Another Opportunity Missed
No matter what happens over the final four games of 2008, the Green Bay Packers are going to look back at the month of November as one of blown chances.
The latest was Sunday at Lambeau Field against the Carolina Panthers, a game in which the Packers stormed back from an 11-point second-half deficit to grab a seven-point lead, only to be undone by poor short-yardage execution at the goal line, shoddy kickoff coverage, and a couple of big plays by Pro Bowl receiver Steve Smith.
The end result was a crushing 35-31 defeat in front of 70,297 home fans that marks the team's fourth loss this season by four or fewer points, and third in the past month, leaving the Packers at 5-7 and two games behind Sunday night's Chicago-Minnesota winner in the NFC North standings.
"We're disappointed," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "We've just come up short so many times this year. We're not going to make excuses.
"You look at the games we lost, we've lost with opportunities to win in the last minutes, to make a play to win in the last minutes. We haven't done that."
Sunday, the chances to make that key play were numerous.
After falling behind 21-10 at halftime, the Packers were seemingly unstoppable in the second half, rolling up 285 of their 438 offensive yards after intermission. A 32-yard run by Brandon Jackson set up a field goal and Rodgers hit touchdown passes of 5 yards to tight end Donald Lee and 21 yards to wide receiver Greg Jennings to give the Packers a 28-21 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Then came the first series of breakdowns, a sequence that would unfortunately repeat itself later in the game to heartbreaking results.
Carolina's Mark Jones ran back the ensuing kickoff 51 yards to midfield, and Jake Delhomme found Smith deep over the middle for a 36-yard completion down to the 1. Smith outjumped Tramon Williams for the ball, and DeAngelo Williams ran it in to tie the score with 11:10 left.
The Packers countered with another long, clock-consuming drive, moving from their own 20 all the way to a second-and-goal at the Carolina 1. But Jackson, who gained 80 yards on 11 carries in place of an injured Ryan Grant in the second half, was stuffed for no gain. And then fullback John Kuhn, who had been 4-for-4 on the season on third-and-1 conversions, was also stopped short on a dive play, forcing the Packers to settle for a 19-yard field goal and 31-28 lead with 1:57 to go.
"We have to punch that in," offensive tackle Mark Tauscher said.
The inability to do so would prove costly. Once again, Jones burned Green Bay's kickoff coverage for a 45-yard runback, and Delhomme went deep to Smith, this time out-leaping Charles Woodson for a 54-yard gain down to the 1. Williams (21 carries, 72 yards) ran in his fourth 1-yard TD of the game with 90 seconds remaining for what turned out to be the game's final points.
"I should have made the play," said Woodson, starting his first game in Green Bay at safety in place of Atari Bigby. "Maybe I could have gotten up sooner or whatever. But he should have never made that catch. But he did, and they won the game."
The Packers' last chance was thwarted when Rodgers, who was 29-of-45 for 298 yards, three touchdowns and a 96.3 rating, scrambled to his right and tried to hit Donald Driver deep. But linebacker Jon Beason, one of eight Panthers back in coverage, intercepted at the Carolina 39, ending the drama and improving the Panthers to 9-3 to remain tied for first place in the NFC South.
"Donald flashed his hand up, and I felt like I threw a good ball," Rodgers said. "I just need to put a little bit more on it into the wind like that, trying to make a play. No excuses though."
Rodgers lamented the slow first-half start as much as the finish, as the Packers went three-and-out on their first two possessions, setting up a short field for Carolina's opening TD. That turned out to be the story of the game.
In a preview of his fourth-quarter exploits, Jones (four returns, 155 yards, 38.8 avg.) had a 42-yard kickoff return in the second period, setting up a 55-yard TD drive by the Panthers for an early 14-3 lead. And after the Packers climbed back with a 6-yard TD pass to Driver and got a defensive stop, center Scott Wells' shotgun snap sailed over Rodgers' head, and Carolina's Charles Johnson recovered at the Green Bay 17 to set up another short touchdown drive to make it 21-10 at halftime.
With Jones' big returns in the second half, the Panthers' five touchdown drives covered just 42, 55, 17, 50 and 55 yards, or 219 yards total. And their short-yardage execution was flawless, scoring all five times on rushes from the 1, with Delhomme (12-for-17, 177 yards, 104.3 rating) getting the only one Williams didn't.
"I thought the biggest negative today was field position," Head Coach Mike McCarthy said. "It's two weeks in a row we're playing on a football field that's 200 yards longer than our opponent. It's tough to overcome that. I thought that was a huge factor. And we've got to keep them out of the end zone."
Instead, it's another close loss for the Packers that was every bit as frustrating as the three-point overtime decision in Tennessee and the one-point heart-breaker at Minnesota earlier this month.
It leaves the Packers as a decided longshot to defend their NFC North title, trailing two teams in the standings, including the division leader by two games with only four to play.
"We just haven't been able to, as a team, find a way, when the games are close, to find enough plays at the end to win," Tauscher said.
"It's a situation where we're not where we want to be, and we've done it to ourselves. It's not a case where other people have heaped it on us. We are where we are."
And not where they could have been.
"It shows you how close the margin of error is in the NFL," defensive tackle Ryan Pickett said. "Sometimes when you have a great season, the ball bounces your way. When it's not, you have a poor season like we're having right now. All we can do is go out and keep playing."
Copyright (c) 2008 Green Bay Packers, Inc.
Fisher Looks To Time Of Possession As Key For Jets Win
The Titans suffered their first loss of the season courtesy of Brett Favre and the New York Jets. The Titans were unable to do much on offense and could not stop the Jets offense.
With the loss, Titans Head Coach Jeff Fisher record drops to 4-4 in his career against the Jets.
The Jets outgained the Titans 409 yards to 281 yards. Fisher said one of the factor in the Titans loss was their lack dominating time of possession the Jets held in the game.
''If you look at the stats, I think the single biggest stat in this ball game was the fact that we allowed Brett Favre to go under center for over 40 minutes in this game,'' Fisher said. ''Their offense was on the field for over 40 minutes. When that happens, no one is going to beat the New York Jets. The key is here is to why it happened. Those are the areas that we can point to early in the first half with the drops that stalled the drives.''
The Titans had opportunities early as cornerback Cortland Finnegan recorded his fourth interception of the season off of Brett Favre. Linebacker Keith Bulluck also forced a turnover as he stripped the ball from Leon Washington. However, the Titans offense could not generate any points from those turnovers.
''We had got the turnovers early and you have to take advantage of those mistakes or the opportunities against an offense like this and we did not,'' Fisher said. ''It was as if we woke up a little too late, not that we were asleep. We got beat today. It's disappointing, but I think this will be the biggest challenge for this team all year. Particularly, because we now have to come back to work tomorrow because we play Thursday. Fortunately, injury wise, I think we'll be okay. I don't have anything to report. As far as the game is concerned, it's just a disappointing loss. We got behind and we couldn't run the football. We can't convert third downs early because of drops or what have you. We let the game slip away.''
''I thought we had a good week of practice,'' Fisher said. ''I thought we had a good plan, but we just didn't make the plays. There were some balls bouncing around, and in other games, we would have been able to get our hands on defensively. We had a sack and a caused fumble, and we couldn't get on the ball. Those are the kind of things that have to happen in games like this for you to turn. They fought back and unfortunately we ended up with some penalties that hurt us. Overall, this team is very resilient. They're confident and they're going to work hard. The challenge is to utilize the short term memory. They need to put the loss into perspective as quickly as we possibly can and move on. 10-1 and still a nice place to be right now and got to go find a win to the next ball game.''
After suffering their first loss of season, how would the Titans respond to adversity?
''It's a different feeling in the locker room when the game is over,'' Fisher said. ''It's one that we've not experienced this year and it's one that they don't like. That itself will carry you through the next couple of days. You don't want to put yourself in that position again. That's the motivating factor that will get us through the next couple of days as we prepare for Detroit.''
The Titans now have to turn their attention immediately to the Detroit Lions, a team that they’ll face in four days. Fisher said the players will have to refocus this week and prepare for an unfamiliar opponent.
''We're going to bring the players in mid-day tomorrow,'' Fisher said. ''The coaches will go back to work this evening. I may rest them a little bit on Tuesday, let them catch up and get their sleep. We have to have a full day Tuesday from an instillation standpoint. Wednesday morning is going to require us to be very, very focus as we put the last aspects of the game plan together. Then, we'll be on the airplane. It's an early start and we got to find a way to go get this one. It looks like they're putting points on the board. They're going to be some challenges match up wise, particular with their offense with Calvin Johnson and the weapons that they have. We're going to get into it [the game plan] tonight.''
''It is a challenge, but it's going to be a challenge for them as well,'' Fisher said. ''The only advantage for them is that on Wednesday they can go to work and home and we have to travel. We've done a good job with unfamiliar opponents up until today. We're disappointed with this one. By large, our effort against Chicago, Minnesota, and Green Bay were outstanding efforts and we have to put that kind of effort towards this one on Thursday.''
The Titans and The Lions kickoff from Ford Field Thursday. Kickoff begins at 11:30 a.m. Central.
Copyright 2008 Citadel Broadcasting Company and MediaSpan
Defense, Reed's kick lift Steelers to 11-10 win over Chargers
PITTSBURGH -- Jeff Reed stood over the beaten patch of earth a little longer than usual.
He pawed the ground with his foot. He fidgeted.
Finally satisfied, Reed backed away and booted a 32-yard field goal with 11 seconds left in a strange game with a welcome outcome for the Steelers.
The 11-10 win -- the first such final score in the NFL's 12,837-game history -- snapped the Steelers' two-game losing streak at Heinz Field and underscored the importance of local kicking knowledge in a game decided by defense and second-half field goals.
"There wasn't a blade of grass anywhere," Reed said of the soggy spot of turf from which he launched his final kick. An earlier attempt from 51 yards had trailed wide left. "But the snap was good, the hold was good, those guys did an awesome job."
Nothing seemed routine Sunday.
Unexpected snow squalls descended on Heinz Field just before kickoff, coating the field.
Once things got under way, the Steelers (7-3) dominated statistically, running up huge advantages in time of possession (36:31-23:29) and total yards (410-213), yet couldn't turn that production into points.
Even the ending took an unusual twist.
After Reed's kick gave the Steelers a one-point lead, a series of last-ditch laterals by the Chargers (4-6) on their final offensive play resulted in Troy Polamalu crashing into the end zone with what appeared to be a fumble-return touchdown.
But the officials huddled and, after a booth review, referee Scott Green waved off the score.
Green later gave a cryptic explanation to a pool reporter, suggesting the touchdown should have stood.
During his postgame news conference, coach Mike Tomlin refused to discuss the officials.
But moments after the game, as he stood in the tunnel outside the Steelers' locker room waiting to congratulate players coming in from the field, Tomlin turned to a group of reporters and shouted, "The final explanation is the officiating sucked."
Regardless, the Steelers earned a much-needed win built on offensive production -- if not points -- and a key defensive stand late in the game.
After the Chargers reached first-and-goal with about 7 minutes to play, the Steelers held on three downs to force Kaedling's field goal.
LaDainian Tomlinson got two yards on first down and tight coverage by Ike Taylor and Fernando Bryant forced consecutive incompletions.
That gave the ball back to the offense needing only a field goal.
Roethlisberger, whose mistakes cost the Steelers back-to-back home losses, led a 13-play, 73-yard drive kept alive by his 7-yard throw to Hines Ward on third-and-5 from the San Diego 41.
"It was time for me to step up and make some plays," said Roethlisberger, who completed 31-of-41 passes for 308 yards without throwing an interception.
They also got a lift from Willie Parker, who returned after missing five of the past six games and rushed for 115 yards, seemingly impervious to the snow and mud.
"This was Steeler football," Parker said. "We had fun out there."
The Steelers overcame some early ineffectiveness in short yardage -- Mewelde Moore was stuffed for a one-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from the 1 in the first quarter -- and 13 penalties for 115 yards.
After allowing Tomlinson's three-yard touchdown run for the game's first points, they kept one of the game's most dangerous runners in check, holding him to 57 yards on 18 carries.
"That's what we do," said defensive end Brett Keisel, who had seven tackles and one of the Steelers' two sacks. "Our focus every week is to shut down the run."
"If you want to be a championship-type team," said Polamalu, whose one-handed interception stopped an early Chargers drive, "you have to win these home games."
Reed, meanwhile, drilled three field goals after the long miss, his first in 20 attempts.
His counterpart, San Diego's Nate Kaedling, missed from 42 yards. Kaedling later made what normally would be a chip shot from 22 yards that briefly gave the Chargers a 10-8 lead.
"He came up to me at halftime and said, 'I have a newfound respect for you kicking in this place,' " Reed said. "I said, 'Hey, man, you would learn to change some things, too, if you had to kick here.' In conditions like these sometimes you wish that we're playing somewhere like Houston. But honestly, I love it here."
Copyright (c) 2008 CyberInk LP and Erie Times-News
49ers QB Hill takes the national stage on 'Monday Night Football'
Shaun Hill has such a low profile that he isn't even always the most famous person at the Shaun Hill Football Camp. For several years, young campers would raise their eager hands and ask: "Do you know Daunte Culpepper?"
When Hill left the Minnesota Vikings for the 49ers, it changed only slightly. Kids asked the third-string quarterback what Alex Smith was like.
Soon, however, another question will come to mind.
As in, "What's it like to play on 'Monday Night Football'?''
Hill takes the national stage against the Arizona Cardinals tonight, charged with nothing less than turning around a 49ers team stuck in a five-game losing streak.
Mike Singletary, in one of his first acts as coach, replaced the erratic J.T. O'Sullivan with the calmer Hill in hopes that his offense would show a similar personality change.
Hill is an aw-shucks Midwesterner who doesn't even bother explaining his football career to strangers. He tells them he's a UPS driver.
The ruse is believable in part because of his physique. Hill would be laughed out of the NFL scouting combine.
It's also believable because of Hill's startling humility. After his news conference last week, he held the door open for the parade of reporters heading back to the locker room. When a scribe joked that the doorman gig was beneath an NFL starting quarterback, Hill said: "Now, let's just stop that talk right now."
Hill is, however, a celebrity somewhere. There are 11,500 residents in his hometown of Parsons, Kan. Sgt. Neil Springer of the Parsons Police department only half-jokingly estimated that 10,000 of them will be tuning in to see their native son on national television against Arizona. "The other 1,500 can't stand football, he said.
Parsons is the kind of town where people watch out for their neighbors, which is how Hill and Springer met in the first place. Hill called 911 in the summer of 2002 when he noticed the elderly woman next door in distress.
Springer arrived at the scene, assisted the woman - and wound up meeting someone who could give a boost to the local youth football league. Hill has moved to Missouri, but he returns to Parsons annually to donate time and equipment.
"He's a hometown hero; that's for sure,'' Springer said.
Hill was a three-year starter at Parsons High, demonstrating traits the 49ers hope will re-emerge against Arizona. For one thing, he rarely fumbled or threw an interception. Hill holds the school record for fewest turnovers by a quarterback in a season. Charlie Nally, his coach during those days, doesn't have the exact stats but swears he can barely remember an INT. In fact, he can barely remember an 'I.'
"For Shaun, it's never been about Shaun Hill,'' Nally said. "I remember him as a basketball player at 10, always looking to dish the ball off. Ever since he's been born, I've never known a moment that was 'I.' "
With the 49ers, Hill likes to joke about his lack of athletic prowess. But as a teenager he qualified for the state track meet in the 100 meters, and with the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.
In other words, he was a speedster.
"If you can believe that," Hill said.
Hill might have to resurrect those sprinting skills with the 49ers, as he will set up behind an offensive line that has surrendered an NFL-worst 34 sacks. But an emphasis on the short-passing game should help. Hill gets rid of the ball quickly, sacrificing distance for accuracy.
He has completed 67.6 percent of his career passes, but only six of his 102 passes have yielded a gain of 20 yards or more. He has no gains over 40 yards.
That low-risk style was enough last season for Hill to go 2-0 in two December starts. In his first assignment, he completed 21 of 28 passes - the highest completion percentage in NFL history for a player making his first career start.
"Shaun is a really confident player, and at the same time very competent when it comes to his reads,'' center Eric Heitmann said. "Shaun is definitely going to come in and provide a spark in this offense at a time when we need one as an entire team."
It might take a blaze - not a spark - to keep pace with Arizona. The Cardinals enter play leading the NFL at 29.3 points per game. Hill's counterpart is Kurt Warner, a two-time MVP trying to win his third.
Warner has 67 career completions of 40 yards or longer.
Hill has 69 career completions.
"(The Cardinals) are playing great and we're going to have to match that,'' Hill said. "We do have a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball on this team. I think that we have a very good chance of being an explosive offense."
If nothing else, the national stage gives Hill a chance to boost his profile. For now, he says he's not even the most famous person in his hometown. That honor goes to Bill Guthridge, a longtime University of North Carolina basketball coach.
Guthridge, 71, now lives in Chapel Hill, N.C.
But like the other Parsonians, he can't wait to tune in.
"I'll be watching the 49ers,'' said Guthridge, the 1998 national coach of the year. "I'm really happy for Shaun. He's a great young man and, given the opportunity, will be a good, solid NFL quarterback."
Copyright (c) 2008 - San Jose Mercury News
Houston Texans at Minnesota Vikings NFL Betting & Picks
Both the Houston Texans and the Minnesota Vikings have the same goal in mind for this football game: win and get to the .500 mark for the season. Odds makers feel it will be the Vikings achieving that goal this Sunday. The Minnesota Vikings are listed as 5-point favorites with the total set at 47.
The Vikings come into this contest off a bye week hoping to see a better effort from their defense while the Texans look for their fourth straight win of the season and their first on the road.
Minnesota's defense gave up 48 points in a pre-bye week loss to the Chicago Bears. However, for the most part the defense has been solid, ranking eight in the NFL in yards allowed (290.1) and second against the run (70.7).
Minnesota's offense totaled a season-high 439 yards against the Bears which is good news for a unit which was struggling to score points early on. QB Gus Frerotte was 25 of 40 for 298 yards and two touchdowns, but his four interceptions were costly. Star running back Adrian Peterson is second in the NFL with 684 rushing yards. He carried 22 times for 121 yards and two scores in the loss.
The defense could get a boost this week with the return of safety Madieu to the playing field. The free agent signed a six-year $33 million deal in the offseason and is expected to make his long-awaited debut. The contract made Williams one of the highest-paid safeties in the NFL. He has missed action thus far recovering from a nerve problem in his neck which developed in early August.
The Vikes have won their only ever meeting with the Texans, a 34-28 overtime in October of 2004. It does bode well for the Vikes that the Texans are winless on the road thus far.
Houston has come back from the dead after an 0-4 start, rattling off three straight home wins. Houston outscored Cincinnati 21-0 in the second half of a 35-6 rout last Sunday. The win gave the Texans its first three-game win streak in franchise history. They have won four straight once when you take the last two games of the 2006 season and combine them with the first two of the 2007 season.
While the Texans boasted a franchise-record 8-8 season in 2007, it still wasn't enough to get them out of the AFC South gutter. Unfortunately, the Texans are trying to build a winning franchise in a division which boasted three 10-win teams which all made the playoffs. With Indianapolis and Jacksonville not yet playing to their 2007 form, Houston has a shot at its best finish in the division in franchise history and perhaps even a playoffs berth.
Offensively, Pro Bowl wide receiver Andre Johnson has been carrying the load. He's had at least 131 receiving yards in each of his last four games as he appears to be on his way to another Pro Bowl season.
Former No. 1 overall draft pick, defense end Mario Williams is carrying the torch on the defense. Williams was a big part of Houston's best defensive performance of the season last week, limiting the Bengals to a single-digit point total and allowing a season low 253 yards. The Texans know that was against the winless Bengals and holding down the Vikings on the road is going to be a much tougher task.
locksmithsportspicks.com
Rays/Phillies World Series Predictions & Betting Odds
The Phillies made relatively easy work of the red hot Dodgers with timely hitting and great starting pitching to reach the World Series. The Rays appeared to be headed on much the same path, taking a commanding 3-1 series lead before it looked like the Red Sox would come back from the dead yet again. The Rays hung in there and now they will host the Phillies in game 1 of the 2008 MLB World Series. Odds makers have listed the Rays as the -140 favorites to win the Series.
The Tampa Bay Rays have made one of the most remarkable turnarounds in MLB history and they would like nothing more than to put the icing on the cake with a World Series championship in the 104th edition of the fall classic.
We all expected the Rays to take a step forward this season as their young talent continued to mature, but we did not foresee an AL East title and now an AL Championship.
Just one season removed from finishing with a MLB-worst 96 losses, Tampa Bay rattled off 97 regular season wins and has not slowed down yet. Only the Atlanta Braves have reached the World Series a year after finishing with the worst record in the majors.
Tampa Bay made quick work of the Chicago White Sox in the ALDS, taking down the AL Central champs in four games. It appeared that they would dominate the defending champion Red Sox too, but they needed seven games to prevail after blowing a 7-0 lead in the seventh inning of game five to give Boston some breathing room. Matt Garza was sensational in Tampa Bay's game 7 win and he took home ALCS MVP honors.
The pitching has been consistent and even sensational all season long for the Rays and it has definitley played a leading roll in getting them here. While the game 1 pitcher is not yet listed for the Rays, we expect manager Joe Maddon to go with southpaw Scott Kazmir in game 1, followed by James Shields, Garza, and Andy Sonnanstine.
Tampa Bay's bats cannot be left out as they exploded during a key three-game winning streak in the ALCS. B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria have led the way. The two have combined for 14 homeruns this postseason, which is just shy of the postseason record held by Barry Bonds and Rich Aurilia in San Francisco in 2002.
Upton only notched nine homers in the regular season but has exploded to hit seven in these playoffs.
If anything will keep Tampa Bay from winning the Series, it will be the bullpen. With closer Troy Percival sidelined, Maddon has ran into some trouble with who he can rely on late in games.
Surprisingly, the Rays pen was very good in the regular season, but it has really struggled this fall. Dan Wheeler and Grant Balfour have taken their licks. While Percival could be activated for this Series, Maddon may have found a gem in the young David Price, who came in to close the door against the Red Sox in game 7.
Price is no unknown. This kid is expected to be a stud as we was the top overall draft pick in 2007. With a lot of lefties in the Phillies lineup, Price could see an increasing role in the World Series.
Philadelphia makes its first trip back to the World Series since 1993 and will be playing to win just the franchise's second World Series in the last 125 years.
Philly captured its second straight NL East Division title thanks to another strong home stretch run while the New York Mets choked once again. Last postseason, the Phillies were swept in the opening round by the NL champion Colorado Rockies, but this year the Phillies have figured out a way to win.
They took care of a dangerous Milwaukee Brewers club in four games and then really outshined the Dodgers in the NLCS.
Ace Cole Hamels has been sensational. He has won all three of his postseason starts while posting a 1.23 ERA. The rest of the staff has not been nearly as solid. Brett Myers won both of his postseason starts and may be rounding into shape, but he was very up and down during the regular season. The 45-year-old southpaw Jamie Moyer has had a very tough go of it this postseason going 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA.
Offensively, we know about the big-name horses that the Phillies have and now you can add Shane Victorino to the list. The centerfielder has knocked in a club record 11 runs this postseason.
Chase Utley struggled in the NLDS, but looked much better against LA, going 6 of 17 and hitting a big two-run homer in game 1.
Surprisingly, former MVP Ryan Howard has not hit a homerun this postseason. He struggled clear up until the final games of the NLCS when he went 6 of 12 at the plate.
The good news is that the Phillies know what their stars are capable of, and if they've been able to win relatively easy without playing their best, they could be dominant if their play improves.
Philadelphia should have the advantage if the bullpen department if they take a lead into the late innings with Brad Lidge. Lidge has had a remarkable season, going a perfect 41 for 41 in save opportunities during the regular season and 5 for 5 during the postseason.
locksmithsportspicks.com
Bills DE Schobel nursing sore left foot
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Buffalo defensive end Aaron Schobel missed practice Tuesday and will be one of numerous Bills regulars using the bye week to recuperate from nagging injuries.
Schobel said he has a strained ligament in his left foot and doesn't expect to practice much, if it all, during the break. The Bills (4-1) are off to their best start in 16 years and host San Diego (2-3) on Oct. 19.
The Bills' top pass rusher was hurt in a 31-14 win at St. Louis on Sept. 28. He played most of the game against Arizona last weekend, but eventually sat out part of the fourth quarter after the score got out of hand in a 41-17 loss.
Quarterback Trent Edwards was absent from practice -- the first of Buffalo's three this week -- after he was sent home by the team to continue recovering from a concussion he sustained three plays into the game against Arizona. Reserve defensive tackle John McCargo was also absent after being excused for personal reasons.
Among the Bills players present but not taking part in practice during the 15-minute period open to reporters were cornerback Terrence McGee, who missed last weekend's game with a sprained knee, safety Ko Simpson, who hurt his hamstring against Arizona, defensive tackle Marcus Stroud (shoulder), defensive end Chris Kelsay, cornerback Ashton Youboty and center Melvin Fowler.
Also missing practice was receiver Roscoe Parrish, who's missed two games since having surgery to repair ligament damage in his right thumb. Initially expected to miss up to four weeks, Parrish said it's possible he could return to practice next week.
"Right now, I'm just taking it day by day and everything's been pretty good," Parrish said. "This bye week is helping me out a lot, so that's a good thing right there."
Coach Dick Jauron has declined to discuss the status of the team's injured players this week, in part because the Bills are not required to provide an injury report during a bye week. The Bills will take a three-day weekend before returning for practice on Monday.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
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