Monday News and Notes

Monday, November 27, 2006

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NFL

Packers-Seahawks

All Headline News

Green Bay QB Brett Favre, who was listed as questionable earlier in the week, is suffering from both groin and elbow injuries, but neither is serious enough to keep him from playing. The decision that Favre will play was based on his performance at practice Friday. Favre worked out all day with the Packers’ first team offense and seemed to be pain-free. Green Bay will be without its second-string quarterback. Aaron Rogers is out for the rest of the season because of a broken foot suffered in the New England game.Favre, though, is having a productive year for the 4-6 Packers. In 10 games this year, he has a quarterback rating of 80, completiting 57 percent of his passes for 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

MSBC

The unusual continues for the head-shaking Seattle Seahawks.The latest rarity has center Robbie Tobeck in a Seattle-area hospital indefinitely with an abscess in his left hip _ just as fellow Pro Bowlers Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck are returning to the offense. Tobeck, a 13-year veteran whom the Seahawks (6-4) value for his sage line calls and blocking audibles, has missed the previous two games with a severe flu. In August, he had bone chips removed from his elbow. Tobeck’s hospitalization is just the latest of the Seahawks’ unusual absences.Bobby Engram, the team’s leading receiver in 2005, will miss his seventh consecutive game Monday. A thyroid condition has caused him to have an accelerated heart rate and extreme fatigue. Doctors are succeeding in slowing Engram’s heart with medication _ but the medication leaves Engram exhausted. Alexander missed six games while doctors waited for a crack in his left foot to disappear. It still hasn’t. But the 2005 league rushing leader will start his second consecutive game Monday because he has been pain-free for more than a month. Starting tight end Jerramy Stevens is just now getting back into the flow of the offense following knee surgeries in April and August. Right tackle Sean Locklear will miss his fourth consecutive game Monday. He has a high left ankle sprain. The league also suspended him for one game because of a January arrest for assaulting his girlfriend. Long snapper J.P. Darche is out for the year. He went on the injured reserve list Sept. 13 with a hip injury. And starting defensive tackle Rocky Bernard has a right foot injury. Holmgren said Bernard’s availability for Monday night will be a game-time decision.Hasselbeck’s sprained ligament in his right knee has been the only recent Seattle injury to follow an expected course. He will start Monday for the first time in five weeks.

CBB

Northern Arizona-San Francisco

Press Notes

The Dons are slowly getting their players back into the lineup as Vince Polakovic and Danny Cavic made their season debuts for the Dons. Cavic, who started at the end of last season, has been hampered by a sprained ankle. Saturday’s game was the first in a series of five games that the Dons will play in the next eight days, including just one home game, Monday night against Northern Arizona. After hosting the 3-2 Lumberjacks, USF will then play at Pacific Wednesday and then play in the Lou Henson Classic at New Mexico State.

Cal State Fullerton-Eastern Washington

Press Notes

Cal State Fullerton tries to match its 5-0 start of 1989-90 on Monday night when the Titans visit Eastern Washington in Cheney. The host Eagles are 2-3 but probably provide the most difficult challenge on this 8-day, 3-game road trip. EWU’s losses have come on the road—at UNLV, at Gonzaga and, most recently, in a 7-point loss at No. 16-ranked Washington. The Eagles feature the leading scorer among freshmen in the nation last year in 6-5 guard Rodney Stuckey. He had 31 points at Washington despite being in foul trouble. The Kent, Washington, product had 19 points in EWU’s bracket buster loss at Fullerton last year when he was playing hurt and the Eagles were more focused on a forthcoming Big Sky Conference game.

Fullerton leads the series, 3-0, and is 1-0 at Reese Court. The Titans won here on Dec. 10, 2004, in overtime, 70-68, on a 3-point basket at the buzzer.

Tennessee-Louisiana Lafayette

The Advocate

For Tennessee, ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press poll, a win over the Cajuns would soften the visit to New York’s Madison Square Garden where the Volunteers lost two games in a NIT preseason tournament. ULL (1-3) lost two close games last week, which followed another loss Nov. 14 at Ole Miss. Tennessee (4-2) hasn’t played a game on its home court. The Vols lost to Butler in the semifinals of the NIT and then dropped a 101-87 decision to No. 2 North Carolina in a game for third place. Last week, ULL lost at Oral Roberts (54-51) and then on Friday night fell to Cal State Fullerton at the Cajundome (91-89) in overtime.

San Jose-Santa Clara

Press Notes

San Jose State record: 0-4. Recently, the Spartans lost at Arizona State, 64-52. Santa Clara record: 2-2. The Broncos have lost their last two games including a 78-70 decision to Nevada on November 25. Santa Clara leads the series, 68-27. The Broncos have won the last three meetings between these teams including a 47-46 decision in San Jose last season. San Jose State’s last win in the series was a 71-69 outcome in Toso Pavilion on the Santa Clara University campus on November 30, 2002.

Portland-Portland State

Press Notes

The Portland State Vikings take a two-game winning streak into Monday’s game with crosstown rival University of Portland. The Vikings are 3-2 as they host the Pilots in a non-conference battle for city bragging rights. Portland State has won its last two games, 71-67 at Arizona State on Saturday, then 96-75 at home against Evergreen State on Monday. JR C Scott Morrison had 31 points, 22 rebounds and three blocked shots in the two games and earned Big Sky Conference Player of the Week. The Vikings are in the middle of stretch of eight out of 11 games at home.