NFL Notes: Upbeat Martz eager to return

St. Louis coach Mike Martz wants to return to the field after missing the last six games with a heart ailment.

Martz said Tuesday he would ask his doctor for permission to return to the Rams, who are 3-3 under interim coach Joe Vitt since Martz stepped down in October with endocarditis, a bacterial infection of the lining of the heart.

"This is the best I've felt," Martz told St. Louis TV station KMOV. "And when you feel this good, you feel like you should be working."

Martz said he last saw his doctor a week ago, but hasn't set up an appointment that he hoped would clear him to return.

Martz has made several appearances at Rams Park since stepping down and said he felt much better in recent weeks. Still, the news caught team officials somewhat by surprise.

"Our response is until he is cleared medically, any type of conjecture is premature," team spokesman Duane Lewis said.

Martz is 56-37 in six seasons with the Rams, leading them to a Super Bowl in 2001 and serving as offensive coordinator for the franchise's only Super Bowl championship in 1999.

Restroom stabbing

A New York man has been charged with stabbing two fans in a restroom during a New York Jets game at Giants Stadium.

Thomas J. Conwell, 21, of Brooklyn, was charged with aggravated assault, accused of stabbing Shawn Hundley, 19, of Roselle, and Henry Finnila, 24, of Freehold, during Sunday's loss to the New Orleans Saints.

State police said Conwell began taunting Hundley, who was wearing a Jets jersey bearing the name and number of injured quarterback Chad Pennington. Conwell then took out a knife and stabbed Hundley in the face, neck and ears, authorities said.

Finnila, a bystander who tried to break up the fight, also was stabbed in the head and neck.

Hundley was treated at the scene. Finnila was treated at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Conwell was being held in the Bergen County Jail on $25,000 bail.

Specter backs off

Sen. Arlen Specter backed off a threat to have a Senate subcommittee investigate whether the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles violated antitrust laws in their handling of Terrell Owens.

Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that he talked to lawyers in the Department of Justice about the issue.

"I think it's more a matter for them than us because we've got ... a lot of matters which take precedence over this for our own time," said Specter, R-Pa.

Notes

• Jack Concannon, who started at quarterback for the Chicago Bears in the late 1960s and early '70s, died Monday of a heart attack at a Boston area hospital. He was 62.

Concannon played for the Philadelphia Eagles (1964-66), Bears (1967-71), Green Bay Packers (1974) and Detroit Lions (1975). He passed for 6,270 yards and 36 touchdowns with 63 interceptions in 90 career regular-season games in the NFL.

Concannon is survived by wife Ginny, son John and daughters Kelly, Kara and Christa. A funeral was scheduled for Friday at Saint Brendan Church in Dorchester.

• The Oakland Raiders claimed CB Lenny Walls off waivers from the Denver Broncos on Tuesday and placed S Reggie Tongue, a former Seahawk, on injured reserve with a tore ACL in his left knee.

• The Jacksonville Jaguars placed backup LB Jamie Winborn on injured reserve because of a knee injury.

The Jaguars activated former Huskies RB Rich Alexis from the practice squad to fill Winborn's roster spot. They also signed QB Nate Hybl to the practice squad and waived WR Fred Stamps from the practice squad.

• The Cincinnati Bengals activated LB Nate Webster from the physically-unable-to-perform list and waived second-year LB Larry Stevens, who played for Wilson High School of Tacoma. Stevens played in seven games this season.

• Tampa Bay K Matt Bryant's status for this week's game against New Orleans is uncertain because of a sore right hamstring, prompting the Buccaneers to sign Todd France.

• A man arrested for running onto the field during Philadelphia's game against the visiting Green Bay Packers on Sunday told police he was spreading his late mother's ashes.

Christopher Noteboom, of Tempe, Ariz., ran onto the field holding a plastic bag, leaving a cloud of fine powder behind.

"She never cared for any other team except the Eagles," Noteboom told WPVI-TV after he was released from custody Monday.

Noteboom, a bar owner in Arizona, was charged with defiant trespass. He has a hearing scheduled for Dec. 27.

• The Rolling Stones will perform during the Super Bowl halftime show at Ford Field in Detroit on Feb. 5.