Post by TheShadow on Dec 5, 2003 22:00:58 GMT -5
www.sacbee.com
The long snapper will make his first start at the position since 2001.
By Gregg Bell -- Bee Staff Writer
ALAMEDA -- Barret Robbins' up-and-down 2003 turned south again Thursday.
The 2002 Pro Bowl center went from questionable to doubtful for Sunday's game at Pittsburgh. Coach Bill Callahan said Robbins has worsening, arthritic-like pain in the right knee -- the same knee he had surgically repaired in May.
So long snapper Adam Treu will make his first start at center since 2001.
Second center Matt Stinchcomb is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.
Robbins played through right-knee pain from mid-December through last January's playoffs. But Callahan said even if these four remaining games of this lost season mattered, Robbins would still not be able to play.
"No. Not with his knee situation. ... It's not good," Callahan said after Thursday's soggy practice, which Robbins missed.
Robbins, 30, has been unavailable for comment since being named last month as one of four Raiders who failed a league test for the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). He stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars for not reaching playing-time incentives should he miss the balance of the season.
Treu, a seven-year backup, started the first three preseason games while Robbins was struggling to return to playing condition. Callahan then rocked Treu by starting Stinchcomb, primarily a guard and tackle, at center for the first time in his five-year career in the preseason finale at Dallas and then for the first three regular-season games, until Robbins reclaimed his job Sept. 28 against San Diego.
Callahan's reasoning then and now is Treu is too valuable as a long snapper to be injured while playing every down. Callahan has no choice Sunday.
Treu still isn't exactly thrilled with that reasoning, but he accepts it.
"It's a business, it's a job, and in the long run maybe it will keep me around longer," Treu said.
Yet another sign of how low this Raiders season has sunk: Treu will be reunited with quarterback Rick Mirer to lead the offense Sunday. For the last two seasons, they have played on the scout team that runs opponents' offenses for the Raiders' defense in practice.
Et cetera -- The Steelers upgraded quarterback Tommy Maddox from questionable to probable. Maddox said a magnetic resonance imaging exam this week on his hyperextended left knee showed he "sprained a couple of things in there, but it's good." Maddox entered this season as a starter for the first time in an NFL career that began in 1992, with a detour to the insurance industry from 1997-2000.
The long snapper will make his first start at the position since 2001.
By Gregg Bell -- Bee Staff Writer
ALAMEDA -- Barret Robbins' up-and-down 2003 turned south again Thursday.
The 2002 Pro Bowl center went from questionable to doubtful for Sunday's game at Pittsburgh. Coach Bill Callahan said Robbins has worsening, arthritic-like pain in the right knee -- the same knee he had surgically repaired in May.
So long snapper Adam Treu will make his first start at center since 2001.
Second center Matt Stinchcomb is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.
Robbins played through right-knee pain from mid-December through last January's playoffs. But Callahan said even if these four remaining games of this lost season mattered, Robbins would still not be able to play.
"No. Not with his knee situation. ... It's not good," Callahan said after Thursday's soggy practice, which Robbins missed.
Robbins, 30, has been unavailable for comment since being named last month as one of four Raiders who failed a league test for the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). He stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars for not reaching playing-time incentives should he miss the balance of the season.
Treu, a seven-year backup, started the first three preseason games while Robbins was struggling to return to playing condition. Callahan then rocked Treu by starting Stinchcomb, primarily a guard and tackle, at center for the first time in his five-year career in the preseason finale at Dallas and then for the first three regular-season games, until Robbins reclaimed his job Sept. 28 against San Diego.
Callahan's reasoning then and now is Treu is too valuable as a long snapper to be injured while playing every down. Callahan has no choice Sunday.
Treu still isn't exactly thrilled with that reasoning, but he accepts it.
"It's a business, it's a job, and in the long run maybe it will keep me around longer," Treu said.
Yet another sign of how low this Raiders season has sunk: Treu will be reunited with quarterback Rick Mirer to lead the offense Sunday. For the last two seasons, they have played on the scout team that runs opponents' offenses for the Raiders' defense in practice.
Et cetera -- The Steelers upgraded quarterback Tommy Maddox from questionable to probable. Maddox said a magnetic resonance imaging exam this week on his hyperextended left knee showed he "sprained a couple of things in there, but it's good." Maddox entered this season as a starter for the first time in an NFL career that began in 1992, with a detour to the insurance industry from 1997-2000.