Getty Images

The Giants wanted to see if running back Ahmad Bradshaw could practice on Friday after missing the first two days this week so they could get a better gauge of his chances of playing on Sunday against the Ravens.

Their wish was granted as Bradshaw, who missed last week’s 34-0 loss to the Falcons with a sprained knee, was on the field for Friday’s session. Jenny Vrentas of the Newark Star-Ledger reports coach Tom Coughlin said he and the medical staff feel good about Bradshaw’s chances of playing although they’ll still need to see how he responds to his first on-field action in almost two weeks.

Bradshaw is listed as questionable, as is defensive end Justin Tuck. Tuck didn’t practice on Friday, however, which means he wasn’t able to practice at all this week because of a left shoulder injury. Coughlin said that trainers felt it was not in Tuck’s best interest to practice, which isn’t a particularly positive sign for his chances of playing.

Tuck was the only Giant to miss practice entirely Friday. Center David Baas, safety Kenny Phillips and guard Chris Snee are also questionable. Cornerback Prince Amukamara, who didn’t play last week, is probable with a hamstring injury.

AP

The Jaguars may get a running back back, but it won’t be Maurice Jones-Drew.

According to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union, MJD won’t play this week against the Patriots, making it nine straight he’s missed with a foot injury.

Jones-Drew tested his injured foot this week but didn’t practice.

Running back Rashad Jennings could return from his concussion, however, as he told reporters on his way to practice he had passed his tests.

Anything would help, such that anything’s going to.

Getty Images

The Patriots won’t be getting tight end Rob Gronkowski back on the field for at least another week.

Gronkowski has been ruled out for Sunday’s game in Jacksonville, Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe reports.

Sunday will be the fifth consecutive game that Gronkowski has missed after suffering a broken arm that required surgery. Although Gronkowski is an integral part of the offense, the Patriots have gone 3-1 without him, and the Patriots’ offense has played very well over the last four weeks despite Gronkowski’s absence.

The Patriots may be inclined to keep resting Gronkowski until the playoffs start, although they may want to get him some game action in Week 17 so that he’s fresh for the postseason.

AP

The Dolphins will have a new kicker for the final two weeks of the season.

They announced Friday that Dan Carpenter has been placed on injured reserve with a groin injury and that they have signed former Chargers kicker Nate Kaeding to replace him. Carpenter made 21-of-29 field goals for the Dolphins this season, the third year of a four-year deal he signed with the team in 2010.

It’s the second straight year that Carpenter has dealt with a groin injury, although there wasn’t a big drop in his production from past years as a result of the injury. His 81.5 percent conversion rate on field goals this season is right on track with his career mark of 81.9 percent and there wasn’t a significant difference in his work on kickoffs either.

Kaeding was released by the Chargers earlier this season after suffering a groin injury. He made all seven of his field goal attempts in the three games he played before getting the boot and has made 87 percent of his kicks over the course of his career. He’s been shakier in the postseason, but that’s not a major concern in Miami this season.

AP

Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor saw his first game action of the season in the team’s victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last week.

He could see an even further increased role as the Raiders take on the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

According to Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle, Pryor will see time on third downs and possibly get some red zone snaps as well against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

“We’re going to try and use some of his athletic ability this week,” offensive coordinator Greg Knapp said.

Pryor has been active for just two games in his two seasons in the league and has been on the field for a grand total of four plays. Pryor played three snaps and threw the first pass of his career, an incompletion intended for Darrius Heyward-Bey, in the Raiders 15-0 win over the Chiefs last week.

AP

The Ravens haven’t filled the roster spot vacated by linebacker Jameel McClain when he went on injured reserve this week and that empty roster spot/position on the linebacking depth chart looks like a perfect fit for Ray Lewis, who is practicing in hopes of returning from the torn triceps that landed him on injured reserve with the designation to return earlier this season.

Lewis was eligible to return for last week’s game against the Broncos, but the Ravens did not activate him. If they’re planning on putting him back on the field this weekend against the Giants, they’re keeping it under wraps. Defensive coordinator Dean Pees said Thursday that Lewis has looked like his usual self on the practice field, but that he is still waiting to find out if Lewis will be in the lineup.

“It’d be great to have him back,” Pees said, via the Baltimore Sun. “I said that a couple weeks ago when we first started kind of seeing him come back. I’d love to have him back. I think it’d be a great emotional lift. But more than that, we could use some bodies in there, too, at linebacker. We’ll just have to wait and see whatever they say is a go, but we’d love to have him back.”

With McClain and Dannell Ellerbe out last week, the Ravens were forced to start Josh Bynes and Brendon Ayanbadejo at inside linebacker. Ellerbe has been a limited participant at practice this week and the Ravens could certainly use him and Lewis in uniform to bolster a defense that’s struggled thanks to injuries.

Reuters

The Redskins are getting RG3 back on the field this week, unless something new happens between now and Sunday.

Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said Robert Griffin III will play against the Eagles unless he has a setback before gameday.

“If there’s no setbacks, he should be ready to go,” Shanahan said, via Mark Maske of the Washington Post.

Griffin was a full participant in practice both Wednesday and Thursday.

He missed last week’s game with a mild LCL sprain, and Shanahan said doctors believe his right knee will be healed sufficiently by Sunday.

Reuters

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady sat out practice on Wednesday with a right shoulder injury, but he’s back on the practice field today.

Brady’s right shoulder has had him listed on dozens of injury reports through the years, but from all accounts it has never affected him on the field in a game, let alone cause him to miss a game.

A little rest for Brady’s shoulder at this time of year makes a lot of sense, especially after Brady threw a season-high 65 passes in Sunday night’s loss to the 49ers. When it’s time to go on Sunday against the Jaguars, Brady’s shoulder will surely be in fine form.

AP

On Monday, Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw made his weekly proclamation that he’ll be playing despite the sprained knee and other injuries that have plagued him this season.

Once Bradshaw makes that proclamation, it becomes time to start watching practice reports to see how he’s progressing to that goal. There hasn’t been any progress so far this week.

Jenny Vrentas of the Newark Star-Ledger reports that Bradshaw did not participate in practice on Thursday, making him 0-for-2 on the week. That doesn’t mean Bradshaw won’t play as he’s played without practicing in the past and the Giants obviously want him in the lineup, but neither their desires nor Bradshaw’s will factor into the final decision about his status.

“We’d all love to have him play,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said in his Wednesday press conference. “But it’s going to be a medical decision, it’s not going to be mine. I think if the doctors feel that he can play without hurting himself, then I think that very well might be the case. If the doctors don’t feel that that’s possible then they’ll make the decision.”

Coughlin also said that the team would consider taking Bradshaw to Baltimore even if he can’t play, likely because they feel his personality would be a good influence on his teammates after they looked flatter than a pancake in Atlanta last week. They’d obviously prefer to have him on the field, but, given their situation, they’ll take what they can get.

The Giants were also without defensive end Justin Tuck, guard Chris Snee and center David Baas at practice for the second straight day.

Getty Images

Ravens receiver Torrey Smith suffered a concussion on Sunday.  The good news, for now, is that he has been cleared to return to practice.

Per multiple reports, Smith is back on the practice field with his teammates today, only four days after suffering a brain injury against the Broncos.

His presence at practice doesn’t mean he’ll play.  Ultimately, he’ll be required to be cleared by an independent neurologist.

The Ravens, who have lost three games in a row, host the Giants on Sunday.

Reuters

Bills cornerback Leodis McKelvin is the only player in the NFL with two punt returns for touchdowns in the 2012 season, but he won’t get a chance to make a run at the NFL record of four in a year in the final two weeks of the season.

The Bills announced Thursday that McKelvin has been placed on injured reserve as a result of the groin injury that kept him out of their Week 15 loss to the Seahawks. McKelvin ends the year with an average of 18.7 yards per punt return, which is the best in the league and should remain that way unless Adam Jones or Dwayne Harris turn in two weeks if nothing but massive punt returns.

McKelvin, who also saw time in the team’s sub packages at corner, is set to become a free agent after the season. Figuring out the right price for a dynamic returner — McKelvin is averaging more than 28 yards per kickoff return as well — is never an easy task, leaving the Bills with some work to do if they want to keep McKelvin in Buffalo beyond this year.

To take McKelvin’s spot on the roster, the Bills re-signed linebacker Kirk Morrison. The former Jaguar and Raider was released earlier this month after spending the first three months of the season on the active roster without ever playing in a game.

AP

Redskins offensive tackle Jordan Black has boasted this year that he put on 50 pounds to get back up to his playing weight of 310 and return to the NFL after missing the entire 2011 season. But an announcement from the Redskins today calls into question Black’s claims that he did it by drinking protein shakes and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

The Redskins announced that Black has been suspended for the next four games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

Although the NFL doesn’t reveal which specific banned substance a suspended player tested positive for, when we’re talking about a player who openly discussed the importance of weight gain this year, it seems unlikely that he’ll use the Adderall excuse.

The 32-year-old Black didn’t play in the NFL after the Saints cut him at the end of the 2011 preseason, and when no other team signed him he figured his NFL career was over, so he said he made a conscious effort to lose weight in order to be healthier in retirement. But when the Redskins called, he said he felt the need to put on a lot of weight quickly so that he could play offensive line in the NFL again this year.

Whatever he did to put on that mass, it worked well enough that Black made the Redskins’ roster and has played in all 14 games this season. But now Black’s season is over.

Getty Images

Many (me included) thought the Redskins were crazy to use a fourth-round pick on quarterback Kirk Cousins, given the draft picks sent to the Rams for quarterback Robert Griffin III and the $36 million in cap space taken (stolen) from the Redskins by the league.

Many (me included) think the Redskins would be crazy to flip Cousins for draft picks in the offseason.

Though the Redskins need to fill the void created by picks given up for Griffin with the kind of low-cap players that can be acquired for four years with draft picks, they drafted Cousins for one very important reason:  with a quarterback who is prone to contact (and thus injury) via designed runs and options, the Redskins need a reliable backup.

So now that they have a reliable backup, why in the hell would they trade him?

If Cousins go, who takes over as the backup who likely will be used if/when Griffin is injured?  Would they use another fourth-round pick in 2013 on a quarterback and hope for the best?

The best approach is to keep Cousins for four years, wish him well when he leaves as a free agent, and then have a new plan for 2016 and beyond.

AP

The Rams lost a game, and another offensive lineman Sunday.

According to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, veteran guard Harvey Dahl suffered what is believed to be a torn biceps Sunday and will miss the rest of the season.

“So we’ll take a look at one of the younger guys up front at the guard spot,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said, although he’s probably more sad about losing Dahl than it sounds there.

Dahl has started 30 straight games since signing with the Rams, and has added a bit of attitude to a group that could use some.

AP

On Saturday, Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin sent out a tweet saying that he was going to have ”minor surgery.”

With Harvin out for the rest of the season thanks to an ankle injury, many people likely assumed that the procedure was related to his recovery from that injury. It turned out to have nothing to do with his ankle, however.

Ben Goessling of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that coach Leslie Frazier said after the game that Harvin needed to have an emergency appendectomy. While that certainly would have impacted his ability to remain on the field if he was otherwise healthy, it shouldn’t play any role in Harvin’s recovery from the ankle injury for next season.

The Vikings didn’t need Harvin to beat the Rams 36-22 on Sunday, lifting them to an 8-6 record and a playoff spot if the season ended today. It doesn’t, though, and they’ll need to find a way to win games against the Texans and Packers in order to advance to the postseason.