NFL

McAllister is likely done for the season

By wire services
Published October 11, 2005

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Deuce McAllister likely will miss the remainder of the season after tearing the ACL in his right knee Sunday at Green Bay.

Saints coach Jim Haslett said the running back got a second opinion Monday. He'll get a third opinion from Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

"If that's the case, a torn ligament, he's out for the year," Haslett said. "I feel bad first of all for Deuce. He's worked hard to get to this point. He's a great football player."

McAllister became the leading career rusher for the Saints this season. He's had three straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons plus three straight seasons with 30 or more receptions coming out of the backfield. He has rushed for 335 yards and a 3.6 average this season with three touchdowns.

Haslett said McAllister's playing time will be split between former Buc Aaron Stecker and Antowain Smith , the 32-year-old who was signed during the offseason. Stecker has 646 yards in five seasons, but he's overcoming an ankle sprain that's sidelined him the past two weeks.

EAGLES: Third-string quarterback Mike McMahon had exploratory arthroscopic knee surgery. The extent of McMahon's injury wasn't known and his status is uncertain. Special-teams player Jason Short is out indefinitely with a high ankle sprain.

PACKERS: Running back Najeh Davenport had season-ending surgery to repair his broken right ankle and the team placed him on injured reserve. Davenport is the third Green Bay player to go on IR this season, joining wide receivers Javon Walker (knee) and Terrence Murphy (spinal cord).

REDSKINS: The team is awaiting results of a precautionary MRI exam on cornerback Shawn Springs , and a second opinion on injured kicker John Hall . The team is optimistic that Springs, who left Sunday's loss in Denver with a shin injury, and fellow starting corner Walt Harris , who has missed two games with a quadriceps injury, will play Sunday in Kansas City, while Hall (quads) remains week to week.

For the first time in his six-year career, linebacker LaVar Arrington didn't play a snap while healthy. Coach Joe Gibbs said the defense didn't use many reserves because it was concerned about containing Denver. "We want LaVar to play," Gibbs said. "This is just one of those games where we didn't do a lot of substitutions."

Gibbs also explained the finger-pointing conversation he had with Arrington in full view of reporters after a practice last week: "That was the most congenial conversation I think I've ever had with anybody. What I was saying to him there was, "I think you can help the football team' - that's when my finger came out. I said, "Look, you can help this football team. You can rush the punter.' But I was also telling him, "Now, this is what you need to do in order to do that."'

Asked about not getting into the game, Arrington said: "I didn't play. There ain't nothing to talk about."

SEAHAWKS: Receiver Darrell Jackson is scheduled for surgery on his right knee Wednesday to remove loose cartilage from an old injury. ... Safety Michael Boulware said there was a chance he'd play this weekend. He was carted off the field Sunday on a stretcher after a lower back injury.

[Last modified October 11, 2005, 01:58:15]