The NFL is looking into awarding the 1925 championship to the Pottsville (Pa.) Maroons instead of the Chicago Cardinals.

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Wednesday from NFL meetings in Philadelphia that the league would investigate the situation that led Joe Carr, then the NFL president, to disqualify the Maroons and rescind their NFL rights.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell made a presentation Wednesday at the meetings on behalf of the Maroons.

"We were asked to reassess it, that the punishment was not appropriate to the offense,'' Tagliabue said. "We will be looking at that issue."

The NFL did not hold playoffs in 1925. The Maroons had beaten the Cardinals 21-7, but then played the Notre Dame all-stars in Philadelphia, winning 9-7.

Incensed that Pottsville infringed on another NFL team's territory (the Frankford Yellow Jackets), Carr fined Pottsville $500 and returned the franchise to the league.

Representatives of the town of 18,000 in the hills of northeastern Pennsylvania claim there were no written rules about where games could be played. The NFL began holding postseason games in 1933.

Former defensive end Nick Roman dies
Nick Roman, a defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns in the early 1970s, died Sunday at 55.

Roman died of an apparent heart attack at his Columbus, Ohio, home, sister Kathy Roman said.

Roman was drafted by the Bengals in 1970. Two years later, Cincinnati traded him to Cleveland, and he helped the Browns make the playoffs in 1972. His last NFL season was in 1974.

Roman played at Ohio State and hurt his knee during military training in the college offseason. He missed Ohio State's 1968 championship season but returned in 1969.

Roman, who grew up in Canton, is survived by a 38-year-old son, Nick, and a brother, Daniel.

A memorial service was scheduled for Thursday in Canton.