Fantasy Football Injury News and Player Notes 12-12-12


Quarterbacks

*-Robert Griffin III was able to put in a limited practice today despite his knee sprain. As long as he can continue to put in limited practices this week, I expect he will start week 15 for Washington.

*-Jay Cutler continues to say he'll play week 15 without issue despite a neck injury. Unless Cutler misses Thursday and Friday practices, I'd say he's safe to start this week.

*-Arizona placed Kevin Kolb on injured reserve today because of his ribs injury. Kolb has likely played his last game with the Cardinals. Ryan Lindley was named the Cardinals starting QB for week 15 over John Skelton. Barring an unexpected great game by Lindley this week, I won't be surprised if recently signed Brian Hoyer starts for Arizona in week 16.


Running Backs

*-Ahmad Bradshaw has a sprained knee and he is considered very questionable for week 15. If he can't play David Wilson will start and be the Giants featured RB. Even if Bradshaw does play, he's very likely to be limited and have at best an even split with Wilson. For what's it worth I think Wilson is the better fantasy play this week than Bradshaw and if Wilson is available on free agent wires, and you are RB needy, you need to acquire him.

*-As expected, LeSean McCoy has been ruled OUT for Thursday night's game. Bryce Brown will start for the Eagles. McCoy may return in week 16 as the Eagles don't seem inclined to do the smart thing for both him and the team, and that would be placing McCoy on injured reserve so he doesn't have any chance of having his bell rung again this season.

*-Ray Rice was able to put in limited practice today. This furthers the belief that his hip injury is minor and barring any setbacks he should be just fine for week 15. Rice owners might want to play it safe though and acquire Bernard Pierce as insurance.

*-Jonathan Stewart is unable to practice and is not expected to play week 15 because of his ankle injuries. DeAngelo Williams is fully expected to start and be the Panthers primary RB.

*-DeMarco Murray was held out of practice today but it's believed to be just a day of rest for him and not any sign that he's in danger of not playing week 15. Unless Murray misses tomorrow's practice, I would fully expect him to be fine for week 15.

*-Steven Jackson was also held out in practice today. The Rams list it as a foot injury but Jackson has been getting Wednesday's off regularly throughout the season and he is not believed to be in any danger of not being a full go for week 15.

*-Adrian Peterson was limited because of an abdominal issue, but it's believed to be minor. It's actually a bit of a change of pace for AP as he normally gets Wednesday's off from practice.

*-Expect Montell Owens to start again for Jacksonville this week. Neither Maurice Jones-Drew (foot) nor Rashad Jennings (concussion) was able to practice today.

*-Indianapolis revealed today that Delone Carter's ankle injury is expected to sideline him 2-3 weeks. Yesterday they signed Deji Karim and today brought back Mewelde Moore to provide depth behind featured RB Vick Ballard. Ballard has a lousy matchup this week against Houston, but featured RB's are few and far between and Ballard should get as much playing time as he can handle this week.

*-Chris Ivory was unable to practice today because of the hamstring injury that prevented him from playing week 14. Expect Ivory to be inactive this week and probably the rest of the weeks this season. At least this clears things up some in the fantasy playoffs as it's now only an unpredictable 3 headed RBBC instead of there being 4.


Wide Receivers

*-Roddy White didn't practice today because of a knee issue. It's unknown if this injury is serious enough to put his week 15 status in doubt or not so be looking for an update on White in tomorrow's fantasy football injury news and player notes. For right now, I see no reason to panic just yet.

*-Dez Bryant didn't practice today as he was reportedly seeing another hand specialist about his finger injury. If Bryant plays, he'll wear a splint on his hand to protect the injury. Consider him questionable right now for week 15.

*-Jordy Nelson was unable to practice today because of his lingering hamstring injury. It was thought the injury was minor and that he would only miss one game, but now it's sounding like he probably won't be able to play week 15.

*-Jeremy Maclin is listed as Probable for tomorrow night's game because of a minor groin injury. Maclin will be fine to consider as you normally would for your fantasy starting lineups.

*-Hakeem Nicks didn't practice today because of the knee injury he aggravated this past week. The Giants are going to take it easy on Nicks in practices this week, but currently he is expected to start week 15.

*-Cecil Shorts reportedly has been cleared to resume game action. Shorts missed last week with a concussion. As long as he suffers no setbacks in practice you should be able to count on Shorts this week.

*-Danny Amendola was able to put in a limited practice today. Amendola put in limited practices last week but was still a game day inactive because of his foot injury. Unless he gets upgraded to full practices by Friday, I expect he'll be listed as Questionable again on the official injury report and considered a game time decision.

*-Sidney Rice didn't practice today because of a foot injury. Apparently he stepped on a cactus this past weekend helping the Seahawks stomp the Arizona Cardinals. Actually, that's just a dig on the Cardinals. It's believed to be a bruise and his status for week 15 is uncertain. Tentatively I would expect Rice to play through it, but we'll have to see how he's listed n Friday's injury report to get an idea of whether it really is a serious injury.

*-Brandon LaFell was unable to practice today because of his turf toe injury. LaFell is sounding very unlikely to play week 15. Normally this would mean Louis Murphy would start in his place for Carolina, but Murphy missed practice today with a hamstring injury. It's unknown if that injury is serious enough to put his status for week 15 in question. Just avoid any Panthers WR not named Steve Smith.

*-Mario Manningham continues to be bothered by a shoulder injury that prevented him from playing week 14. Manningham was able to practice a little today but his status for week 15's matchup against New England is uncertain. If he can't play Randy Moss would likely draw the start. Moss would make an intriguing sleeper play for the WR desperate as you figure he would just love to have a big game against his former team. But that's only if you're WR desperate.

*-Emmanuel Sanders missed practice today with a shoulder injury and his status for week 15 is currently unknown. With Mike Wallace having re-emerged as the top WR for Pittsburgh in week 14, Sanders was a fantasy afterthought anyway.


Tight Ends

*-Rob Gronkowski is hoping to try to practice this week. He seems extremely doubtful to play week 15, or week 16 for that matter, but maybe he'll come back before the regular ends. Gronkowski has been out the last 3 games because of a broken arm.

*-Brandon Pettigrew was held out of practice today and his status for week 15 is still uncertain because of an ankle injury he suffered week 14. It's a good matchup against Arizona but Pettigrew owners should have a backup plan in place in case he can't play. The desperate could consider Tony Scheffler as he would start and be the top TE for Detroit if Pettigrew doesn't play.

*-Kyle Rudolph was limited in practice because of a shoulder issue. Rudolph's been playing thru it the last few weeks and it's not anything that will put his status for week 15 in danger.


Kickers

*-Mike Nugent is Doubtful for tomorrow night's game because of a calf injury. After Josh Brown nailed all 4 of his week 14 FGA's, the Bengals aren't going to hurry Nugent back before the injury is healed up. Brown will kick again for Cincinnati tomorrow night in Nugent's place.