Alexander day-to-day
Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander has a bone bruise on his right knee, but could play in this week’s game at Tampa Bay.
“It might be a week or two,” coach Mike Holmgren said Monday. “There’s a chance he can play this week. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
Said Alexander: “I’m a fast healer. I’ll be all right.”
An MRI exam disclosed the injury, which was reported as a knee sprain during Seattle’s 21-7 win Sunday at New Orleans. Alexander rushed for 135 yards on 28 carries, ran for two touchdowns and caught a TD pass. Doctors told him he was fortunate no ligaments were torn.
“The knee bone and the leg bone, they smacked into each other and that’s not normal,” Alexander said. “Everyone said I’m really blessed. Normally, you tear an ACL or an MCL when that happens. Mine didn’t.”
If Alexander can’t play next week, Maurice Morris or Kerry Carter will step in. Holmgren said it won’t change his team’s preparation.
“We hope he can play, but if he can’t then we’ll have to go to the next guy,” Holmgren said. “I’d expect that man to play well, and that goes for any position on the team.”
Morris has played mostly as a kickoff returner in two NFL seasons. Backing up Alexander, he has 392 yards rushing in 27 games. He carried four times for 10 yards in Sunday’s win.
“Shaun had a big game. When he gets into the red zone, he’s deadly,” fullback Mack Strong said. “But I don’t think a lot of teams around the league know about Maurice Morris, and he’s an exceptional back himself.”
The Seahawks had no other injuries in what Holmgren called an important win:
“That win meant a lot to us. It’s the first game. I don’t mean to overstate it, but it was important to us.”
Three Giants contest fines over team meetings
Three New York Giants have filed complaints with the NFL Players Association after being fined by coach Tom Coughlin for not being “early enough” to team meetings.
Linebackers Carlos Emmons and Barrett Green and cornerback Terry Cousin were fined $500 apiece for arriving only a couple of minutes early for a recent meeting, NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis said.
Unless resolved, Francis said the complaints would eventually become a grievance that would be reviewed by an arbitrator.
Coughlin became annoyed when asked about his rules for players being on time for meetings. He wants players at meetings five minutes before their scheduled start.
When pressed specifically on players being fined for not being early enough, Coughlin said a player could not be fined for being on time.
“Players ought to be there on time, period,” Coughlin said. “If you are on time, you are on time. Meetings start five minutes early.”
Francis said the association has not received any other complaints from the Giants regarding fines for not being early enough for a meeting.
However, reports said Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan was fined $1,000 for not being early enough for a meeting last week.
Lions lose Rogers for season
Detroit wide receiver Charles Rogers will miss the rest of the season after breaking his collarbone for the second straight season.
The No. 2 pick in the 2003 draft was injured going for a pass Sunday in the first quarter of the 20-16 victory over the Chicago Bears. X-rays revealed a fracture near the one he got last year during a bye week practice.
49ers’ Rattay has separated shoulder
Quarterback Ken Dorsey is expected to make his first NFL start for the San Francisco 49ers after Tim Rattay was diagnosed with a separated right shoulder.
Coach Dennis Erickson said Dorsey, the former University of Miami star and a seventh-round draft pick in 2003, will start in New Orleans on Sunday unless Rattay’s injury heals much more quickly than expected.
Galloway will miss four to six weeks
Tampa Bay’s already thin receiving corps was further depleted when the team learned Joey Galloway will miss four to six weeks after aggravating a groin injury.
Coach Jon Gruden said the speedy 10th-year pro, obtained in an off-season trade from the Dallas Cowboys, has a tear in his left groin that is more serious than the Bucs anticipated.
Vikings’ Bennett will probably sit against Eagles
Michael Bennett’s knee is feeling better after a workout, but Minnesota coach Mike Tice probably will sit his starting running back again when the Vikings play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 20 in Philadelphia.
Bennett, who sprained his right knee in the preseason, said after Sunday’s win over Dallas that he hoped to play against the Eagles.
Tice said Bennett is progressing quickly, but he has enough confidence in his backfield depth to hold him out at least another week.
“We’ll wait until Mike feels almost perfect,” Tice said.