SB Nation - Justin Rogers

Practice Report: Kansas City Chiefs (3-11) at Cincinnati Bengals (9-5)

Kirkendall — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:25:40 -0000

BENGALS	WED	THUR	FRI	STATUS
S Chris Crocker (ankle)	DNP
TE J.P. Foschi (not injury related)	DNP
DT Tank Johnson (foot)	DNP
DT Domata Peko (knee)	DNP

CHIEFS	WED	THUR	FRI	STATUS
S DaJuan Morgan (chest)	DNP
LB Justin Rogers (thigh)	DNP
DE Glenn Dorsey (knee)	LP
CB Brandon Flowers (shoulder)	LP
DE Alex Magee (hamstring)	LP
G Brian Waters (hamstring)	LP
T Ryan O'Callaghan (knee)	FP

Chiefs Defensive Line Represented on Latest Injury Report

Joel Thorman — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:40:45 -0000

More photos » by Orlin Wagner - AP

(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

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The Kansas City Chiefs have quite a few players banged up this week relative to other weeks. Landing on the first practice report of the week are seven players. Five on the defense and two on the offense.

No participation

S DaJuan Morgan - He was unaccounted for at practice and the report lists him with a chest injury. Not sure what's up.

LB Justin Rogers - Back on the report with a thigh problem.

Limited participation

DE Glenn Dorsey - Still recovering from a knee injury that held him out last week.

DE Alex Magee - Surprise to me. It's a hamstring issue.

CB Brandon Flowers - Appears to be precautionary with a shoulder issue that has flared up this season.

G Brian Waters - He's still not participating in all drills. This hamstring injury kept him out last week.

Full participation

RT Ryan O'Callaghan - He's got a knee injury that left him at questionable last weekend.

***

What would you say about two defensive ends missing? Ouch.

Chiefs CB Brandon Flowers Is Active

Joel Thorman — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:41:01 -0000

More photos » by Alex Brandon - AP

Chiefs CB Brandon Flowers is active today against the Bills. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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The Kansas City Chiefs have announced the inactives for today's game against the Buffalo Bills. A semi-surprise here is that CB Brandon Flowers is active and will play today. He had missed practice on Thursday and Friday due to a shoulder injury.

Here are the full inactives for the Chiefs:

WR Quinten Lawrence
OL Ikechuku Ndukwe
LB Justin Rogers
RB Dantrell Savage
TE Jake O'Connell
TE Sean Ryan
LB Pierre Walters
QB Matt Gutierrez (3rd QB)

Couple of notes/thoughts on the inactives:

How fall has Sean Ryan fallen? He was the Chiefs main tight end early in the season.
Dantrell Savage is inactive again meaning Tim Castille should continue to see some time at running back
Quinten Lawrence's deactivation means there's one less option to return kicks and punts. Wonder if Jamaal Charles will get to see some more time there?

Bills inactives are after the jump.

WR Justin Jenkins
CB Ashton Youboty
DB Cary Harris
WR James Hardy
TE Joe Klopfenstein
DE Chris Ellis
DT Jon McCargo
QB Brian Brohm (3rd QB)

Broncos Inactives for Today's Game

John Bena — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:43:06 -0000

Here are the Inactives for today's Broncos/Chiefs game. No surprises here - the Broncos are healthy and ready to go!

QB Tom Brandstater
NT Chris Baker
OL Brandon Gorin
OL Seth Olsen
WR Brandon Lloyd
OLB Jarvis Moss
WR Kenny McKinley
RB LaMont Jordan

Chiefs Inactives include -

WR Mark Bradley
CB Donald Washington
LB Justin Rogers
G Andy Alleman
LB Pierre Walters
TE Jake O'Connell
RB Dantrell Savage
QB Matt Gutierrez (3rd QB)

Injury Report: Week 12

John (obviousman) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:34:52 -0000

First, some news about the possible blackout. The Chargers have been granted another 24 hours, and now have until 1pm on Saturday, to sell the remaining 1,350 tickets. Considering the Chargers have sold more than 2,000 tickets in the last 24 hours, I think there's now a very good chance of this game not being blacked out in San Diego.

Now, onto the injury report.

Chargers

Doubtful

Luis Castillo, DE (calf)

Questionable

Nick Hardwick, C (ankle). Scott Mruczkowski will start at Center.

Shawne Merriman, OLB (foot)

Probable

Vincent Jackson, WR (ribs)

Travis Johnson, DE (groin)

Shaun Phillips, OLB (ankle)

Mike Scifres, P (groin)

Chiefs

Out

Andy Alleman, C/G (knee)

Justin Rogers, LB (thigh)

Dantrell Savage, RB (ankle)

Questionable

Mike Vrabel, OLB (knee)

David Herron, LB (knee)

Probable

Kolby Smith, RB (ankle)

Chiefs G Goff Absent From Practice; New Player Signed

Joel Thorman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:58:09 -0000

Apparently it was an interesting practice for the Kansas City Chiefs this afternoon. Josh Looney of KCChiefs.com is filling us in on a few of the happenings at One Arrowhead Drive.

Rogers returns

First, LB Justin Rogers was back out on the practice field. The Chiefs signed him twice in October. The first time he was on the team for a few days and the next time he was signed and then released again within 24 hours.

G Mike Goff was not at practice and, as Looney points out, connecting the dots would suggest Goff has landed on IR (but still no confirmation from the team). It's unlikely he was released while he was injured (which would entail an injury settlement). He was battling a shoulder problem the last couple weeks which eventually helped Andy Alleman land the starting job at right guard last Sunday.

McGraw returns but Morgan stays on the first team

Now this is interesting. FS Jon McGraw has returned to the practice field after missing the last two-and-a-half weeks with a leg strain. SS DaJuan Morgan was taking his place at FS while he was injured but - surprise, surprise - Morgan continued with the first team today.

Linebackers banged up

Three linebackers were in the rehab zone this morning. Jovan Belcher, David Herron and Mike Vrabel were all not practicing fully.

Vrabel's the only one of those players on the first team, which was filled by Andy Studebaker today.

Chiefs Re-Sign LB Justin Rogers

Joel Thorman — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:09:50 -0000

More photos » by Marcio Sanchez - AP

4 months ago: Oakland Raiders tight end Brandon Myers (83) gets tackled by Dallas Cowboys linebacker Justin Rogers (50) and Dallas Cowboys safety Mike Hamlin (36), right, in the fourth quarter during their preseason NFL football game in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. (AP Photo/Marcio Sanchez)

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The Kansas City Chiefs have re-signed linebacker Justin Rogers according to Aaron Wilson at the National Football Post.

The Chiefs signed Rogers last Wednesday when Jackie Battle went to IR. He was then released on Saturday to make room on the active roster for Barry Richardson. The Chiefs were down a tackle once Branden Albert was ruled out.

With the Tank Tyler trade, there was one open spot on the active roster and the practice squad.

Rogers was a 2007 draft pick of the Patriots. He also played for the Cowboys.

This means that the Chiefs have at least one more addition this week with a spot remaining on the practice squad.

Chiefs Tackle Barry Richardson Promoted to Active Roster

Chris Thorman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:06:15 -0000

Barry Richardson #67, Colin Brown #61 and Damion McIntosh #77 of the Kansas City Chiefs stand in the tunnerl as they wait to take the field against the Seattle Seahawks during their preseason game at Arrowhead Stadium on August 29, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (August 28, 2009 - Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images North America)

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With the Kansas City Chiefs losing LT Branden Albert this week against the Redskins to an ankle injury, the team has promoted their 2008 6th round pick T Barry Richardson. Josh Looney gave the official heads up and nycchief let us know here in the FanShots.

Richardson played in six games last season, starting none.

The Chiefs also released LB Justin Rogers from the 53-man active roster to make room for Richardson. Rogers was signed just a few days ago after the Chiefs moved RB Jackie Battle to injured reserve.

Here's the team's starting offensive line for tomorrow's game:

LT Wade Smith
LG Brian Waters
C Rudy Niswanger
RG Mike Goff
RT Ryan O'Callaghan

The reserves are G Andy Alleman, T Ikechuku Ndukwe and T Barry Richardson. Both Alleman and Ndukwe have had minor injury issues this season, with Alleman appearing on this week's injury report as probable with a shoulder injury.

Yesterday, Joel speculated that Richardson could be promoted. The only remaining offensive linemen on the team are on the practice squad - G Daryl Harris and T Chris Patrick.

Chiefs RB Jackie Battle to Injured Reserve

Joel Thorman — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:56:38 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

Chiefs RB Jackie Battle was placed on injured reserve today. (AP Photo/Paul Battaglia)

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So the Kansas City Chiefs do have a new linebacker and his name is Justin Rogers. The club should formally announce that move soon.

And Jackie Battle is off the active roster.

Key word being active: The Chiefs placed Battle on injured reserve today ending his season. The injury reportedly has to do with his shoulder and it's "likely" he'll require surgery according to Josh Looney of KCChiefs.com.

It's a strange sequence of events. Battle was apparently healthy enough to be active against the Cowboys (Dantrell Savage was inactive). He even logged some time on special teams. He wasn't injured in that game that I'm aware of. 72 hours later and he's on injured reserve.

This is the third injury-related move that's made me go 'Huh?'

Let's rewind a bit.

On August 7th, the Chiefs formally signed Tyson Jackson and sent out a press releasing announcing that LB Weston Dacus was released to make room for him. Except...At the end of training camp, he was placed back on the roster under injured reserve. No explanation for this move. We assume because he had missed the two days prior to his release with an injury that the Chiefs couldn't cut him.

On the final cut down to the 53 man roster in September, rookie lineman Colin Brown was placed on IR. He had participated in everything up to that day and that move was a surprise even to some of those inside Arrowhead.

It's amazing how little we really know about this Chiefs team.

Battle was mainly a special teamer so Rogers should be able to step right in and fill that role.

The VRR: Cowboys Player News and Video Board Controversy Recap

Dave Halprin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:00:20 -0000

More photos » by Sharon Ellman - AP

Special teams coach Joe DeCamillis praised the HD video board after Friday's game for blocking a Titans punt. He cited video board's work on special teams as one of the high points of play for that unit.

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So one major bummer did come out of Friday's game against the Titans. Rookie OLB Brandon Williams tore an ACL and is lost for the season. How much time Williams was going to get this year was debateable, but it would have been nice to see him play special teams and possibly become a factor by later in the season on defense. We'll just have to wait until next year, or the year after that, to see what the kid's got. Consider it a redshirt year.

William's injury does limit the options at an already thin position in terms of backups. Behind DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer, the Cowboys have Victor Butler, Steve Octavien and Justin Rogers. Dallas is doing everything they can to get Bobby Carpenter comfortable and productive as the nickel backer on the inside, so I don't see them swinging him outside in emergencies. The primary backups outside will come from the Butler/Octavien/Rogers trio, or the Cowboys can try to pick someone up from another team. Steve Octavien is intriguing. I barely thought about him before this training camp, but after the first week he'd become my pet cat - every time I checked the days notes on practice, #53 kept turning up, making plays. He also had a very good game on Friday.

After last night it looks like first-year player Steve Octavien could be in the team's plans as well. When the Cowboys opened the second half Friday night with some subs and some starters in the game, Octavien had replaced Ware, while Spencer stayed in on the other side of the 3-4 front. He played deep into the game, and tipped Vince Young's pass that was intercepted by Matt Stewart.

More VRR below...

Flying under the radar is the fact that our starting fullback, Deon Anderson, will not play until at least the first game of the season. The Cowboys are likely to keep only one fullback on the 53-man roster. So while Anderson is sitting out after his knee surgery, Julius Crosslin is trying to make his move and supplant Anderson is the coach's minds. Not sure that Crosslin can do it, but it's an interesting situation to watch. Anderson has served Dallas well on special teams and is an adequate FB. Crosslin is trying to show he can do more than block, that he can help in the passing game.

Crosslin admitted to being a little nervous, though, and he bobbled both catches a bit before eventually securing them. Pass catching was something he did not do much as a fullback at Oklahoma State. "I wasn't looking them in," Crosslin said. "I was trying to get upfield and go. I know what I need to do, and what I need to work on in practice for the next game."

Another story that is starting to get a little more serious is Nick Folk's recovery from surgery. It wasn't talked about much coming into preseason, but it is now, since the ultra-reliable Folk has missed two FG's in two games. Even Wade Phillips admits to a little apprehension.

"There is a little bit of a concern," Phillips said. "I don’t think he is completely well, but he is well enough to be kicking those things. I just think he’ll get better and better as he goes along.

"It wasn’t a minor deal as far as kickers are concerned. I think (John) Carney had the same surgery and had a little problem for a little while and then got back into the groove. We are hoping he does the same thing."

The new stadium is a sight to behold according to all reports, including this excellent first-hand report from Raf. Even the opposition were stunned by Jerry World.

"It was awesome," Titans defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said at halftime. "It was a lot of fun opening up this place. This is a great stadium. Not only should the fans be excited, but so should the NFL and all the players as well. "It was a great atmosphere here tonight."

Still, there's only one part of the stadium that everyone is talking about. Jerry's $40 million HD video board hanging over the field was a spotlight magnet even before the stadium opened. The biggest of it's kind, it would allow fans to watch the game, and the replays (as Raf pointed out), in stunning clarity and on a scale unimaginable before the stadium's creation. Now, it's become a point of interest for blocking a Titans' punt (maybe the Cowboys best special teams player - I kid!). After the Titans' punters used the board for target practice in warmups, one of them pegged it in a game. Now, we got Jerry, the NFL, the officials, Jeff Fisher, the P.R. department and a Cowboys stadium tour guide all weighing in.

The NFL says:

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an e-mail that the league office is aware of the issue and will continue to monitor it. Aiello said the NFL's competition committee has not yet scheduled a meeting to discuss the issue, but Titans coach Jeff Fisher indicated it was a possibility after Tennessee rookie A.J. Trapasso's punt hit the board in the third quarter Friday night.

Jerry's stance is based on this:

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones helped set the height at 90 feet above the field— 5 feet above the league minimum—even though tests using the team’s punter, Mat McBriar(notes), showed he could clear 100 feet. The reasoning behind cutting it close was that during the tests, McBriar was trying to boot it that high, but a regular punt has a lower arc and is usually kicked toward a sideline, not right down the middle.

The officials didn't know quite what to do:

Turns out, they might have to raise the video board, which is in the line of fire for punts. Or the league could be forced to examine its rules. "It's something we're going to have to look at in the next week," Mike Pereira, the NFL's director of officiating, told The Times on Saturday. "We need to see if there's anything further we can do to make sure there's equity involved if it happens again."

Pereira said it's entirely possible that a team trying to protect a lead could run time off the clock by intentionally punting the ball into the video board and getting a do-over. He said there is no rule for putting time back on the clock in that situation. "We haven't talked at all about time being put on the clock," he said. "The only thing we've talked about really is the do-over of the play. We've never talked about resetting the clock back to where it was. That's obviously something we're going to have to talk about. And that may be what we arrive at. I would say that it's a big enough issue that we're going to have to address it with the competition committee here probably sometime this week to figure out what direction we want to go."

But let's go to a reliable source, a Cowboys stadium tour guide?

Crews were working on the giant HD screen at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday, and tour guides told paying customers the crane in the middle of the field had to do with raising the video board.

Cowboys PR flaks deny it:

Cowboys spokesman Brett Daniels denied that the work Saturday had anything to do with raising the video board, saying it was part of "ongoing construction" at the stadium. A tour guide said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was paying additional money to allow the board to be raised and lowered as warranted inside the $1.2 billion stadium. It was already known that the Cowboys would have to raise the video board for the U2 concert on Oct. 12.