Jaguars CB Mathis won’t play Sunday against Titans

Breaking a bone in his left index finger, the Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Rashean Mathis has been ruled out by Coach Jack Del Rio from playing against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.


The news was not beyond expectation as Mathis had not practiced for all week after suffering the injury while playing against the St. Louis Rams on Oct. 18. He had surgery last week to insert a screw in his finger and never sounded optimistic he would wear back his NFL jersey and return against the Titans.

As Mathis, who holds the franchise record with 27 interceptions, is still wearing a cast, the Jaguars will choose a replacement from Scott Starks and Tyrone Brackenridge to start at the position.

Raiders QB Russell admitted mistakes in loss to Jets

The Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell eventually realized that it was partly his fault that caused the team’s shameful 0-38 loss to the New York Jets last Sunday. He understands now why Coach Tom Cable benched him in the second quarter of the game.


Russell surely did not realize that immediately after the game as he said he didn’t feel like he made any bad reads or decisions in the game. It was after three days of further review that he addressed the media and said there were “mistakes out there. Everybody saw that. Good or bad, take that in stride and learn from it.”

His mistakes included: lining the team up in the wrong formation and losing a fumble on the first play from scrimmage, throwing a ball in an area with no receivers on the third possession, and throwing an interception in the end zone on the next drive.

Fans booed mercilessly, commentators have ripped him and Cable benched him. Even before the game in which he made mistakes, he had not been giving satisfying performance as a starter in Raiders jersey- he was the second-worst quarterback in the league with rating at 47.2. But the loss was not caused all by Russell’s fault. For the past five weeks, the Raiders offense has been inept, scoring just 29 points and two touchdowns in losing four of five games. I guess there would not be much improvement in near future as Cable said Russell would still start for the team this weekend against the San Diego Chargers.

Vikings starters are fighting injuries

Wide receiver Bernard Berrian, middle linebacker E.J. Henderson and cornerback Antoine Winfield, all three are the Minnesota Vikings starters, and all three are fighting injuries.


Berrian hurt his left hamstring last week while playing against the Steelers at Pittsburgh; Winfield missed that game because of an injury to his right foot and Henderson’s knee is on the mend. They were all held out of Wednesday’s practice.

Another two starters in Vikings jerseys were limited in Wednesday practice with injury. Linebacker Ben Leber had a calf injury, and quarterback Brett Favre appeared on the injury report with a hip problem. As the Vikings will visit Green Bay this weekend to play against Favre’s old team Packers, I guess Favre will be able to play; at least he will be present for the game to see how Green Bay fans welcome him back.

Seahawks QB Hasselbeck was looking after daughter in hospital after accident

The Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck posted on his Twitter site Tuesday saying that he had the worst bye week ever as his six-year-old daughter Mallory got hit by a dirt bike. Fortunately, she is recovering now.

The girl was hit on a family trip to Central Washington over the bye weekend and had to have a surgery to repair injuries. In his post, Hasselbeck thanked the dentist who repaired Mallory’s mouth, the staff at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee, and the staff who treated Mallory at Seattle Children’s Hospital upon the family’s return home.

The 34-year-old father of three also said that he spent his weekend with his daughter at the hospital and was glad to see she was recovering, but he is afraid that the little girl will miss her basketball season because of the injuries.

Holmgren would like to be Seahawk’s GM

Now there is no doubt that Mike Holmgren will be back with an NFL team next season, and what remains questionable is which team he would like to be with. Rumors say it should be the one that he used to coach: the Seattle Seahawks.

According to National Football Post, Holmgren still has a great relationship with team owner Paul Allen. What is more, current Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell has a contract that runs out at the end of this season. As there is no sign that he will get an extension, Holmgren will be very likely to return to the team he loves, as an executive staff instead of coach.

Even if the Seahawks will not turn to him, Holmgren still has his choices as plenty of other teams would love to have Holmgren aboard. So before this season ends, the former coach can just enjoy his time with his wife and four granddaughters.

Giants OT McKenzie was inactive Sunday with groin injury

After starting 38 consecutive games together in the New York Giants’ offensive line, tackle Kareem McKenzie failed to start a 39th as he was inactive for Sunday night’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.


McKenzie was held out with a groin injury and replaced by Will Beatty, who was in his first year of wearing NFL jersey. Sunday’s game was the first game McKenzie missed since he missed a game late in 2006 season with a migraine headache. This time he got the injury in last week’s loss at New Orleans.

Other players inactive for Sunday game included receivers Sinorice Moss and Ramses Barden, offensive lineman Adam Koets, cornerback Aaron Ross, running back Gartrell Johnson, linebacker Michael Boley and defensive tackle Chris Canty.

Several players was fined by league

On Friday, the NFL fined several players of different teams for violating league rules. These players include the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, Tennessee Titans safety Chris Hope, San Diego Chargers rookie linebacker Larry English and the New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma.

Ochocinco was fined $10,000 for wearing the wrong colored chin strap (black) during the Bengals’ loss to the Houston Texans last Sunday; Hope was fined $10,000 too, for roughing-the-passer against New England in a 59-0 loss during which Tom Brady threw for six touchdowns; English was fined less, $7,500, for a horse collar tackle in the Chargers’ loss to the Denver Broncos on Monday night. Vilma was fined as much as Ochocinco and Hope, for his helmet-to-helmet hit on the quarterback in Giants jersey-Eli Manning.

The league suspended the Carolina Cardinals safety Dante Wesley earlier this week for one game because the league deemed that Wesley launched himself into defenseless Tampa Bay Buccaneers returner Clifton Smith. The suspension caused Wesley to lose $36,000 in salary.