NEW YORK » The head of the NFL’s negotiating team says it will be much easier to reach a new labor agreement with the players’ union if the accord includes an 18-game regular season.

"It’s something that both sides recognize the value of, and so both sides will work hard to incorporate it into the new agreement," NFL executive vice president of labor and chief counsel Jeff Pash said yesterday in an interview with the Associated Press.

Pash also said the league is "focused on a full 2011 season" and the owners want to have a deal in place "well before" the summer.

The current collective bargaining agreement expires in March, and the union’s executive director, DeMaurice Smith, has said he believes owners are preparing for a lockout. In a letter sent to players last week, Smith advised members to save their last three game checks in case next season is canceled.

The NFL has not missed games because of labor problems since 1987, when the players went on strike.

"If both sides are equally committed and equally focused," Pash said, "then there’s no reason why we can’t get an agreement."

Pash doesn’t have a drop-dead date in mind for getting a deal done in time to avoid missing games.

"I haven’t even begun to think about it," he said, "because we’re focused on getting an agreement. We’re focused on a full 2011 season. That’s where our head is."

Asked whether the season could be played if there is not a new CBA in place until the summer, Pash replied: "The goal is to have an agreement well before that."

He continued: "We have every incentive to get an agreement as soon as we can. We’ve said, we’ve told the union, it’s been public — if there is extended uncertainty, it’s costly for both sides. It’s costly for us, and it’s costly for the players. So there is every incentive to try to reach an agreement sooner rather than later, and that’s what our focus is. Are we going to do it? I can’t guarantee that."

Pash declined to provide details on where the negotiations stand right now. He listed the most prominent issues as economics, the 18-game season, the rookie salary system and free-agency rules.

Pash believes the back-and-forth the sides already have had about increasing the regular season from 16 to 18 games demonstrates they are aware of that subject’s importance to the talks. He said the NFL and union "exchanged detailed proposals" and had "detailed discussions" on that topic and added he thinks they’ll "continue to do so."

"It’s a season that would deliver more value to the fans. It would allow a lot of growth opportunities that don’t exist with the current structure, and those growth opportunities would be beneficial for the players as well as for the clubs," Pash said. "There is a recognition that it is realistically an easier agreement to reach in the context of an 18-game regular season."

The current CBA went into effect for the 2006 season, and the owners exercised an opt-out clause in 2008 that makes the deal expire next March. According to the NFL, the average player salary rose about 35 percent from $1.4 million in 2005 — the last year of the old deal — to $1.9 million in 2009. The league said it doesn’t have comparable figures for 2010 because there is no salary cap in place.

"I would guess that there will be some inclination towards a longer-term deal rather than a shorter deal, but that all depends on what the deal looks like, because obviously the longer out you go, the more risk both sides are taking, and I think it wouldn’t be good for either side to feel three or four years down the road that it was really aggrieved," Pash said. "And that’s a big part of the problem right now: The clubs really feel as though the deal that was made in 2006 was one-sided."

As talks move forward, Pash emphasized what he called "a shared responsibility to the fans" on the part of both sides.

Younger Manning makes 100th start

Brett Favre isn’t the only one with a streak of note heading into Sunday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings (5-7) and New York Giants.

While many wonder whether a shoulder injury will prevent the Vikings’ quarterback from extending his streak of 297 consecutive starts, Giants quarterback Eli Manning will make his 100th consecutive start with much less fanfare as New York (8-4) tries to keep pace with Philadelphia in the NFC East.

The only other NFL quarterbacks to start 100 straight games are Indy’s Peyton Manning, Tom Brady of the Patriots, Ron Jaworski of the Eagles and Joe Ferguson of the Bills.

Hasselbeck closes in on record

With his next victory, Matt Hasselbeck will tie Dave Krieg for the most wins by a quarterback in Seattle Seahawks history.

Doesn’t seem like Hasselbeck’s been around long enough to amass 69 wins.

"It just falls in line with the feeling of pride I have for being with this organization so long," Hasselbeck said yesterday. "There’s been a lot of turnover, a lot of people kicked to the curb, run out of town so to speak. It hasn’t been easy weathering the storms of all the changes, but I think also, more than any of that, I feel a sense of pride that we’re back on track to where we were."

Harrison says he was targeted

Steelers linebacker James Harrison has been fined four times this season for dangerous hits. Now, he thinks an opposing player should be disciplined for supposedly going after him.

Harrison believes Baltimore Ravens guard Chris Chester deliberately went after him while being called for a false-start penalty during an extra-point attempt Sunday. Chester came off the line of scrimmage and drove at Harrison, an unusual blocking technique because offensive linemen generally try to remain packed to avoid potential blocked kicks.