The Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers already have serious injury problems after one week of the season.
The Packers lost their top wide receiver, Javon Walker, for the year, and the Panthers will be without their best defensive tackle and run stopper, Kris Jenkins. Both tore knee ligaments in losses Sunday.
Walker will need an operation once the swelling subsides to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament and will require between eight and 12 months of rehabilitation.
Walker was hurt in the third quarter of the Packers' 17-3 loss at Detroit when he pushed off safety Terrence Holt on a 55-yard catch that was negated by his offensive interference.
With Walker down, Robert Ferguson will start alongside Donald Driver, who will move from split end to flanker. Ferguson is the Packers' best special teams player but might be taken off those units now.
Jenkins missed all but four games last season with a shoulder injury that required surgery.
Although he was injured in the first quarter, he said Monday he didn't realize the severity and briefly returned to the field in the third quarter before leaving for good. "I didn't think it was that bad . . . it felt like I had hyperextended it at first," he said. "I could still run on the thing. I know that's a little odd."
SEAHAWKS: Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes rejoined the team on Monday after being hospitalized last week following a spell of dizziness.
Coach Mike Holmgren said Rhodes was at the team's headquarters at 5:45 a.m. Monday morning, but that he was being sent home early. Holmgren said Rhodes will watch film and help game plan, but isn't sure if he'll be with the team at practice on Wednesday or on the sideline Sunday when the Seahawks host Atlanta.
"We're going to ease him back into things. We will do what is right for him, certainly," Holmgren said. "Right now (the doctors) are taking a little more conservative approach. Talking to Ray, he doesn't like that so much, but we'll do the right thing."
Linebackers coach John Marshall filled in for Rhodes in Seattle's 26-14 loss to Jacksonville.
Meanwhile, the status of tight end Itula Mili is also unclear. Mili missed Sunday's game after developing a blockage in his intestine. Holmgren said the blockage has to do with scar tissue left over from when Mili had his appendix removed. Holmgren said surgery might be needed to clear the problem.
REDSKINS: Mark Brunell will start Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys, taking the quarterback job from Patrick Ramsey. Brunell came in to lead a season-opening victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Coach Joe Gibbs had prepared for nearly a year for Ramsey to be the 2005 starter, but the coach changed his mind after Ramsey threw an interception and fumbled twice in Sunday's game before leaving with a mild neck injury.
"This is something that is extremely hard," Gibbs said Monday. "You don't like doing this. I don't. Sometimes you don't chart the circumstances or what happens — it just happens. Certainly it wasn't the plan I had going in, but sometimes plans change, and I think you do the best you can in dealing with it."
BRONCOS: Cornerback Champ Bailey has a dislocated shoulder and running back Mike Anderson has separated cartilage in his ribs and both need to be evaluated further before their status for next week is decided.
Bailey hurt his left shoulder making a tackle in the third quarter of Denver's 34-10 loss to Miami on Sunday. Anderson went out in the first quarter.
At first, Broncos trainers thought Bailey separated the shoulder, but after tests Monday, the injury was not deemed as serious. Coach Mike Shanahan said the injury normally takes one or two weeks to heal, but Bailey could play next week against San Diego if he can deal with the pain and can play with his arm in a harness.
Bailey has never missed a game or a start in his six-plus years in the league, a span of 97 games.
DOLPHINS: With a new head coach, a new scheme and seven new starters, the Miami defense looked much like the unit that has been the team's strength since Dan Marino retired. Miami stymied Denver's vaunted ground attack, forced three turnovers and won 34-10.
"Our defensive playbook is like a phone book, and we didn't get through the A's," rookie linebacker Channing Crowder said. "We have a lot things we can pull out if we need to, or we can let our great players make plays. That's what we did Sunday — we stayed conservative and let great players make plays."
That included Zach Thomas, who made three tackles during a goal-line stand that helped Miami preserve a 6-0 lead. Cornerback Sam Madison helped limit Ashley Lelie to two catches for 17 yards. End Jason Taylor repeatedly harried quarterback Jake Plummer, forced him to fumble on the final play, scooped up the ball and sprinted 85 yards for a touchdown.
JAGUARS: Fred Taylor walked through the locker room Monday without a knee brace, without an ice pack, and most importantly, without a limp. Jacksonville's star running back had no problems a day after his first significant playing time in nearly nine months.
Taylor ran 20 times for 76 yards in the 26-14 victory over Seattle. He also caught two passes for 14 yards.
He broke tackles, made cuts and bounced up after hard hits. He might not have been as explosive as in his younger days, but he promises that will return, too.
"Each game I'm going to get better," Taylor said. "That's the plan. I'm going to get this thing back to where I was."
Taylor injured his left knee Dec. 19 against Green Bay and missed the final two games of last season. He had surgery to repair two partially torn ligaments a month later and said doctors "cleaned up some other stuff, too."
"I expected to feel worse, actually. But I feel pretty good," said Taylor, who missed 24 games during his first four seasons.
BENGALS: Bengals running back Kenny Watson had surgery Monday to repair a torn biceps and will not play again this season. Watson, a fourth-year player, appeared in all 16 games last season on special teams and as a third-down running back.
LIONS: The Lions feared cornerback Fernando Bryant broke his jaw in the win over Green Bay, but X-rays were negative. Before he got the good news, Bryant got some advice on dealing with having his mouth wired shut from Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo.
Izzo suffered a broken jaw several years ago playing softball, just a few days before he was to be the best man in Steve Mariucci's wedding. "He had to give the toast with an interpreter," Mariucci joked.
BEARS: The offense managed 166 yards, and its lone touchdown was set up by a special teams turnover at Washington. Coach Lovie Smith was quick to praise rookie quarterback Kyle Orton, saying, "I know he'll get better. I'm really excited about his potential for the rest of the year. That was the question coming in."
Orton, who became the starter after Rex Grossman got injured and Chad Hutchinson was cut in the preseason, completed 15 of 28 passes for 141 yards but was intercepted in the end zone after trying to force a pass to Muhsin Muhammad. He was the first Bears rookie quarterback to start an opener since Zeke Bratkowski in 1954.
The defense, meanwhile, held Washington to three field goals, had three sacks, knocked quarterback Patrick Ramsey out of the game and recovered two of the four fumbles it forced. Yet, no one was happy.
"Everybody on the defense has that one play where if they could have gotten it back . . . " linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer said.
TITANS: If cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones studies the Tennessee defense really hard, the first-round draft pick has a chance to dress and play Sunday. Jones, the sixth pick overall in April, was deactivated for Sunday's 34-7 loss to Pittsburgh.
Coach Jeff Fisher said Jones really must "buckle down.'
"We're going to place him in some key roles on special teams. He'll accept them. He'll have to excel there and really buckle down on defense, become familiar and convince us he has a really good understanding," Fisher said.
The Titans hoped Jones would win one of their two open spots at cornerback. He didn't sign a contract until three days were left, and the cornerback from West Virginia hasn't had much time to catch up.