Bradford’s status still unknown
Minnesota Vikings and former OU quarterback Sam Bradford still doesn’t know if he will be able to play against the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Minnesota and former OU quarterback Sam Bradford is still unsure whether he will be able to play Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
Bradford said his left knee feels better than it did last Sunday, when he was unable to play in the team’s 26-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He plans to test his knee throughout the week after twisting his knee in a non-contact injury in the team’s season-opening win against the New Orleans Saints.
But he might not have a clear answer until the end of the week — or perhaps even game day — about whether he’s able to start.
“I would like to think that [my chances of playing] are good, but I think a lot of it just depends on how my knee responds when we go out there and practice this week,” Bradford said.
Coach Mike Zimmer said Monday that Bradford twisted his knee during the Saints game, and Bradford said he realized Tuesday morning the pain was more noticeable than he’d expected.
He tore his left ACL in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons, though Zimmer said on Sunday that Bradford’s latest injury would not require surgery.
Packers dealing with injuries
The banged-up Green Bay Packers are starting practice this week with about a dozen players on the injury report.
Receivers Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, along with defensive lineman Mike Daniels were among the notable Packers who left last week’s 34-23 loss to Atlanta with injuries.
The Packers were already without starting offensive tackles David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga.
Coach Mike McCarthy spoke about the injuries before practice on Wednesday. He hopes that all his sidelined players will be able to progress through the week as the team gets ready to face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Dolphins’ coach says Timmons might return
Miami Dolphins coach Adam Gase says he’ll decide later whether to let linebacker Lawrence Timmons rejoin the team.
Timmons was suspended indefinitely after he went AWOL Saturday, the day before the Dolphins’ seasonopening win at the Los Angeles Chargers. When asked about violations of team culture, Gase left open the possibility of Timmons returning.
“Every situation’s different, and I would say that you can be forgiven if the right steps are taken,” Gase said.
The Dolphins suspended Timmons on Tuesday, when they also acquired linebacker Stephone Anthony from the New Orleans Saints for a fifth-round draft pick in 2018. Gase said the team had been working to acquire Anthony even before the issue with Timmons.
Watt says broken finger no big deal
J.J. Watt brushed off the fact that he’ll be playing against the New England Patriots on Sunday with a broken left ring finger.
“It’s not going to bother me too much. It’s broken but not bad,” Watt said wiggling the bandaged digit. “It’s just a finger, if it was anything else it would be a problem.”
Some might cringe at the thought of playing football with a broken finger, but after missing 13 games last season following his second back surgery, this injury doesn’t seem as if it’s a big deal to Houston’s star defensive end.
He noted that the break hasn’t really made that much of a difference because he already had a problem with that finger before he broke it in Houston’s season-opening loss to Jacksonville.