Quick Read: NFL's steroid policy needs muscle, not mouthpiece, By: Mark Craig

The perception that the NFL has lapped the field of other professional sports when it comes to its steroids testing program took a serious hit Aug. 27 in an article in the Charlotte Observer.

According to medical records made public in court documents in a federal steroids case against a South Carolina doctor, six former Panthers were given multiple refillable steroid prescriptions and some, according to the Observer, suffered "unwanted, appearance-altering symptoms, prompting more prescriptions."Several of them were using disturbing, particularly alarmingly high amounts with high dosages for long durations -- some in combinations," steroids expert Dr. Gary Wadler, who reviewed the medical records and prepared a report for the U.S. Attorney's Office, told the paper.

The bad news for the NFL is none of the players tested positive for steroids during the periods in which they were filling and refilling their prescriptions. It also doesn't help the league's image that three of the players, including former Viking Todd Steussie, were starting offensive linemen on the Panthers' 2004 Super Bowl team. Steussie is now a backup in St. Louis.

It didn't take long for new NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to activate damage control. In his first news conference since replacing Paul Tagliabue last Friday, he said he has been talking to Gene Upshaw, head of the NFL Players Association, about increasing the number of tests and increasing the number of substances tested. The changes could take effect as early as this season.

Goodell denies that his comments were in response to the situation in Carolina. Whether that's true or not doesn't matter. It was important that he addressed the topic at a time when it's becoming obvious the NFL's steroids testing isn't as grand as Congress made it out to be during its public flogging of Major League Baseball last year.

Now Goodell needs to follow through with swift action to broaden testing. Gosh knows the NFL has the money to expand testing.

According to a story in the New York Times this week, five to eight performance-enhancing tests a year -- out of 10,000 tests to about 1,800 players -- come back positive.

There's no way that only five to eight players out of 10,000 tests are guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs.