight sellouts in 23 games in the new taxpayer-funded stadium.

Cincinnati has won just once this year and last week dropped to a new low when they allowed the Carolina Panthers to score a franchise-record 52 points. They have won a mere three games in their past 23.

One of the options that was suggested to Brown would be to hire a man powerful enough to act as both coach and head of personnel, such as former Vikings coach Dennis Green. In order for the Bengals to hire a huge name, Brown would have to surrender some or all personnel power. Unfortunately for Brown and Bengals fans, the team will have major difficulties luring a name like Green's to town. It is generally regarded as the abyss of the league, not a place to flourish.

One name that has been thrown about freely in league circles in the past three weeks is Buffalo Bills personnel consultant Tom Modrak. But nobody close to the former Eagles' personnel chief or Brown would confirm interest from either side.

If those Brown has spoken to can convince him to surrender his power, the new GM would play a major role in hiring the coach. Current coach Dick LeBeau now owns the worst winning percentage in franchise history.

"Nothing amounts to a hill of beans except for your record," LeBeau said this week regarding his job security, or insecurity. "I can be as defensive as I want to be, but you can't defend the facts, and the fact is our record is very poor. That's very disappointing to all of us. We have the poorest record, but I don't believe we're the poorest team.

Pass the Bucs

The Atlanta Falcons players, fined several thousands of dollars for a celebration named "pass the magic" two weeks ago, had the punishments rescinded by commissioner Paul Tagliabue after their loss to the Buccaneers this past week. But the Bucs, it turns out, were hit quite hard in the wallet for mocking these Atlanta celebrations.

The NFL Today and SportsLine.com have learned five Tampa Bay players were fined a collective $45,000 for mocking the Atlanta Falcons' celebrations in the Bucs' victory last Sunday.

According to Bucs sources, WR Keenan McCardell received a $12,500 fine for twice mocking the Falcons, RB Aaron Stecker was also hit with a $12,500 fine, WR Joe Jurevicius was hit with a total of $10,000 (two separate $5,000 fines), Keyshawn Johnson got $5,000 and youngster Jermaine Phillips received $5,000 to cap off the financial punitive damages.

The letters each player received stated they were fined for "premeditated celebration." Considering the Falcons' fines were rescinded, the Bucs will likely make a similar appeal to the commissioner's office this week.

Ire and fire

New York Jets Pro Bowl center Kevin Mawae drew the ire of teammates this week after playing a major role in igniting a major brawl Thursday but stepping away from the actual fight itself.

Mawae has had a habit of inciting anger, especially with one Ted Washington, who will not be able to face Mawae on Sunday when the Jets and Bears square off. But when Washington was in Buffalo, he made no attempt to hide his loathing of Mawae and often questioned why the Jets' center believed he could block him since they rarely, if ever, squared off one-on-one.

Washington had been under the impression Mawae and then-coach Bill Parcells often launched barbs at the Pro Bowl nose tackle. Washington was irritated by several stories featuring Mawae, Parcells or both that alluded to the fact Mawae was adept at handling Washington. The feud boiled for years and the blood grew worse with each story.

Call it Coaching Motivation 101. It turns out, many of the articles the Bills coach gave to Washington were, in fact, fake. Enter: Defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell, who is now with Mawae on the Jets. But for the first time, Cottrell admits he and other members of the Bills staff actually doctored or completely fabricated stories then showed them to Washington.

"We made up some great stuff," Cottrell told SportsLine.com recently. "We had these articles made up, quotes made up and they all looked so real. They definitely did their job. Ted used to get so fired up for Kevin."

Washington's ire grew so strong, Mawae went as far as asking a mutual acquaintance to ask Washington why he was so upset in an attempt to clear the air. If only Ted had known at the time, Mawae would not have had to worry so much.

Interest doesn't Wayne

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver is rarely involved with his players, opting instead to let head coach Tom Coughlin handle all the football decisions, pep talks and player meetings necessary.

But after the Jaguars lost a disaster of a game to the Cleveland Browns on a last-second Hail Mary pass Sunday, Weaver apparently decided it was time to rally the troops.

The NFL Today and SportsLine.com have learned Weaver met with the players Monday, addressing the team following practice. According to some people present, Weaver informed the players that he still had faith in them and asked the team to resist the temptation to pack it in despite coming off a horrific loss.

Weaver, who has not talked to the players since a year ago, did not go into his coach's future and instead talked only about the players themselves. His last crunch-time talk to the players, which came in a past season, informed the troops he still had faith in the coaches and the job they were doing, but the players needed to step up their play.

There has been growing speculation Weaver will fire Coughlin after this season. This could be a mistake, especially since they had to purge their roster due to salary-cap problems. The Jags currently sit about $10 million under next year's cap (although this doesn't include restricted free-agent tenders or exclusive right tenders and league minimum increases).

Ricky rich

When Ricky Williams lit up the Chicago Bears last week and surpassed the 1,500-yard mark, he forced the Dolphins to give up an additional first-rounder for his services. But his recent play is also forcing the Dolphins to give up additional coin.

According to the terms and provisions of Williams' contract restructure signed earlier in the year, his contract jumps to the following:

He has already earned an additional $1 million for surpassing 1,450 yards on the ground Monday night and hit $1.2 million with 101 yards Sunday against the Raiders, taking him to 1,601. He can push this bonus to $1.4 million with another 49 yards before the end of the season.

Every 100 yards after that earns him an additional $200,000 up to $2 million for 1,950.

He reached 15 TDs this past week, which gave him an additional $125,000. He can max out his TD bonus with two more and earn $150,000.

With 42 catches after Sunday's game, he has earned an extra $25,000. But he is just starting to reach his receiving incentives. He gets $100,000 for 45, $150,000 for 50, $200,000 for 55, $350,000 for 60, one half million for 65, $750,000 for 75 and $1 million for 85; he earns an extra $50,000 for surpassing the 300-yard receiving plateau (he has 340).

He also can earn anywhere from $250,000 to $700,000, depending up where the Dolphins go in the postseason. Through Sunday, Williams has earned a total of $1.36 million in bonus money.

Remember this as well: the final total of his bonus earning for this year will be added to his salary for next year as well. In other words, if he earns a $2 million bonus this year, he will earn that money plus get another $2 million tacked onto his salary for next year and every year after that in his deal.