Next week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will hold hearings with Tennessee cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones and Cincinnati receiver Chris Henry. Within 10 days of those meetings, Goodell hopes to have disciplined them.

The entire league will be watching.

Goodell wants to enforce a stricter player conduct policy and is formulating his plan. After the owners meetings concluded yesterday, he said he’d gotten "good input" from the various teams. He already had the support of the players association and its chief, Gene Upshaw.

Whether Goodell hands down suspensions to the players and fines - or even the loss of draft picks - to the teams is purely speculative. But he’s promised to act as swiftly as possible, and he’s vowed to clean up the league’s image woes.

"I won’t lump all of these incidents into a bowl and deal with it," Goodell said. "I’m not trying to send a signal here and make examples of people. We’ll do what we need to protect the integrity of the NFL. That’s our objective."

Jones has talked to police in 10 separate incidents since being drafted in April 2005 and has been arrested five times. On Monday, Las Vegas police recommended prosecutors file a felony charge of coercion and misdemeanor charges of battery and threat against Jones, stemming from a Feb. 19 strip club fight and shooting.

Henry is among nine Bengals players arrested in less than a year. He had four arrests in 14 months, including marijuana possession, a weapon charge and a drunken-driving count that resulted in a guilty plea to reckless operation of a vehicle.

Then there is Chicago defensive tackle Tank Johnson, who is in jail now for violating probation.

So let the hearings begin.

"These are part of the hearings I’ve had with a player or coach facing discipline decisions," Goodell said. "It’s to get their perspective, look them in the eye and get them thinking. They are clearly" designed "to give me better info and more facts. I do it frequently."

Jones’ attorney, Manny Arora of Atlanta, said they hope the commissioner will wait until the Las Vegas case is resolved before taking action.

If not, Jones is prepared to fight it legally, Arora said, especially if Jones were to receive a one-year suspension.

"It’s going to end up being a big fight. There’ll be injunctions," Arora said. "The NFL will fight this and that. We’re going to draw it out through the court, and the attention’s going to go through the roof."

● ‘COWARDLY ASSAULT’: The fight between Miami linebacker Joey Porter and Cincinnati offensive tackle Levi Jones at a Las Vegas casino earlier this month was about football - but it no longer appears to have been the one-on-one scrap initially described by police.

Instead, video surveillance revealed Porter punching Jones with a closed fist before other "unidentified males" also joined the attack on Porter’s behalf, a report released by the Las Vegas Police Department said.

Jones, who suffered a small cut above his eye in the fight, spoke publicly for the first time about the incident. On the Bengals’ Web site, the lineman called the incident "a cowardly assault by a coward."

"One versus seven, six from behind," Jones told the Web site. "The police report came out and told the truth. Joey Porter did not kick Levi Jones’ butt. Basically, what he did was walk up to me, get my attention talking trash while his boys jumped me from behind.

"They plotted the thing. He was shooting craps. I was playing blackjack. He saw me. There was no exchange before he just came up on me."

A spokesman for the police department initially said an argument that occurred at a blackjack table between Jones and Porter escalated into a fight when the pair was escorted to the Palms Casino valet area.

Video surveillance, however, depicted the latest description of the event.

Porter, who was charged with misdemeanor battery, has not commented.

● LOCKED IN: The Denver Broncos agreed to terms on a contract extension with cornerback Dre Bly, obtained earlier this month from the Detroit Lions. Details were not released.

Bly, 29, had a year left on his contract when he was traded to Denver in exchange for running back Tatum Bell and offensive lineman George Foster.

Denver also got a sixth-round pick and Detroit got a fifth-round pick.

● EXTENDED STAY: The New York Jets agreed to terms on a three-year contract with free-agent defensive end David Bowens.

The two sides reached the agreement late Tuesday night and will sign the contract today, agent Harold C. Lewis said. The deal is for $6.1 million, with an additional $2 million in incentives that could make it worth as much as $8.1 million.

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