Several years ago while I was working on a project at work that required the crawling/scraping of blog sites, I came across a site called “the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks”. And it’s a hoot. It’s basically people submitting photos of misused quotation marks, typically appearing on signs, to which the blog poster will comment with some “witty” quip. You can read the site for ten minutes or two hours for the exact same effect because although it’s repetitive, it’s still quite an entertaining waste of time. Read on for some unnecessary quotation marks of my own (along with some “completely” necessary ones, I promise), plus somewhere in here there will be a link to that blog, in case you want to check it out. There may even be a questionable quote or two from a “source”.
Dion Lewis (knee, ACL) will miss the remainder of the season. Last week was the most recent time I discussed the value of a player coming off an ACL injury, and that’s been done plenty by me this year. To summarize, I’m generally optimistic that these players can come back to be most or all of their previous selves.
95% chance that @DionLewisRB will return to form for 2016 after ACL.
Can't be sure that he would be ready Week 1. https://t.co/pwNcDDEdTV— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) November 9, 2015
For Dion Lewis it’s not so much a matter of what percent of himself he will be in 2016, but rather trying to guess what percent of his 2015 first half was sustainable. He was performing as a borderline top 10 back in Standard Scoring so far this year (he’s currently RB16 for the season despite missing one game completely, if he hadn’t he’d probably be top 10). Had he been able to sustain his start I suspect he’d be ranked somewhere around RB15 headed into next season. Now we have the uncertainty of not knowing whether his first half was him at his best or him at his average. At this point I’d have to say no worse than RB20 for 2016 sounds about right, in PPR it’s more like RB10 or even higher. With Lewis out I have very little idea if Kevin White, Brandon Bolden or some mystery man will be the primary beneficiary of running back receiving duty. Perhaps Jay will have some good info on this by Friday/Saturday/Sunday.
Andrew Luck (ouch) has really been banged around this season. Earlier we heard about “shoulder” and eventually “rib” injuries, now it’s his kidney and abdomen.
#Colts realistically expecting QB Andrew Luck to miss at least a month and team prepared for potentially longer absence, per league source
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) November 11, 2015
Based on this I don’t think it’s realistic to expect him back any earlier than week 14 against the Jaguars. Should you drop him? Maybe. He certainly could be dropped. It depends on what level you thought he was going to bounce back to as well as who’s available. I have no problem with anyone dropping him but he does have a good late schedule in his favor (@Jax, Hou, @Mia, Ten to end the season). Matt Hasselbeck really performed well earlier and Andrew Luck had been pretty bad. So I don’t think we need to downgrade the members of the Colts offense more than they already had been due to Luck’s surprising amount of suck.
Oh my, Ben Roethlisberger (foot), is injured yet again. This one appears less serious than his earlier knee injury and he has said that he’s “not ruling himself out” for this week, while an earlier report stated he’d miss 1-2 weeks. I’m never sure if a given range of “weeks” that are expected to be missed are the same as “games”. It should be the same, but with Pittsburgh’s bye coming I find it hard to believe that he’ll miss more than one game. Maybe the “team source” forgot about the “bye” (unnecessary quotes added for irony).
Ben Roethlisberger initial diagnosis is sprained foot with projected absence at 1-to-2 weeks, per team source.
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) November 8, 2015
Malcom Floyd (shoulder) is really messed up. Despite his attempt to play through the injury, I really don’t want a part of him unless I’m desperate.
#Chargers WR Malcom Floyd, who tore his labrum, will rehab and see how it goes. He'll attempt to play thru it in his last season, I'm told.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 11, 2015
Latavius Murray (concussion) has what I consider the ultimate “who knows how long he’ll be out” type of injury: a concussion. Having missed practice completely on Wednesday (Teddy Bridgewater was concussed yet still managed to be listed as limited having already passing phase one of the concussion protocol), I think there’s a very real chance he’ll miss Sunday, but literally no one knows.
DeAngelo Williams (swollen foot) has an injury of totally unknown but probably minor severity and a week 11 bye looming. That creates an interesting scenario because if he does play against Cleveland this week I’d think if anything flared up during the game they’d be quick to either sit him back down or use him sparingly once they got a decent lead. However, I see it as quite likely that he’ll play and you’ll need to start him if he does. Corporate news outlets say that Jordan Todman would get the start should Williams miss time. (Arguably he should have only been worth a minor blurb below…)
Dinged (players I suspect have only minor injuries)
Here’s a list of some newly injured players for whom we’ll need to keep an eye on the Friday NFL injury reports to know their status: LeSean McCoy (shoulder, probable for Thursday Night Football). Emmanuel Sanders (ankle), Allen Hurns (foot), and Amari Cooper (quadriceps) all missed practice on Friday.
On The Mend (players nearing a return)
Matt Forte (knee) was already able to practice in limited fashion. Who knows what that means. I think the “limited” designation can at times be used by teams in their attempts to deceive their opponents. So yeah, whatever. Maybe he’ll play this week. Maybe he won’t. And I’ll issue one last reminder to pick up Tony Romo (clavicle) where he’s available. Vincent Jackson (knee) missed practice again and he might be out for one more week. Stop the presses, DeSean Jackson (hamstring) finally returned last week.
So now I leave you with the practice reports for week 10 of the NFL season. These are the same reports that each team is required to give the league after every day of practice. Teams that play Thursday have a full injury report with the “Out/Doubtful/Questionable/Probable” designations due by Wednesday. Teams that play Sunday (or Saturday) only have a practice report due Wednesday and teams that play Monday have nothing at all due by Wednesday, which is when this post is written.
Arizona Cardinals
John Brown – WR – Limited Participation
Darren Fells – TE – Full Participation
Larry Fitzgerald – WR – Full Participation
Brittan Golden – WR – Limited Participation
Atlanta Falcons
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
Baltimore Ravens
Crockett Gillmore – TE – Limited Participation
Breshad Perriman – WR – No Participation
Buffalo Bills
LeSean McCoy – RB – Limited Participation
Sammy Watkins – WR – Limited Participation
Carolina Panthers
Ed Dickson – TE – Limited Participation
Jonathan Stewart – RB – Limited Participation
Chicago Bears
Matt Forte – RB – Limited Participation
Eddie Royal – WR – No Participation
Cincinnati Bengals
No Practice Information Reported (Monday Night Football)
Cleveland Browns
Brian Hartline – WR – Full Participation
Andrew Hawkins – WR – Full Participation
Johnny Manziel – QB – Full Participation
Josh McCown – QB – Limited Participation
Dallas Cowboys
Dez Bryant – WR – No Participation
Brice Butler – WR – No Participation
Matt Cassel – QB – Full Participation
James Hanna – TE – Full Participation
Christine Michael – RB – No Participation
Rod Smith – RB – No Participation
Denver Broncos
C.J. Anderson – RB – Full Participation
Owen Daniels – TE – No Participation
Virgil Green – TE – Full Participation
Ronnie Hillman – RB – Full Participation
Peyton Manning – QB – No Participation
Jordan Norwood – WR – Limited Participation
Emmanuel Sanders – WR – No Participation
Detroit Lions
Calvin Johnson – WR – Limited Participation
Green Bay Packers
Eddie Lacy – RB – Limited Participation
Ty Montgomery – WR – Limited Participation
Houston Texans
No Practice Information Reported (Monday Night Football)
Indianapolis Colts
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
Jacksonville Jaguars
Toby Gerhart – RB – Full Participation
Allen Hurns – WR – No Participation
Marqise Lee – WR – Limited Participation
Julius Thomas – TE – Full Participation
Kansas City Chiefs
Travis Kelce – TE – Full Participation
Miami Dolphins
Jordan Cameron – TE – Limited Participation
DeVante Parker – WR – Limited Participation
Damien Williams – RB – Full Participation
Minnesota Vikings
Teddy Bridgewater – QB – Limited Participation
New England Patriots
Julian Edelman – WR – Limited Participation
Keshawn Martin – WR – Limited Participation
New Orleans Saints
Marques Colston – WR – No Participation
Willie Snead – WR – Limited Participation
New York Giants
Victor Cruz – WR – No Participation
Larry Donnell – TE – No Participation
New York Jets
Tommy Bohanon – RB – Full Participation
Kellen Davis – TE – Full Participation
Eric Decker – WR – Full Participation
Ryan Fitzpatrick – QB – Full Participation
Chris Ivory – RB – Full Participation
Jeremy Kerley – WR – Full Participation
Brandon Marshall – WR – Full Participation
Bilal Powell – RB – Limited Participation
Stevan Ridley – RB – Full Participation
Geno Smith – QB – Full Participation
Oakland Raiders
Amari Cooper – WR – No Participation
Latavius Murray – RB – No Participation
Clive Walford – TE – Full Participation
Philadelphia Eagles
Nelson Agholor – WR – Full Participation
Trey Burton – TE – Full Participation
Riley Cooper – WR – Limited Participation
Ryan Mathews – RB – Full Participation
DeMarco Murray – RB – Full Participation
Pittsburgh Steelers
Will Johnson – RB – No Participation
Heath Miller – TE – No Participation
Isaiah Pead – RB – Limited Participation
Ben Roethlisberger – QB – No Participation
Matt Spaeth – TE – No Participation
DeAngelo Williams – RB – No Participation
San Diego Chargers
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
Seattle Seahawks
Ricardo Lockette – WR – No Participation
Marshawn Lynch – RB – No Participation
Luke Willson – TE – Limited Participation
San Francisco 49ers
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
St. Louis Rams
Todd Gurley – RB – No Participation
Chase Reynolds – RB – Full Participation
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Vincent Jackson – WR – No Participation
Austin Seferian-Jenkins – TE – Limited Participation
Tennessee Titans
Dexter McCluster – RB – No Participation
Kendall Wright – WR – No Participation
Washington Football Team
Andre Roberts – WR – Limited Participation
Chris Thompson – RB – Full Participation
Every week I either forget something or leave something out due to time constraints. I’m happy to discuss situations I missed or anything else in the Comments section below. Thanks for reading!
