The Saints may be without a key piece of their offense when they host the Lions in Week 1. Running back Pierre Thomas told The Times-Picayune that he considers himself "questionable" for New Orleans' opener because of the sprained MCL he suffered during the preseason."It means a lot, and I really want to play in the opener -- but I don't want to cause any more damage," Thomas told the Times-Picayune. "I don't want to take a chance where I just play this game and don't play out the season. I want to be smart about it.
"My main focus is trying to get back for the first game. But if it's not ready, it's not ready. I can't push it."
You know, this happens in college football quite a bit -- a star player gets dinged up, and rather than risk his health in a game that's considered a gimme, he sits it out and rests up for the bigger showdowns. As we've seen time and time, of course, anything can happen from week to week. But if there's a game on the schedule that New Orleans would prefer be down a guy for, it's probably Detroit.
If Thomas does indeed find himself in street clothes on Sept. 13, Mike Bell seems a likely candidate to slide into New Orleans' starting lineup with Reggie Bush doing his part-time thing.
The Saints also received some more serious injury news on Friday, learning that backup tight end Billy Miller will miss the season with an Achilles tear. Jeremy Shockey's the unquestioned starter in the Big Easy, but this leaves the Saints thin at that position. The good news is that teams must cut their rosters down to 53 by Saturday, which means that lots of available guys hit the market -- one option might be fourth-year guy Leonard Pope, whom the Cardinals cut on Friday.
