Marino, Young make Hall cut

Dan Marino and Steve Young highlighted a list Friday of 25 candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The former All-Pro quarterbacks are among six first-year eligible players. The nominees were chosen by the Hall of Fame’s board of selectors from a previously announced list of 90 candidates.

The list will be reduced by a mail ballot to 13 modern-era candidates. That list will increase to 15 finalists with the addition of two candidates recommended by the Hall of Fame’s senior committee. Those nominees, who were announced in August, are quarterback Benny Friedman and running back Fritz Pollard.

Marino holds the single-season record of 48 touchdown passes. He quarterbacked the Miami Dolphins for 17 seasons and took them to the 1985 Super Bowl, which they lost to San Francisco. He holds NFL records with 61,361 yards passing and 420 touchdown passes.

Young played with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before going to San Francisco. The left-hander emerged from Joe Montana’s shadow to lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl title after the 1994 season.

Other first-year eligible players on the list are: defensive end-linebacker Chris Doleman (Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, 49ers), defensive end-linebacker Charles Haley (49ers, Dallas Cowboys), wide receiver Michael Irvin (Cowboys) and linebacker Derrick Thomas (Kansas City Chiefs).

Owners Art Modell (Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens) and Ralph Wilson Jr. (Buffalo Bills) return to the list.

Steelers owner weighs in

Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney called a steamy segment for the intro to “Monday Night Football” “disgraceful” and criticized ABC for “miserable” judgment.

The longtime owner, writing in an op-ed piece in Friday’s New York Times, is the latest to weigh in on the skit that aired before Monday night’s Dallas-Philadelphia game.

“The opening was out of place and should not have been part of the broadcast,” Rooney wrote in the article titled “Out of Bounds.” “I thought it was disgraceful.”

“Worst was that it used one of our players in uniform in the locker room — who claimed that `the team’s going to have to win without me.’ That is not NFL football,” said Rooney, whose family has owned the Steelers since 1933.

Sharper expects to start

Darren Sharper is confident there will be two Sharper brothers starting when his Green Bay Packers play the Texans in Houston Sunday night.

Younger brother Jamie is a starting middle linebacker with the Texans.

Darren is coming back from a knee injury and practiced Friday for the first time this week. He said he expects to start Sunday night.

He is listed on the injury report as probable for the nationally televised game.

Around the league

New York Giants center Shaun O’Hara and safety Gibril Wilson missed their third straight day of practice, but coach Tom Coughlin did not rule them out for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. O’Hara, who returned to the lineup last week after missing two games with a leg infection, has an ankle injury. Wilson injured a shoulder last Sunday in the game against the Cardinals in Arizona… . Carolina Panthers kicker John Kasay will miss Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals with a strained right calf muscle, and Jeff Chandler was activated off the practice squad to fill in. It’s not as clear who’ll be playing quarterback for Carolina, because starter Jake Delhomme has a broken right thumb and didn’t work out Friday. He’s expected to test the thumb on his throwing hand during today’s walkthrough and the team hopes he can play against Arizona… . Buffalo Bills receiver Josh Reed and cornerback Troy Vincent will miss Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams… . Dallas Cowboys quarterback Vinny Testaverde returned to practice after missing a day because of an undisclosed illness.