No Tuck, Dockery

For those of you holding out hope that DE Justin Tuck or CB Kevin Dockery might play Sunday in Tampa, forget it. My spies out at practice tell me that Tuck and Dockery were in no position to take even limited practice with their respective shoulder and hamstring problems. And that means they have virtually no chance at playing.

They'll stay home along with DT Chris Canty (calf), WR Domenik Hixon (knee), CB Aaron Ross (hamstring), WR Hakeem Nicks (foot), and RB Danny Ware (elbow). S Kenny Phillips, of course, is done for the year after hitting the IR yesterday with patello-femoral arthritis in his left knee.

That list accounts for about half the defense, but only Dockery is a surprise there. He told me yesterday that the hamstring had started to feel better last week, only to regress by the end of it. There's been little progress since.

"It's just frustrating," Dockery said. "It just doesn't feel right."

My bet is that Tuck comes back next week with a harness. But, as we see with Dockery and Ross, those hamstring injuries do linger. It's anybody's guess when they'll be ready.

EP