The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: A 2011 Minnesota Vikings Franchise

[bobthenailer]

It was Saterday August 20th, the Vikings were in sunny Jacksonville Florida, getting ready to play in 97* heat, the game was at night though so it shouldn't have been too bad. This would be their first away game, and it would be interesting to see how the team would do in a different environment. Not to sell his own team short, but the Titans 2nd stringers, including Jake Locker had been off in the 2nd half of that game. Some of this might be explained by the crowd noise. This was game with give another brief test to their improved defensive line. They'd have to worry about containing another Pro-Bowl runner in Maurice Jones-Drew.

__________________________________________________ ____

At the conclusion of the game, Frazier was pointed back to the easy lesson, that pre-season doesn't mean anything. The annihilation of the Jaguars came mostly in the second quarter. Kerry Collins (who had played up to the half) had gone 12 for 26 (which was still very worrisome) for 338 yards, 4TDs and 0 interceptions. It was easy to think that the Jags just may not have been trying. Collins knew this team though, he had played them twice a year for 6 years. Webb had been in for two short series completing 3 of 7 for 30 yards, nothing to write home about.

A little bit better was Rhett Bomar, 4 of 9 for 49 yards. Even if the numbers weren't impressive, it was HOW he got those numbers that was. Bomar had completed several rushed passes, one of which had him rolling out on play action. These were areas that historically he had weaknesses. Rhett Bomar had made plays under situations where he would get rattled before. This was growth. Frazier was pleased, and couldn't help but wonder if jib he gave Bomar about the scout team had put a chip on his shoulder. So far they hadn't even played McElroy. This was being done for strategic reasons. If they could only carry 3 QBs and had to cut one of them (it certainly would be McElroy at this rate), the fact that the Vikings never played him could scare other teams off as they could possibly think he was having problems. It would also deprive them of any NFL tape of the guy which could be important as well. This wasn't exactly fair to McElroy though so they would work him in for a series or two next game.

Not all the news was good though.

Pos	Player	Injury Note
HB	Adrian Peterson	Partial ACL Tear
ROLB	Chad Greenway	Fractured Forearm

(So I am wondering about my sliders a little bit, the game against the Titans was very close. This game, not so much at all)

[bobthenailer]

(I plan on doing full reports, stats and so on for actual in season games, for now I will just summarize what is going on in the pre-season)

It was August 26th, the second last game of the pre-season. The Vikings were back in the dome and they were hosting the Washington Redskins. Despite their failures last year, the Skins had toughened up and made some more big free agency moves that had been characteristic of the franchise for years. The biggest splash was the signing of OJ Atogwe, one of, if not THE best Free Safety in the league. He was teamed with LaRon Landry, who many viewed as one of the most dangerous and hard hitting Strong Safeties. Together, with Atogwe ball hawking and Landry laying on the hits, they were a big obstacle to any opponent's receivers. With unproductive Albert Haynesworth removed from the team, and 1 year of experience running a 3-4 system, the Redskins defense could be much improved from what it was last year.

On the other side of the ball, there was also a little bit more to worry about. Donovan McNabb was gone, cut and signed by Carolina. In his place was his former backup, Rex Grossman, who was resigned for 2 years in a situation very similar to what the Vikings had worked out with Kerry Collins. The biggest thing Grossman had going for him was continuity (he had been here last year and he had worked for Kyle Shanahan for 1 year prior) and a new weapon. With their first round pick the Skins had selected star WR Julio Jones. Jones was big, fast and could jump. He also had really good hands (even though they were not in the same class as Sidney Rice, Randy Moss or Larry Fitzgerald) and was going to provide a definite #1 WR beside Santana Moss who was now their #2 option. Also added to their team was QB Christian Ponder. Shanahan liked Ponder not for his athleticism or arm strength (which was a weakness in his case) but because of his accuracy and his overall ability to fit the West Cost System, make quick, accurate if not overly long throws. Ponder was still learning the ropes and Grossman was still starting but all that could change come Week 1. Over all, playing the Redskins was going to be a challenge.

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Going into the game Frazier had decided to bench Collins. Both Greenway and Peterson had been injured in the pre-season, he was going to sit Harvin as well and some of his other starters. Joe Webb given the start and QB duty in the first half. 2nd Half Bomar would take over and McElroy would get some snaps at the end. This game was a little bit of an eye opener though. Joe Webb did acceptably well against a tough Redskins secondary going 9 for 17 and 135 yards. Webb made 1 10 yard TD Pass to Visanthe Shiancoe and been intercepted once. Bomar on the other hand had him a little worried. 6 for 12, 71 yards, and 2 INTs. Bomar was throwing it out there but he wasn't taking care of the ball. In his defense though both INTs came from Pro-Bowl CB DeAngelo Hall. McElroy was in to mainly hand it off on a few snaps, he made one throw for 7 yards. There was another bright spot here though. Breaston was also being rested, in his place both Webb and Bomar had found a go-to-guy. Emmanuel (Manny) Arceneaux. Arceneaux was not overly fast, but he had nice size (6'2") so he was a good target and decent hands. Arceneaux had hauled in 4 balls for 89 yards. Last put not least was Toby Gerhart AKA Mike Alstott, AKA Stay out of his way or he will run you over. 132 yards on 35 attempts and 1 TD. Frazier still had some concerns but all in all the team was right about where he thought it should be.

Not having Peterson to start the season would be devastating though. The whole offense was based on AD. Gerhart was a strong runner but he was not the explosive, irresistible force of Peterson. Right, the team medical staff+consultants were figuring out exactly how they would want to go ahead with treatment. If Peterson had surgery he most likely would not have problems with the ACL again during his pro-career, but he would have to rehab it for near to half of the season. Peterson's other option would be to opt out of surgery on his knee, rest, let it heal, then using physiotherapy, strengthen the muscles in his leg to make up for the stability lost in his knee. The upshot here is a shorter rehab/treatment time before he could go back on the field, at the risk of potentially suffering more problems with the knee. After he had been injured in the previous pre-season game, it had started a lot of talk in the front office.

Chad Greenway was a lot luckier. His broken arm had been put in a cast and he would be back to start the season.

(so as an aside, obviously Madden doesn't give you any sort of treatment option like this but I thought that, just for realism's sake this would be something interesting to include. I really wish this hadn't happened to Peterson but I'm not going to back away from my franchise just because of it. I would love to see a new NFL Head Coach game, or some features like what I am talking about here incorporated into Madden 12..................its nice to dream sometimes)

[bobthenailer]

So here it was, the last days of August, with the final pre-season game on the first of September. Rhett Bomar was on the practice field at Winter Park, throwing deep balls. The previous week Bomar had been told he had a great London Fletcher impersonation on the scout team. As an aspiring pro-QB that's exactly what he wanted to hear, that he was great at imitating their completion for the REAL players before the game started. Bomar was still down from his two pick outing against the skins. He couldn't make mistakes like that. Still, despite his setbacks, his mistakes, his auspicious assignment to the scout team, Bomar had to keep on trying.
What he was going through right now took him back to the 2009 Rookie Symposium. Just thinking back he remembered that Percy Harvin wasn't there because he was sick, which had been a let down because, not even thinking they'd be future teammates since they had been drafted to different teams, Bomar had just wanted to meet the guy because a player like that was a QB's best friend. He was small, nimble, and the guy could move. Still not seeing Percy hadn't bothered him all that much. As they sat down in the auditorium, he heard whispers about what was going to happen. Some old retired guy was going stand up at the front and harp at them about how they had it so good by being NFL players and that things weren't always this good and they should feel lucky. Well, the whispers were partially correct, it was a retired player and he did harp at them. As he walked up to the podium, Bomar couldn't make out who it was, he didn't look too old, and he was kind of familiar.

When he started talking, he knew. Growing up in the early 90s, #80 had been Jerry Rice, with Steve Young and the rest of the San Francisco 49ers. To Bomar, Cris Carter was the other #80. Cris Carter was a 16 year veteran, over 1100 catches and 130 TDs, selected for 8 Pro Bowls. Cris Carter #80 for the Minnesota Vikings. Out of all the things he said, there was one that stuck with him. "Every day, when I would get out on that practice field at camp, I was taking a dude's job. It didn't matter who it was, weather they had gone to the last two, 5 or 8 Pro Bowls, that guy was going home because I was going to take his job. That's the mentality you have to have if your going to have longevity in this league. Every time you go out on that field someone else is going home because you were taking his job, because as soon as your not taking someone's job, someone be taking your." That statement stayed with him. When he was with the Giants, on the field every day, when he was with the practice squad, when he was given the B.S. Scout Team job, he was still out to take someone's job. It didn't matter what they did or what they said to him, he was a good QB, he was going to be a great QB, he was going to work hard and he was going to start. That was the mentality that he had to have, because if he took a second and let any of this discourage him, then he'd be letting McElroy pass him on the depth chart, he'd be letting himself get cut. He wouldn't be letting any of that happen.

(for anyone interested, Cris Carter was present at the 2009 Rookie Symposium but the speech I mention happened in 2010, you can watch it here http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-networ...000d5d818eab34)

[bobthenailer]

For the last game of the pre-season, the Vikings headed down to Indianapolis, Indiana, the site of the upcoming Super Bowl XLVI, to play the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts were another strong team, devision champions last year, but they were historically known for not taking pre-season games seriously. Frazier was going to take this one seriously but this would be another game for backups, couldn't risk any injuries to starters this close to the start of the season. Over the past week, Adrian Peterson had undergone arthroscopic surgery to repair his partially torn ACL in his left knee. He was hoping to be ready to play in December, but Frazier and Spielman had a hard decision ahead of them on weather or not to place him on IR. Peterson literally was what moved the team down the field, but without him, they could have used the roster spot. This decision would have to wait, they'd enter the season with him on the roster but they would have to evaluate from there on what the best approach would be.

Also to make matters worse Kevin Williams was suspended for the first 4 games this year as a result of the Star Caps case. Dareus was going to be a force on the team for years to come and hopefully so would Letroy Guion, but Guion was going to have to step up if he was going to be an adequate filling for K-Will.

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At the end of the day this was more of a feel good victory than anything else. Webb had only been in the game briefly, Collins not at all. Bomar took over at the start of the 2nd half and wnt 13 for 18 and 187 YDS with 3TDs and 0 INTs. This was against undrafted rookies at CB though so it should be taken with a grain of salt. Perhaps the most reassuring sight was when Frazier put McElroy in at the end of the game to run out the clock. He wasn't just taking kneel-downs but he wasn't throwing passes either, just handing the ball off to Gerhart. McElroy was not being used to the fullest of his abilities here but as far as Musgrave thought, and Frazier agreed, you had to walk before you could run.

[bobthenailer]

It was late August and the sun was high in the sky above Oak Grove High School. School was about to start, all the more reason for the Oak Grove Warriors to be ready to start the season. On this particular day, a familiar face had appeared on the field. Sporting an old, beat-up baseball cap, weathered jeans and a faded t-shirt, an old quarterback was tossing the ball around. His arm was feeling a lot better, even if his ankle wasn't. Three times retired NFL Quarterback Brett Favre, 3 months away from turning 42, was dropping back to pass. He had time, there wasn't a rush coming, his slot receiver was open on the slant route, he makes the pass, and its complete for the 1st down! It was only a matter of time before someone (maybe even him) would call the press and make a big story out of this. His agent Bus Cook, had received at least one inquiry about how he was and what he was doing, it wasn't exactly a big secret that Favre was indecisive and liked to play football. Favre watch 2011 had been somewhat anticlimactic, just a bunch of shots of him on his ride on lawn mower, him by his barn, him in his truck, the reporters had quickly lost interest. After the train wreck that had been the 2010 NFL season, his 20th in the league. It wasn't hard to think of him just riding off into the sunset. He even thought of things that way, that was how he liked to think of things until he started thinking about football.

Contrary to what most people thought about Favre, he wasn't drawn to the media spot light because he was a diva and he needed the attention, he didn't go out of his way to draw in these people (well maybe sometimes he did) but this wasn't the real reason why he enjoyed the press so much. For Brett Favre it was literally the funniest thing in the world. He could say two words about maybe coming out of retirement again to play for a team, and it would instantly create a digital whirlwind of phone calls and emails and texts between hundreds if not thousands of reporters, all racing around like ants trying to find the elusive "story" or "scoup" and evidence to back it up. Just because he said two words. That wasn't what brought him out here to day though. Nope, he was here for a different reason altogether. He was out here because he thought, he knew, he could still play. He remembered how good it felt, on that snowy night outside in Minnesota, leading his team down the field for a TD on the opening drive. The rest of the night was blurry, before and after he had gotten knocked out. Even after all that, arm injuries, ankle injuries, hip injuries, back pains, he could still play football.
He didn't want to, but he did, and even if he didn't want to right now he might want to later on. For now he was just going to toss the ball around, wait for the circus to start, and see where it went from there.

[bobthenailer]

September 6th, 2011
Frazier and Spielman had another personnel decision to make, after final cuts the had a roster spot available. They had to figure out how to use that spot. Frazier wanted to bring in Running Back Kevin Smith. Smith had been the feature back in Detroit until he was injured. He never quite came back all the way (or if he did nobody noticed because Javid Best was now the starter) and was cut in the off-season. Another option was former Viking Darius Reynaud. Reynaud, after being traded to New York, had a terrible time as their return man an was cut once Domenik Hixon had healed. A third option, brought up by Musgrave and still available through free agency was Jarious Norwood, fresh from rehabbing a torn ACL. It remained to be seen how fast he was but it probably wouldn't hurt to kick the tires. The other pro for Norwood is that he would complement Toby Gerhart much better than Kevin Smith would since they were so similar. It was agreed that Norwood would be brought in for a try-out and medical exam before the season started.

September 7th,2011
Vikings Sign Runningback Norwood
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
After successfully passing a team-administered physical and running a few drills at Winter Park, the Minnesota Vikings have signed veteran Running Back Jerious Norwood (formerly of the Atlanta Falcons) for a 1 year contract. Speculation is that Norwood will alternate with Toby Gerhart in the Vikings' backfield. Norwood came with the recommendation of Bill Musgrave, who was the Quarterbacks Coach for the Flacons when Norwood was there.


2011 Minnesota Vikings Regular Season Team Schedule
Week 1: Vs Chicago Bears Sunday, September 11, 1:00pm
Week 2: At St. Louis Rams Sunday, September 18, 4:00pm
Week 3: Vs Oakland Raiders Sunday, September 25, 4:15pm
Week 4: Vs. Detroit Lions Sunday, October 2, 4:15pm
Week 5: At Green Bay Packers, Sunday October 9, 1:00pm
Week 6: At Chicago Bears, Sunday, October 16, 8:30pm
Week 7: At Denver Broncos Sunday, October 23, 4:15pm
Week 8: BYE
Week 9: At Carolina Panthers Sunday, November 6, 1:00pm
Week 10: Vs Atlanta Falcons Sunday, November 13, 4:00pm
Week 11: Vs San Diego Chargers Sunday, November 20, 4:15pm
Week 12: At Detriot Lions Thursday, November 24, 12:30pm
Week 13: Vs Green Bay Packers Sunday, December 4, 1:00pm
Week 14: At Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, December 11, 4:15pm
Week 15: At New Orleans Saints Sunday, December 18, 1:00pm
Week 16: Vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday, December 24, 1:00pm
Week 17: Vs Philadelphia Eagles Sunday January 1, 1:00pm

[bobthenailer]

Week 1 Sunday, September 11th: Vs Chicago Bears

The season was about to start, the first game of the year Had already been played by Tennesee and Houston on Thursday, the Bears at Vikings was the first game of Kickoff Sunday. This wouldn't be an easy one. The Bears were Devision Champions last year, making it all the way to the NFC Championship, while the Vikings finished 6-10, last in the division and disqualified from the playoffs.

The Bear pass attack, lead by Jay Cutler and Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz was something to be afraid of. Cutler was looking more and more like Kurt Warner every day. That being said he still wasn't the same caliber player as Warner, he tended to make mistakes here and there but he had gotten away from making stupid throws and trying to force completions. Special Teams machine Devin Hester, Running back Matt Forte, WR Johnny Knox and Earl Bennett. The Chicago defense was equally formidable. Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Julius Peppers, all running to smash and grab the ball from you, or make you eat turf. This was going to be a very big test for the newly face-lifted Vikings team and a difficult test at that.

_____________________________________________

Loosing a football game was never good. Even when your out-matched, your team has to step up and get the job done. They almost had this time, but Almost didn't matter, you either got the W or you didn't. Collins had gotten the offense going later in the game but early mistakes lead to a big points deficit. Fumbles by Greg Camarillo on a short pass and Kerry Collins while he was trying to get one off in the pocket had lead to the Bears scoring both times.

For all that though the Chicago offense was not doing much better. This had to be one of the WORST Red-Zone performances Frazier had ever seen. He'd like to chock it up to his secondary playing well but he new that the Bears' game had to be off as well. They had only scored one TD, a 47 yard bomb to Earl Bennett, who had burned Asher Allen in order to get open and make the catch. Other than that every point put on the board had came from Kicker Robbie Gould. It didn't matter that they were only scoring FGs though, the points were what mattered. Recovering a Matt Forte fumble, Toby Gerhart helped muscle the team into the end-zone for a TD, but the Bears were still ahead. This was before the bomb to Bennett put another 7 on the board for Chicago.

After a bleak 3rd quarter, filled with miscues and mistakes. Chicago had added three more FGs in what was looking like a blow out. The Vikings came alive in "garbage time" though, Collins finally driving them up the field. He had then made a snap decision, one which had payed off big. The play was from the shot gun/spread with 4 wide set and 1 TE, 3rd and goal on the 2. He was looking for a receiver, someone who he could get the ball to in the end-zone. The Bears knew this was a passing play so they only sent a 3 man rush, most of the linebackers dropping back to cover the receivers. Collins was looking, but he couldn't find an open man, he waited for what seemed like forever (3 seconds) and then he noticed something, there was nobody in the right side of the end-zone, with that he took off, Defensive Tackle Marcus Harrison (who had shook off C John Sullivan and had been poised to put Collins down for a sack) was no more than two steps away from him. He was on the 6 yard line at this point, then the 4, then the 2, then in, with Harrison just reaching out to grab him. The Vikings went for and failed to score the 2 point conversion and then had to kickoff back to the bears.

On the Kickoff, the vikings were able to capitalize on a Bears mistake and get back into the ball game. Devin Hester uncharacteristically muffed the catch. He had recovered though and was just taking his second step when the gunner (Chris Cook) was on him. Cook popped the ball out and Asher Allen dived on in, recovering the ball at around the 35 yard line. A quick pass by Collins to Manny Arceneaux, and another one to Jaymar Johnson, left them inches from the end-zone once again. Collins rifled a bullet in to Johnson once again to score and frazier was content to kick for the extra point.

With 3:44 left on the clock the bears had a chance to run out the clock. They did burn it down into the two minute warning but after going 3 and out they had to punt the ball back to the Vikings. Collins had them moving, hitting Shaincoe and Jaymar Johnson taking them to the Bears 37. Almost out of time outs, Collins had to spike the ball to stop the clock. It was in this series that the Vikings lost the game. Playing all the way to the 4th down, Collins just couldn't connect down the field. This was not entirely his fault because the Vikings WRs had been decimated. Percy Harvin was out with Migranes, and Greg Camarillo had injured his elbow on a catch in the 2nd quarter, had not re-entered the game. They had been subbing in Jordan Cameron, the team's new TE as a WR. Jeff Dugan had also been injured on the failed 2 point conversion, suffering a concussion after a group of linemen fell on him as he fell to the turf. After turning the ball over on downs the bears took a knee to run down the clock. The game was over, the Vikings had lost, but if they could take something positive away from this game, it was that their defense had held one of the better offenses in the NFC to a single TD. Also their defense had come up big, taking advantage of the other team's mistakes and creating turnovers. Still, a loss was a loss.

Sep 11, 2011 - CHI at MIN
TEAM	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Chicago Bears (1-0)	9	10	9	0	28
Minnesota Vikings (0-1)	0	7	0	16	23

Team Stats Comparison
CHI		MIN
305	Total Offense	316
57	Rushing Yards	73
248	Passing Yards	243
14	First Downs	16
19	Punt Return Yards	17
113	Kick Return Yards	166
437	Total Yards	499
2(+1)	Turnovers	3(-1)
4-14	3rd Down Converstion	6-15
0-0	4th Down Conversion	0-2
0-0	2-Point Conversion	0-1
0/2	Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	3/0
0-0	Penalties	1-10
27:17	Posession Time	32:43

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		CHI	MIN
11:40	(CHI) R. Gould, 53 Yd FG	3	0
6:22	(CHI) R. Gould, 45 Yd FG	6	0
1:11	(CHI) R. Gould, 45 Yd FG	9	0
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		CHI	MIN
6:28	(MIN) T. Gerhart, 1 Yd run (R. Longwell kick)	9	7
3:19	(CHI) R. Gould 18 Yd FG	12	7
1:11	(CHI) E. Bennett 47 Yd from J. Cutler (R. Gould kick)	19	7
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		CHI	MIN
13:26	(CHI) R. Gould, 44 Yd FG	22	7
7:26	(CHI) R. Gould, 49 Yd FG	25	7
4:58	(CHI) R. Gould, 52 Yd FG	28	7
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		CHI	MIN
11:48	(CHI) R. Longwell 47 Yd FG	28	10
6:02	(CHI) K. Collins 6 Yd Run (two-point conv. failed)	28	16
3:44	(CHI) J. Johnson 2yd Pass from K. Collins (R. Longwell kick)	28	23

Minnesota Vikings Boxscore
PASSING	RATING	C/ATT	YDS	TD/INT	AVG
Kerry Collins QB	69.8	23/42 (54%)	243	1/1	5.7
RUSHING	ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Toby Gerhart HB	27	74	2.7	1	16
Kerry Collins QB	2	-1	-0.5	1	6
RECEIVING	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jaymar Johnson WR	6	61	10.1	1	18
Toby Gerhart HB	5	47	9.4	0	16
Visanthe Shiancoe TE	4	35	8.7	0	14
Greg Camarillo WR	2	16	8.0	0	8
Jordan Cameron TE	2	35	17.5	0	21
Emmanuel Arceneaux WR	2	43	21.5	0	29
Steve Breaston WR	1	2	2.0	0	2
Jeff Dugan TE	1	4	4.0	0	4
DEFENSIVE	TACK	SACK	INT	PDEF	TD
Chad Greenway ROLB	7	0	0	0	0
Curtis Brown CB	5	0	0	1	0
Marcell Dareus DT	4	0	2	0	0
E.J. Henderson MLB	4	0	0	0	0
Ben Leber LOLB	4	0	0	0	0
Antoine Winfiled CB	4	1	0	0	0
KICKING	FGM/A	PCT	LONG	XPM/A	PTS
Ryan Longwell K	1	100	48
PUNTING	PUNTS	YDS	AVG	IN20	TB
Chris Kluwe	5	228	45.6	2	1
KICK RETURNING	RET	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Lorenzo Booker HB	6	113	18.8	22	0
Steve Breaston WR	3	53	17.6	20	0
PUNT RETURNING	RET	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Lorenzo Booker HB	3	17	5.6	7	0
Steve Breaston WR	0	0	0	0	0

(I would have liked to put in the Bears box score too but my game froze)

Injury report

Pos	Player	Injury Note
HB	Adrian Peterson	Partial ACL Tear (most of the season)
WR	Percy Harvin	Migrane headaches (this game)
FB	Jeff Dugan	Concussion (1 week)
WR	Greg Camarillo	Dislocated Elbow (simple dislocation 2-3 weeks)

The only good news was that D'Imperio could fill in for Dugan and that Camarillo would be back soon enough. Until then Booker was probably going to take some snaps at WR. Hopefully Percy would soon be feeling better.

[bobthenailer]

Around the NFL
Injury report

Chicago Bears

Pos	Player	Injury Note
C	Olin Kreutz	Herniated Disks-8 weeks
LOLB	Stephen Nicholas	Torn Rotator Cuff-IR

Buffalo Bills

Pos	Player	Injury Note
WR	Marcus Easley	Broken Thumb-2 weeks
MLB	Andra Davis	Herniated Disks-7 weeks (Pre-season injury)

Denver Broncos

Pos	Player	Injury Note
RT	Ryan Harris	Compound Leg Fracture-IR
WR	Demaryius Thomas	Torn Achilles Tendon-PUP List (cannot return before Week-6)

Cleveland Browns

Pos	Player	Injury Note
CB	Patrick Peterson	Dislocated Ankle-1 week

Miami Dolphins

Pos	Player	Injury Note
ROLB	Kawika Mitchell	Dislocated Elbow (Pre-season injury) 1 week

Philadelphia Eagles

Pos	Player	Injury Note
SS	Quintin Mikell	Upper Arm Fracture 2 weeks

Atlanta Falcons

Pos	Player	Injury Note
RE	John Abraham	Broken Collarbone-9weeks

San Francisco 49ers

Pos	Player	Injury Note
LG	Mike Iupati	Broken Wrist-9 weeks (pre-season injury)

New York Giants

Pos	Player	Injury Note
WR	Steve Smith	Torn ACL (Microfracture Knee Surgery) PUP List (Cannot return before Week 6)
RT	Kareem McKenzie	Herniated Disks-10 weeks (Pre-season injury)

New York Jets

Pos	Player	Injury Note
LE	Shaun Ellis	Torn Shoulder Labrum-3 weeks (pre-season injury)

Detroit Lions

Pos	Player	Injury Note
WR	Legedu Naanee	Complete MCL Tear-IR

Carolina Panthers

Pos	Player	Injury Note
WR	David Gettis	Broken Forearm
RT	Garry Williams	Torn Quadricpe

Oakland Raiders

Pos	Player	Injury Note
DT	Richard Seymore	Herniated Disk-4 weeks (pre-season injury)
RG	Bruce Campbell	Torn Bicep-6 weeks (pre-season injury)

St. Louis Rams

Pos	Player	Injury Note
LE	George Selvie	Broken Thumb-1 week

Baltimore Ravens

Pos	Player	Injury Note
LT	Michael Oher	Broken Jaw-3 weeks (pre-season injury)

Washington Redskins

Pos	Player	Injury Note
RE	Cullen Jenkins	Partial ACL Tear-1 week (pre-season injury)
SS	LaRon Landry	Partial MCL Tear-6 weeks (pre-season injury)

Seattle Seahawks

Pos	Player	Injury Note
HB	Justin Forsett	Upper Arm Fracture-1 week (pre-season injury)
WR	Ruvell Martin	Partial ACL Tear-2 weeks (pre-season injury)

Houston Texans

Pos	Player	Injury Note
RE	Connor Barwin	Dislocated Ankle-1 week
CB	Glover Quin	Complete Achilles Tear
LT	Shawn Anderws	Back problems IR

Tennessee Titans

Pos	Player	Injury Note
RT	Ryan O'Callaghan	Dislocated Ankle-1 week
ROLB	Will Witherspoon	Dislocated Hip-6 week

Player of the week
Offense-Miles Austin WR#19-Dallas Cowboys
7 catches, 160 yd, 3 TD

Defense-Don Carey FS#22-Jacksonville Jaguars
1 tackle 2 INT 1 TD