Clock ticking on whether Watkins, Griffin will return
Injured playmakers back at practice for Bills and Browns, but still on IR
At least Sammy Watkins and Robert Griffin III are practising again.
Whether either NFLer will play in a game again this season remains to be determined.
Both Watkins, the Buffalo Bills’ top wide receiver, and Griffin, the Cleveland Browns’ No. 1 quarterback coming out of training camp, remain inactive.
They’ve been on injured reserve since September — Watkins with a sore left foot that never quite healed following surgery in May and Griffin with a fractured coracoid bone in his left shoulder, suffered in Cleveland’s Week 1 loss at Philadelphia.
When their teams on Wednesday officially designated them to return to practice, they went on the clock. The Bills have 21 days to determine whether to activate Watkins or leave him on IR for the rest of the season. Ditto with the Browns and Griffin.
Buffalo (5-5) sorely needs Watkins back to bolster the league’s least prolific passing attack as the club frantically blows the embers under its cooling playoff hopes.
“Obviously, we’re encouraged by the fact that he has been cleared to participate,” Bills head coach Rex Ryan said of Watkins before Wednesday’s practice. “I think that’s a good sign. He feels good, so we’ll see how it goes.
“We’re not going to run him until his tongue’s hanging out. We’ll be smart with him in how many plays we do. We’ll limit him today, but then we’ll see how he progresses. Is there a chance that he could play (on Sunday against Jacksonville)? I hope so.”
Cleveland (0-11) shouldn’t be in any great rush to return Griffin to action. Everyone, apparently, but the Browns has realized how deep into the tank this season was headed once the front office got rid of nearly every player with return value in the off-season and up to the trade deadline.
Rookie Cody Kessler, though, probably won’t be returning to action any time soon after suffering his second concussion in a month last Sunday.
And veteran backup Josh McCown looked rough in Kessler’s stead on Sunday against the Steelers — really rough.
Griffin appeared confident when he spoke with Browns reporters on Wednesday.
“I still feel like I can be the guy for this team, for this organization,” said Griffin, the NFL’s rookie of the year in 2012 with the Washington Redskins. “And I look forward to going out and proving it.”
Just not right away. Browns head coach Hue Jackson said RG3 “still has to get cleared medically for contact. So I don’t think there’s a chance he’ll play this week.”
LUCK RULED OUT: Indianapolis confirmed quarterback Andrew Luck won’t play Thursday night against Pittsburgh.
The fifth-year signal-caller was concussed in last Sunday’s defeat of Tennessee. He remains in the league’s concussion protocol.
Scott Tolzien, the former San Francisco and Green Bay backup who joined the Colts earlier this year, will start against the Steelers.
The Colts promoted Stephen Morris from the practice squad to back up Tolzien. THREE ON THURSDAY: A reminder that the NFL’s annual U.S. Thanksgiving Day triple-header kicks off at 10:30 a.m. MST with Minnesota at Detroit in a battle of 6-4 NFC North co-leaders.
That’s followed at 2:30 p.m. MST by Washington at Dallas, then Steelers-Colts in prime time. TOO BAD, BEARS: The Chicago Bears tried to sign rookie quarterback Jake Rudock off the Lions’ practice squad, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday. That’s allowable under NFL practice-squad rules.
But the Lions must really like their third-string, developmental passer.
They denied their NFC North archrivals by signing the University of Michigan product to their 53-man active roster, even though both starting QB Matt Stafford and backup Dan Orlovsky are healthy.
Clearly, the Bears are desperate to boost their QB ranks if they indeed pursued their second practice-squad QB of the week.
Starter Jay Cutler reportedly is done for the year with a torn labrum, although head coach John Fox insisted Wednesday that Cutler is still day to day and might be able to play Sunday against Tennessee.
The only other QBs on the Bears’ roster are fourth-year Matt Barkley (who has yet to start an NFL game) and David Fales, whom Chicago reclaimed Tuesday from Baltimore’s practice squad. FRACTURED RIB? BAH: Rookie QB Carson Wentz can’t afford to lose any of his small cadre of able offensive playmakers.
At first blush, head coach Doug Pederson’s injury update Wednesday sounded grave — that top running backs Ryan Mathews (MCL sprain) and Darren Sproles (rib fracture) would be held from practice.
Nevertheless, it sounds as if Sproles, at least, is an unlikely candidate to watch Monday’s game against Green Bay from the press box.
“He’ll be fine with a couple days’ rest,” Pederson said. EXTRA POINTS: Buffalo DT Marcell Dareus took to Twitter to explain that someone had hacked into this Instagram account to post an expletive-filled tirade in his name, which praised marijuana and crudely disparaged Bills co-owner Kim Pegula, head coach Ryan, the NFL — even the Bills’ front office for giving him a $60-million guarantee a year ago. … Chicago placed TE Zach Miller (broken foot) on season-ending IR.