Another Surgery

Here at the stadium waiting to see who practices and who doesn't. But we do know one thing. The choice at WLB just got easier. Bryan Kehl, who along with Chase Blackburn was a candidate to replace Michael Boley as Boley recovers from yesterday's arthroscopic knee surgery, underwent an operation of his own yesterday afternoon.

Kehl had surgery on a broken left index finger and is week-to-week. Dr. Robert Hotchkiss performed the surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

That's another big loss, considering Kehl has been huge on special teams. He's been given the team's special teams game ball the last two weeks, and his recovery of the fumbled opening kickoff last week helped seal the Chiefs' doom immediately.

So it'll be Blackburn on the weak side, unless they decide to go with longshot Gerris Wilkinson. That's not a bad thing. Blackburn plays with great intensity and can get into the backfield. He's not great in pass coverage, however. Then again, if the Raiders stick with the floundering JaMarcus Russell, they may not need much in that area.

The rest of the preliminary injury list is long, but figure on most of those guys playing. Especially Eli Manning. If he's working today with his injured plantar fascia, my bet is he plays.

Here's the whole list for you.

LB Michael Boley (knee), TE Kevin Boss (ankle), RB Ahmad Bradshaw (ankle/foot), DT Chris Canty (knee), WR Domenik Hixon (knee), LB Bryan Kehl (finger), QB Eli Manning (foot), CB Aaron Ross (hamstring), G Rich Seubert (shoulder), LB Clint Sintim (groin), DE Justin Tuck (shoulder), RB Danny Ware (elbow).

EP