Jason Witten's "Serious" Spleen Injury; Bradford's "Cabin Fever"; Pats' Brandon Lloyd Shines

Jason Witten's Spleen Injury

(Jason Witten could be out of the season opener. Photo Courtesy jasonwitten82.com)

The chances of Dallas Cowboy's QB Tony Romo having his security blanket for the season-opener against the rival New York Giants on Sept. 5 just took a major hit. According to Ed Werder and Todd Archer of ESPN, Cowboys TE Jason Witten suffered a "very serious" spleen laceration that caused bleeding but is not ruptured. Witten will be re-evaluated in seven to ten days and if there is no improvement then surgery is an option.

"It's a very serious injury and we're really taking this thing day by day," Head Coach Jason Garrett said. "He has to be very still and idle for the next week to 10 days. You won't see him out there on the practice field. He won't play in the game this week or next week.

"We've just got to make sure he heals as well as possible as quickly as possible. You can imagine spleens are internal organs, and they're serious injuries involved with those things. Asking Jason Witten to be still and idle is a hard thing. That's the biggest challenge right now, but he has to do that. He has to let time heal it."

But Garret is holding out hope for Witten to be ready for the opener, saying it is premature to discuss Witten's availability for the game. 

Sam Bradford's Cabin Fever

(Bradford has been working on his release this offseason. Photo Courtesy zimbio.com)

It seems as though the thing that gets to a lot of rookie QBs is starting to get to St. Louis Ram's  Sam Bradford. Sometimes when quarterbacks they get behind a really bad offensive line, get pounded for year's and then eventually it affects their playing. Take a look at David Carr, former Texans no. 1 pick as an example. Well Bradford has been sacked 70 times in 26 career games. According to Evan Silva of profootballtalk.com who reports that Bradford had a recent conversation with NFL Network's Albert Breer.  ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski did his daily special of Top 30 starting quarterbacks in the league and observed Bradford has "Cabin Fever" where he is anticipating hits and sacks despite there not being any pass rusher's around.

 “That’s a lot of what I’ve talked about with Schotty so far,” Bradford told Breer. “Two days ago in camp, I thought I had a really good practice. I’m not sure the ball hit the ground once. And we got in the film room, and [Schottenheimer] was all over me about getting the ball out of my hands even quicker, to eliminate hits. He’s made it a big point.

What I observed of Bradford in the Rams' first preseason game was a confident quarterback getting the ball out quicker. Bradford went 7/9 for 57 yards in that game in two series. But was overshadowed by the Colts' Andrew Luck who looked very impressive.

Patriots' Brandon Lloyd Impresses
It seems that Patriots WR Brandon Lloyd is tired of being a "journeyman" player and wants to have permanent home in Boston. According to Field Yates of ESPN.com, the Patriots seem to have fixed their problem of not being able to stretch the field, and maybe even give Brandon Lloyd shot at staying with them. Yates says that Lloyd has "caught almost every ball thrown his way and could be a massive part of the Patriots passing game."

This comes as no surprise, as he has flourished anytime he has been under Josh McDaniels who coached him Denver and in St. Louis.

(Brandon Lloyd (right) has always played well for Josh Mcdaniels (left). Photo Courtesy cbssports.com)