 | Banged Up Backs - 12/05/2008
BY Aaron Gleeman I'll be in Las Vegas next week covering the MLB winter meetings, so this will be my final Daily Dose for a while. However, you'll be in very capable hands during my absence thanks to Chris Wesseling and Mark St. Amant tag-teaming things like Chris Johnson and LenDale White (without the 4.24 speed or giant gut). While you enjoy life without me, here are some notes from around football .
* Clinton Portis was held out of practice again Thursday with hip, knee, and neck injuries, the latt! er of which is apparently the biggest concern right now. "He's still trying to loosen up his stiff neck," coach Jim Zorn said. "Each week, he seems to start getting a little better, but he did take a pretty good bash to the head and it really did stiffen up his neck like a whiplash."
Zorn indicated that Portis will be a game-time decision this week, but between an extremely unfavorable matchup against the Ravens and the Sunday night kickoff time he's simply not a very good fantasy option. Even if he suits up Portis figures to be little more than a decent RB2 option, so it's not worth risking a goose egg if he ends up sitting.
* Marion Barber is similar to Portis in that he has a very tough matchup this week against the Steelers and is expected to be a game-time decision. However, the big difference is that Barber's status will be known Sunday afternoon rather tha! n Sunday night. He missed practice Thursday and afterward coach Wade Phillips called him "more doubtful" to play through a dislocated pinkie toe.
Putting in at least a limited workout Friday would greatly increase Barber's odds of facing the Steelers, but short of practicing his owners should definitely have a different option ready to go. Tashard Choice wouldn't be horrible as a last-minute fallback if he ends up starting in Barber's place, but in that scenario the Cowboys would almost surely get pass happy versus the Steelers' dominant run defense.
* Not that it will make Braylon Edwards' fantasy owners feel better about using a second- or third-round pick on him while getting just 697 yards and three scores through a dozen games, but Browns general manager Phil Savage gave a vote of confidence to the butter-fingered one. "When you catch ! touchdowns the drops become overshadowed," Savage said. "When you don't they become magnified."
Savage may be out of a job in a month, but he's absolutely right about Edwards, who led the league in drops last season while having another otherwise fantastic year with 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns on 80 catches. This year has been far different, in part due to Edwards' uninspired play and continued struggles holding onto the football and in part due to the Browns' awful quarterbacking.
Edwards has the league's worst catch percentage among receivers who've been targeted at least 50 times, hauling in a pathetic 39.6 percent of the balls thrown his way. However, even with over 60 percent of those passes falling incomplete the Browns have averaged 6.6 yards per Edwards target, compared to a measly 5.3 yards for everyone else. Drops and all, he's capable of a 2009 bounce back.
* Steven Jackson had a busy Thursday, putting in a full practice to show that his quadriceps injury is no longer a concern and explaining to reporters that he's still on good terms with coach Jim Haslett. Haslett and Jackson had differing stories regarding why he was benched in Week 13, but Jackson said Thursday that they "have been able to kind of look back at the film and laugh about it."
Interestingly, "looking back at the film and laughing about it" is exactly what most of the Rams' opponents have been able to do this year. Jackson got 21 touches before being yanked from the loss to Miami and is expecting the "workload to be a little bit more this week." Unfortunately, barring a miracle the Rams figure to be trailing the Cardinals big early, so another 20 carries may be hard to come by.
Two-Minute Drill: A federal judge is slated to rule Friday afternoon whether Kevin Williams and Pat Williams are eligible to play this week versus the Lions . Zach Miller lived up to the Daily Dose hype Thursday night, totaling 64 yards on eight catches despite Oakland's usual horrible quarterbacking . Kyle Orton admitted Wednesday that his timing has been off since returning from an ankle injury, but the Bears' sorry receiving corps is also to blame . Absent from the injury report, Reggie Bush said Wednesday that he'll play "an actual full game" this week after getting just eight touches in his return to the lineup . Weather i! n Pittsburgh is supposed to be cold, snowy, and windy for the Steelers -Cowboys game . Matt Jones missed practice Wednesday while in New York appealing his suspension, but is expected to play this week . Warrick Dunn is absent from the injury report and should get 20-plus touches against the Panthers . Eddie Royal is no longer on the injury report after being limited by toe problems . Former first-round bust Charles Rogers is reportedly in jail on a $100,000 bond for violating his parole.
Red Zone: JaMarcus Russell exited Thursday night's loss to the Chargers when he ! was carted to the locker room with an ankle injury suffered while throwing his second interception, but X-rays came back negative . Ryan Grant (thumb) and Brandon Jackson (quadriceps) practiced fully Thursday, so it should be business as usual in the Packers' backfield this week . Brian Westbrook (ankle, knee) sat out Thursday's practice, but there's little indication that he's in danger of missing Week 14 . Trent Edwards (groin) missed practice again Thursday, so it sounds like J.P. Losman will start against the ! Dolphins . Ben Roethlisberger resumed practicing Thursday after tweaking his knee during Wednesday's session, so he seems set to face the Cowboys . Willie Parker (knee) also returned to practice Thursday after taking Wednesday off . Mark Bradley was held without a catch last week and was added to the injury report Thursday with a calf strain . Kevin Smith (shoulder) was limited in practice again Thursday, but his fantasy status is dependent on whether the Williams Wall begins serving their suspensions now. | | This e-mail is being sent at your request. To stop receiving these e-mails, click here. | |
