The St. Louis Rams announced that quarterback Sam Bradford suffered a high ankle sprain during Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers. The team’s statement on Twitter stated that Bradford “will be day to day this week but certainly limited in practice this week.”

Bradford’s 2011 season has been a nightmare as the Rams have gone 0-6. After 5 games he only has three TDs against 2 interceptions, and his completion percentage is down from 60% in 2010 to 52.8% this season. The Rams implemented a new offense after losing offensive coordinator Pat Shurmer and his West Coast offense, so Bradford has had to adjust to Josh McDaniels as his new coordinator. McDaniels has had his own problems after two tough years as the head coach in Denver.

A sophomore slump isn’t uncommon for NFL quarterbacks, so Rams fans shouldn’t panic, but Bradford needs to be on the field, and this injury may slow him down for a while.

The Houston Texans confirmed that Mario Williams will be placed on IR and will be out for the rest of the season. Williams injured his pectoral muscle, with many speculating that he suffered a tear. Williams has been a dominant pass rusher for the Texans throughout his career and this year he had five sacks. Williams played defensive end in the 4-3 alignment, but this season he made the move to outside linebacker in Wade Phillips’ 3-4 defense. The transition had been going well until the injury.

Coach Gary Kubiak reacted to the news on the team’s official website:

I feel so bad for Mario because man, he’s been such a heck of a player, and what we’re doing to me is really going to blossom his career from now on. I think he had really taken to the position he’s playing. He was improving every day in practice, improving in every game and really enjoying – I think I’ve never seen him so upbeat about what was going on – and to lose him on a freak play, it doesn’t look like much at all.

The Texans can’t seem to catch a break. The team was poised for a breakout season with the Colts floundering in Peyton Manning’s absence, and now they lose their best player on defense.

Carolina fans were probably thrilled to see Cam Newton throw for over 400 yards in week one, but now they get news that linebacker Jon Beason is out for the season with a torn Achilles.

You only have to look at Beason’s contract to see his importance to the team. The team gave him a $20 million signing bonus last month on a $51.3 million, six-year contract.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs lost Eric Berry for the season to add to the misery of their week-one blowout loss, and the block thrown by Stevie Johnson of the Bills is drawing some criticism.

Rumors have been flying around Twitter that Peyton Manning would need more surgery, so the Indianapolis Colts have issued a statement about Manning’s recovery process. Bottom line is that he’ll likely miss the first game as he has suffered some complications and they will be holding him out of practice this week as they try to figure out what is slowing down his recovery.

It wasn’t three days ago that I wrote about the potential concerns that the Ravens had in their secondary heading into the 2010 season. Now it appears that yet another one of their starting corners has suffered an ACL injury.

Domonique Foxworth, whom the Ravens signed to a $27.2 million contract last season, is out for the year after tearing his ACL during Thursday’s practice. The news is devastating considering that both Fabian Washington and Lardarius Webb are trying to recover from the same injuries. Neither corner is expected to be 100% by the start of the season.

After signing his lucrative deal in the offseason, Foxworth became a constant target of fans and critics. Truth be told, if you watch the film he wasn’t as bad as people made him out to be, but it’s also true that he never came close to living up to the contract he signed. Furthermore, he seemed to save his worst performances against top opponents like the Colts (twice), Patriots and Bengals.

Assuming they make full recoveries, the Ravens should be able to get by with Webb and Washington as their starters. But given the uncertainty of their injuries and the depth behind them (i.e. Chris Carr, Walt Harris, Travis Fisher, etc.), it’s fair to question why GM Ozzie Newsome didn’t focus on the cornerback position more this offseason.

According to SI.com’s Peter King, Matt Hasselbeck is expected to play this week against the Bears despite suffering a rib injury in Sunday’s loss to the 49ers.

From King’s Twitter page:

Re injuries: Am told Westbrook not bad, should play this week. Ditto Hasselbeck. McNabb? Still very sore. But Vick will only play spot duty.

King also reiterated on NBC last night that McNabb was doubtful to play in Week 3 as he continues to battle a rib injury himself. As King noted, the Eagles will continue to start Kevin Kolb (or get Jeff Garcia ready?) and ease Vick into games in sub packages.

Kolb threw for 391 yards and two touchdowns on 31 of 51 passing, although he did throw three interceptions. I know Andy Reid likes to throw the ball, but it’s probably never a good sign if Kolb is attempting 51 passes. Fortunately for the Eagles, they host Kansas City this Sunday and have their bye in Week 4.

Talk about a great time for the bye.

The good news? “I had 15 injuries two weeks ago,” Portis said. “Now I’ve only got one.”
The bad news? “Right now I can’t straighten it out,” he said of his left leg. “I just started bending it today. So hopefully by the end of the week. We’ve got five days, so hopefully I’ll be ready.”

Will he play Sunday? Steinberg’s synopsis:

He said the pain increased on Thursday night and Friday, leading to another examination and the sprain diagnosis. He said he thought he could help the team even if he wasn’t the main focal point of the offense merely by being on the field and forcing the Cowboys to account for him, but he also said he wouldn’t put himself out there just for the sake of being out there.

Portis has played at MVP-like status so losing him for any amount of time would put a damper in the Skins’ playoff hopes.