Bucs' Jones out for season, Clayton to miss time
October 22nd, 2007
Tampa, FL (Sports Network) - Tampa Bay Buccaneers leading kick returner Mark Jones will sit out the rest of the season with an injured knee, head coach John Gruden said at a press conference Monday.
Additionally, Gruden said wide receiver Mark Clayton will get an MRI on his ankle, but did not know the extent of the injury.
Both players went out in the first quarter of Sunday's 23-16 loss to the Lions in Detroit.
Jones leads the Bucs in both kick and punt return yards, totaling 396 yards. The fourth-year player out of Tennessee was averaging 28.1 yards on kick returns, and 11.9 on punts.
Clayton, the fourth-year player out of LSU, has six receptions for 109 yards.
Dolphins' Ronnie Brown out for season
Somehow, someway, the Dolphins' season just got worse.
Miami running back Ronnie Brown will miss the rest of the season as a result of Sunday's knee injury, two sources said Monday. An MRI revealed enough damage Monday morning to declare Brown's season as done.
Details of the severity of the injury will be known shortly.
Brown, who was one of the only bright spots, has been forced to prematurely end the most successful year of his three-year career as a result of a play that occurred during the third quarter of Sunday's 49-28 loss to the Patriots.
Brown's knee buckled Sunday when he attempted to plant his foot during an interception return by Patriots cornerback Randall Gay. He left the game with 76 yards on 17 carries.
Before leaving Sunday's game, Brown had run for more than 100 yards during four consecutive games. He also had four touchdowns during that span.
The loss of Brown means the team will rely on running back Jesse Chatman as its starter against the Giants. Patrick Cobbs will serve as his backup, and third-round draft pick Lorenzo Booker could also be activated for the first time of his career.
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Texans QB Schaub day-to-day with lower body injuries
October 22nd, 2007
Houston, TX (Sports Network) - Houston quarterback Matt Schaub is day-to-day after suffering hip and lower leg injuries Sunday against Tennessee.
Schaub hurt his left leg in the first quarter, returned after a brief absence and then left the game for good after a vicious hit from Titans defensive end Albert Haynesworth in the second quarter.
"All the tests were negative, all the x-rays were fine," said Texans' head coach Gary Kubiak. "He's really, he's just beat up. He's got an extremely beat up hip, a lower leg, he's got the thigh that he's been nursing for a couple of weeks. So he's just generally beat up but we think he's going to be okay. We will say that he's day-to-day right now and hopefully he's out there Wednesday and can do something, but he's just very beat up right now."
Sage Rosenfels replaced Schaub against the Titans and completed 22-of-35 passes for 290 and four touchdowns with four turnovers (three interceptions and a fumble). Schaub completed 5-of-9 passes for 23 yards.
I can't believe Ronnie Brown is out for the season. Talk about a tough season for the Dolphins - the only good thing was the play of Brown and now his season is over.
I don't know who's more cursed this year - the Dolphins or the Falcons.
Vikings' Jackson has broken finger
October 23rd, 2007
Eden Prairie, MN (Sports Network) - The Minnesota Vikings revealed that struggling quarterback Tarvaris Jackson suffered an avulsion fracture of the index finger on his right hand in the team's 24-14 loss to Dallas Sunday.
"The joint is sore, swollen and in a splint," Vikings coach Brad Childress said at his Monday afternoon press conference.
The Vikings are expected to re-evaluate the injury after a throwing session Tuesday before deciding on Jackson's status for the club's next game against Philadelphia.
In four starts this season, Jackson has completed just 45-of-98 passes for 537 yards.
If Jackson is unable to start, Minnesota will turn to veteran Kelly Holcomb, who spent most of training camp with the Eagles before he was traded to the Vikings.
Jaguars: Jones-Drew dinged up
Maurice Jones-Drew suffered a left knee sprain at the end of Monday's loss to the Colts, forcing him out for the final few snaps. Jones-Drew had 69 total yards and a touchdown in the defeat.
Broncos: Bly has seperated shoulder
Cornerback Dre' Bly separated his right shoulder while intercepting a Ben Roethlisberger pass on Sunday night. He continued to play through the injury for the remainder of the game, but will still be on the injured list this week.
Broncos: Scheffler makes noise, gets hurt
Tony Scheffler had five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown on Sunday. However, he sustained an injury to his left leg during the final drive, according to the Denver Post.
Texans: Probably no Johnson this week
The early word on Andre Johnson for this week's game is negative. Johnson, who has been out for the last five games with a sprained knee, is likely to miss this week's game against the Chargers. "I think it would still be a leap to say he's going to be back this week," head coach Gary Kubiak said. Johnson may return to practice this week however, running individual non-contact drills and working with the scout team.
Falcons: Leftwich has a high-ankle sprain
It looks like Byron Leftwich will be out of action for an extended period. He sustained a high-ankle sprain during yesterday's game, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
49ers: Gore suffers an ankle injury
Frank Gore finished Sunday's game with a season-high 88 rushing yards, though he was held without a touchdown for the fourth straight game. Gore actually sustained an ankle injury late in the first half but toughed it out to play in the second half, according to the Contra Costa Times.
I can't believe Ronnie Brown is out for the season. Talk about a tough season for the Dolphins - the only good thing was the play of Brown and now his season is over.
I don't know who's more cursed this year - the Dolphins or the Falcons.
Dolphins season now a colossal waste of time
Ronnie Brown walked out of the Dolphins practice facility Monday with the help of crutches, his right leg heavily wrapped and slightly bent, and he was, somehow, still smiling.
His career season was cut nine games short Sunday, when, shockingly enough, a Dolphins mistake resulted in the running back tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament.
So what already has been a cover-your-face embarrassment of a season has become something far worse: a colossal waste of time.
In the span of five weeks, Brown had become the one reason the words ''Dolphins'' and ''hope'' could still share a sentence. His emergence would force defenses to concentrate on him, which could have made life easier for a growing Tedd Ginn Jr. His reliability would have given eventual starting quarterback John Beck a crutch to lean on in his rookie transition. His ability to eat up yards would have helped an aging, wounded, struggling defense stay off the field for longer stretches of time instead of expose it to more ridicule.
Now, one torn ligament sends much of the entire Dolphins evaluation process up in smoke.
Speaking of which, there is the short-term answer that everyone will be calling for. Questions already have arisen about the apparent delay in Ricky Williams' reinstatement after a one-year suspension.
MISUSE OF TIME
But adding Ricky at this point would only make the final games of the season even more of a misuse of time.
The Dolphins need Ricky now more than ever, you say? What the Dolphins need now more than ever is a group of young players suddenly discovering their talents. Then they need one of the best offseasons a team has ever had, with brilliant draft and free agent decisions.
What they need for the final nine games of the season is to find some way to avoid dissension and backlash in a season that could be as ugly as any NFL team has experienced.
What would Ricky bring to the second half of the season? More cries of ''I told you so'' to a staff that doesn't need to hear more about past missteps? Insurance for Brown should the franchise back not return at full strength next season? Anyone who would bank on an unstable, unpredictable, unreliable Williams as a safety net is not the wisest of investors.
Playing Ricky for any stretch of games this season would be about as meaningful to the franchise as playing Cleo Lemon has been.
Nothing against Lemon, who has displayed an ability to handle the reins when called upon, but playing him does almost nothing to benefit the team. At best, it allows the Dolphins to evaluate a player who would only be a backup quarterback in his future with the team.
More likely, it gives Lemon, an impending free agent, a chance to showcase himself and allow him to sign with another team at season's end. As the Patriots' roster proves, the Dolphins have done plenty already to bolster opposing teams.
The Dolphins' porous roster should be the primary concern. Of course, Brown's injury puts the team in a position it had hoped to avoid in regard to its roster: considering drafting another running back with what will most likely be a top-two pick.
Cam Cameron said Brown tore just the ACL and no other ligaments, which puts his full recovery rate somewhere near 90 percent.
But given this team's fortunes lately, there's no way it should consider that a sure thing.
MANY PROBLEMS
How many franchises in the past several seasons have won 10 games and not made the playoffs, busted out on draft pick after draft pick, and see its franchise running back quit at the prime of his career, only to come back and be forced out of football again?
This season alone, when the Dolphins lost their starting quarterback for the season to a concussion, lost almost too many safeties to count, paid $20 million to an underperforming linebacker who appears past his prime, had a former quarterback come in and taunt his former team while dismantling them, and now lose the only bright spot in what already has been a dark two months.
Relying on even a 90 percent certainty would appear risky for this mob of misfortune.
So that leaves the Dolphins with yet another question after this season, with more than half the schedule still to play, and not a whole lot of productive tasks to get accomplished.
What does Cameron hope comes out of these months of free time?
''You find out what you're made of,'' he said.
Actually, that's exactly what you can't do.
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Tough year if your a Dolphins fan for sure :-[
Titans to welcome Young back vs. Raiders
FOXSports.com
Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher expects quarterback Vince Young to start on Sunday against the Oakland Raiders. Young strained his right quadricep at Tampa Bay on Oct. 14 and sat out Sunday's 38-36 victory against the Houston Texans.
"We'll be wise about it, and we'll get him back on the practice field and work him into it,'' Fisher told The Tennessean. "But I think two weeks will be sufficient from a healing standpoint to where he won't re-injure it.''
Kerry Collins was 25-for-43 for 280 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions in place of Young against Houston. Young has thrown for 703 yards with three TDs and six interceptions this fall. He is also third on the team with 129 rushing yards.
Falcons place OT Foster on injured reserve
October 23rd, 2007
Flowery Branch, GA (Sports Network) - The Atlanta Falcons placed offensive tackle Renardo Foster on injured reserve Tuesday.
Foster, an undrafted rookie free agent from Louisville, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints.
He played in six games for the Falcons this season and started twice.
To replace Foster on the roster, the Falcons signed offensive tackle Terrance Pennington.
Pennington was a seventh-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills last year and started the last nine games of the 2006 season for Buffalo at right tackle. He was cut by the Bills before the start of the 2007 season.
Bills name rookie Edwards as starter
Associated Press
Two wins in three games earned Bills rookie quarterback Trent Edwards the starting job, and sent J.P. Losman to a familiar place — the bench.
Coach Dick Jauron made the announcement on Tuesday in a two-paragraph statement issued by the team as the Bills (2-4) prepare to travel to play the New York Jets on Sunday.
"We are naming Trent Edwards as our starting quarterback," Jauron said, noting he had informed both Edwards and Losman of his decision.
The statement was a departure from what Jauron said last week, when he declined to name a full-time starter beyond giving Edwards one more start — against Baltimore on Sunday — because Losman had looked rusty since recovering from a sprained left knee.
Edwards delivered on the coach's faith, helping the Bills to a 19-14 victory. The win improved the third-round pick's record to 2-1 in three consecutive starts since Losman was hurt during the first series of Buffalo's 38-7 loss against New England in Week 3.
Jauron is expected to provide further details regarding his decision after the Bills return to practice
Browns' Baxter placed on IR
October 23rd, 2007
Berea, OH (Sports Network) - Cleveland cornerback Gary Baxter's season came to an end Tuesday as the Browns placed him on injured reserve.
The 28-year-old Baxter still has not fully recovered after suffering two torn patellar tendons in October of last season in a game against the Denver Broncos.
Cleveland placed Baxter on the physically unable to perform list in training camp and kept him on the roster for the start of the season, deactivating him for all six games.
Baxter, who signed a five-year deal with the Browns before the 2005 season, didn't miss a game in his first three seasons with Baltimore
Falcons cut starting DT Jackson
October 23rd, 2007
Flowery Branch, GA (Sports Network) - The Atlanta Falcons released starting defensive tackle Grady Jackson on Tuesday, with a one-line statement being the only explanation for cutting the 11-year veteran.
"The Atlanta Falcons Tuesday afternoon waived defensive tackle Grady Jackson," was the extent of the team's release on the decision. Jackson led the league in tackles for a loss in 2006 with 13, and has started 22 of 23 games with the Falcons since signing with the club in 2006.
The 35-year-old, listed at 6-foot-2, 350 pounds, sued the team during the offseason for releasing the fact that he had failed a physical due to heart concerns to the media. The club and Jackson reached a settlement prior to the start of this season.
Jackson immediately becomes a free agent, and can sign with any other team. The Falcons, at 1-6 and mired in last place in the NFC South, are in their bye week.
Rookie Trey Lewis, a sixth-round selection from Division II Washburn University, will likely take Jackson's spot in the starting lineup when Atlanta hosts the 49ers on Nov. 4.
Rams release OL Terrell after he's arrested and charged with assaulting his wife
October 23, 2007
ST. LOUIS (AP) -The St. Louis Rams released offensive guard Claude Terrell after he was arrested early Tuesday and charged with assaulting his wife at a suburban Houston hotel.
The Rams announced Terrell's release in a news release. A spokesman declined to comment further.
Police in the Houston suburb of Webster said they found a woman with ``obvious signs of physical injury'' after responding to a disturbance at a Hampton Inn. The woman said she was Terrell's wife and told police he had assaulted her.
The 6-foot-2, 330-pound Terrell was found at a nearby hotel, where he was arrested and charged with assault-family violence, a class A misdemeanor, police said.
Terrell has appeared in six games with three starts for the Rams (0-7) this season.
Terrell was on probation from a 2006 assault charge of causing bodily injury to a family member, according to court records. He was given a $1,000 fine and two years of probation for that charge in February.
The 25-year-old was taken in the fourth round of the 2005 draft by the Rams out of New Mexico. He started 10 games as a rookie, but missed all of last season with a wrist injury.
The Rams did not immediately announce who would fill the roster spot. The Rams host Cleveland on Sunday.
Falcons place OT Foster on injured reserve
October 23, 2007
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) -The Falcons put starting offensive tackle Renardo Foster on injured reserve Tuesdsay, ending the rookie's season and continuing Atlanta's injury woes on the offensive line.
The rookie from Louisville moved into the starting lineup when the team lost starting tackles Wayne Gandy for the season with a knee injury and Todd Weiner for two to six weeks on Oct. 7.
In only his second start, Foster tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss to New Orleans.
The Falcons signed free agent offensive lineman Terrance Pennington on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-7, 325-pound Pennington was a seventh-round draft pick by Buffalo in 2006. He played in 11 games, including nine starts, as a rookie but was released following training camp this year.
Browns place cornerback on injured reserve
October 23, 2007
CLEVELAND (AP) -Gary Baxter's courageous, unexpected comeback from two serious knee injuries ended for this season when the cornerback was placed on injured reserve by the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday.
Baxter tore both patellar tendons on the same play last season. He was given long odds of getting back on the field - no player in the NFL has ever come back and been productive after tearing the tendons - but the 29-year-old startled doctors and made Cleveland's roster this summer.
However, Baxter was not activated for any of the Browns' first six games and when he failed to make enough significant progress to help them this season, the Browns finally decided to place him on IR.
``Gary has put everything he's got into this comeback,'' Browns general manager Phil Savage said in a statement. ``He made great strides, but just hasn't been able to reach the 100 percent level needed to play in the NFL. We feel he is headed in the right direction and hopeful he will return by next season.''
Baxter couldn't walk for weeks after getting hurt, and spent two months at the Cleveland Clinic. But he vowed to ``make history'' and surprised everyone by joining the Browns in time for training camp in July.
His goal was to play this season.
``I have been working hard for the past year to recover from my injuries, but unfortunately at this time I'm not at a level where I can be a full-time contributor to my team,'' Baxter said. ``Because of that, I don't want to continue to take up a roster spot that can be filled by someone who can help the team win right now.''
``I've made significant progress, much more than anyone thought I ever would. Still, I'm extremely disappointed I didn't make it on the field this year and I plan to use this as motivation to get back on the field next year. I'm getting closer to that goal each week.''
Baxter signed a six-year, $30 million free-agent deal with the Browns in 2005. He had played the previous four seasons with Baltimore and had started 46 of 48 games over a three-year span for the Ravens before coming to Cleveland.
A concussion in the preseason forced him out of the Browns' season opener in 2005. He played in Cleveland's next five games before a season-ending injury to his pectoral muscle.
Baxter played in three games last season before the freakish injuries to his knees on Oct. 22 while defending a pass in a game against the Denver Broncos.