Fitzgerald continues to close in on history

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is closing in on another milestone, andit’s an impressive one.

Fitzgerald, 35, needs to catch just 33 yards worth of passes Sunday at Kansas City to move past Hall of Famer Terrell Owens into second place on the NFL’s all-time yards receiving list.

As usual, Fitzgerald, a former Pitt star, brushed aside talk of the milestone Thursday in his weekly meeting with the media.

“Honestly, I don’t really think about it,” he said.

Modesty aside, there’s no doubt that Fitzgerald is very aware of his place among the greats in the game.

Halfway through his 15th season, Fitzgerald has 15,902 yards receiving, behind Owens’ 15,934 and Jerry Rice’s phenomenal 22,895.

Fitzgerald needs 58 catches to pass Tony Gonzalez for second on the NFL career receptions list. Fitzgerald has 1,268 catches to Gonzalez’s 1,325 and Rice’s 1,549.

Fitzgerald also is closing in on Rice’s record for receptions with one team. Fitzgerald, who has spent his entire career with the Cardinals, needs 14 receptions to pass the 1,281 catches Rice had with the San Francisco 49ers.

Lions

Wally Triplett, the trailblazing running back who was one of the first AfricanAmericans drafted by an NFL team, died. He was 92. Triplett was the third African-American selected in the 1949 draft, but he was the first of those draftees to play in a regular-season game. He played in 24 games for the Lions and Chicago Cardinals. Triplett also was the first AfricanAmerican to start for Penn State, and in 1948, he and teammate Dennie Hoggard became the first AfricanAmericans to play in the Cotton Bowl .

Jets

Josh center McCown Sunday will against be under Buffalo in place of injured rookie Sam Darnold, who’s out with a strained right foot. “I’m ready to rule him out as a starter for this week,” coach Todd Bowles said Thursday of Darnold. “I don’t know if I’ll rule him out yet for the game.”

Bears

Two-time All-Pro pass rusher Khalil Mack and top receiver Allen Robinson look as if they’re just about ready to return after missing Chicago’s past two games because of injuries. Both players practiced without limitations for the second day in a row.