Donovan McNabb looks finished for the year, including playoffs.
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Brian Griese is out for about three weeks.
Tommy Maddox is walking around, which is such good news that nobody is worrying about when he might play football again.
The three NFL quarterbacks were playing for the leading teams of three of the NFL’s eight divisions when they became victims of hits Sunday.
Even though his broken right ankle could shelve him the longest, McNabb stayed in his game and threw four touchdown passes to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to victory over Arizona.
“I’m looking at it like we don’t have Donovan this season and we move on,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said Monday.
The Pittsburgh Steelers had no estimate for the return of Maddox, who spent the night in a Nashville hospital after a hit to the neck by Tennessee linebacker Keith Bulluck in the Titans’ victory.
Maddox underwent X-rays, a CT scan and MRI exams Monday morning, and no structural damage was detected, said team doctor Anthony Yates. Maddox was initially diagnosed with a spinal-cord contusion–a bruising and swelling that includes hemorrhaging–but instead he has an interruption in the normal electrical activity in the spine.
“We’re quite happy with his progress,” Yates said at a news conference Monday morning. He said Maddox was walking in his hospital room.
The Denver Broncos’ Griese sustained a second-degree sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee when tackled by Seattle’s Rocky Bernard. Backup Steve Beuerlein threw two touchdown passes in a lopsided win over the Seahawks.
Koy Detmer will replace McNabb, and Kordell Stewart will replace Maddox. The Broncos are tied with the San Diego Chargers for first in the AFC West. The Steelers are a half-game ahead of the Cleveland Browns in the AFC North. The Eagles are one game up on the New York Giants in the NFC East. All have six games to play in the regular season.
Reid called McNabb’s injury “somewhere in the six- to eight-week area, but that has to be determined.” McNabb, his family and the Eagles’ medical staff are considering options that include surgery or having his ankle placed in a cast. Reid expects a decision to be made in the next day or so.
Maddox was expected to return to Pittsburgh on Monday night and be hospitalized at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for further tests. But all indications were that his injury is not considered career-threatening.
For at least the next several weeks, Stewart, whom Maddox replaced during the third game of the season, will be the quarterback.
The Eagles appear in the biggest trouble because they rely on McNabb as much as any team relies on its quarterback, and Detmer is less experienced than either Beuerlein or Stewart.
The Eagles play Monday night in San Francisco and have four of their last six games on the road. They finish with a trip to New York against the Giants.
The Steelers have the easiest road, with only one game–at Tampa Bay on Dec. 23–against a winning team. They play four of their final six at home, although that isn’t necessarily an advantage for Stewart, who doesn’t always enjoy unqualified support from the Steelers faithful. Games against Cincinnati, Houston and Carolina at home could help.
The Broncos play at Indianapolis on Sunday and have the hardest finishing schedule, including games at San Diego and Oakland, their closest AFC West pursuers. But in Beuerlein, they also have the most accomplished backup.
Protecting Brett: Without knowing about the quarterback carnage in the rest of the league, Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice mildly questioned the three roughing-the-passer calls his team incurred against Green Bay’s Brett Favre.
“What concerned me was the flags coming out whenever we breathed on him,” Tice said. “I felt our quarterback (Daunte Culpepper) got hit a little harder than theirs.”
But Tice, the only NFL coach who played in the league in the ’90s, also recognized the big picture.
“[Favre] deserves the respect that he gets, and he is the best player in the National Football League,” Tice said. “He needs to be on the field. You have to be smart. You don’t want to finish a pass rush to the point that you could be inflicting damage on one of the great players in the league.”
Fiedler closer: The Bears are coming up on the schedule, which must mean quarterbacks start feeling better. The Rams’ Kurt Warner pronounced his broken little finger ready for action Monday night. Miami’s Jay Fiedler could return from a broken right thumb for the Bears’ visit Monday night, Dec. 9.
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The cast protecting Fiedler’s thumb was removed Nov. 12. He ruled out playing this Sunday against San Diego, his original target date, and is now eyeing Dec. 1 at Buffalo. But the Bears game seems more likely.
“I’ve always been a quick healer, and I guess I was expecting to heal quicker than this, though that’s not the case with a soft-tissue injury,” Fiedler said. “I think being optimistic keeps me in a good frame of mind.”
Around the league: Tampa Bay cornerback Ronde Barber had surgery Monday on his broken left thumb and is questionable for Sunday, when the Bucs and Packers match 8-2 records in Tampa. Green Bay rookie running back Najeh Davenport won’t play and might even need season-ending surgery on his broken left eye socket, coach Mike Sherman said Monday. Davenport was hurt when he hit Nick Davis on the opening kickoff return. Starting guard Marco Rivera (knee) may also miss the game. . . . Saints running back Deuce McAllister is questionable for Sunday’s game against Cleveland because of a sprained right ankle. McAllister, the NFC’s leading rusher, was injured in the third quarter Sunday against the Falcons when a player rolled up on the back of his leg.
Washington coach Steve Spurrier is benching Shane Matthews for the second time this season but won’t say whether Danny Wuerffel or rookie Patrick Ramsey will start Sunday against St. Louis. The Redskins have lost two in a row to fall to 4-6 and almost out of the NFC playoff picture. . . . In addition to wide receiver Az-Zahir Hakim, out for the season with a fractured hip, the Lions expect to face the Bears on Sunday without defensive end Jared DeVries, who has a sprain of the middle of his right foot. Defensive end Robert Porcher (bruised knee) and defensive tackle Luther Elliss (sprained ankle) will be re-evaluated during the week.